Season 1

At the Lunar New Year’s Eve in the 3rd year of JIAQING Era, QIANLONG as usual writes calligraphy with words of blessings at the Yangxin Hall and bestows it upon his son JIAQING. He also tells JIAQING to write something …

Feeling perturbed, HESHEN rushes to the palace and learns that QIANLONG coughed up blood; whereas QIANLONG pretends nothing happened, instead, he wants HESHEN to go out with him as promised. At the first Day of the Luna…

With PRINCE YONGXUAN purchasing a large amount of firearms and hiding them in his residence in the capital, JIAQING has HESHEN’s son FENGSHEN-YINDE lead the troops on a raid to his residence. The situation is becoming m…

Sensing the uncertainty, HESHEN asks his second wife CHANG MEI to write a letter in English then tells FUCHANG’AN to hand it to the representative of East India Company as a contingency plan. Hundreds of court officials…

JIAQING puts HESHEN and FUCHANG’AN under house arrest at the Qianqing Palace, commanding the two to confess their crimes in public the next morning. FUCHANG’AN is very uneasy, but HESHEN doesn’t panic at all, because JI…

JIAQING receives a record book containing the list of court officials who received bribes from HESHEN, so he immediately instructs LIU YONG to get ready to publicly prosecute HESHEN. Following his failed assassination a…

When JIAQING questions the court officials who received bribes from HESHEN, the record book is switched with another one, above which it’s reported by an official that LIU YONG’s adopted son LIU HUANZHI allegedly misapp…

At night, JIAQING visits ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT, who is under house arrest on the conviction of possession of a prohibited drug. He asks her about the night that the late Empress died in the Qianqing Palace fire, but she s…

After the plum blossom tree in the palace suddenly withered, word gets around, and rumor has it that the late EMPEROR EMERITUS died of a suspicious death. JIAQING goes in person to check it out, surprisingly, HESHEN als…

PRINCE YONGXUAN asks for an audience with JIAQING and raises his concern regarding QIANLONG’s suspicious death. He then asks for permission to investigate the matter, seeking to pledge allegiance to JIAQING. When JIAQIN…

PRINCE YONGXUAN takes CHANGDONG back to the palace and wants him to reveal the name of the culprit who poisoned QIANLONG, without knowing that CHANGDONG instead claims that the culprit is PRINCE YONGXUAN himself! After …

On his way to bring injured HELIN back to the capital, FUCHANG’AN notices that he is heavily encircled by a large group of people. He later reports to JIAQING, claiming that a group of masked men in black took HELIN awa…

Following a clue, JIAQING discovers where HELIN is hiding; whereas HESHEN comes too late, feeling rather perturbed as he can only watch his younger brother being taken into custody from a distance. ZHU GUI interrogates …

JIAQING orders PRINCE YONGLIN to parade HELIN through the streets, seeking to force HESHEN to save him. Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work out well, and PRINCE YONGLIN returns in failure. Judging the situation, HESHEN…

FENGSHEN-YINDE reports to JIAQING that HELIN is found dead when he arrives at the jail; whereas JIAQING is furious at this because HESHEN beats him to it. In the wake of the Ziguang Pavilion explosion, JIAQING commands …

When ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT is holding a memorial service at night, JIAQING suddenly arrives and once again asks her about the Qianqing Palace fire that happened two years ago, to which ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT finally reveals …

Word gets around after the attempted assassination of JIAQING. In order to show that he is safe, JIAQING urgently summons all the court officials, but soon lapses into a coma upon his return to the palace, to which ROYA…

In the nick of time, JIAQING regains consciousness, managing to avert disaster. Suddenly, ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT bursts in, begging him to go to Shoukang Palace and bring back PRINCE MIANNING. PRINCE YONGXUAN commits suici…

HESHEN is arrested; whereas CHANG MEI disappears. HESHEN is then taken to JIAQING, who threatens him with the accessories and jewellery worn by DOUKOU in order to make him confess his crimes. DOUKOU wakes up to find her…

HESHEN manages to escape from the palace, but he refuses to leave. Eventually, he finds DOUKOU. After DOUKOU wakes up, LIU QUAN gets down on his knees to apologize to her, above which he even hands her a dagger so that …

FUCHANG’AN manages to convince CHANG MEI and allows her to make an audience with the Emperor late at night. Running away through the water route, HESHEN goes with LIU QUAN to the Canal Trade Gang to meet up with GU CHUA…

Holding tight to FU’EN’s dead body, FENGSHEN-YINDE returns to the palace to make an audience with JIAQING, who also shares his grief. CHANG MEI has a surprise discovery while praying for the late FU’EN by lighting a lam…

JIAQING becomes furious after discovering that HESHEN escaped again; whereas FUCHANG’AN explains that all his subordinates were killed when they tried to capture HESHEN. JIAQING is skeptical about what FUCHANG’AN said, …

With JIAQING and HESHEN caught in a deadlock at the Canal Trade Gang inner hall, FUCHANG’AN appears. Instantly, both sides try to win him over as reinforcement to deal with each other. Not wanting FUCHANG’AN to shift hi…

JIAQING calls a secret meeting to discuss countermeasures with three senior court officials, during which LIU YONG suspects that PRINCE MIANNING probably fell into HESHEN’s hands as the latter secretly returned to the c…

HESHEN threatens JIAQING with PRINCE MIANNING’s life, forcing him to give in. In order to save PRINCE MIANNING, NAYANCHENG even risks his own son by making him as a decoy to lure away the pursuing enemies. After HESHEN …

HESHEN cremates CHANG MEI’s dead body, following which he brings along DOUKOU to meet a mysterious man. The mysterious man hands him an empty edict, adding that the late QIANLONG arranged a back-up plan for him. Followi…

PRINCE YONGLIN finds out that NOBLE CONSORT DOWAGER YING committed suicide and left a note, accusing JIAQING of killing QIANLONG by poisoning him. Furious YONGLIN goes to confront JIAQING, who silently admits it. Withou…