From Starving Refugee to Emperor: The Struggle for Power at the End of the Ming

In the final years of the Tianqi era, northern Shaanxi is struck by a devastating drought. The land lies barren for thousands of miles, and corpses of the starved litter the fields. Harsh taxes crush the people, the government extorts them without mercy, and the powerful seize their land, leaving the poor with no way to survive.

Li Chen is a native son of a farming family in northern Shaanxi. He has no memories of a past life and no extraordinary abilities. He struggles to survive amid mountains of corpses, fighting for a bite to eat and another day alive. He digs up wild vegetables, strips bark from trees, and eats Guanyin clay. He watches his family starve to death and his neighbors die in misery, driven to the brink of despair.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.