A history professor is reborn as Zhu Yunwen. Facing his predatory princely uncles and a destiny of inevitable warfare, he tears up the script.
Instead of stripping the princes of their fiefs, he uses the principle of extending favor to divide their power. Instead of bloodshed, he changes minds. He uses economic measures to untangle military deadlocks and institutional reform to replace bloody infighting.
When the Prince of Yan finally submits with genuine admiration and offers up his military tally, the ministers finally realize that this "gentle and benevolent" Jianwen Emperor has already used his wisdom to lay a completely different path to prosperity for the Great Ming.
