Blood on Red Robes: From Poor Scholar to the Execution Ground

A modern doctoral student transmigrates into the past as the son of a poor family. He passes all six levels of the imperial examinations and becomes the youngest top scholar in history, only to end up as the emperor’s “fattened pig waiting to be slaughtered.” Over twenty years, he transforms from an upright scholar into a corrupt chief minister, ultimately meeting his end in a blood-soaked execution ground. This is the story of one man’s descent into depravity, and an autopsy report on the cannibalistic world of feudal officialdom. Only as the blade falls does Li Che understand:

He is not the player, but a piece on the board; not a participant, but a sacrifice.

The year after his death, the newly crowned top scholar Zhang Muqing, a young scholar who looks remarkably like Li Che did in his youth, accepts a calling card from a salt merchant.