There are many good books on history, Huang Renyu's Fifteen Years of Wanli is a must-read, Levin's Emperor of the Ming Dynasty can also be written very rigorously, and the old man's Biography can also be written very rigorously. Fei Zhengqing's The Ming History of Cambridge and China is a very rigorous and academic work, while King Helian Bobo's Other Ming History and The Death of the World are written in a joking way.
If we start from ancient times, we should look at Wang Shizhen's Collection of Mountain Hall, Records Since Jiajing and Records of Treasure Department, which are all works of great historical value. Of course, The History of Ming Dynasty edited by Zhang in Qing Dynasty can not be ignored.
Meng Sen's Lecture Notes on Ming History is also very good. It is a good work for the old man to narrate with the brushwork of ancient Chinese.