Kangxi's Courtier: The Story of Nalan Xingde

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-- Through the lives of Zhang Sengyou, a painter of the Southern Liang, and Gao Huan, the Divine Martial Emperor of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, a tale of history from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui

The sands of Huaishuo bury the dust of a hundred battles; winds of change rise over Guanzhong and Longyou.

Moonlight shines on the willows of Taicheng; ash settles over Jiangling, where its souls fade.

Emperor Wu of Liang would sooner give up his life for Buddhism; Gao Huan's overlord government holds the realm in its grip.

Xiao Yi's golden pavilion watches books burn; Yuwen Tai ushers spring into Western Qin.

My next book will be The Hibiscus's Gentle Kiss: Crown Prince Zhaoming Xiao Tong or He Shen's Son.

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[Complete Story · The Nalan Clan · Through the Reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong]

Blurb:

Nalan Xingde, courtesy name Rongruo, was the foremost literary talent of the Great Qing.

His life lasted a mere thirty years. He drank water with his cap tilted, played at books and spilled tea, and was lost in the bonds between ruler and subject, father and son, friends, and lovers.

As a child, he was already a formidable scholar, an exceptional horseman and archer, and beyond reproach in character. He accompanied the emperor and helped him resolve his doubts.

Then a mistake at the imperial examinations dashed his hopes of distinction. His dream of entering the Hanlin Academy shattered, and he became a palace guard, serving at the emperor's side.

He fell into love and made promises, but an autumn of sorrow followed: a painted fan, a ruined magnolia, and heartache that left him silent.

He weathered the rise and fall of factional struggles, striving to be both loyal and filial, yet unable to ease the ruler's suspicions. Who could understand the tangled thoughts in his heart?

He rode through vast clouds of dust, unable to return to his ancestral home. With a thousand campfires burning, his life flickered and finally went out.

Nalan's life was full of things he could not help, yet he always lived as a graceful young gentleman in a corrupt age.

The Great Qing endured for hundreds of years and produced many remarkable figures, but Nalan's easy-to-wound spirit and pure, steadfast nature left an especially deep impression.

Draw close to Nalan the courtier, and devise a plan to capture Ao Bai, scheme to subdue the Three Feudatories, and help an enlightened ruler govern.

Draw close to Nalan the young gentleman, and admire the paired lotuses beside the Green Water Pavilion, then watch two swallows fly together beyond the rain-cleared sky.

Draw close to Nalan the poet, and seek a kindred Han friend, search for a few lines of paper to hold his sorrow, and find two hearts bound together for a lifetime.

Notes:

1. I originally planned to write The Nalan Poetry Case: Dorgon’s Eagle, a story about Shen Wan and Rongruo investigating the real cause of Dorgon's death together. I later decided to broaden the scope and tell the story of Nalan Rongruo's life. The truth behind Dorgon's death will be revealed in Volume Six.

2. Poetry and painting, along with matters of state, run on parallel tracks.

3. Nalan's personal relationships, including his confidantes Yan Xiuyun, Lu Erxuan, Guan Yunci, Shen Wan, and Nalan Hui'er, also known as Consort Hui, are given equal weight with his father-son relationship with Mingzhu and his bond between ruler and subject with Kangxi.

4. Nalan loves the Bodhi tree, whose seeds number 108. Throughout the story, 108 schemes, large and small, help his father rise to prominence, help his ruler secure the realm, and show compassion to his friends. This is the fulfillment of the young gentleman's life. Come explore and enjoy the story.

5. The original poems, written to advance the plot, number 128.

6. The details of Nalan's clothing, meals, food preferences, and discerning tastes are based on fact.

7. The Eighth Prince has a contrasting personality: immature in the early story, he later becomes a truly virtuous prince who devotes himself completely to his duties.

8. The mystery of Yongzheng's seizure of the throne, the mystery of Consort De Uya's suicide by throwing herself against a pillar, and the suspicious deaths of the Eighth and Ninth Princes have all been revealed.

The full book is complete. Updates are steady at 10,000+ characters a day, at noon or 11 p.m.

The book has eight volumes: A Young Man's Heart · Entering Officialdom · The Trials of Love · A Flawless Courtier · The Contest Between Ruler and Subject · Return to the Azure Heavens · Though Dead, Still Alive: The Nine Sons Vie for the Throne · The Yongzheng and Qianlong Era: The Glory of the Yehe Nara Clan

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[Upcoming 1] The Great Qing's First Imperial Son-in-Law / He Shen's Son

(The life of Fengshen Yinde, the only son of the powerful minister He Shen. The story covers the Qianlong reign, and features both Catherine the Great and Louis XVI.

My name is Fengshen Yinde, known as the Great Qing's first imperial son-in-law, for having a powerful father and a powerful wife.

My father is He Shen, a favorite minister of Emperor Qianlong and the most handsome man in the Great Qing.

My father is a master of political intrigue and manipulation. He also has a gift for accumulating wealth, and idolizes Nalan Mingzhu, the richest man of the Kangxi era. He managed to propel himself all the way to the pinnacle of wealth in the Qianlong era... no, in the entire Great Qing.

I married Princess Ten, Emperor Qianlong's daughter. She is strong-willed, with both beauty and brains. I was broad-minded and endlessly patient with her capricious, willful ways, while watching with a smile as she rushed between her imperial father, the Fifteenth Prince, and the He household, unable to speak of her troubles.

Later, my father He Shen fell from power, but Princess Ten remained by my side. She even pleaded for me before Emperor Jiaqing, and I survived. I was overwhelmed with emotion.

To prove I was no coward, I was placed under house arrest but resolutely petitioned Emperor Jiaqing to let me go support development in the borderlands! From then on, I balanced firmness with compassion on the frontier, earning great military distinction and a legend for building snowmen.

Unfortunately, the records official at the Princess's residence sought revenge against me. The charges he piled on included, but were not limited to, meeting women during the national mourning period, neglecting my duties, seeking revenge for my father, and neglecting the Princess.

Emperor Jiaqing was furious. He dismissed me, erased all my achievements, and read out the