Late Ming: You Fight It Out, I’m Off to Conquer the World

In 1640, war engulfed the Ming Dynasty, and the empire was teetering on the brink of collapse. The darkest and most humiliating era in Chinese history was about to begin. For the world, it was the golden age of global maritime trade. Pirates, Japanese raiders, and European colonizers were locked in fierce battles for territory across the seas. Spices, silk, tea… The dying Ming Dynasty was under the hungry gaze of the whole world. Liu Yu quietly arrived on an island off the Ming Empire’s southern frontier. After looking over the chaos in the Central Plains, he couldn’t help but marvel at how perfect this starting situation was! “Go on, fight among yourselves. I’m off to see what the seas have to offer.” “Southeast Asia is my plantation, and Australia and Argentina are my ranches.” “I’ll head to the Americas and put the natives to work in the coal mines, then grow cotton alongside the Africans.” “And I’ll carve true civilization into the pages of world history!”