The End of the Ming Dynasty: Battle for the Central Plains

The younger brother succeeded his elder brother, and Emperor Chongzhen inherited the throne of the Ming dynasty. Seated upon the imperial throne, he appointed Donglin Party members to put the court in order and strove to restore the Ming dynasty to greatness... But things did not go as planned. Officials were corrupt as a group, a sudden ice age struck, drought demons ran rampant, and the land lay barren for thousands of miles. The people could barely survive... In the palace, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian seized power. In the northeast, Huang Taiji of Later Jin eyed the Central Plains; the remnants of Yuan, led by Lin Dan Khan, watched hungrily; and in northern Shaanxi, rebel leaders Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Zizhong, and others sought to claim the realm... For a time, the land seemed beset by dragons poised to devour their lord. In the seventh month of the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, Bai Xiaohu became a rebel commander under “King Chuang” Gao Yingxiang. Their enemy was Ming general Sun Chuanting. King Chuang planned to take the Ziwu Valley route, but Bai Xiaohu, who had transmigrated here, knew that Gao Yingxiang would be captured by Sun Chuanting in the Ziwu Valley. He felt a little down in the dumps...