Chapter One: My Father Is Chongzhen, Rebellion at the Start!

March, the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign.

This was the third to last year before the fall of the Great Ming Dynasty.

If nothing unexpected happened, in three years’ time, Li Zicheng would lead his rebel army to storm the capital.

When that day came, Chongzhen would hang himself on Coal Hill, and the entire Ming Dynasty would meet its demise.

Following that, the Qing forces would enter through the passes.

Then came the genocides of Jiading and the ten-day massacre of Yangzhou, followed by the enforced shaving of heads and changing of attire across the land of China.

China was destined to endure three centuries of dark rule.

Alas!

Zhu Cilang, who had traveled through time, sighed deeply, filled with concern for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

But in his view, there was still time.

And everything was to begin tonight.

In the next moment, Zhu Cilang slowly turned around.

Before him appeared a dense and formidable army.

No fewer than three thousand strong!

Each soldier clad in heavy armor, their faces solemn.

These were his own personal crown prince guards.

According to Ming regulations, a crown prince could only take residence in the Eastern Palace upon reaching the age of fifteen, and only then could he have his own retinue.

But Zhu Cilang was only thirteen this year; by all rights, he should still live within the imperial palace, not the Eastern Palace.

Yet, since arriving a month ago through time, Zhu Cilang had insisted on moving to the Eastern Palace.

At the time, Chongzhen was overwhelmed by the internal and external crises plaguing the state and initially hesitated to agree.

But after Zhu Cilang’s repeated insistence, he finally consented.

As for the appointments within the Eastern Palace Secretariat, that matter would have to wait.

At present, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were attacking Henan, successively capturing several cities.

The Ming Dynasty was on the brink of collapse, and Chongzhen simply had no energy to deal with such affairs.

However, Zhu Cilang was allowed to select the Eastern Palace guards and some other personnel himself.

And that was exactly what Zhu Cilang wanted!

By the late Ming, the Ming armies had long lost their combat effectiveness, and he had no desire for a group of incompetents to serve as his crown prince guards.

What he needed was a force with real fighting capability, fiercely loyal only to himself.

Thus, recalling his memories from the past, Zhu Cilang personally named three men to Chongzhen, requesting them to serve nominally as Eastern Palace guards and military officers.

These men were:

Zhang Shize, heir to the Duke of Yingguo, the last such duke of the Ming Dynasty; his ancestor was Zhang Fu, the first Duke of Yingguo in the early Ming.

Wang Xiantong, the new Marquis of Xinjian; his ancestor was Wang Shouren, the first Marquis of Xinjian in the early Ming.

Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng; his ancestor was Li Jun, the first Earl of Xiangcheng in the early Ming.

Why these three? The reasons were simple.

First, these three were among the few noble dignitaries who remained loyal to the dynasty until its fall.

Second, the Duke of Yingguo’s lineage was arguably the most powerful among the Ming nobility, and Zhang Shize, as the duke’s eldest son, would bring that house onto his side.

Third, Li Guozhen commanded the Beijing garrison as its governor, so enlisting him meant control over the entire capital garrison.

Fourth, Wang Xiantong was the commander of the Former Army Headquarters, responsible for the defense of the capital, commanding the three elite guards around Tongzhou; having him on board meant control over the entire Former Army Headquarters.

(For reference: these troops were stationed near the Beijingtongzhou district, similar in nature to the Beijing garrison, both tasked with guarding the imperial capital.)

When the list was presented, Chongzhen agreed without hesitation.

After all, the crown prince was to inherit the throne, and it was better to become acquainted with the nobles early on.

Moreover, these were merely nominal positions, so there was little cause for concern.

Thus, Zhu Cilang successfully recruited these three Ming nobles to his cause.

Since they had their own responsibilities, after receiving imperial orders, they paid a brief visit to Zhu Cilang before returning to their duties.

Over the next month, Zhu Cilang personally recruited three thousand crown prince guards.

Most of these recruits came from the lowest ranks of the military and society, completely unrelated to the nobility, civil officials, or generals of the court.

