The Last Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen’s reign, the Battle of Songjin ended in utter defeat for the Ming, the last of its main forces consumed by fire, heralding the arrival of the dynasty’s final days. T
The twenty-seventh day of the second month, in the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, Great Ming.
Since last year, Li Zicheng had raised an army of half a million, besieged Kaifeng, and devastated the province of Henan.
At the same time, the main forces of Great Ming lingered indecisively outside the passes at Songshan. Beyond the empire’s border walls, a foreign regime, grown fat and powerful by feasting upon Ming’s flesh, opened its blood-stained maw like a fierce tiger, brandishing sharp claws as it launched yet another assault against the aging lion that was the Ming dynasty. Once more, they met at the turning point of history, deciding the fate of the world's most brilliant civilization with blood and fire.
Yet today in the capital, the Forbidden City was host to the grand imperial lecture. While gloom and death pervaded the realm within and without, the court before the throne was rare for its lively air, a breath of vitality stirring amidst the desolation.
Perhaps only Heaven knew the source of this vitality: an extraordinary youth.
His name was… Zhu Cilang.
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Inside the Hall of Literary Glory, before the gathered sovereign and ministers, the foremost speaker at the imperial lecture was Liu Zongzhou, the final master of Ming Confucianism. He spoke: "Self-discipline is the first principle of learning. With self-discipline, the body, mind, intentions, knowledge, family, state, and the world are all harmonized. Thus, in The Great Learning, it is the starting point for investigating things; in The Doctrine of the