The Fragrance of Rice Fills Fengtian

In the spring of the third year of Hongwu, a crying baby was born in a small village in Fengyang Prefecture. No one could have imagined that this peasant boy, whose swaddling clothes had to be patched together from scraps, would ride the thunder of the Ming dynasty’s reopening of the imperial examinations to carve out an astonishing rise, from the countryside to the highest halls of the palace. From secretly listening outside the village schoolhouse as a young student to debating scholars at the Hall of Supreme Harmony; from measuring the flood-stricken Huai River region barefoot to taking charge of the Ministry of Revenue and reforming the tax system. He witnessed the downfall of the founding nobility and endured the smoke of the Jingnan Campaign. Balancing imperial power against the people’s welfare, he used the honest heart of a man born to humble beginnings to devise a path to peace for all generations.