Refusing the Throne, I Still Turn the Tables as Regent

In the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong era, the Ming army suffers a disastrous defeat at Tumu Fortress. Two hundred thousand soldiers are wiped out, and the Ming emperor is captured by the Oirat.

The day after the news reaches Beijing, civil and military officials kneel throughout Wenhua Hall, begging Prince Cheng, Zhu Qiyu, to take charge of the state in its hour of crisis.

No one knows that the twenty-two-year-old prince carries all the memories of the next eight years in his mind. He has seen himself die of illness in the Cold Palace, Yu Qian beheaded, his wives and concubines either forced to die with him or deposed, and all his painstaking efforts come to nothing.

He only wants to protect himself.

Yu Qian chases him out of the palace and grabs his sleeve, pleading with him to reconsider. Wang Zhaodi bites his palm and cries, asking why he doesn't trust her. Empress Dowager Sun schemes from behind the scenes, every court official harbors private motives, Oirat cavalry sharpen their blades beyond the city walls, and the captive emperor calls for the gates to open from beneath the walls of Xuanfu.

He doesn't want to become emperor, but he has no choice but to take charge of the state. He keeps three thousand personal guards under his command and entrusts all military power to Yu Qian. He even moves the craftsmen of the Bureau of Ordnance, tools and all, into his residence. Yu Qian can handle defending the city. He'll find his own way to stay alive.

Whoever wants to take charge of this mess of a Ming dynasty can have it. He only wants to protect those close to him and live in peace until the chaos has passed.