Forced assimilation, arranged marriages (as in he's comfortable with arranging marriages for his subordinates whether they agree or not), and I was especially turned off when MC talked about g*ooming a teenage girl to suit his preferences, should he decided on a political marriage.

Here, we have the ML actively pining for 200+ chapters and the MC continuously rejecting the ML until the ML's near death experience. (And OF COURSE it would take a near death experience for the MC to have a love epiphany)

It doesn't help that the MC is (was?) a straight man who only did casual relationships back in his original life. The MC's reservations are understandable, but you'll still feel really bad for the selfless and devoted ML.

I prefer the romance development in BtM, where we got the MC and his general mutually agreeing to enter a relationship, with no fuss and no fanfare. Nobody dared to oppose them because a) MC had already become emperor at that point, and b) MC's abilities to rule the country are more important than his personal life. This is something that the people surrounding the MC of this novel struggle to accept, even when the MC already has an heir. It's irritating how they still oppose the relationship after the ML has shown incredible loyalty to the point of volunteering for su*cide missions. They do come around, though... eventually.

(PS: It's subtly implied in the epilogue that Liang Rong didn't fully approved of his father's relationship with the ML? Even after his death? He certainly wasn't as well-liked or revered in history compared to his dad.)

The MC is transmigrated into a body that was wrecked by drug ab*se, and it takes years for him to recover even partially. Just when it seems like he's going to be okay, the author has him poisoned with the same drug again, leaving him in a crippled state. It feels excessive, almost like the author is actively sabotaging their own protagonist

I am not at all familiar with Chinese history (in fact, almost everything I know about ancient China is almost all from the novels I have read here) so I have to warn for someone who, like me, is not familiar with said story, which the novel is very "heavy" about, has too much Chinese history and technical aspects of it, with historical figures (apparently real from the author's notes, not because I know about it).

Leaving aside my previous warning, but regarding the plot it is basically the growth of a low-ranking noble to an emperor, the interesting thing is that not only importance is given to his knowledge as a person from the "future" (or reborn) but that importance is also given to the historical and religious context in which it is found, without "abruptly" introducing ideals that were very advanced for the time in which this story is set. However, I must mention that the plot does NOT focus solely on our protagonist LF, but also gives a lot of importance to the secondary characters, having entire chapters dedicated to them, I even considered that many of them become co-protagonists, like ZB. Or his main advisors, or as the characters of the Sima clan, or as the Han (LY, LH, etc.), so it will not be a story solely focused on MC and ML.

As I said before (which if you didn't read it I will repeat it) : The story does not focus solely between MC and ML. Secondary characters abound and as I understood many of them actually existed in Chinese history (although possibly their actions deviate compared to real-life history). There are entire chapters that focus on many of those supporting characters, especially those who are the "main enemies" of the story as the story progresses. My opinion about these characters is that they are well structured, you know them better and, even if you don't know Chinese history, you can understand the role they may have played in their time.

Now, about MC: LF and ML: YY. To begin with, LF is a character that I consider wise, he knows how to listen and act but he also makes his own decisions and most of them for this story are generally beneficial, he seems like a good protagonist to me. Regarding YY, he is his always loyal general, I liked reading about his infatuation with his lord and how it evolved, in turn, whoever reads this should know that LY did NOT have an immediate infatuation, he rejected YY several times until finally "he fell in love" and they finally formed their relationship.

ABOUT THE ROMANCE: There is very little!!!, I am used to stories focused almost solely on the protagonists (with a lot of romance, very fluffy, which is what I like) I have to say that I was dissatisfied, I couldn't give up my bad luck, because despite being such a good story, it took a long time to have a single hint of breaking it, I felt like I was dying but I couldn't stop reading it, really a very good story.

MC grows slowly from an insignificant marquess in the north to an emperor. This is due to the conflicts at the time. The royal princes were conniving against each other and the nomadic tribes were restless. MC kept having to build up his political influence and military power to ward off troubles from external forces.

ML was saved by MC. ML was about to be sold and MC bought him and gave him his freedom. However, ML vowed to serve MC and became his most powerful general. ML loved MC first but didn't think he was good enough for MC. But MC was poisoned and made a move on ML, which led to MC discovering ML's feelings for him.