Great Ming: Reviving the Empire as Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao

[Great Ming] + [struggle for supremacy] + [passionate] + [drive out the Tartars]

The fighting spirit is most easily worn away in ordinary times. Most people are trapped in the mundane, gradually fading into the crowd. Ambition, however, is all too easily nurtured by power and position, growing unchecked. As the eldest legitimate son of Emperor Hongzhi, Zhu Youcheng, and the crown prince of Great Ming, Zhu Houzhao had an enviable start from the very beginning.

The Hongzhi Restoration had given Great Ming a solid foundation. The lingering glow of a golden age remained, the court was stable, and the people lived in peace and contentment. It would be a terrible waste for such an excellent foundation to end in decline and mediocrity. The flaws inherent in all things are precisely what make it worthwhile to break through, rebuild, and defy fate.

A soul unwilling to sink into an ordinary life had come upon the perfect chance to shape the times and stir up the world. Zhu Houzhao resolved to pursue grand ambitions. He would not be a crown prince who merely followed the rules and preserved the status quo. He would break free of worldly constraints, rule a vast realm, forge a golden age of his own, and become a mighty ruler whose name would go down in history.

People say that the historian's brush is like a knife, and that anyone may judge a person's merits and faults. Yet looking across the histories of all ages, not a single stroke has ever truly belittled this young emperor, whose heart burned with fire and who refused to settle for an ordinary life.