Three Million a Month, and You Ask How My Ming Dynasty Could Lose?

In the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Shun army stood at the gates, and the Ming dynasty teetered on the brink of collapse. Chongzhen prepared a white silk noose in despair. His ministers plotted to sell out the country for their own gain, while the Directorate of Ceremonial even showed up with a rope, intending to bind Crown Prince Zhu Cilang and send him to the enemy camp to negotiate! A hellish difficulty level from the start? Zhu Cilang gave a cold laugh and awakened the Great Ming Dynasty Fortune ATM, which deposited three million taels of silver on the dot every month! The whole court keeps whining about being broke? I’ll throw silver at the problem and build an army of battle-hardened soldiers! The Jurchen are acting high and mighty? Red-haired cannons and musket formations: I’ll bury them under mountains of gold and silver! When Zhu Cilang walked into the Hall of Supreme Harmony carrying the Grand Secretary’s head and several million taels of silver, Chongzhen was dumbfounded, and the whole court nearly wet themselves. Chongzhen: “Son, if I leave the Ming in your hands, I can die in peace!” Zhu Cilang: “Father, abdicate. I’m the only one who can save the Ming!” [Tags: Decisive and ruthless + satisfying power fantasy with no angst + extreme shock reactions + not a goody-two-shoes protagonist]