Twelve Hours to Seize the Gate

In 1457, Zhu Qiyu, the Ming Emperor Jingtai, lay gravely ill. Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang, Xu Youzhen, and others secretly plotted the Coup of the Palace Gate, hoping to restore the former emperor Zhu Qizhen to the throne.

Five days before the coup, a modern soul transmigrated into the body of the Jingtai Emperor, Zhu Qiyu, and awoke with memories of the history books. Faced with a failing body, a fractious court, and palace intrigues swirling beneath the surface, he had only 120 shichen to turn the tide.

From a poisoning plot beside the medicine bowl deep within the palace to soldiers lying in wait outside Xuanwu Gate; from secret discussions that lasted all night in the Hall of Literary Glory to the sighs of those imprisoned in the Southern Palace, a political storm erupted across the twin capitals in a race against time. This time, he would personally sever the chain of the Coup of the Palace Gate, reclaim the Ming throne amid fire and blood, and write a very different history of Jingtai’s final years.