This is a long historical novel. The novel takes the Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty as his personal conquest and triumphant victory as the temporal background, and the Jiangnan section of the Grand Canal as the spatial background. It tells the patriotic story of Xin Qiji and Lu You teaming up to solve the Jin assassination conspiracy.
On the battlefield in Jiangbei, the Jin army was defeated by the Song army one after another. Li Tong, the governor of the Jin Kingdom, deliberately wanted to counterattack, so he coerced Prince Jie Po to assassinate Zhao Wei, the founding king of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Jie Po people then designed a plan called "Trasgeni" - burning Lin'an with ten thousand kilograms of oil.
After learning the clues, Xin Qiji, who was the secretary-general of the Taiping Army at the time, and Lu You, the historian of the Academy, set up in Lin'an and launched an investigation up and down the Grand Canal. Pursuing, being attacked, counterattacking, forming an alliance, and being attacked again, the plot of the story is constantly reversed. The loyalty of monarch and ministers, brothers in need, love, hate, joy and sorrow are intricately intertwined, revealing the fragility and flexibility of life. From full of confidence to heavy resistance, after several life and death, and undergoing tests, Xin Qiji and Lu You finally worked together to defeat the conspiracy of the Zapo people, rescued Zhao Wei (Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty), who was about to ascend to the throne, and composed a patriotic-themed hymn in Song Dynasty.
