Late Ming: A Ninth-Rank Official and Three Women Throw the Court into Chaos

As a low-ranking ninth-grade official during the Chongzhen era, Shen Mo kills a human trafficker in the black market from the start and saves a mysterious female physician. He only wants to keep his head down and survive, but is forced into court factional infighting and becomes a double agent. The Donglin faction is hypocritical and ruinous to the country, while the eunuch faction is vicious and corrupt. With the Ming on the brink of collapse, he decides to dance a waltz on the edge of a blade. He investigates the granaries and uncovers a million dan of grain that exists only on paper; he reforms the salt administration, and the salt commissioner dies in a “mishap”; he overhauls the grain transport system and personally beheads its governor. Worse still, none of the three women he saved is ordinary: a master physician treats his wounds and keeps him alive, a queen of commerce lays the groundwork for his finances and grain supply, and a chivalrous heroine cuts down a thousand foes with her sword. When he rises to the highest ranks of government under the suspicious gaze of the man on the Dragon Throne, everyone thinks he will be a loyal minister. Instead, he puts an arm around his three wives and laughs. “The Ming can’t be saved. Why don’t we… find another way to live?”