Those Stories of Ming. Volume VII (en Inglés)
Reseña del libro "Those Stories of Ming. Volume VII (en Inglés)"
His carpenter brother, who happened to be also the emperor of the empire, was on his deathbed. He summoned his young brother and passed the throne to him.
Unlike his brother, the new young emperor was aware the insurmountable problems he had to deal with. He worked hard, not because he had any hope of saving the empire, but rather because he didn't want to be the emperor who saw the collapse of the empire.
He entrusted everything on Yuan Chong Huan and hoped the most powerful military and civilian official would be able to salvage the situation and halt the decline. General Yuan also worked hard. But both men didn't see everything eye to eye. When General Yuan allowed the enemy force to encircle Beijing, the emperor had had enough.
As if everything was not bad enough, natural disasters also brought the government to its knees. The emperor and the officials weren't afraid of Heaven, but they were afraid of the rebels who rose up everywhere. The rebels perhaps also had had enough of Ming, but for most of them, they simply wanted to eat. They would follow anyone who promised them food, and quite of such men emerged.
Zhu You Jian, the last emperor of Ming, was a very unfortunate man. At good times, being an emperor was a good job. But at bad times, being an emperor meant only miseries. He was not a good emperor, but he was a responsible emperor. He knew his duty and he wished to save the empire that he inherited from his ancestors.
But History had his own ideas. He wanted to see some change and just like any empire, there had to be the last emperor. He had to be the one. But he wouldn't submit to his fate. He answered the final call of his duty by hanging himself. His life ended, his empire ended, and the stories about the empire end.