The Great Ming’s Number One Playboy

In the eleventh year of the Hongzhi era, Xu Nanzhou opens his eyes, bewildered, inside the grand and splendid residence of the newly ennobled Earl of Lu. What a start: a powerful military family with real authority, command of a great army, a princess betrothed to him, and generations of imperial favor? This looks like the perfect start with every advantage imaginable! Wait, what do you mean I’m the notorious number-one scoundrel in the capital? A famous villain and the Ming dynasty’s number-one wastrel? My father is away on campaign and hasn’t returned, the civil officials are sharpening their knives, I’m not up to the task, and the royal family has broken off my engagement? I’ve managed to hit every one of the three great transmigration clichés! This is going to be a bit of a problem… If it’s a problem, then I just won’t deal with it! And so Xu Nanzhou, ordered to enter the Eastern Palace as a study companion, and his wastrel buddy Zhu Houzhao begin a shameless life of squandering their fortunes… They torment the civil officials, thrash the Tatars, water their horses in the vast northern sea, and play dirty. The court officials: “Xu Nanzhou, you bring shame upon all propriety!” The tribes of the northern deserts: “We, the descendants of Northern Yuan, have never seen anyone so shameless!” The Western nations: “Please don’t come over here! We’re good people, very good people!”