Zheng Guohui, a general of the Tongzhou militia who inexplicably traveled back to the 1860s, was determined to do something big. He led hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of soldiers to Southeast Asia to open up a new world for overseas Chinese.

The naval wars of the Age of Sail and the passionate pioneering and colonizing efforts are the strongest voices of this era.

The turbulent 19th century unfolded a grand canvas of overseas colonial expansion. Along with the process of colonization and conquest, a picture of the Nanyang Empire slowly emerged...