Late Ming: Even a House Slave Can Become Emperor from the Start

Anti-Qing, anti-Ming. One heroine, no harem.

“If even emperors can’t rule forever, why should a bunch of household servants spend generation after generation serving as slaves?”

Chen Jiaxing wakes up to find himself a servant in the Xu household of Suzhou.

After a fall leaves him laid up in the woodshed, no one cares whether he lives or dies. The master gives an order: if he doesn’t recover, dump him in a mass grave. They force a bowl of bitter medicine down his throat. When he opens his eyes, he hears the year: the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

The Year of Jia Shen. Li Zicheng has taken Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor has hanged himself, and the Manchu cavalry are about to storm through Shanhai Pass.

The world is about to fall apart. But he’s only a household servant, and even his life belongs to his master.

The guards squat beneath the candlelight, gambling over a coin or two. He flicks a copper coin into the air and says, “I want to make a bigger bet. I’ll wager my life on whether I’m destined to be a household slave forever.”

They disguise themselves as scouts for the Chuang King and mingle with the refugees. In front of the City God Temple, he tells a crowd of people starving until they’re skin and bones, “This world is unfair. The Chuang King will give you back the justice you deserve.”

He’s waiting for one piece of news: the emperor is dead.

The moment it arrives, he’ll make his move.

Open the granaries, seize the government stores, and distribute the food to those who never have enough to eat. Punch a hole in the heavens.