Eavesdropping on Heaven's Secrets: Chongzhen's Counterattack

On the eighteenth day of the third month of the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign, a bolt of lightning struck the last emperor of the Great Ming atop Coal Hill.

Zhu Youjian did not die. He clawed his way up from the scorched earth and discovered countless whispers in his ears. The schemes buried in the hearts of every court official, the secret ambitions of frontier commanders, and the betrayal writhing in every shadow within and beyond the palace walls all surged into his mind like a tide of voices.

The Great Ming was supposed to meet its end just five days later.

He would hang himself on Coal Hill, Jiangnan would change hands, and three hundred years of empire would crumble to ash.

But that night, the heavens gave him ears that could overhear the secrets of fate.

From then on, the benighted emperor tore away his mask, and flames blazed within his frail body. He heard Cao Huachun and Li Zicheng secretly colluding, so he turned their scheme against them and laid a deadly trap at Zhangyimen, closing the gates to catch the enemy inside. He heard Wei Zaode dreaming even in his sleep of the official hat he would wear after the dynasty changed, so he confiscated his family estate and executed his clan, putting the embezzled silver toward the city's defense. He heard Wu Sangui hesitate at Shanhai Pass, Huang Taiji sharpening his blade on his sickbed in Shengjing, and Zhang Xianzhong sneer in Sichuan. For the first time, the whole world laid bare its chessboard before him, and he could hear the heartbeat of every piece.

But he could not hear his own heart.

When mind-reading becomes a weapon of power, the truth is no longer a comfort, but a poison. He could see through everyone else's schemes, yet could not fathom the tears of Empress Zhou, leaning against the door late at night and waiting for him to return. He could hear the murderous intent behind every flattering word in court, yet could not hear Tian Guifei's barely audible final words: "Your Majesty, I do not blame you."

Fate gave him a pen with which to rewrite his story, but not the hand to hold it.