The protagonist Xiao Jing was born in a peasant family, but determined to break away from the shackles of fate with diligence and intelligence. When he first entered the official career, he won the favor of the emperor as a young man looking for flowers.
Emperor Li Hong may be a Ming lord in the traditional sense. He made use of talents, opened up roads for poor families, and had the ambition to govern the country... However, he deeply believed in the supremacy of imperial power, and anything could make way for the consolidation of the throne. What he wants is absolute loyalty; what he loves is the power to control everything. Anyone who touches the boundaries of imperial power can become an outcast.
Xiao Jing, who was just beginning to show his talents, was transferred to Suzhou, where the situation was turbulent, as Tongzhi only one year after joining the officialdom. Later, under Li Hong's deliberate guidance, he devoted himself to the turbulent situation in the court. Xiao Jing gradually got a glimpse of the emperor's unfathomable Machiavellian heart.
Tanhua, a young man who once enjoyed all the glory, spent his whole life exploring the truth of the world. Speak up for the voiceless and move forward for the powerless. He worked hard to promote reforms, eliminate aristocratic families, eliminate poor families, and quell foreign troubles... He thought he was carving a path to a glorious and prosperous world with his sword, but little did he know that all this was just a chess game that His Majesty had already laid out.
