A Ming Eunuch: The Return of the Jingtai Emperor

In the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong era, amid the blood and flames of the Coup at the Gate, the imprisoned Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu died full of bitterness. When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the second year of the Xuande era (1427), the day he was born outside the palace as an “imperial grandson.” His soul belonged to an emperor who had endured humiliation and betrayal and watched an empire fall, but his body was that of an infant who had not even been entered into the imperial genealogy, whose life or death rested on the whims of others.

In his previous life, after his elder brother Zhu Qizhen brought about the Tumu Crisis, he had taken the throne in the empire's hour of need, governed diligently, and saved the Great Ming from ruin. But in the end, his restored brother took everything from him, gave him the posthumous title “Li,” and left him to die with grievances unanswered.

This time, he has returned with his memories and hatred intact. Deep within the palace, his mother, Wu, is a former concubine of the Prince of Han, the emperor's secret entanglement, and the original sin behind his awkward birth. He must struggle to survive in the shadows of the palace walls, beneath the complicated gaze of his father, Zhu Zhanji, the cold scrutiny of Empress Dowager Zhang, and the innocent smile of the “good brother” of the future.

From an outlying residence to the heart of the Forbidden City, from an unknown prince to the supreme throne. This time, he will make his plans early. He will protect the Great Ming's splendid realm and keep the Oirat cavalry from sweeping south, and he will make everyone who betrayed or hurt him pay.

History's currents roll on. Watch as the reborn Jingtai, over these eight years (1427–1435), finds a way through the fading light of his father's reign and the narrow openings of his age to alter the course of fate, fighting for a completely different future for himself and the Great Ming.