"Nine Levels of the Palace, No Peace in the World" is a million-word novel about ancient power plots.
Xiao Jingheng, Emperor Ming of the Liang Dynasty, had childhood sweethearts with Wei Qingluan, the princess of Minghua County, when they were young. However, he watched helplessly as she was sent away for marriage and died of humiliation. She grew old overnight. From then on, he became an idle prince who never cared about government affairs, and turned into a man who seizes the throne step by step. His sister, Princess Le'an, was humiliated and committed suicide by a member of the family. His best friend, Lu Hanchuan, was plotted to break his leg and abandon military service. Military advisor Gu Huaijin joined the army and died on the battlefield. The champion, Shen Heting, sued the powerful under the national law but ended up beheading Caishikou - everyone he wanted to protect left before him.
Huo Zhaoning was a daughter of a general who could have fought on the battlefield, but because her family was feared by the court, she was sent to the harem as a hostage. There was no romance between her and Xiao Jingheng, just two sober people fighting side by side at the top of power. From investigating corruption to abolishing the privileges of aristocratic families, from pacifying the Northern Territory to revising new laws, she spent her whole life practicing the words she wrote in her diary when she entered the palace - "This palace is like a battlefield, and the weak will die first."
The most touching confession between them was the line she wrote in her suicide note: "It's enough to walk this journey with you side by side in this life."
When everyone left him, he was left alone on the throne, spending the rest of his life fulfilling his promise to the deceased. The story takes the emperor and the empress to rule the world together as the main line, interweaving the intrigues in the court, the games in the harem, the battles on the battlefield, and the struggles of the poor family. It depicts the fate that is counterproductive and the persistence of doing something even though you know you can't do it.
