Travel back in time and become Chongzhen, watch me turn the tide

It was late at night and everyone was asleep, but Zhu Youjian was still typing away on the computer keyboard.

"I think the downfall of the Ming Dynasty was fatally caused by financial problems..."

"There's a saying that goes, 'The Ming army is invincible if it's not fully paid.' If you don't have money, who will fight for you?"

"Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were originally soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. It was precisely because of unpaid wages that they embarked on the road of rebellion..."

As a relatively unknown novice author, Zhu Youjian recently planned to write a historical time-travel novel. In order to collect materials, he joined a time-travel alliance group. In the past two days, someone in the group raised a question: If you traveled through time and became Chongzhen, could you turn the tide?

Zhu Youjian was quite familiar with the history of the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty. He had previously considered writing a historical article on the subject and had consulted a lot of historical materials. Seeing this question, he couldn't help but join the discussion in the group.

"It is common knowledge that the Ming Dynasty's treasury is empty. How to solve the problem? You should know that Chongzhen did not try to find a way. He even asked ministers in the court to borrow money! The emperor was so embarrassed to borrow money, but still couldn't borrow any silver. If you were Chongzhen, what would you do?" said a netizen.

"Search their properties! Especially search the homes of the princes, nobles, and ministers first. Anyway, all the money will eventually fall into the hands of the Dashun Army, so it's better to confiscate it and use it to pay the military salaries!" Zhu Youjian responded.

"Could Chongzhen have such courage?" one netizen replied, "And if he did that, the princes, nobles, and ministers would definitely be the first to rebel. The Ming Dynasty probably wouldn't have lasted until Chongzhen's 17th year..."

"I think we should negotiate with Dorgon and focus on dealing with Li Zicheng first..."

……

I don’t know how long they chatted. Seeing that fewer and fewer people were speaking in the group, Zhu Youjian finally stopped typing on the keyboard because he felt sleepy.

After a long yawn, Zhu Youjian glanced at the time. It was already three o'clock in the morning. According to his schedule, it was time to rest.

Just when Zhu Youjian was about to send a message in the group and then shut down his computer to sleep, his computer screen suddenly went black.

"Huh? What's wrong with this broken computer..." This computer has been with Zhu Youjian for five or six years, and it is indeed time to replace it.

However, before he could find out what was wrong with his computer, the monitor lit up again, and strangely, his chat interface turned into full-screen mode.

"If you traveled through time and became Chongzhen, would you be able to turn the tide?"

"Huh? We've been chatting for half the night, why don't you ask how to turn the tide this time?" Zhu Youjian looked at the text on the chat interface and replied with a low laugh.

"Yes or no?"

"Of course I can! With my extensive historical knowledge and smart mind, it's a piece of cake!" Zhu Youjian smiled and tapped on the screen.

"Okay! Now entering time travel mode, the countdown begins... 10!"

"Who is doing this... Have I been hacked?" Zhu Youjian looked at the screen speechlessly, thinking that his computer might have been hacked.

"9!"

"Who are you? You make it seem so real..."

"8!"

"Hello..." Zhu Youjian reached out and pressed the power off button, but the computer did not respond.

"7!"

"6!"

"5!"

"4, 3, 2, 1! How boring..." Zhu Youjian shook his head and resisted the urge to unplug the power cord, wanting to see what would happen.

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"I'll cooperate with you... but don't forget to give me the golden finger when you travel through time!" Zhu Youjian said with a smile. He wanted to see what tricks the other party would play.

"1!"

"start up!"

Zhu Youjian's screen suddenly erupted with a bright light, blinding him. He felt his entire body lighten, as if floating...

"Is this... really..."

"Hmm!" Just when Zhu Youjian was puzzled, he suddenly felt a suffocating feeling. He felt as if his neck was strangled by a rope and he couldn't breathe. His whole body seemed to be hanging up!

"We respectfully send the late emperor to heaven!" A feminine and sharp voice sounded in Zhu Youjian's ears.

