Modern-day Zhu Cilang accidentally triggers an explosion during a quantum experiment. When he opens his eyes, he has become Zhu Youjian, the Prince of Xin who has yet to ascend the throne in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign: the last Chongzhen emperor in the history books, who hanged himself on Coal Hill!
A scholar of Ming history and a descendant of the Zhu family, he holds the memories of future generations, yet can only watch as the Ming dynasty's doomed fate bears down on him: the Eunuch Wei Zhongxian wields power throughout the court, the Later Jin cavalry beyond the passes lies in wait, and the bandits of the northwest are already spreading like wildfire.
“If I'm expected to shoulder the blame for the dynasty's fall on behalf of my ancestors, then I'll flip the board and start a new game!”
He burns the East Forest Party's musty essays, seizes the eunuch faction's mountains of gold and silver, rebuilds the tax system with Capital, and fills the starving people's bellies with hybrid rice;
He establishes new schools, forges firearms, and lifts the ban on maritime trade. He hails Xu Guangqi as “the Ming dynasty's Newton” and equips Sun Chuanting's Qin troops with flintlocks;
Hong Taiji and Dorgon? A single cannon blast smashes the Eight Banners' cavalry! Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong? Assembly-line workshops drain the rebels' support from its roots!
The civil officials call him a tyrant. He tosses out the ledgers of corruption in response: “My executioner's blade is for hypocrites who pretend to be virtuous while having it both ways!”
The princes accuse him of violating the ancestral laws. He sneers: “If you won't get vaccinated against smallpox, go settle the matter of ancestral rites with the disease yourselves!”
In this life, he will tear the words “the seventeenth year of Chongzhen” from the history books, and let the sun and moon shine forever over the lands of the Ming!
