Ashes of Chongzhen: A Record of Survival in Troubled Times

In the final years of the Chongzhen reign, the land is shattered and the dead lie everywhere. The court can no longer protect the people. Rebel bands roam the countryside, plundering as they please, while government troops are even more ruthless than bandits. In this desperate age, an ordinary farm boy clenches his fists: he must not only survive, but also lead his family and the helpless people caught in these troubled times to safety, finding a way to live and a place of peace amid the chaos.

From taking shelter in a cave to founding An Cun Stockade, from a hamlet of a hundred to an alliance of a thousand, Liu Feng searches for a way to survive amid the flames of war. Potato seeds can ease famine, but they cannot lift the crushing taxes levied to fund campaigns against the rebels. He defeats three thousand elite troops under Liu Zongmin, yet cannot guard against a traitor's arrow. When the authorities and rebel bands join forces to besiege him, when former companions betray him under pressure from their own kin, and when trust becomes the rarest thing of all, can he build a final bulwark of survival for the people on Chongzhen's scorched earth?

This is an epic about survival and dignity, and a story of humanity that searches for hope in despair. Heroes are not born; they are ordinary people who refuse to die on their knees.