Great Ming: The Hongwu Road

A modern soul falls into the officialdom of the Hongwu era. Over forty years of ups and downs, he goes from a student at the Imperial College trying to reform the system to a cautious, conscientious official. He lives through the aftermath of the Blank Seal and Lan Yu cases, navigates the world of gentry and clerks, and witnesses Zhu Biao’s early death and the flames of the Jingnan Campaign, eventually rising to Provincial Administration Commissioner during the Yongle reign. He changes not a single thing in history. He only builds a canal when floods or droughts strike, and fights for a sliver of hope when an unjust case looms. He gradually tempers his ideals of serving the world and its people into a faint light: “If I can protect the people before me and the land beneath my feet, that is merit enough.”