Bad news: I’ve transmigrated, and I’m a carpenter.
Good news: I’m the most exalted carpenter in history.
A soul from the future has unexpectedly arrived in the late Ming Dynasty, taking the place of Zhu Youxiao, the illiterate emperor who loved making things by hand.
He has just ascended the throne.
To the northeast, the Later Jin Jurchens have recently won the Battle of Sarhu, leaving the situation in Liaodong on the brink of disaster. To the northwest, several provinces, including Shaanxi and Gansu, have suffered one severe drought after another. The land stretches barren for thousands of miles, and rebellion is about to erupt. To the southeast, landlords and powerful clans are busy seizing land, evading taxes, and defying the law, leaving ordinary people without even a patch of ground to call their own. To the southwest, the native chieftains rule their territories independently, reject the central government, and conspire with Annam to encroach on the border.
Since I’m here, I might as well make the best of it.
Drunk, I lie in the palace, my vision hazy. I point at the heavens and cry aloud: “A man’s heart should be iron to the end. Watch me mend the cracks in heaven!”
Clean up the imperial court, establish new laws, open up the seas, destroy the Later Jin, and bring peace with a snap of my fingers!
