This book uses magnificent folklore writing to panoramically display the legendary life of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang from a poor shepherd boy to the founding emperor. The book is divided into four parts, closely following the theme of "The True Dragon of Destiny".
The first part, "Destined to Return, Hidden in the Grass," focuses on his miraculous birth: Zhu Wusi and his wife dreamed of receiving a treasure from God, and the vision of the room filled with red light and lingering purple air kicked off. As a shepherd boy, he "proclaimed himself emperor on a mound of earth" and "killed cattle to share food", which showed his extraordinary ability; when he was a boy, he witnessed the death of his family due to the plague, and the heart-wrenching pain of asking for burial in the ground buried his resentment against the powerful; while in the Huangjue Temple, anecdotes such as "Jialan Shift" and "Rat and Bird Distribution" showed his potential.
The second part, "Begging at the End of the World, God Bless the True Dragon" depicts his wandering years. On the way to alms, miracles such as "black plums save life" and "words from immortals" refer to the maze; "spider seals the door", "crow blocks the sun", "divine turtle carries the boat", "yin soldiers drive away the enemy" and other miracles occur one after another, confirming that "the true dragon never dies" and that destiny has been fulfilled in a life of nine deaths.
The third part, "The Dragon Jumps over Haoliang and All the Heroes Bow Down", writes about his rise. Haozhou surrendered to the army and changed its name to "Zhu Yuanzhang" to show his ambition to kill Yuan Dynasty; he first showed his talents and won the hearts of heroes such as Xu Da and Liu Bowen; he ran the army with an "iron fist of loving the people" and defeated the enemy with "a series of clever tricks"; in the decisive battle of Poyang Lake, "the divine wind assisted the fire" and "the divine turtle took the lead", laying the foundation of the emperor's career.
The fourth part, "Hongwu Opens the Sky and the True Dragon Rules the World" presents his imperial career. Dingding Jinling has the legend of "filling the city with a cornucopia"; the coronation ceremony shows the auspiciousness of "hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix"; "incognito treachery" and "pearl banquet" reveal the true nature of the commoner emperor; "ruling the country with an iron fist" is accompanied by complex memories such as "immigration legends" and "literary prison cases"
