The Western Chen Dynasty Replaces the Ming

The Chen family of the northwest? An obscure family that nevertheless held power across Hexi, the foremost of the nine Hexi clans, outsiders beyond the imperial realm, and a local powerhouse.

These various titles were a thorn in the side of the Yongle Dynasty. For Chen Wenqiang, who had transmigrated into the northwestern Chen family, they were likewise not an auspicious background.

Reduction of the vassal states? As former officers of the Prince of Su's household, the Chen family would be the first to bear the brunt.

Confucian Neo-Confucianism? Hexi had once been ruled by foreign peoples for more than two hundred years before the Great Ming and had never been steeped in Confucian teachings.

The political center? As the capital grew ever more distant from the northwest, the Central Plains dynasty's control over Hexi and the Western Regions had become practically nonexistent.

The emperor? The emperors of the Great Ming were a bizarre lot. Jianwen attempted to reduce the vassal states, the descendants of Yongle all died young, and a God of War was repeatedly deified. Meanwhile, the Hexi Corridor, the pinnacle of Huaxia civilization, was gradually abandoned like worthless old shoes.

In the seventeenth year of Yongle, this utterly disastrous Great Ming Dynasty was hit by a storm when Prince Su Zhu Yang died.

The imperial succession changed, factions briefly came together, factional struggles swept across the realm, aristocratic clans, imperial kinsmen, and powerful families stood alongside one another, eunuch power spiraled out of control, northern expeditions pursued endless militarism, the world map had long since been unveiled, and the emperors of the Great Ming made a point of never taking advice.

Aboard the sinking ship that was the northwestern Chen family, Chen Wenqiang had no idea where he would steer the family through this chaotic Great Ming Dynasty.

But as the saying goes:

When the great roc rises with the wind one day, it soars ninety thousand miles.

Even if the wind stops and it descends, it can still churn the waters of the vast sea.

The world sees that my tune is always strange, and everyone laughs coldly when they hear my bold words.

Even Confucius feared the younger generation. A true man must never look down on the young.

With one man and one horse, Chen Wenqiang stood outside the gates of Beijing and shouted, "Great Ming Dynasty, here I come!"