The Eighteenth Year of Yongli

Chongzhen hanged himself on Meishan Mountain, Hongguang was overthrown, and the wars of the Jiashen year burned across China. The last state of the Ming Dynasty was tied to the Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang who was on the run. This was the last eighteen years of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and it was also the most tragic eighteen years of the late Ming Dynasty. The Southern Ming Dynasty, which controlled half of the country in the south of the Yangtze River and had millions of troops, was trapped in endless party struggles and internal strife, destroying all vitality with its own hands. Hundreds of civil and military officials who spoke of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism lined up to have their heads shaved and surrendered, leaving only absurdity and desolation everywhere. Li Dingguo, who became a king twice, Zheng Chenggong, who returned to Taiwan across the sea, Zhang Huangyan, who resisted the Qing Dynasty for 19 years, and Li Laiheng, who burned his life to guard the festival. The reckless heroes who were scolded as "rogue bandits" all their lives became the last gravekeepers of the Han family. Eighteen years of blood and fire intertwined, writing the tragedy of dynasty changes, and also engraved the Chinese character that will never bend in desperate situations.