In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the empire is on the brink of collapse. Refugees are rising up across the land, the Later Jin are watching hungrily from beyond the borders, and factional infighting in court never lets up. The Great Ming is on the verge of ruin.
A top historian from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences unexpectedly transmigrates into the doomed ruler of history: the Chongzhen Emperor.
No System, no cheat, no futuristic technology.
His only advantages are his knowledge of every step in the Great Ming's collapse over the next fifteen years, and expertise in economics, military and government affairs, industry, and social reform far beyond his time.
Other emperors who transmigrate focus on confiscating estates and hoarding wealth, or conjuring guns and cannons out of thin air. As soon as he takes the throne, he first distributes imperial farmland to comfort the refugees, then opens schools of mathematics to cultivate talent among the common people.
While the court officials stubbornly cling to ancestral laws and talk the country into ruin, water-powered workshops are already roaring into operation beneath the Western Hills. While nobles and ministers bicker over border passes and shirk responsibility, he is quietly laying the groundwork for new reforms, cleaning up the court, and rebuilding the foundations of the Great Ming.
Defying fate, he purges the eunuch faction, reins in the Donglin movement, strengthens the army, and builds up industry. In this life, he will not hang himself at Coal Hill. He swears to save the empire from collapse, keep the Great Ming alive for another three hundred years, and restore it to the pinnacle of a world paying tribute!
