The Day the God of War Dies, I Ascend the Throne and Seize Power!

On the seventeenth day of the first month of the eighth year of Tianshun, the Emperor passed away in the Qianqing Palace.

I, Zhu Jianshen, had transmigrated seventeen years ago with five hundred years of memories. At last, the day had come: the God of War, Zhu Qizhen, was dead, and it was my turn to ascend the throne and take power!

The moment I stepped into the Qianqing Palace, the probing of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the ambitions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Cabinet’s watchful waiting all came one after another.

“Your Highness, the rites require you to observe the mourning period for three days before ascending the throne!” The Minister of Rites had barely stepped forward to lay down the rules when I silenced him with a direct retort about the disgrace of Tumu Fortress. “Without a ruler, the realm will fall into chaos. Do you think the Oirat cavalry can afford to wait?”

Duan Men, my late father’s favored minister, wanted to steal the credit? One order to “transfer him to Nanjing” sent him packing!

My mother wanted me to bury the imperial consorts alive? I changed the ancestral law on the spot. “From this day forward, the Ming will have no more burial sacrifices!”

With the Beijing garrison roster in hand, I looked at the mess before me: the books listed 120,000 men, but only 30,000 were actually there. I sneered. The nobles had embezzled the soldiers’ pay, and I would make them repay every last coin with interest. The northern frontier, under the Oirats’ watchful gaze, would become an iron wall. The south, swarming with refugees, would know peace and prosperity!

Who says Zhu Qizhen left behind a hopeless mess?

I, Zhu Jianshen, will set things right and build the Ming into an empire at peace from shore to shore!

(New book launch! Multiple updates daily. Imperial intrigue and the rise of a great power, packed with satisfying moments and no drag!)