Xia Ren travels through time and becomes Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty. Today is the tenth day of the third month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, just seven days before Li Zicheng's rebel army storms the outer city. The Great Ming is already on the brink of collapse, facing imminent disaster. The Manchus threaten from the north, rebel forces advance from the west, natural disasters and human calamities plague the land. Xia Ren throws away the rope in his hands and takes up the Emperor's Sword. He kills the civil officials consumed by infighting, the corrupt court ministers, the powerful nobles whose wealth rivals that of the state, and the merchants who betray their country and side with the enemy. At first, he only wants to hold out for a few more days and send the Crown Prince to Nanjing. But events soon develop far beyond his plans.