The story begins in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign (1586), when the Ming dynasty is already showing signs of decline. Imperial power has fallen into the hands of the Grand Secretariat and the eunuchs. Corruption is rampant, and local officials collude with gentry to line their own pockets. Along the southeastern coast, Japanese raiders run amok, joining forces with pirates to repeatedly attack coastal towns and villages, leaving a trail of burning, killing, and looting. Frequent regional droughts have also driven refugees from their homes, and corpses lie everywhere. Dongguan, a key coastal defense stronghold at the mouth of the Pearl River, is in an especially desperate state: the county government is bankrupt, the city walls are crumbling, and the granaries are empty. The previous magistrate fled with the funds, the gentry monopolize resources, the garrison is disorganized and powerless, and the people struggle amid crises from within and without. Dongguan has become a microcosm of the crisis engulfing the Ming dynasty's southeastern frontier.
