The Late Ming Is Not Too Late

In 1627, the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, the Tianqi Emperor, Zhu Youxiao, died of illness. The Prince of Xin, Zhu Youjian, succeeded him as the Chongzhen Emperor and immediately moved against the eunuch faction. Wei Zhongxian hanged himself, and his followers were executed.

The Later Jin army laid siege to Jinzhou and Ningyuan, while Yuan Chonghuan led the Ming forces in holding their ground. Neither side gained the upper hand. The court reorganized its border defenses, recalling the regional commander Wang Zhichen and placing Yuan Chonghuan in charge of defense inside and outside the passes. In economic affairs, it suspended the Suzhou and Hangzhou silk workshops and introduced a system of vermilion-stamped receipts for money and grain to put the finances in order.

That same year, the last purebred European bison in Poland became extinct, and the future scientist Robert Boyle was born into an Irish noble family.

Though the Chongzhen Emperor tried to bring about reforms after ascending the throne, the Ming Dynasty was already beset by crises at home and abroad.

Yet in a remote border town in the Great Ming, a transmigrator arrived and waved hello to the already declining dynasty. The empire had seemed on the verge of collapse, but from that moment on, its fate began to turn around. From then on, the world would know that the late Ming was not too late after all!