Ah, this story has a complicated spot in my head.

It's main draw is that a modern person has the ability to travel back and forth in time. The MC is the sole link that ties the ancient world and the modern one. But, for some reason, this plot is eventually phased out and the MC lose contact with the future completely. Fortunately, in my opinion, this doesn't really hurt the story, but the author could've just saved us all some time and just made MC stuck in the past from the beginning. Why give MC the ability to travel back to the modern period when you're just gonna take it away, permanently?

Anyhow, let me just say this first. The story starts out a bit weak, then gains a lot of momentum around the middle part, but ultimately and completely falls apart at the end. It's fairly obvious that the author just lost interest and ended the series well before its time. If done right, it could've lasted at least two hundred more chapters. Four hundred, if the author actually decided stick with the Hun Invasion plot-line. Still, I did enjoy the most of the story. It's just the end was just too... abrupt. And silly.

Children, beware. This is a story about Ancient China, so you know there's gonna be some very violent stuff happening around MC. The author isn't afraid to show the brutality of war and the cruel methods some people used to inflict pain on their enemies before they die. Two words: Human Stick. At least one of MC's generals suffer this fate upon their defeat. This might not be for everyone, but personally, I love it. In fact, I wish it were more frequent.

MC's relationship with his wives doesn't really develops. In fact, once they've married, MC will rarely have any time to spend with his wives at all, other than some interactions here and there. This story is nearly entirely about politics and intrigue and the introduction of the fabulous inventions that the MC brought back with him from the future. Essentially, MC replaces Liu Bei as the third power in the Three Kingdom Period. Most of the time, when he's not uplifting Chinese civilization with the introduction of cement and cannons, he's stealing talents left and right, making Cao Cao green with envy and Liu Bei look quite the fool.

Speaking of... The characters were very well done... At first. Then, they all get flanderized.

Cao Cao starts out a fairly reasonable character, at least for a warlord, but is still an extremely ambitious and shrewd fellow. Yet, by the very end, he actually surrenders to the MC and helps dismantle his own empire after he was overthrown in a coup. It's complicated. Sun Ce... Turn out to be gay. In fact, very gay for Zhao Yu. It only took Zhao Yu's brush with death for Sun Ce to realize it. I suppose it had to be that way in order for the MC to steal both of their wives and yet have them both join MC's faction willingly and loyally as his dragons. But that was still very s*upid in my opinion. I don't know what the author's problem is with Zhuge Liang, but the author decided to portray him as a decadent, yet often penny-less and henpecked strategist who's so scared of his own wife that he's even afraid to go home. One of the best strategist in history, and here, he's been reduced to a comic relief. Even the MC gets this treatment. He gets absolutely no respect from his own council near the end. While they are all making jokes at the MC's expense and embarrassing him as if they were old buddies, and the MC just taking it, I thought... Warlords have been known to execute entire families for less. Xiang Yu, for example.

If there were anyone who's portrayal I enjoyed from start to end, it's Liu Bei. I never liked him in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In this story, MC completely take over his role and then slowly dismantled every single thing he ever had. Strategist? Gone. Wife? Gone. Supporters? Gone. Elite Forces? Gone. Sworn brothers? Gone. In the end, he had absolutely nothing. And I very much enjoyed to watching him fail again and again. Too much enjoyment, in fact, so this might be a little bias.

As for the titular Lu Bu... Still a warlord and a fearsome warrior, but... he's also a family man now. He's leaving all the world conquering for the younglings. Still don't know what to think about that.

All in all, characters starts out normal, but essentially becomes a parody of their former selfs by the end. This, I didn't like at all.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the story. Sure, there are a lot of problems and plot-holes, but even so, I'm not too bothered by them. I see this similar to a summer blockbuster movie.

You essentially see the MC live out everyone's fantasy of what they would do (or should do) if they were to travel back in time. Become someone important, carve out a territory of your own, develop a worthless wasteland into the technological capital of the world, and build a reputation so powerful that your very name becomes a weapon to use as any other.

You see the MC start out as a nobody then become a prince then a warlord then ultimately an emperor. And you really do feel excited by the MC's achievements. Like when he modified the ballistas, install them into ships, and then use them to crush the Wu's naval forces that was invading. Or recruiting Zhao Yun before Liu Bei and using him to harass/devastate Liu Bei's forces with the Mongolian horse archer tactics. Or by the end, building a fleet of European-inspired ships, complete with naval artillery, to devastate whole enemy fleets, seaport, and seashore city from miles away. And what time-travel story would be complete without the MC bringing superior methods of forging better and stronger swords and armors that are essentially hacks for his elite army. Or, best of all, at the end, when Cao Cao used the Emperor's authority to declare MC a traitor and an enemy to the realm, MC and his council simply declared MC the true Emperor and Cao Cao's Emperor to be a false one. Man did that backfire on him horribly!

The MC also shows some shrewdness in the way how he ab*se his Princely title to overpower his enemies, how the use his Liu surname to unify the world under his banner, and how he twist all of his enemies plot and schemes into building blocks for his own little corner of power.

Still, as much as I've enjoyed those moments, there were also a lot of other moments where it dragged on and on. The story is kinda there, but the execution leaves much to be desire. Some of the stuff that happens to the MC should've killed him outright. It is only became MC is the protagonist that he survives with his head attached to his neck. Plus, some of his actions are also downright s*upid, such as his decision to put himself at the mercy of another warlord and essentially living for years under house arrest in exchange for the right to buy food. Or waiting for Cao Cao to attack you rather than taking the initiative to attack first while he's dealing with the Yuan's army on the other side of the map. Note, at this point, MC already has the manpower, the superior arsenal, and an epic naval force, WITH CANNONS. And he's extremely rich after stealing all the merchants from the other warlords and the Yuans still have an army to threaten Cao Cao with. He can take Cao Cao out, easily. But he decided to wait and wait, and ultimately paid dearly for that decision. Hint: Cities sacked, generals dead, and his cannons fall into the hands of Cao Cao. Go figure.

And adding to the fact that the ending was a complete mess. So... I give this three and a half stars. Not an actual four stars rating, but I can't, in good conscience, give this just three stars.

P.S. Even though MC's indecision cost him a lot, it'll all work out fine in the end. Cao Cao has a really capable son, overthrowing the emperor and helping himself to the throne while his father is fighting the battle of his life. MC becomes emperor with the help of Cao Cao and unifies China just in time to fight off the Huns or something.

The protag's time traveling ability gets to go back and forth to introduce new tech WHAT? oh so op man..... I sense a harem tag coming along soon too

The MC starts using a button that wasn't explained anywhere in this story at anytime that can transport him back to the present time where he is from. For a number of chapters he was stuck in the past with no way out and then all of a sudden out of the blue he just starts using a button to go back to his time period.