Xiao Jiu'an, the king of Zhennan, was the only king with a different surname in the Liang Dynasty. He guarded the southern border with 30,000 cavalry, and his achievements shocked the lord. Emperor Xiao Jingyan used Prime Minister Shen Qianqiu's forged letter of collaboration with the enemy to confiscate his home, seize his title, demote him to a commoner, and leave him in the capital to die.
But Xiao Jiuan did not die. He squatted at the door of the vegetable market begging for food, pretending to be crazy and acting stupid, but secretly used the contacts he had accumulated over the past eight years and a secret intelligence network hidden among the people to start a small-scale revenge.
Just as he was about to close the net, a mysterious letter brought news: his old subordinate who disappeared three years ago suddenly appeared in the capital, and there seemed to be a deeper force behind Shen Qianqiu - a mysterious organization "Dark Chess" that tried to subvert the imperial power and control the court.
What Xiao Jiuan didn't expect was that Shen Qingyin, the daughter of the prime minister who had always wanted to kill him, would become his most unexpected ally. This "enemy's daughter" who talks about justice and opposes him everywhere actually has her own secrets.
When revenge turns into saving the situation, when enemies turn into companions, Xiao Jiuan finds that he has been involved in a shocking conspiracy that goes far beyond personal grudges. And his only weapon is a secret weapon hidden in the mountains of the southern border that even the emperor doesn't know about - three thousand "ghost-faced riders".
