Transmigrated as Chongzhen: From the Start, I Slaughter My Way Through the Chaos of Late Ming

The moment he opens his eyes, Zhu Youjian becomes the new ruler in the eighth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign. No, he's the prospective emperor of a doomed dynasty, with his elder brother just dead and the Eunuch Wei Zhongxian watching him closely.

The imperial treasury is empty, and the armies on the nine frontiers are owed their pay. The Donglin faction speaks endlessly of benevolence and righteousness in court, while secretly forming cliques and lining their pockets. The Jurchen cavalry beyond the passes is knocking at the border, and Shanxi's Eight Great Jin Merchants are smuggling goods and betraying the country.

In history, the emperor known as Chongzhen ruled diligently for seventeen years, then hanged himself on Coal Hill.

But nobody knows that he has the entire history of the Ming Dynasty in his head.

If Heaven won't give the Ming a way to survive, he'll carve one out himself:

Kill the eunuch faction, confiscate corrupt officials' wealth, reclaim military authority, and train a new army;

Yuan Chonghuan boasts that he'll pacify Liaodong in five years? I wouldn't believe you for a second. I'll keep a close eye on the troops, their pay, and their inspectors;

He dares kill Mao Wenlong? No one gets to lay a hand on my Dongjiang garrison;

Hong Taiji uses a false accusation to frame Yuan Chonghuan? I'll turn the tables and hang the spies from the city walls;

The princes and clansmen dare complain about being broke? Then I'll show them what it means to have your estate confiscated to fund the army.

I am Zhu Youjian. I am Chongzhen.

In this life, I'll keep the crooked-neck tree on Coal Hill, for the whole court of parasites to use as their coffin.