Great Ming: An Everlasting Realm

When a transmigrator refuses to follow the script and hang himself at Coal Hill

Modern mechanical engineer Li Zhe opens his eyes and finds himself as the Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian. From the start, it’s a living hell: drought and cannibalism in Shaanxi, the Eight Banners eyeing the northeast, endless factional strife at court, and an imperial treasury so empty even rats could run through it.

But Li Zhe smiles.

Because he has a copy of The Exploitation of the Works of Nature in his hands.

“Your Majesty, we cannot defy the ancestral institutions!”

“Then tell me, will those institutions stop the Manchu cavalry, or will those Eight-Part Essays fill the starving people’s bellies?”

He pushes open the Fengtian Gate and points toward the Western Hills.

“Listen. That’s the heartbeat of the Great Ming.”

In the distance, new waterwheels are already rumbling as they power the first textile machines.