The Tiandao Originator acted on behalf of Heaven, establishing the Tiandao Sect, which garnered countless followers and was revered as humanity's sole orthodox faith. Over a decade later, the Tiandao Originator achieved transcendence, ascending to return to the Great Way. The Tiandao Sect, now leaderless, erupted into internal strife as various factions fought amongst themselves for the position of Sect Master. The Demon Court seized this opportunity, launching another massive offensive. As humanity once again faced annihilation, Zhang Wei, the Protector Duke, rose abruptly.

  Zhang Wei was a suspected transmigrator. In his early years, he was a bald-headed convict sentenced to death. "Bald head" was a severe punishment involving the shaving of hair and beard—a short hairstyle that happened to be the most obvious mark of a transmigrator!

  He joined the Prince of Su, a member of the Ming imperial clan, and enlisted in the imperial army. Leveraging his advanced military concepts, he reformed battle formations, introducing the pike square. He also improved firearms and artillery, dramatically enhancing their power.

  Under his leadership, the imperial army was unstoppable, sweeping away all rivals, vanquishing demonic forces, and aiding the Prince of Su in unifying the realm, ending a century-long chaos.

  Upon ascending the throne, the Prince of Su, drawing from the "Great Plan" section of the BOOK OF DOCUMENTS, established the reign name "Jianji" (Establishing the Ultimate), becoming known as the Jianji Emperor.

  Zhang Wei's merit overshadowed the sovereign. The Jianji Emperor grew wary and plotted to poison Zhang Wei. However, Zhang Wei's influence had become too deeply entrenched. He staged a coup and placed the emperor under house arrest. Yet Zhang Wei did not usurp the throne. Instead, he styled himself "Protector Duke" and installed his own lawful wife who happened to be the Jianji Emperor's daughter, Zhu Zhongmei as emperor. Drawing from the ?RECORDS OF THE GRAND HISTORIAN and the phrase "This is Heaven's gift," he established the reign name "Tianshou" (Heaven's Gift). She became known historically as the Tianshou Emperor.

  Zhang Wei himself, in his capacity as "Imperial Consort," took charge of state affairs. Thus, history entered the "Later Ming" era.

  Popular rumor held that Zhang Wei refrained from usurping the throne because he had only five daughters and no male heir. Rather than let power fall to someone else, it was better to maintain the existing arrangement. He made his wife emperor, then married his five daughters to five members of the Zhu imperial clan. Through these marriages, he merged the Zhang bloodline with the Zhu imperial lineage, forming the Five Imperial Houses.

  Zhang Wei established an ancestral decree: henceforth, all Great Ming emperors must come from the Five Imperial Houses and must carry Zhang Wei's blood in their veins.

  After the Tianshou Emperor passed away, Zhang Wei's eldest daughter, Zhu Xiyan, ascended the throne, changing the reign name to "Shengli" (Sacred Calendar). She became known historically as the Shengli Emperor.

  Zhang Wei appointed himself Grand Secretary, continuing to oversee all state affairs. During his tenure, he implemented drastic reforms, striking at the landed gentry, revitalizing industry and commerce,普及 education, and advancing technology. He steered the Great Ming onto the difficult path of modernization.

  Additionally, the imperial court promulgated the "Yuanshi Calendar" and standardized weights and measures across the realm, introducing new units such as the meter and kilogram.

  These new systems gradually became widespread, eventually becoming the common standards among the people.

  Chen Ming had originally thought that the simple style of clothing people now wore had been imported from the West. Actually, this too was Zhang Wei's invention. Legend had it that Zhang Wei, while reviewing troops one day, found the soldiers' attire too bulky and不利 for combat. He invented a new style of clothing—simple, convenient, aesthetically pleasing, and elegant. This style later spread and became known as "military style," remaining popular to this day.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Since ancient times, powerful ministers have rarely met good ends. Zhang Wei's reforms severely encroached upon the interests of the nobility and gentry. These individuals harbored deep hatred for him and secretly plotted his overthrow.

