On the first day of the ninth month in the first year of Taichang, two emperors died in the Forbidden City within a month. The whole palace was in mourning, and it felt as if the sky had fallen.
Zhang Zhiyan transmigrates as the second legitimate son of the Duke of England. Standing outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he hears Li Xuanshi refusing to let go of the future Tianqi Emperor inside, and hears not a single eunuch in the hall dare speak up.
He kicks the door open.
That night, he rescues Zhu Youxiao, then calls out a name from the crowd: Wei Jinzhong.
Later, he gives the man a new name: Wei Zhongxian.
He has no intention of becoming emperor or propping up the throne. He wants to use the emperor's authority and the Embroidered Uniform Guard's blade to claw back, piece by piece, Liaodong's blood, the ships for overseas voyages, the gentry's silver, and the lands enclosed by the feudal princes from a Ming dynasty rotten to the core.
Some call him a cruel official, others a butcher. Nurhaci gives him four words: "A saber-wielding tyrant."
Zhang Zhiyan grins. "I don't even have a fief. Whose emperor am I tyrannizing? Give me a fief first, then you can curse me."
