One morning, Zhu Youxiao, a corporate wage slave, woke up to find he had become the short-lived Tianqi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Before him lay a court torn apart by factional strife, an empty treasury, and the Jurchens watching hungrily from beyond the borders.
In history, he would drown, leaving behind an empire riddled with holes.
In this life, he was determined to defy fate and change his destiny!
The Donglin faction cried, “The ancestral laws must not be violated”?
Then he would invoke Taizu's own ancestral law of skinning people alive and stuffing their skins with grass to send them on their way!
The civil officials pleaded poverty, claiming, “The treasury is empty”?
He would establish a tax bureau to levy heavy taxes on wealthy merchants, then confiscate corrupt officials' estates to fund the army!
The nobles and generals pocketed pay for nonexistent troops and let their soldiers grow useless?
With the imperial secret police's blades in his hand, even the Duke of Ying would have to kneel and listen to his reprimand!
From seizing power by force during the Palace Transfer Incident to making secret visits to investigate commercial taxes;
from executing a corrupt official and his entire clan before the court to sending envoys with silver to comfort the border garrisons.
Zhu Youxiao sneered:
“What benevolent ruler, what wise sovereign? All I need is a blade, a pile of money, and an army of wolves and tigers that obeys only the emperor!”
In this life, he would become a true tyrant of the Tianqi era, sending the iron cavalry of the Ming across the land and ensuring the dynasty's eternal prosperity!
In the later stage, arrangements will be made to [kill all the wild boars] [break their bones and raise ashes] [exterminate their descendants] [kill their souls] and [never be reincarnated]!
Very good writing style, sophisticated and orderly, recommended by old bookworms
Beautiful and well written
Dong dong qiang, dong dong qiang... You can write it
It's okay, a normal book