Ma Heng, a modern-day history and agronomy student, woke up in the twelfth year of the Zhizheng era amid rebel troops outside Haozhou. He had become the long-lost younger brother of Ma Xiuying.
At the time, Zhu Yuanzhang was still Zhu Chongba, serving under Guo Zixing. The road ahead led through rival warlords and mountains of corpses; beyond that lay the Hongwu-era purges, the deaths of meritorious officials, Zhu Biao's early death, and the fires of the Jingnan Rebellion.
His older sister was the virtuous empress who helped found the Great Ming. His brother-in-law was the decisive Hongwu Emperor. His nephew was the benevolent Zhu Biao, and around them was a host of Huaixi nobles who would one day either become princes or meet their deaths.
He had the greatest patronage imaginable, yet stood on the most perilous blade's edge.
He had no intention of rushing to seize power. First, he would keep his sister safe, ensure Zhu Biao lived a long life, and secure the foundations of the Great Ming.
He would improve crop varieties, build waterworks, establish new accounting methods, streamline military supply lines, create basic sanitation and disease prevention systems, and improve metallurgy and manufacturing.
He would persuade the old Zhu to temper his ruthlessness, balance the Huaixi and Zhedong factions, and avert the bloodbaths of the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases.
He would reconcile the princes and lay the groundwork for a system to restrain the fief princes, cutting off the fuse that would ignite the Jingnan Rebellion.
Court intrigues, the northern campaigns against the steppe, voyages to the southern seas, the first steps toward lifting the maritime ban...
Everyone said an imperial uncle was privileged. Ma Heng alone knew the truth:
He did not intend to be an in-law who threw his weight around. He would be the mastermind who secured a century of peace for the Great Ming.
