The Exhausted Map of the Realm

Winter, the twenty-third year of the Xuanhe reign of Great Liang.

The old emperor is gravely ill, and the princes' struggle for the throne has reached a fever pitch. The court is awash in bloodshed and intrigue.

As the son of a rebel general from the northern frontier, Gu Shenyan has spent ten years as a hostage in the capital. In this man-eating imperial city, he pretends to be insane and plays the drunkard and lecher, living like a dog begging for scraps just to stay alive.

Everyone thinks he is a useless wreck beyond saving, unaware that the hundred thousand cavalry of the northern frontier answer to him alone.

When the executioner's blade is finally at his neck, Gu Shenyan wipes away his disguise and bares his fangs.

“If you won't leave me a way to live, then I'll flip the board and put a different emperor on the throne.”

From a lowly hostage to an imperial tutor wielding power over all under heaven, this is not merely a Game of Thrones, but a road to the throne paved with blood.