The Six-Yuan Worthy Chancellor

At twelve, he was driven out of the side room by his clan, and even the lotus lantern belonging to his birth mother was crushed beneath someone’s foot. He told himself: Shen Yan, you must live. You must study, pass the imperial examinations, and show the world that even a poor scholar can shoulder the weight of an entire realm. From a broken-down house in Gusu to the palace examination in the Golden Hall, from placing first in the county exam to achieving the rare distinction of sixfold first place; From a concubine-born son scorned by the great clans to the prime minister who held the court in his hands; From a boy with no one by his side to an eminent minister who served three generations of emperors. He witnessed the darkness of collusion between salt merchants and officials, He investigated old cases of corruption in the grain transport system, He defended the imperial city through the night of the palace coup, And he handed power to the new emperor in an age of prosperity. Throughout his life, he held to one belief: to establish the heart for Heaven and Earth, and secure a destiny for the people. This is the story of a poor scholar who knocked on the court’s gates by achieving sixfold first place, then spent his life protecting the people of the realm.