★It tells about the mysterious assassination case of the Ming Dynasty in China, which is the historical truth. The plot twists and turns much with the explosive dramatic conflicts.

★The story is full of unexpected events and craziness. Is it a history or story? Legendary historical figures become supporting roles in the story!

★There is much knowledge in the story. For instance: Do you really know Baijiu, one of the liquor? The process of making liquor actually begins in Ming and Qing Dynasties. China’s traditional liquor craft is actually a result of the ban on maritime trade with foreign countries?

This story is set in the background of the famous "Sea Prohibition Dispute” in the middle of Ming Dynasty. It tells about a group of guards led by Wu Yiyao, who assassinates Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong.

In 1542, sixteen female assassins assassinates the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing, which is a real historical event and a suspicion case in the history of Ming Dynasty. It is also the successful assassination of an emperor taken by women in the past thousand years, known as the “Palace Plot of Renyin Year”.
Early in 1368, before the Ming Dynasty is established, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has not been the emperor at that time, cooperates with a mysterious organization called the Mingwei Guard. The agreement between them regulates that the Mingwei Guard should secretly protect the emperor of Ming Dynasty with their absolute royalty and cruelty for 200 years. In those days, Emperor Yingzong of Ming is captured by Oirats after the Tumu Crisis. The Mingwei Guard chooses the former between Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu and they helps Zhu Qizhen to regain the throne by coordinating the officials who have taken part in the “Crisis of Imperial Power”. After the death of Emperor Wuzong of Ming, the Mingwei Guard affirms Zhu Houcong, which makes him the 11th emperor of Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing, from a northern prince.
In 1539 (the Eighteenth Year of Jia Jing), the powerful Emperor Jiajing suddenly gives numbers of secret edicts, one of which is to kill the Mingwei Guard. The apprentice of Mingwei Guard, Wu Yiyao survives after a near escape. She decides to revenge for the Mingwei Guard with her disappeared Kongfu skill and to accomplish an impossible mission: to assassinate Emperor Jiajing.
As one of the members in the Mingwei Guard, who protects the emperor and kills numerous assassins for years, she knows more about the assassins than anyone else. Depending on the experience of killing assassins, she deliberately meets and trains those female ninjas, detectives, and sinners who have a deep hatred of Emperor Jiajing. She combines them to an alliance of assassins.
Unexpectedly, when she intends to take an action, many Mongolian tribes in the north of Ming Dynasty and Japanese pirates in the east begin to support her assassination. The life of Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, and the destiny of Ming Dynasty are nnow under the control of her.
At that time, Wu Yiyao doesn’t know she is involved in a huge conspiracy when she is prepared to assassinate. The secret warfare under the superficial prosperity of Ming Dynasty gradually comes out with her assassination.

Shiliu, originally the editor of Consumption Comments magazine, is occupied in editorship of television plays for years. Now she devotes herself to novel creation.
Representative Works: The Hidden World (Teppanyaki Downstairs); Sealed Book in the Heaven (Aromatic Vinegar)

Introduction
The 1st Chapter Divinatory Diagram
The 2nd Chapter Official Reputation and Honor
The 3nd Chapter Negligible but Significant Duckweed
The 4th Chapter Reverse Kill
The 5th Chapter Mingwei Guard
The 6th Chapter Twenty-Four Movements of Swords
The 7th Chapter Secret Warehouse
The 8th Chapter Slaughter
The 9th Chapter Killing
The 10th Chapter Revenge
The 11th Chapter Return
The 12th Chapter Debt Collector
The 13th Chapter Complex World
The 14th Chapter Wula Campsite
The 15th Chapter “Yebuxiu” Detectives
The 16th Chapter Dinghai Mountain
The 17th Chapter Kingdom of Wu
The 18th Chapter Daughter of Wu Mansion
The 19th Chapter Eightieth Crisis
The 19th Chapter Assassination of Renyin Year
The 19th Chapter Going Ahead
...

