This was an era without precedent or parallel: an empress ruled the court, a princess held power across the realm, and a female chancellor judged poetry at a pavilion.
Later generations called it the “Era of Red Finery.”
Shangguan Wan’er’s life was dragged into the mire because of Wu Zhao, yet also soared to great heights because of her.
Later, facing the edge of a blade amid the rebel troops, she remembered the first year of the Shenlong era. Had the aging empress, confronted by resistance and betrayal, felt just as helpless and anguished as she did?
