There's Still Hope for My Ming Dynasty

Most of the late Ming dynasty texts analyze every possible factor contributing to its downfall, including civil officials, gentry, eunuchs, border troops, Jurchens, displaced people, and a whole host of others. But in the end, the emperor and the princes are portrayed as completely innocent, like pure white lotuses. I don't understand it, but it deeply shocked me. 🤫

I think this book is good. It's quite rigorous for a historical time-travel novel, and the author has also consulted historical materials. It's really good. I hope the author continues to maintain this level of quality and doesn't just let the protagonist sweep through everything.

The beginning was quite good, but I couldn't accept the part where the protagonist directly and without modification accepted a Western religion that strictly forbade its followers from worshipping heaven and ancestors—a practice that undermined the roots of Chinese culture—and allowed it to spread. I almost gave up reading it.

If you travel to the Tianqi era, don't waste your energy on endless arguments and verbal battles in the imperial court. It's useless. The bureaucracy in the late Ming Dynasty was rotten to the core, and even the best policies couldn't be implemented. The first step was to purge the inner palace.

This book is quite good, although it still has obvious shortcomings. 1. Aside from the rebirth aspect, the author didn't use any particularly obvious or unreasonable cheat codes, which suits my taste. There was no rush to build steel mills and guns, or set up modern military academies or other such nonsense. 2. Respecting social customs is important.

When peasants lose their jobs, they rebel. You're taking action against the gentry, nobles, landlords, and powerful families of Jiangnan, and now you're even targeting the imperial family. Everyone is against you. So who supports you?

This is a map showing the situation when the protagonist transmigrated into the body of Emperor Tianqi, just after his ascension to the throne. You can refer to it (from the Historical Map Museum).

Without his death, Zhu Youxiao was basically beyond saving. He was hampered by people both inside and outside the court; he faced powerful enemies externally, major internal problems, and even divine retribution. He lacked both money and manpower, and those who could be found to be traitors were all double-dealers.

After reviewing the text, I noticed the author's political stance is negative, exhibiting a wishful thinking that some people are good and others are bad. Take Xu Guangqi, for example. Xu Guangqi was very greedy; the so-called "military training in Tongzhou" was simply because he had bought a lot of wasteland in Tianjin and Hebei and needed labor.

A time-traveling emperor story, completely devoid of historical realism, is no good! Zhu Youxiao didn't like carpentry, and Zhu Houzhao wasn't intelligent, unconventional, or martial. Even with your later experiences, a teenager or twentieth-year-old emperor constantly playing mind games with court officials, thinking you've mastered the art of imperial maneuvering, is far too optimistic and…