In 1542, sixteen female assassins cooperates to assassinate Emperor Jiajing, the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which is the historical truth called “Palace Plot of Renyin Year”.
“Palace Plot of Renyin Year” can be the most suspenseful case in the Ming Dynasty. It is also the most successful assassination of emperor taken by women.
After 500 years, “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” seems to be an accident. Nobody will regard those maids in palace as the assassins who have killed the emperor. Moreover, few people know the influence of “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” on Chinese history.
In fact, when examining the “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” carefully, it can be found that there are many suspicious points in this event.
Firstly, there are few records about “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” in the abundant materials of the history of Ming Dynasty.
In The Memoir of Ming Dynasty, it says that “the maids of palace Yang Jinying and other people conspire to kill the emperor. When the emperor falls asleep, they strangle him…” Different from other materials which record the reason and outcome of events in detail, the official historian unexpectedly writes down the process of this assassination simply without analyzing its motivation.
Secondly, the assassin process is weird.
They try to strangle Emperor Jiajing, but they tie a tight knot of the rope, which leads to the failure of the action.
An experienced sniper will consciously trigger the safety system of the gun, which is the muscle memory under the trainings for years. Nevertheless, why do those maids who are proficient in needlework tie the rope into a tight knot?
If the suspicion is true, and the rope is not tied a tight knot, why do they fail? It should be known that the real history records that at that time, the sixteen maid servants sneak into the palace without the prevention of any guards. When they intend to assassinate Emperor Jiajing, he is asleep and he has no chance or time to resist.
Thirdly, the motivation of assassination is ambiguous.
Knowing that assassinating the emperor is a capital felony which will kill all the relatives of the sinner, why do the palace maidservants still go without hesitation?
An in-depth investigation of the history before and after the “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” will show that the Jiajing Dynasty in the history of the Ming Dynasty and even of all the Chinese dynasties, is mysterious, indistinct, and gloomy.
After Emperor Wuzong of Ming dies in the Leopard Palace, the prince in distant Hubei, Zhu Houcong becomes the new emperor of Ming. Zhu Houcong, who has no foundation in the court and stays at an absolute disadvantage, dares to resist the joint pressure of the royal family and the cabinet by himself. Moreover, he sets a precedent in which he doesn’t go to court for more than 20 years. What does he rely on?
For a variety of reasons, I always have the impulse to explore the stories that happen in the Jiajing Dynasty. I could not find the answer of those questions that have been bothering me for a long time until I graduate from college. After graduation, I become a well-known scriptwriter in the industry. I would like to write “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” as a movie script, but scriptwriters always have to follow the facts. Making up a false story is a disrespect for art and it can't be written down.
Afterwards, one of the most influential filmmakers contacts me. He says that he is very interested in my comments of “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” which is post in in my official account “Zheng Theory”. He wants to make it into a movie, and invites me to be the scriptwriter. To show his sincerity, he offers to advance me a large deposit.
Before this project, I have met a villain. I have lent all my savings to my ex-boyfriend, but he disappears from the earth.
Desperate for money, I say that to myself:
It is unnecessary to take everything seriously, especially for girls. The key to be a golden scriptwriter is to see whether he will compromise. The answer to “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” can be explored slowly, but if the money goes away, it is a disrespect for the scriptwriter’s craft.
Therefore, I decide to write it down.
I am so familiar with the history of “Palace Plot of Renyin Year”.
When I get the deposit, “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” has been changed by me into a movie script called "Sixteen Female Assassins Assassinate Emperor Jiajing" in accordance with the narrative mode of European and American commercial movies.
I send the first draft to Wen, he feels very satisfied with it.
He promises to shoot scenes in Southeast Asia, Japan, and even the Forbidden City which is not open to the public through his friends. He says that he will spare no efforets to pull strings, invite big shots, and even spend heavily to invite the fifth-generation director.
