In 1646, three years after the fall of the Ming capital, the Manchu armies had trampled across the Central Plains. After the Hongguang regime in Nanjing was overthrown, the Longwu regime was also crushed by Qing forces that year with overwhelming force.
At this very moment, Zheng Zhilong was plotting to surrender to the Qing. Meanwhile, Qu Shisi, Governor of Guangxi, Ding Kuichu, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and He Tengjiao, the power broker in Huguang, were planning to enthrone a new emperor.
The Prince of Gui, Zhu Youxuan, had suddenly died. His younger brother, the Prince of Yongming, Zhu Youlang, fell into a coma for two days after an ordinary night of mourning. Upon awakening, Zhu Youlang not only had to inherit the Prince of Gui's fief, but also found himself caught in the power struggles among the surviving Southern Ming ministers. On top of that, he had to face the Qing, who already controlled most of China and continued to press their attacks.
This prince of a dying age would bear the Southern Ming's final imperial legacy and, in the face of utter despair, shoulder the mission of restoring the nation.
China's five thousand years of history is filled with regrets! The Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties; the Five Barbarian Invasions; Yue Fei of the Song Dynasty, born at the wrong time and without a wise ruler; the poignant and heroic Battle of Yamen, where the Southern Song emperor, his subjects, and the people united as one; the Ming Dynasty emperors who died for their country…
Keep it up! Very good.