Starting from Tumu Fortress: Making the Ming Dynasty Great Again

In the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, the elite forces of the Ming Dynasty were annihilated at Tumu Fortress. The emperor, Zhu Qizhen, was captured by the Oirats and forced to beg at his own borders, enduring ultimate humiliation. Although Yu Qian successfully defended Beijing, he was later executed, and the backbone of the empire was forever broken. Yet in this parallel timeline, as two hundred thousand troops suffer through two days without water and the Oirat cavalry prepares its final charge while the eunuch Wang Zhen recklessly orders a disastrous retreat, the emperor—who should have fainted in despair—suddenly opens his eyes with newfound resolve. Gone are the days of being mocked as the "Begging Emperor," the "Oirat Student," or the so-called "God of War." With two hundred thousand battle-hardened soldiers, the Duke of Ying Zhang Fu, and loyal ministers like Kuang Ye at his side, he refuses to surrender or plead at the gates. When there is no path for retreat, he chooses to stand firm. Wielding the Son of Heaven’s sword, he first executes the treacherous eunuch to rally the troops. Upholding the imperial creed that the sovereign must guard the nation's frontier, he carves a bloody path through the carnage of Tumu Fortress to reforge the unyielding spine of the Ming Dynasty.