A Robe of Red, a Ladder of Bones

Twelve years ago, the Zhenguo Manor of Great Liang was overthrown overnight, and the entire household was massacred. Six-year-old Mu Hai hid in a rice jar and was rescued by Li Changsheng, the "Foremost Strategist Under Heaven," who then concealed him in the bamboo forest of Great Xia, making him the sole surviving orphan of the Mu clan. No one knew that Li Changsheng was actually a time traveler from the future. Owing a debt to Mu Hai's father, he raised the orphan for twelve years and painstakingly laid out a grand scheme: using Mu Hai as a pawn to help Great Xia's Third Princess, Xia Qingxue, seize the throne, expand the army, and ultimately annex Great Liang. Twelve years later, Mu Hai emerges. In the Battle of Three Gorges, he defeats a larger force with a smaller one, beheading thirty thousand enemies and becoming a legend in a single battle. But Great Liang is enraged and brings pressure to bear on the entire nation. In the end, the Empress sends him to the enemy state of Great Liang. The world sighs: a peerless hero has ultimately become a discarded pawn. Thus the chessboard has changed, heading down another path. Mu Hai enters the court of Great Liang as a hostage, rising step by step and stirring up storms—only to stumble upon a truth he never expected: the Liang Emperor he has hated for twelve years was not the real culprit behind the massacre of his household. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: A Robe of Red, a Ladder of Bones — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