After transmigrating to the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong era of the Ming Dynasty, he finds himself at Tumu Fortress from the start.
His father is dead. Zhang Fu, the great general of the Ming, fell in battle.
A title arrives: Duke of Ying, dumped onto the shoulders of a nine-year-old son born to a concubine.
With his stepmother's family watching closely and an orphaned mother and child left alone, the entire court waits for the show: Can this boy hold the Duke of Ying's household together?
Zhang Mao says: Not only can I hold it together.
At court, he declares that the emperor must defend the nation's borders. The whole hall is stunned.
On the city walls, he directs the defense of Desheng Gate. His household troops fight to the death and crush Esen.
In the palace, the Jingtai Emperor competes to be his teacher, while Empress Dowager Sun tries every trick to win him over.
Yu Qian: You don't seem like a ten-year-old child.
Shi Heng: Young Duke, will I become a marquis someday?
Zhang Mao: A marquis? You will become one, and you will die because of those two words.
He knows the next sixty years of history: Tumu Fortress marks the beginning of the Ming's decline; Yu Qian is unjustly accused; the coup restores the former emperor; Shi Heng rebels; Cao Jixiang is executed by slow slicing.
Then history will take a different course.
Protect Yu Qian, stabilize the nobility, take command of the capital garrison, and build an intelligence network.
Power is only a means. Changing the fate of the nation is the goal.
Until one day, the former emperor, imprisoned in the Southern Palace, passes him and stops:
"So you're the Duke of Ying who declared that the emperor must defend the nation's borders?"
Zhang Mao suddenly changes his mind.
Who says the dragon throne has to follow its original course?
From this day on, the fate of the Ming will take a different path.
