Great Ming: My Brother Is Zhu Qizhen, the Student Who Studied Abroad with the Oirat

(The author has been an emperor, so this isn't made up.)

In the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, the Tumu Fortress became a mountain of corpses and blood.

The entire elite force of five hundred thousand from the capital camps was wiped out, dozens of high ministers died on the battlefield, and Zhu Qizhen, the so-called "God of War of the Great Ming," was captured by the Oirat. He promptly turned around and led enemy troops to the border passes, calling for the gates to be opened.

When the news reached the capital, court and country were thrown into panic. Ministers argued for moving south, and the Great Ming dynasty's fate hung by a thread.

Prince Cheng, Zhu Qiyu, was entrusted with the nation in its hour of peril. He took up the regency and the throne, resolutely shouldering responsibility for all under heaven.

The history books say:

Emperor Zhongzong Wuxiaosu rescued the realm from the brink of collapse and saved the drowning amid the raging flood. He appointed worthy ministers to bring order to the court, and reorganized the army to silence the border beacons. Victory in the Battle of Beijing laid the foundation for a century of stability, while the years of the Jingtai era opened a golden age for the Great Ming.

A master of civil and military affairs, he rewarded and punished with fairness, lightened taxes and corvee labor, and brought peace and prosperity to the people. Envoys from the four quarters came to pay tribute, and the realm flourished, its people content in their livelihoods. In the more than seventy years since the founding of the Ming, governance reached its height under his rule.

Those who write of the Ming in later generations all admire the Jingtai era and remember his achievements. They regard the height of his virtue as a ruler and the greatness of his accomplishments as beyond the reach of even the wisest and most virtuous rulers of antiquity.

The reign of Zhenguan under Emperor Taizong of the Tang was hailed as an age of unparalleled governance. Judged by the standards of today, it is no less impressive.