Great Ming: He’s More Corrupt Than Yan Song, and You Call Him a Loyal Minister?

In the thirty-eighth year of the Jiajing reign, Yan Song controlled the court, Hai Rui bought a coffin to present a protest that could cost him his life, and the Ming Dynasty teetered on the brink of disaster.

Lu Jingyuan transmigrated as a poor scholar and awakened the “Go with the Flow System,” which would help him survive the deadly world of officialdom.

By “robbing the robbers,” he could take money from corrupt officials, bullies, and foreign enemies, then exchange it for extra years of life, attributes, and modern technology.

From then on, the Ming gained an unusually flamboyant “corrupt official.”

He amassed wealth like a madman and fawned on those in power, acting even more ruthlessly than other corrupt officials. The upright officials of the court cursed him to his face and branded him the greatest traitor in the empire.

But when Yan Song fell from power, he was horrified. “I spent my whole life lining my pockets, only to pave the way for Lu Jingyuan!”

Hai Rui stood in silence before the enormous warships at the Jiangnan Shipyard. “Though Lord Lu's methods are filthy, he saved tens of millions of people. I cannot compare!”

Years later, when Lu Jingyuan wore the scarlet robe of a first-rank official and held all power in his hands,

Emperor Jiajing, secluded in the Western Garden, gazed at the treasury, now ten times fuller, and stroked his beard with a hearty laugh. “Lord Lu is my dearest friend and confidant! Anyone who dares impeach him will have their entire clan wiped out!”

Lu Jingyuan sighed helplessly. “At first, I really just wanted to skim a little money and stay alive. How did I end up becoming the backbone of the Ming Dynasty?”