At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the hegemony declined, and the signs of Jin's division into three Jins were already apparent. Within the Qi State, the sword of the Tian family on behalf of Jiang had already been unsheathed.
Qin Yunhao, a twenty-five-year-old scholar-bureaucrat, is of the Xi family's bloodline and is very perceptive, but he has to be cautious in the shadow of the powerful minister Tian Heng. The warning from his wife Ling Yao still rings in his ears: "It is unlucky to see the fish in the abyss, and it is bad to hide the wisdom." A test on the deer platform, a sinister gaze, or a family tree blocking the view may be a disaster. He has to walk a tightrope between insight and pretense to protect himself and his family.
However, Bao's blood dyed the streets of Linzi red, the loyal ministers wept for help in the darkroom, the Mohist students' skills created a sharp weapon to spy on danger, and the mysterious young man from the Jin Dynasty brought little hope of foreign aid... In troubled times, how can we be alone?
On one side is the pressing and unstoppable Tian Group, and on the other side is the weak force that is loyal to the royal family but unable to save the day. Qin Yunhao was trapped in it, dealing with the court and the dark room, using wisdom and insight, combined with Mohist skills, and taking advantage of the Jin Dynasty, he even had to get involved in complex emotional entanglements.
Is this a defense doomed to fail, or a weak chance of survival in a desperate situation? See how the smart and prudent man struggles and makes choices under the great changes of the times, and finally finds a difficult way out for his beliefs and the people he loves in the torrent of Tian family succession. An epic Machiavellian novel that reproduces the grandeur and tragedy of Qi in the late Spring and Autumn Period.
