The Embroidered Uniform Guard's Path to Rebellion

During the Ming Dynasty, the emperor established the Embroidered Uniform Guard, formally known as the Embroidered Uniform Guard Command, to gather firsthand intelligence and secure his rule. The guards answered only to the emperor, rooting out disloyalty and keeping the court in check. Later, to strengthen his control over the provinces, the emperor ordered his agents to search across the country for gifted children with exceptional physiques or intelligence. Their memories were erased, and they were adopted as his sons. After undergoing brutal training, they were sent out across the land to blend into ordinary households. These guards were known as “Scattered Sons.” At no time could they reveal their abilities or identities. They had to report the intelligence they gathered to the emperor’s trusted agents at regular meeting points. If they encountered rebels or threats to public order, they had to eliminate them in secret without exposing themselves. If they came across rebel forces beyond their ability to handle, they had to report them immediately and keep them under covert surveillance. In addition, they had to carry out the emperor’s assassination orders without question. They could not ask why or fail, and they had to leave no witnesses.

Zhang Yiqing was secretly sent to the emperor at the age of five to be trained as a Scattered Son because of his exceptional physique and extraordinary intelligence. After brutal training, he entered civilian life under the guise of a simpleton and was adopted by a kind couple. After witnessing his adoptive parents’ brutal deaths and being forced to harm innocent people, among other events, he began to question whether what he was doing was right. What was the missing memory that kept resurfacing and vanishing...?