The progress of the project is much faster than I have expected. When the script is taken to review, the producers organize a huge script seminar. The guests are all domestic noted scriptwriters and well-known writers. The propaganda of publicity departments is also overwhelming. The magical reality hit my very much, making me have a huge sense of vertigo. I even feel that I can win the Oscar for best screenplay with this film. I will become the pride of China and my mother. We rush day and night to catch up with the progress. When we are busy in choosing the director, investigating the venue, and inviting the actors, and at the same time, investors are competing to invest the film, the project has an accident.
In that winter, the funding chain of many domestic film and television projects has been broken. Thousands of film and television companies go bankrupt almost overnight. The film and television industry has faced unprecedented difficulties. Later, experts in the industry call those years the winter of film and television.
We haven’t escaped from the crisis. The project has to suspend. It is lucky that the project is just in the beginning. In order to survive, all of us rush around for life.
After one year, Wen, who has sent me the deposit, intended to win Oscar by Sixteen Female Assassins Assassinate Emperor Jiajing, and planned to be the top five in IMDb, begins to sell used fueled trucks. Unexpectedly, the industry of new energy automobiles develops fast, and the industry of fueled automobiles is trapped into crisis. Later, Wen determines to sell the used new energy automobiles, but he encounters the sharp depreciation. All the bosses in the automobile industry are trapped into huge confusion, and Wen sustains losses in the business.
People who can survive in the film industry and vanity fair will never be defeated by the powerful the enemy in life. Wen is such a person. He performs well when faced with misfortune. He is now a dedicated full-time network car driver.
Realizing the approach of winter, I have to surrender to the reality even though I am an expert in protecting myself. But the reality still keeps cruel.
I am a professional scriptwriter good at packaging film and television PPT, and contacting clients of business. I can sell the terrible scripts of high price to film and television companies relying on its commercial value. Since the movie adaptation of “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” fails, I find that my script cannot sell.
Since the film and television companies familiar with me have cancelled, I began to reduce the scriptwriter fees. I am ready to accept the work from network movies, and even the short videos which are despised by the film and television industry, but I still can't get a job.
I can hardly breathe under the pressure of car loans and mortgage. I have no other skills except writing scripts. Therefore, I can’t maintain my basic life.
In the most dark and helpless days of life, the recovery of gains and losses, I decide to cheer up after reflection. As a writer who writes stories for a living, my professional instincts guide me that once I find the truth about the 16 female assassins who assassinate Emperor Jiajing, my career will revive.
Afterwards, I search materials about the Ming history in the national library for days. My life goes on when I work hard. I am waiting the day when I find the truth. One day, my supervisor during my postgraduate, Zhu Guifu, who is now the head of literary department, gives me a call.
He curses me loudly without any greetings.
I have a nice relationship with Zhu, so when he blames me, I am very shocked, for I have been his favorite pupil once. In that year when he knows that I am going to follow my boyfriend to create ludicrous scripts about suicide, car accidents, and pregnancy, he comes to my house for three days in order to prevent me. He is both a good teacher and friend. Even my mean mother who never praises others is moved by him.
Zhu says that my analysis about the motivation of “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” which is post on my public account is totally a shame.
Whether studying in school or writing plays outside, I have been adhering to the school motto and insisting on seeking truth from facts. What have been posted on my public account are the outcome after my research and rational analysis from authoritative materials and books of Ming History. How could he says that it is totally a shame?
Zhu has been studying Ming history all his life and has a high status in the academic world, but he can't scold me with seniority. What's more, I'm his favorite student, when he scolds me, he scolds himself at the same time.
I refutes him firmly: “I have searched numerous materials! I am respectful for the history!”
He asks me: “Is everything written in history true?”
What he says is reasonable. History can’t speak, and all the good and bad in historical books are modified by people.
In school, he often says that history can be dressed up by others, but the task of scholars is to find the truth! Doesn’t the “Palace Plot of Renyin Year” in history exist? I am going to ask him, but Zhu has hung up the phone. When I call him back, he says he is on his way to Beijing. The highly respected old professor arrives at Beijing Railway Station at five o’clock in the morning, following a cold winter night of more than 20 degrees below zero. The noisy station is crowded with people.
He hurriedly hands me a dark red gold silk wooden box.
Inside the box are ancient books wrapped in yellow silk.
The old books are in tatters, only half a volume.
