Apocalyptic Undercurrent

In the late spring of the twenty-third year of the Apocalypse, an ebony wood tablet engraved with a cinnabar charm was unearthed from under the rockery in the Royal Garden. This object was once a token of the deposed princeling, and it was like thunder cracking open the peaceful court. Shen Jingzhi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was keenly aware that the corruption case three years ago, the sudden death of the eunuch in the Queen's Palace, and the accident of the third prince falling from his horse were all connected by this wooden sign, pointing to the deposed prince Zhu Cihong who was imprisoned in Fengyang five years ago. There is a turbulent undercurrent in the court: Prime Minister Li Sinian uses the dispute between the princes to frame dissidents, the queen colludes with the eunuchs to seize the throne, and the forces of the deposed prince infiltrate the imperial city like ghosts. Shen Jingzhi and Wang Yanzhi, the minister of Dali Temple, secretly investigated and found out that the deposed prince was deposed that year, which was actually the secret of Li Sinian's collaboration with the enemy. When the secret agent was found dead in Taihu Lake, Zhongliang was unjustly imprisoned, and the war broke out in the palace, Shen Jingzhi stood in the center of the storm, looking for a way to break the situation amidst the suspicion and blade of the imperial power. Behind this wooden sign is a life-and-death decision related to the fate of the dynasty.