Forty-Eight Days of Imperial Dreams: the Complete Record of the Rise and Fall of King Chuang

From being a cowherd orphan in northern Shaanxi, to being a down-and-out courier, he was forced to rise up; after fifteen years of overcoming obstacles, he took advantage of the turbulent times to gather a million troops, defeated Beijing and destroyed the Ming Dynasty. In just forty-two days, he suddenly fell from the peak of the dynasty, was on the run, and was finally trapped in Jiugong Mountain, leaving behind a century-old unsolved case of life and death. Standing on top of a typhoon, even an ordinary bird can fly high in the wind, but the strong wind will eventually stop. If it fails to grow wings while soaring, it will inevitably fall to the ground. This book retells the complete life of the king Li Zicheng in vernacular, detailing the whole process of forbearing at the bottom, rising with the trend, and losing heart at the top. The tragic past of Gao Guiying and Li Laiheng's remnants of Kuidong clinging to death is included. Three hundred years of praise and criticism, controversies, and understanding of human nature and success and failure in the ups and downs of life.