In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli era, Emperor Taichang fell gravely ill. The Chu, Qi, and Zhejiang factions were utterly defeated in their power struggles, while the Donglin Party seized the opportunity to rise, filling the court with upright officials. Meanwhile, the Jianzhou Jurchens swept across Liaodong, the Central Plains were left with barely one household in ten, and bands of rebels sprang up everywhere, leaving the people in a state of panic. The emperor's eldest son, Zhu Youxiao, ascended the throne at the Gate of Heavenly Peace, shouting, “I am absolutely not the Carpenter Emperor!”