"Ascension?" Zhu Youjian suddenly opened his eyes. The suffocating feeling on his neck made him instantly realize that he was hanging himself.

"Hang?" Zhu Youjian struggled subconsciously, and at this moment the rope around his neck suddenly broke, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

Fresh air rushed into his mouth again, and Zhu Youjian gasped for breath, his heart pounding with fear.

"Your Majesty! You...you are..." The feminine voice that he had heard in a trance before sounded in Zhu Youjian's ears again.

"I...you...!"

Zhu Youjian turned his head suddenly and saw a thin young man in ancient costume kneeling beside him, looking at him anxiously.

"Your Majesty, you..."

Zhu Youjian took a deep breath and pinched his thigh hard. This time he used so much force that he grimaced in pain.

"Damn, this is actually true... I am now Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian..." Zhu Youjian said to himself.

After all, he was a novelist and had rehearsed this kind of plot countless times in his mind. Zhu Youjian quickly faced the reality.

This was something Zhu Youjian never expected. Answering a question actually allowed him to travel through time!

To be honest, he was still a little excited, but now he wanted to die... After all, it was no big deal to travel back in time and become Chongzhen. If he had traveled back in time to when he just ascended the throne, he would still have plenty of time to prepare, even three to five years would be fine. But he chose to travel back in time to the time when Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill.

How the hell can we turn the tide?

Now that Beijing had been captured, all the civil and military officials were rushing to surrender to the rebels. He had no guards around him, only the eunuch Wang Chengen to accompany him. At this time, being able to save his life and not become a prisoner of the Dashun Army had become a luxury.

"Oh, that's the golden finger!" Zhu Youjian suddenly remembered the essential benefits of traveling through time, and a glimmer of hope rose in his heart: "System, system!"

There was no sound at all in response to him.

"Superpower!" Zhu Youjian stood up and shouted hopefully.

Chongzhen hadn't eaten well in recent years and lacked exercise, so his body was extremely weak. Furthermore, he had just been hanging on the branch for a long time, and when he stood up, he felt a black screen before his eyes and almost fell.

"Your Majesty! What happened to you?" Wang Chengen, who was standing by, was quick to support Zhu Youjian.

"Damn it, what should I do when I have nothing?" Zhu Youjian cursed.

"His Majesty!"

Wang Chengen looked at the Emperor Chongzhen in front of him, who was both familiar and somewhat unfamiliar, and shouted with concern.

"You are Wang Chengen..." Zhu Youjian said to the middle-aged man dressed in eunuch's clothes.

"Your Majesty, it's me! What happened to you?" Wang Chengen asked anxiously.

"Then I am Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian?"

"You are the current emperor, and the reign title is Chongzhen..." Wang Chengen didn't know why the emperor in front of him asked this, and answered quickly.

"Yes, Emperor Chongzhen is what later generations called him," Zhu Youjian nodded, thinking to himself, "It seems that my time travel is certain, but what should I do next?"

For him, the most important thing at the moment should be how to escape from Beijing. If he is caught by Li Zicheng, then this mission will be over.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?" Wang Chengen asked cautiously.

Wang Chengen was also somewhat bewildered. He had waited for Emperor Chongzhen to be hanged on the tree, expecting to die after the emperor's death. But he never expected that Chongzhen would suddenly come back to life when he was half dead.

"Just now, on my deathbed, I suddenly met Emperor Taizu. He scolded me harshly and then pushed me back..." Zhu Youjian thought for a moment and said, "If I die like this, I will be too ashamed to see Emperor Taizu..."

"Then... Your Majesty, let's go on..."

"Let's take it one step at a time and escape first!" Zhu Youjian said after thinking for a while.

Zhu Youjian looked back at the crooked tree. The conditions for this journey were really harsh, but precisely because of this, he felt a surge of heroic spirit to give it a try.

"Zhu Youjian... Zhu Youjian... It seems there is a divine will in this! Now I am Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian." Zhu Youjian muttered silently, "I don't know who made me travel through time, but I will accept the task you gave me today!"

"Just wait and see how I can turn the tide!"