Live on the Sky Screen: Chongzhen of Great Ming Meets His Imperial Ancestors

The Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Youjian, has already hung himself from a crooked-neck tree when a shaft of heavenly light descends from the sky, and his figure appears above every era of the Ming dynasty.

On the first day of the second month of the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang forces himself to ask through his fear, “You are the future emperor of my Ming dynasty...”

Chongzhen feels certain he must be dead, then sees the Emperor Taizu. He salutes and says, “Your unfilial descendant, Zhu Youjian, the fifteenth emperor and twelfth ruler of the Ming dynasty, pays his respects to Your Majesty, Emperor Gao of Taizu!”

The crown prince Zhu Biao, standing beside Zhu Yuanzhang, nearly falls over. “You... you... whose descendant are you?”

Zhu Youjian, up in the sky, looks embarrassed. “Your unfilial descendant is the tenth-generation descendant of the fourth son of Emperor Gao of Taizu, the Chengzu Emperor, whose personal name was Di...”

At those words, the Yan Prince’s residence in Beiping in the fifteenth year of Hongwu and the household of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di in the twentieth year of Yongle let out anguished cries almost simultaneously: “It’s over! We’re done for!”