Salt and Iron Prophecy

In the winter of the seventeenth year of Yongchang, Hanlin Minister Shen Yanqing went south under a secret order. The secret investigation into the salt tax deficit in the south of the Yangtze River and the secret investigation into the sudden death of the admiral of the Donghai Navy. Under the jade steps, the chess game has been laid out: the rich and powerful salt merchants join forces to weave, the private soldiers of the feudal kings hide in the East China Sea, and the hidden stakes of the royal guards follow them everywhere. But the emperor on the dragon throne handed him a blank oracle. From blood letters in Xuzhou to mysterious cases in Yangzhou, from private soldiers on isolated islands to chess games in Jinling. When Shen Yanqing tore off the layers of disguise, what he encountered was the warmest shadow next to the dragon chair - the man who had taught him how to play chess had already made a killing move to kill the king on the opposite side of the chessboard. This is a game of chess in which the country is at the center. The one who holds the piece does not know that he is also a chess piece, and the one who watches is the real player. And all those who walk up the jade steps will eventually be frozen to the bone by the frost on the steps.