Empire of the Great Ming
Empire of the Great Ming
- Coat of arms/Flag
- Capital City- Beijing (Shuntian prefecture)
- Other Settlements –
- Languages – Official language: Mandarin
Other Chinese languages
Other languages: Turki, Old Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, Jurchen, and others - Religion(s) – Heaven Worship, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Islam, Roman Catholicism
- Government – Absolute monarchy
- Legislature –
- Current Ruler – (Emperor Yingzong of Ming, prisoner of the orcs) acting – Emperor Jingtai of Ming
- Other Notable residents – Yu Qian
- Currency – Paper money , copper cashes (文, wén) in strings of coin and Silver taels (兩, liǎng) in sycees and by weight
The past few centuries have been ones of great upheaval in Chinese history. The orcs from central Asia conquered northern China, annexing it to their empire which stretched as far west as the Middle East and (within a few years) Russia. Southern China also fell during the age of the Great Muster. Eastern Fang rulers attempted to govern through established Chinese institutions while placing orc commanders and trusted households above key military and court offices; later chroniclers sometimes map this conquest onto the historical Yuan framework, but the campaign polity belongs to Mhurak Stone-Blood’s orc imperial legacy.
After Mhurak’s empire fragmented, the Eastern Fang inheritance in China weakened through succession disputes, rebellion and pressure from native Chinese powers. In 1368 Ming forces expelled the Eastern Fang court from the imperial heartland. Rival houses retreating beyond the frontier became the Broken Dragon Standards, while the wider orc world continued through the four recognised successor powers.
The Ming emperors have restored the Confucian bureaucracy, along with the examination system, to its predominant position in the state. They also briefly sent out a number of major naval expeditions to South East Asia and beyond, reaching as far as Africa and the New world. In Inner Asia, however, the orcs remain a dangerous threat to China, and the Ming have completely rebuilt the Great Wall.
Internally the country was largely tranquil and the economy and population is expanding strongly. However this was shattered by the Alliance of the Four Oirats, when they defeated and captured the overconfident Emperor Yingzong of Ming.
His capture by the enemy force has shaken the empire to its core, and the ensuing crisis may have caused the dynasty to collapse, were it not for the capable governing of prominent minister Yu Qian. who to calm the crisis at home, has installed the Emperors younger brother Zhu Qiyu as the Jingtai Emperor.
The Jingtai Emperor is not planning to rescue his brother as he does not wish to to relenqish the throne. Currently Yingzong’s only son Zhu Jianshen lives under his uncle’s shadow in the Forbidden City. While the Jingtai Emperor has installed his own son as heir he has even removed the boys title of crown prince .
