The bronze bell burned his flesh, the flames devoured his bones, and only at the moment of death did the Han Prince Zhu Gaochi see the Ming dynasty sink into three centuries of ruin: the catastrophic defeat at Tumu Fortress, the emperor’s suicide at Coal Hill, and the forced adoption of Manchu hairstyles and dress. National humiliation and family hatred fused into a mournful cry that would not fade from his soul.
Reborn in an instant, he returned to the twenty-first year of the Yongle reign. Zhu Di had not yet died, the crown prince had not yet ascended the throne, and none of the tragedies had come to pass.
In his previous life, he was brave but foolish, and let the empire slip from his grasp.
In this life, armed with three centuries of foresight, he proceeds one careful step at a time: he secretly reunites with former allies Zhang Fu and Jin Rong, outmaneuvers the powerful eunuch Wang Jinghong, and wins the full support of Yao Guangxiao, the chief strategist of the Jingnan Campaign.
When floods strike Zhejiang and Suzhou-Songjiang and locusts ravage Shandong, he uses disaster relief to win the people’s hearts and train private troops. In court, he pits himself against his rivals, demotes corrupt scholars, cleans up officialdom, and reorganizes the military farms, enforcing new policies with an iron hand. Faced with the benevolent Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi and the patient Crown Prince’s Heir Zhu Zhanji, he plays along, keeping them confined in the capital as hostages while using his regent’s authority to consolidate the court.
From a frustrated vassal prince in a corner of Le’an to a regent who holds the court in his palm, Zhu Gaochi defies fate, seizes the empire, and preserves the traditions of the Han people.
This time, he will not only avenge the blood debt of his previous life, but also rebuild the Yongle golden age with thunderous force. He will make the Oirats tremble and the Japanese pirates vanish, and ensure the Ming sun-and-moon banner shines across the seas, so there will never again be an age-old lament that “the ministers ruined everything!”
