The Second Year of Zhenghe: the Turning Point of the Han Dynasty

"The Second Year of Zhenghe: The Turning Point of the Great Han Dynasty" is a historical novel based on the witchcraft disaster in the later years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It uses a multi-line narrative to show the shocking process of the empire from prosperity to decline. In 91 BC, the 65-year-old Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was deeply obsessed with immortality. Jiang Chong, the messenger of embroidered clothes, used the witchcraft case to frame the prince Liu Ju, triggering the bloody battle in Chang'an. Behind the unjust death of the prince, lies the huge corruption network of the Salt and Iron franchise - General Li Guangli of the Second Division and the Prime Minister's Office shared the stolen money of 30 million, and inferior ordnance led to the massacre of 7,000 households at the border. The story unfolds from the perspective of three minor characters: Luoyang jailer Zhao Yu discovers that the evidence of witchcraft is fake, refugee girl A Chu accidentally obtains the broken pages of the salt and iron account book, and Jing Zhao Yin Junbu doubts that he is in a moral dilemma to save his family. They are like glimmers of light in the dark night, struggling to pursue the truth on the edge of the empire's collapse. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gradually woke up from the pain of losing his son. Faced with the deadlock of "the Northern Expedition of the Xiongnu depleted the national treasury, and the salt and iron forces were forced to rebel against the people", he finally promulgated the first self-incriminating edict in Chinese history, the "Luntai Edict", and completed the transformation from a hero to a penitent at the end of his life. The novel integrates historical facts and artistic creation, recreating the political games and economic dilemmas of the heyday of the Western Han Dynasty. Through major events such as the Salt and Iron Mansion, the witchcraft disaster, and Li Guangli's surrender to the Huns, it reveals the financial paradoxes and human dilemmas common to all centralized dynasties. The book contains both thrilling palace struggles and bloody records of the sufferings of the people. Finally, in the dawn of reform at the "Salt and Iron Conference", it reveals the profound theme that historical progress is transmitted by a gentle fire.