In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the city of Beijing was destroyed, and the whereabouts of Prince Zhu Cixiang were unknown.
When Zhang Ming, a master of Ming and Qing history, opened his eyes, he became the "Prince from the North" who was about to be sent to Nanjing for identification. To admit one's identity is to deceive the emperor; to deny one's identity is to silence one's mouth. The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty took turns asking about the old affairs of the East Palace, but it happened that he was familiar with the system of the late Ming Dynasty and the general trend of the world, but he had no personal memories of the real prince.
Everyone wants to know whether he is real or fake, Zhang Ming just wants to survive first.
Until Yangzhou fell, Hongguang fled, and the Qing army entered Nanjing. The real emperor abandoned the city and left, but the people smashed open the prison door for him, the false prince. He wore a theatrical dragon robe, guarded the granary, prohibited private killings, and sent the old and the weak out of the city.
Starting from an unguaranteed military supply certificate, he collected defeated troops, settled the refugees, improved military discipline, opened up maritime trade, and rebuilt credit and order bit by bit amid the broken mountains and rivers.
They say that what is fake will always be fake.
Zhang Ming wants the people of the world to see: if blood cannot save the world, whether a false prince can rebuild a real Ming Dynasty.
