In the thirty-seventh year of Longqing's reign, winter snow covered the glazed tiles of the Forbidden City, but it could not conceal the bloody undercurrent surging within the high walls of the palace. The third prince, Xiao Zijin, whose mother and concubine died young when he was young, was fostered in a remote palace. On the surface, he is an idle prince who is obsessed with chess and does not care about political affairs. In fact, he has laid a dense network across the government and the public in the dark night.
When the old emperor breathed his last breath on the dragon bed, the edict of passing the throne disappeared. The East Palace Guards blocked the palace gates, Zhenbei Hou's cavalry approached the suburbs, and the officials knelt in front of the Wenhua Hall and burst into tears to impeach the "rebels". The entire capital instantly fell into chaos with swords and swords flashing. However, at this time, Xiao Jingyuan lost his disguise and used an inconspicuous jade pendant to mobilize the secretly trained dead soldiers. Using a chess game played against the prince many years ago as a codeword, he joined forces with officials from poor families who had been suppressed by the prince to turn things around overnight.
But the road to intrigue never ends. When Xiao Zijin was wearing a dragon robe and standing in front of the dragon chair in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, he discovered that his most trusted adviser had secretly taken refuge with the imperial uncle who held military power. The newly admitted concubine in the harem was actually the spy planted by the fifth prince. Even the "death of illness" of his mother's concubine also hid deeper palace secrets. In the Zichen Palace where the remaining lights were swaying, he held the blood-stained jade seal and finally understood: the emperor's throne has always been made of calculations, betrayal and sacrifice, and the road he wanted to take had just begun.
