I Was Just Playing a Game, So How Did I Become Chongzhen?

The thing Zhu Jian regrets most in his life is playing that lousy game called Chongzhen Simulator in his rented room.

After all, who could have imagined that while he was gaming and singing along, a flash of white light would send him straight from his rented room to the Qianqing Palace of the Ming dynasty, where he became the unluckiest fallen emperor in history: Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian!

Zhu Jian wanted to curse on the spot. “I was just playing a game! Why did you make it real? And why did I get the Chongzhen scenario, set to Hell difficulty from the start?!”

The moment he opened his eyes, he was faced with a complete disaster: the frontier garrisons hadn’t been paid in six months, and the soldiers were on the verge of mutiny; rebels were everywhere and closing in on the capital; beyond the passes, the Later Jin were sharpening their blades, ready to invade and seize territory at any moment!

Worst of all, the history textbook in his head made it perfectly clear: the Ming dynasty had just seventeen years left, at most!

The good news: he knew the entire history of the Ming, who the loyal officials were, where the traitors lurked, and exactly how to avoid every pitfall!

The bad news: even with all that knowledge, this opening mess seemed doomed to end the same way, with a crooked tree on Coal Hill waiting for him!

Purge the eunuch faction, reshuffle the cabinet, pay the overdue wages, train a new army! Zhu Jian races against time with everything he has.

After all, he doesn’t want to hang himself from a crooked tree seventeen years from now!

Wait, does the Ming dynasty really only have seventeen years left?

To hell with that, I refuse to believe it!