In 1644 AD, on March 19, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng conquered Beijing, and the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse.
Thirty-four-year-old Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian climbed to Meishan Mountain and tied a yellow silk ribbon on the crooked neck tree. Just when he was about to hang himself and die for his country, a soul from 2024 AD - Shen Mo, a graduate student in the Department of History - traveled into his body.
When Chongzhen opened his eyes again, he had six hundred years of historical knowledge. He knew which ministers would rebel and which generals could be reused; he knew where Li Zicheng's weaknesses were and what the flaws were in establishing slaves outside the Pass; he even knew that in a few years, there would be plague in the south of the Yangtze River and a severe drought in the north.
He is no longer the indecisive king who cries frequently.
"I am not the king who will destroy the country, and I will never let the Ming Dynasty perish at my hands."
That night, Chongzhen fled secretly, abandoned Beijing, and marched south. He wanted to use the six departments in Nanjing, the wealth and taxes in Jiangnan, and his foresight of history to build a new army, rectify the corrupt court, and compete with Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Dorgon for the world.
This is a history that has been rewritten.
This is a story about a time-traveler who uses his iron fist and wisdom to turn the tide and hold up a building that is about to collapse.
From Meishan to Jinling, from the king of subjugation to the leader of resurgence, Ming Dynasty will be reborn from the ashes in his hands.
