The World at the End of the Ming Dynasty: 1639

In the twelfth year of the Chongzhen reign, 1639, Zhang Shouyan opened a space-time wormhole to Suzhou in the Great Ming. In Suzhou were Dong Xiaowan, beautiful and devoted, and Chen Yuanyuan, whose beauty was unrivaled in her day. But Zhang Shouyan had his eye on more than just the beauties: he was also after the most precious thing of the age. Rebel bands and the Later Jin, the deserts and the Western Regions. Across the globe, Tokugawa Iemitsu had just completed Japan’s policy of isolation. Russia was entering the most powerful era of the Romanov dynasty. The Cossacks of the mighty Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were plotting a revolt. The Ottoman Empire was on the verge of decline. The Thirty Years’ War, which would weaken the Holy Roman Empire, was drawing to a close. And in Britain, Oliver Cromwell was preparing to send his king to the guillotine. An empire far greater than the Mongol Empire was rising in the East.