He gives me a sign to read it.
What's written in the book is creepy.
The original author writes it in ancient Chinese, which is inconvenient for people to read. I have translated it into modern language, and the whole text is as follows:
This is my last night in Dali Temple.
It’s cold.
Without any food or drinks for three days, the blood-soaked clothes on my body is harder than iron plates. The jailers don’t are not going to set me free. They pull this iron plate off my body, which sticks to my flesh heavily.
I have been tortured by the group of villains.
The hot purplish-red plasma on my body suddenly freezes to be black.
Even so, I still stare at these wolf-eyed, dog-toothed bastards, and I don’t ask for mercy.
I can’t feel the pain, for I have lost consciousness; I am not sacred at all.
I wouldn't be afraid to hook my brains with ten steel hooks and castrate me with a half-moon machete for hundreds of times.
Nothing matters to me.
After dawn, I will be killed at the gate of the vegetable market. I will be killed by hacking process, rather than being beheaded or torn by five horses.
I have not done the hacking process, but I think it is similar to the torture of prisoners when I am on duty at the Dali Temple. Both of them will torture people to be a ghost, and they will hardly wish to live.
At that time, the prisoners I torture beg me loudly. They call me father, grandpa, and ancestor. And they even agree to let their daughter and wife marry me, if I do not mind.
I will tell them the reason why I have to torture them.
My colleagues are rude and impatient. They will beat them all over the face with a whip. All the prisoners will be beaten until their flesh blossoms, no matter they are fat, thin strong, or weak. The stink of blood and pus will not stop until the house is full of flies.
It is just the beginning.
The whip will be dipped in salty water. How precious the salt is. And it is a pity to use it on these dirty things!
Usually, in the interrogation cell, a row of wooden racks tie a dozen prisoners for years.
To kill one is our fault. To kill two is normal play, and then there can’t be anyone to die. Zhang Mazi who in recharge of moving the bodies outside the city shrewd will require to add money.
We will not beat the one on the bottom shelf, because he’s the richest of all the prisoners.
After he sees the way we use, we don’t need to talk about it when it is his turn. He will frankly tell the truth about everything including the fact that he breaks the wall when he is a kid and watches the fat aunt who kills the pig next door takes a bath.
We’re not here to have fun. Nobody wants to hear that.
Only the young man who has just arrived would grin and ask how many pieces of the fat aunt’s big butt who has taken a bath. If he answers it with two pieces, he would be served with a whip dipped in salt water.
If it’s four, it will be the same.
When I first start my job, I use more than 20 whips which have been old, bald, and split.
Until we beat those people to death, they don’t know how to answer for their lives.
Our prison leader later asks his friends to help him to work for the cabinet chief assistant. When he is about to leave, he invites us to drink. I ask the answer to the question when he is drunk.
After he hears it, he points at me and scolds me that we know nothing except reading. He shouts to me that I have a fucking rotten brain!
My colleagues laughs at me.
In their eyes, I am nothing but a joke.
If my woman Wu Yiyao doesn’t pawn her dowry to help me become a jailer of Dali Temple, I may be nobody for the whole life!
Our jailer leader is right. I'm a joke. The biggest joke in the world.
He scolds me and I respond him without any humiliation. I don't care the dignity of a scholar. The scholar’s face should be buttocks, and 10 years of studying are in vain. Dignity is nothing at all.
Well, fuck them all!
After drinking, the jailer head throws his arms around me. My cheek aches with his thick black beard. He whispers to me that the prisoners in our custody are all sentenced by Dali Temple. No one would care their lives. It doesn’t matter how many pieces the fat aunt’s buttock has! Even if they say that the fat aunt's buttocks have 1,800 pieces, they will be beaten to death.
I don't understand: “Do they have to die like this?”
“Isn't it good for them to die like this?”
At the age of 20, I don’t understand many things. For example, my Wu Yiyao, how does she become the woman another person? For example, later, I join Jinyi Wei Guard to experience a lot of marred things.
Now, I realize that the prison leader has left out the other half of what he has said:
The families have paid for the prisoners to die at our hands! If they haven’t spent the money, the prisoners would have ended up like me now, who will do to death after dawn through thousands of cuts! Our charges are the same: Assassinating the Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong.
“Palace Plot of Renyin Year” is the assassination of Emperor Jiajing led by sixteen maids in palace. What is the relationship between the event and this psychologically-distorted jailer?”
Zhu harshly scolds me that my study of Ming History has totally disappear.
He smites the table and stands up. Then he begins to narrate me the story of sixteen female assassins’ assassination of Emperor Jiajing 500 years ago.