After Transmigrating, I Became the Ming Emperor

When he woke up, Lu Ming, a history graduate student, discovered he had become the Chongzhen Emperor, hanging from an old locust tree on Coal Hill! With death closing in, he borrowed a line from the Tianqi Emperor, “I’m back,” to intimidate the eunuchs sent to collect his body. Then, under the pretext of a dream visitation from the late emperor, he unveiled a recipe for black powder and sent a towering column of water exploding into the sky at Desheng Gate, temporarily driving back Li Zicheng’s million-strong army of refugees.

But a transmigrator’s trial had only just begun. The imperial treasury was empty, plague was rampant, court intrigues simmered beneath the surface, and beyond the passes, Dorgon’s Eight Banners cavalry watched like a tiger waiting to pounce. In this desperate situation, Lu Ming used an iron hand to revive the eunuch faction’s former subordinates, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and confiscated the estates of wealthy merchants to replenish the imperial coffers. He even slammed a book scorned by the scholar-officials, Tiangong Kaiwu, onto the Minister of Works’ desk. Technology was his only hope!

When Shanhai Pass fell and the Eight Banners troops reached the capital, Lu Ming used a “thunder spell” minefield to devastate the Bordered Yellow Banner’s elite guard. When Wu Sangui’s Ningyuan cavalry, after driving back the Manchus, turned their blades toward the capital under the banner of “purging the emperor’s wicked ministers,” Lu Ming smashed a sweet potato and roared, “Let’s see if my Sweet Potato Army agrees first!” At that moment, the barbican filled with starving refugees, all gnawing on the tubers that had saved their lives, as they knelt along the imperial road. Their burning loyalty became a wall of flesh and blood, making Wu Sangui’s blade tremble for the first time. This was no simple tale of defying fate. In the dying embers of an empire, a modern soul wielded gunpowder as a sword and sweet potatoes as a shield, using the humblest creations of human ingenuity to kindle the flame of civilization and launch a stunning last stand against a corrupt old order and ruthless conquerors! Strengthen the nation through science and technology, starting with the last emperor growing sweet potatoes!