In the first month of the Bingwu year, the new emperor, Zhao Heng, ascends the throne and adopts the era name Kaiyuan, replacing the Eastern Depot with the Office of Integrity. Few know that this new ruler, famous for his swagger and wit, was just a year ago the overlooked “Thirteenth Prince” in the Cold Palace. Under the “protection” of the nine-thousand-year-old Cao Huachun, he became the butt of court-wide jokes, the “Eastern Depot’s Crown Prince.” Zhao Heng, however, uses the situation to bide his time, navigating between powerful eunuchs, the chief grand secretary, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the imperial harem. He wields literary talent and political cunning like a blade, and swaggering humor like armor. He cracks the imperial examination scandal, outsmarts his way to the silver of Jiangnan, and puts down a border emergency, making his political enemies vanish amid laughter and conversation. From a brazier in a lonely palace to the Nine-Dragon Throne, he walks through intrigue and sincere affection until, amid snow and fireworks at the turn of the Yisi and Bingwu years, he makes the realm understand: this empire belongs on the shoulders of the cleverest, boldest man alive.
