In the ninth year of the Yongle era, the Grand Canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou seethes with undercurrents. Seeking the truth behind his father's wrongful conviction, young Shen Yan goes undercover as a laborer aboard a grain transport boat. There, he stumbles upon a shocking conspiracy: Zheng Mingyuan, the deputy commissioner of grain transport, is colluding with pirates and secretly aiding Prince Ning. A fire destroys the boat, but cannot extinguish Shen Yan's determination to uncover the truth. After narrowly escaping with his life, he carries a secret letter to Jinling. With help from Xia Chengjun, a censor of the Censorate, he submits the clues to the emperor, exposing just the tip of the iceberg of Prince Ning's rebellion.
Yet the imperial court is a treacherous place, and the web of corruption is far from unraveled. As Shen Yan investigates further, he finds himself caught in an even greater mystery: the grain transport ledgers conceal a secret, pirate remnants are rising again, and even Xia Chengjun, once his benefactor, seems to be hiding an unspeakable secret. When the agents of Jinyiwei commander Ji Gang begin hunting him, Shen Yan realizes with a start that the true mastermind behind it all is a powerful new court official.
From grain boats to the imperial court, from Jinling to both banks of the canal, Shen Yan struggles forward through bloodshed and turmoil. Carrying the bronze whistle his father left behind and half of a jade token engraved with