  In his later years, while on an inspection tour, Zhang Wei was ambushed by assassins and died tragically on the spot. The old forces immediately rose in rebellion. However, the interest groups Zhang Wei had cultivated were deeply entrenched. The New Policies had become established fact, their momentum irreversible. The Shengli Emperor easily crushed the rebellion.

  As for the vast majority of Zhang Wei's policies, subsequent rulers followed his established examples and inherited them.

  Beginning with the Tianshou Emperor, successive emperors were all women. Succession rules were chaotic, and the realm endured repeated upheavals., until the Yanxi Emperor's reign, when regulations were established: no child of the emperor, whether male or female, could inherit the throne, to prevent interference from imperial in-laws. Each new emperor was selected by the preceding emperor or the Grand Council from among the Five Imperial Houses, based on ability, ensuring the continuation of the imperial bloodline.

  The current emperor was the Yuanjia Emperor, the very portrait Chen Ming had seen on the banknotes upon first transmigrating. She was less than twenty when she ascended the throne and remains a woman in the prime of her life.

  Reading up to this point, Chen Ming was dumbfounded, thinking how utterly preposterous this history was. On second thought, given that this suspected transmigrator had stirred up so much, it wasn't so strange.

  But Chen Ming noticed that historical records about cultivators, aside from the Tiandao Originator who couldn't be avoided, made no mention whatsoever. This struck him as odd. Even a small place like Renhe County had cultivators, indicating they weren't rare. Yet books contained not a single trace, as if deliberately concealing such matters from ordinary people.

  Furthermore, Chen Ming believed Zhang Wei wasn't the only transmigrator. What about the Plagiarist of Library? Who knew how many predecessor transmigrators there were, and what earth-shattering schemes they had left behind?

  Unfortunately, the Renhe Public Library had limited books, and Chen Ming couldn't find answers for now. He looked up at the sky—it had already grown dark. The library began ushering patrons out. Chen Ming had no choice but to close his book and reluctantly depart.

  Chen Ming grabbed a quick bite to eat outside, returned to his apartment, lay down on the bed, and pondered his future livelihood.

  He had already obtained quite a bit of gold and silver jewelry from the dead. These items had come easily, but converting them into cash would be difficult. Although their owners were dead, their families might still be alive. If investigations ever traced back to him, the trouble would be enormous. So he must use underground channels, safely liquidating the assets.

  Chen Ming planned to accumulate more valuables, then cash out all at once.

  Emboldened by his recent success, Chen Ming immediately launched the "Great Scavenge" plan. As the saying goes, "First come, first served"—the first target would be the forests surrounding Renhe.

  Chen Ming had originally planned to search for valuables in the forest during the day, but he quickly realized this would attract attention—Zhang Xiyan, for instance, recognized him. So he changed his plan: enter the forest stealthily in the dead of night.

  To avoid detection, Chen Ming deliberately disguised himself. Before transmigrating, he had scrambled and clawed his way through the entertainment industry and had once spent time with a female makeup artist, picking up a few makeup skills. Though not enough for a complete transformation, it was more than sufficient to make himself unrecognizable.

  He disguised himself as a farmer coming to town to sell vegetables and left the city at dusk. After nightfall, he entered the forest, shining his flashlight, searching inch by inch.

  The unnameable human descending upon the forest sent the monsters within into chaos, their clamor unceasing. Chen Ming was fearless—after all, they didn't eat him. Having seen so many, they were just like ordinary chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats—nothing special.

  On the first night of the Great Looting operation, Chen Ming found eighteen corpses. The haul wasn't great—just a few gold and silver ornaments. But on the second night, luck struck. Although he only found one corpse, with no gold or silver jewelry, the皮夹 it carried contained dozens of ten-yuan banknotes—a windfall.

  Chen Ming swept through the wilderness for several consecutive nights. Having seen countless corpses and grown bored to death, he began observing them, categorizing their causes of death into three types based on his observations.