Great Ming: Comparing Chongzhen's Reign, the Old Zhu Clan Is in Trouble!

A sky screen descends across the eras of the Ming emperors, comparing parallel worlds and revealing two utterly different lives of Chongzhen.

Zhu Yuanzhang watches as imperial authority weakens and the Ming teeters on the brink of collapse. One Chongzhen saves the dynasty from ruin and leads its revival, values the study of things, pursues practical truth, and becomes the Ming Guangwu Emperor Zhu Youjian, praised for generations.

Then he looks at the other Zhu Youjian: stubborn and self-righteous, arbitrary and autocratic, directly responsible for the Ming's downfall, and ultimately driven to hang himself at Coal Hill. Zhu Yuanzhang feels an urge to kill him.

As the comparison deepens, the Ming emperors of every era see the Guangwu Emperor Zhu Youjian's strategies for reviving the dynasty and the results of putting them into practice.

Soon, emperors across all the different timelines are learning from the Guangwu Emperor's methods of governance.

Zhu Di: "I beg you for advice. How do I dig up the roots of the Jiangnan gentry? Give it here."

Zhu Yuanzhang: "So this is what the art of overthrowing a dragon is really about."

Zhu Youjian: "I refuse to become the emperor who loses the country. Starting now, I will learn everything I can from the Guangwu Emperor Zhu Youjian."

At last, when the sky screen shows the Guangwu Emperor Zhu Youjian's maritime trade and the vast sums of silver it earns, the Jiangnan gentry across all timelines feel as if thorns are pricking their backs...

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.