As for his recruitment method, it was quite simple—two words:

Money!

Though the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, its finances strained, and even the emperor was short of funds,

Zhu Cilang, as crown prince, was extraordinarily wealthy.

The reason was none other than the system he brought with him through time.

The system had no name and did not communicate with him, possessing only a simple system marketplace.

It allowed him to exchange various historically valuable items for system currency, which could then be used to purchase supplies from the system marketplace.

For example, antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and rare treasures…

During that month, Zhu Cilang converted nearly every antique, painting, and treasure he could find.

He exchanged ancient paintings for about two hundred thousand system currency units, and antiques and rare treasures for about three hundred thousand units.

A total of five hundred thousand system currency units.

The exchange rate between system currency and silver was one to one—that is, one unit of system currency could be exchanged for one catty of silver…

Yes, you heard correctly; silver was measured by the catty.

This was because the system simply classified silver and gold as mineral resources, so both were measured by weight.

Of course, silver was the most important at this time.

Based on the Ming standard of one tael equaling thirty-seven grams, one catty of silver was thirteen taels.

Thus, five hundred thousand system currency units could be exchanged for six and a half million taels of silver!

What?

You ask why he didn’t exchange for airplanes or cannons?

Because the system did not allow the exchange of technology beyond the era’s level…

Otherwise, he could have directly obtained several atomic bombs, and Li Zicheng and the Manchus would have been finished.

Although he couldn’t obtain advanced weapons of mass destruction, the existing Ming supplies were abundant beyond measure!

Rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, potatoes, all kinds of meat, cotton, ironware, armor, cannons, firearms, silver, gold, and so on…

Except for gold and silver, which were measured by weight, rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, potatoes, meat, and cotton were measured by the ton.

Armor and cannons were counted by the piece.

Moreover, the rarer and more expensive the item, the more system currency it required to exchange.

Similarly, the more precious the item, the more system currency it would yield upon exchange.

For example, a famous Song dynasty calligraphy piece could be exchanged for two thousand system currency units, equivalent to twenty-two thousand six hundred taels of silver.

A famous Tang dynasty piece could fetch over five thousand system currency units, or at least fifty thousand taels of silver.

It was for this reason that Zhu Cilang possessed five hundred thousand system currency units!

He did not convert all of it into silver; instead, he exchanged five million taels of silver first.

The remainder he kept for himself.

By this time, the Ming treasury was already on the brink of collapse.

Chongzhen could hardly provide funds to maintain the army, let alone pay the salaries of the Embroidered Uniform Guards or the civil and military officials, who had long been owed wages.

There was no way around it—the annual tax revenue at this time was only a few million taels, leaving Chongzhen with no resources to pay his officials.

But Zhu Cilang’s situation was entirely different; he spared no expense in recruiting his guards.

Each new recruit received ten taels of silver as a settlement fee, plus five taels monthly.

On top of that, they were provided daily with large white steamed buns, rice, and meat without limit.

When these recruits tasted such provisions on the first day, many were moved to tears.

After all, coming from the lowest social strata, they had never tasted such good food before.

Even as soldiers in the past, they rarely had meat on the table in a month.

By the third day, unease began to stir among them.

The crown prince was treating them so well—was he expecting them to fight desperately against the rebels?

Could this be a death sentence?

Well then!

Having accepted the crown prince’s silver and eaten his food, their lives belonged to him!

If a fight was to come, so be it!

By the tenth day, their unease deepened.

The crown prince was so generous—was he preparing to have them fight the Manchus?

They had heard that the Manchus were brutal, killing people as easily as slicing melons.

But now that their lives belonged to the crown prince, regardless of how fierce the Manchus were, they would fight!

By the end of the month, all their fears vanished completely.

They no longer considered or worried about anything, for they had become Zhu Cilang’s devoted warriors.

Now, no matter if it was fighting rebels or the Manchus, they would obey without hesitation.

If Zhu Cilang ordered them to assassinate the emperor himself, they would dare to carry it out!

Thus, within a single month, Zhu Cilang had assembled three thousand loyal warriors!