The Setting Sun of Bafu

This novel is set in the short-lived state of Zuo in the 17th year of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and revolves around the power game between the puppet emperor Yuan Shanjian and the powerful officials Gao and his son. After the split of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the eleven-year-old Yuan Shanjian was proclaimed emperor by Gao Huan, but he was just a decoration in the Yecheng palace. The real center of power was in the Prime Minister's Mansion in Jinyang. He gradually grew up on the throne, from an ignorant boy to an ambitious emperor, but he was still unable to break free from the prison. When Gao Huan was alive, it was a gentle prison, but after Gao Cheng took power, it became a naked humiliation. A sentence of "dog feet" and a slap in the face tore apart all dignity. He once plotted to dig a tunnel out of the palace to contact the loyalists, but his plan failed due to a traitor's report. The loyal minister's head was hung at the city gate. On the eve of Gao Yang's death on behalf of Qi, he signed the edict of Zen status and became the King of Zhongshan from the emperor. He fed the fish and played the harp by the pond, and lived a peaceful life for two years. In the end, a pot of poisonous wine ended his 28-year-old life. Through his perspective, the novel shows the tragedy of how a smart and kind-hearted young man endured and struggled under the shadow of powerful ministers, and was eventually crushed by power. This is not only the history of the rise and fall of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, but also a desolate elegy of a person trying to live as a "human" under the weight of fate.