Auditor Zhu Hua died suddenly after working overtime and woke up as Zhu Gonghua, the third son born to a concubine in Prince Zhou's household during the Wanli era: a sixteen-year-old, overweight prince kneeling in the ancestral hall, saddled from the start with a frame-up involving 230 taels of silver. He hoped to turn his fortunes around by auditing the books: open shops, sell frost candy, and trade overseas, becoming a wealthy prince who could live in peace. But the times wouldn't let him: a major war loomed at the border, the imperial treasury was emptier than a beggar's pockets, and everyone in court was eyeing the vassal princes' money. So he turned his abacus toward the battlefield and the sea. Others saved the country with swords; he did it with ledgers. No fight for the throne, no regency, no immortality. This prince just wants to make money and stay alive. But how did his money-making end up becoming the lifeline of the Ming Dynasty?
