Palace Gate Sunset

In the eighteenth year of Wanli's reign, spring and Jingming's Forbidden City were already filled with undercurrents. The emperor was trapped in the dispute over the foundation of the country, and had been living in the palace for a long time and was idle before the court; the old cabinets and cabinets took turns playing games, the Donglin, Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang parties divided the court; the officials used the Qing Dynasty to criticize hundreds of officials, the eunuchs roamed around the center of the palace, and local border towns and the transportation of wealth and water were full of abuses. A piece of demonic writing caused chaos in the government and the public, and rumors engulfed the six factions. A strange man broke into the East Palace with a stile, shocking the peace of the palace. The emperor suddenly collapsed, and a red pill dropped endless doubts. The new emperor ascended the throne, and the harem attendant Li Xuan was entrenched in the Qianqing Palace and refused to move. The four major cases of the demon book, the attack, the red pill, and the palace transfer appear one after another. Each strange case is never an isolated palace secret, but a microcosm of the fierce collision between imperial power, cabinet power, and Shilin party power. No one is involved, and no one can uncover the whole truth. Wanli's stubbornness and loneliness for half his life, the officials' lust for power hidden under morality, and the empire's rigid and decadent rules and regulations were all hidden within the vermilion palace gate. Thirty years have passed, with the emperor and his ministers becoming suspicious, factions fighting, internal worries getting worse, wars rising outside the pass, and the setting sun of the Ming Dynasty slowly setting on the eaves of the Forbidden City.