This is the story of Sun Ruo Wei whose parents are killed on the orders of the Yongle Emperor in 1402, though she escapes death after being secretly adopted by Sun Zhong. Sun Ruo Wei becomes the concubine of crown prince Zhu Zhan Ji later on.
Unfortunately, Zhu Zhan Ji passes away after a decade on the throne, and Sun Ruo Wei is honored as Empress Dowager once her 7-year-old Zhu Qi Zhen ascends the throne.

This series is very long, so my review will be too long and I'll try to be as concise as possible. I also wanted to say I stopped watching it, and usually I don't do reviews on series I stopped but I had to give one.

During the first part (episode 1-20).

We are introduced to the characters. First, we learn the historical circumstances that led the Yongle Emperor to the throne, and the inevitable consequences that a change of power brings - much killing and massacres of members and supporters of the old regime and Emperor.
Sun Ruo Wei's parents, so the father was an official, are killed as expected. Sun Ruo Wei is separated from her younger sister who is saved by the Emperor's grandson and the Crown Prince, later handed over to an official high female who will raise her as her niece in the palace, as a servant.
Sun Ruo Wei is raised by a friend of her parents, who saved her in time during the massacre. She basically becomes a young girl among rebels and orphans, who plots for the death of the Yongle Emperor and the return of his nephew to the throne.
As for Zhu Zhan Ji, he is the son of the Crown Prince, so the highly favored Imperial grandson of the Emperor, I believe their relationship was the highlight of the first two parts of the series. Although we are not introduced to other grandsons, we quickly understand that despite the swarm that exists, only Zhu Zhan Ji is seen as the one who will bring prosperity to the dynasty by his grandfather. This one, who is very suspicious of his sons, and with good reason, chooses not the Crown Prince as heir because he thinks he will make an amazing Emperor, but because Zhu Zhan Ji will be the only heir after him. Although it must be said that the Crown Prince is talented when it comes to the administrative management of the nation, he does not have the stature of an Emperor.

During this first part, we see the relations between the members of the imperial family. The Emperor who despite his paranoia towards his sons, he does not want them to spill the blood of their own family. It's a kind of hate-love relationship, their interactions are sometimes hilarious, and their characters highly dramatic. Like when the Prince of Han argues with the Emperor, then in his anger and refusing to apologize, celebrates his own funeral, going so far as to lie down in a sort of coffin, waiting according to him for the inevitable imperial decree who will announce his death. The emperor, also angry, who asks that his son be locked up alive in the coffin to punish him for a few hours until he decides to apologize.
The relationship between the brothers - the princes, who know each other so well that sometimes in their scenes, despite the dramatic or hypocritical dialogues, each sees clearly into the other's game. They have some funny moments, especially when they have to deal with the Emperor's wrath.
And then as I said, the relationship of the Emperor and Zhu Zhan Ji. We have a lot of tender moments, where we see the Emperor being less serious and teasing than he is with anyone, towards his grandson. Zhu Zhan Ji seems to follow the Emperor everywhere, to be a kind of confidant, he is also his voice and has his confidence. It is no secret in the Imperial Court that he is seen as the ultimate heir, and that the Emperor moves his pawns to facilitate Zhu Zhan Ji's path. This does not prevent the Emperor sometimes from getting angry but here it is more in a certain worry for his grandson and more in order to teach him something. Whereas when he gets angry with his sons, it's because of his paranoia and he tends to give out a lot of punishment. Talking about Zhu Zhan Ji, he seems to admire his grandfather the most, even more than his own father. He is in awe of the character and has a lot of affection for him. He is often nicknamed "little monkey" by his grandfather, he is often mischievous with him, playing jokes on him but he is also a kind of helper, as he follows him everywhere, he is the one who helps to get dressed, to get into bed, to run errands for him. He's kind of the Emperor's handyman, and often it seems officials know that when Zhu Zhan Ji speaks, he's representing the Emperor's voice. This is also why this one gives him at one time the very precious gold totem which represents the voice and the power of the Emperor, giving him the possibility of doing everything and being the most powerful after the Emperor himself.

Their relationship is the highlight. But also, we have some scenes between Zhu Zhan Ji and his parents, especially his father, he supports him a lot, above all, Zhu Zhan Ji is actually the one who fights against his uncles, the princes because they want the Crown Prince position (and this one kind of doesn't). It is therefore Zhu Zhan Ji who often faces his uncles and fights against their schemes. It is I believe the only relations in the imperial family where not once the scenes were positive or funny. Nothing but animosity reigns between Prince Han and Prince Zhao towards Zhu Zhan Ji. Many times they even try to kill their nephew. They actually know that the threat for them to sit on the throne is not the Crown Prince, but their cunning nephew, which is why he is the Emperor's favorite.

The first part really focuses on the characters who meet, Zhu Zhan Ji and Sun Ruo Wei. This part is quite light-hearted despite the sometimes dramatic scenes. We see how Sun Ruo Wei achieves good graces in Zhu Zhan Ji, what becomes of the rebellion and how it is linked to the power struggle in the palace.
Zhu Zhan Ji and Sun Ruo Wei relationship is often one-sided. Although it seems that only Zhu Zhan Ji fell in love with Sun Ruo Wei, that doesn't stop him from sometimes being harsh and manipulative when he needs to. As for Sun Ruo Wei, it's clear that she likes Xu Bin, and no one else, but she still likes Zhu Zhan Ji.

The second part (episode 20-30).

The mood goes down a bit, there are far fewer humorous scenes, but much more serious and dramatic. The sisters reunite, Sun Ruo Wei and Hu Shan Xiang. They both end up marring Zhu Zhan Ji, one as a consort and the other as a concubine. This part focuses much more on the issues of the border war and Zhu Zhan Ji's wedding celebration.
It is here that we have quite a few battle scenes between the Mongols and Uighurs and the Ming Empire. It is especially one of the first heart-breaking moments, because both the Crown Prince and the Emperor become very seriously ill. Zhu Zhan Ji scene with the Emperor in his military tent still brings tears to my eyes it was so terrible for him to hear his grandfather's tragic words.
Zhu Zhan Ji and his family find themselves in an awkward position, as his uncles prowl and patiently wait for the death of either the Emperor or the Crown Prince to try to steal the throne, and slaughter the Crown Prince's family. All this while they are at war and it is very critical for their country, which could sink into the chaos of a war of succession.
Some have criticized Sun Ruo Wei acting is in the first part was passionate then here she became much more passive, almost bland, And I admit that the change is really abrupt, but I also understand why she changes, it's not about achieving her revenge anymore but rather to put first the country and the population so they do not suffer from her actions, which in the end would be selfish to satisfy her revenge.
There's less interaction between the two, especially since he's going to war.
As for her, she stayed with the Crown Prince's family, and helped him manage the country even when he was sick.
During this period, the viewer definitely understands that the two leads will never be a couple, but rather partners who respect each other, and who will need to be united for the country.

The third part (episode 30-40).

It was during this part of the series that I lost interest. Why, and although I love series heavily based on shenanigans, power struggles, strategies, war and very little romance. This show should have enchanted me, but the strategies weren't really there, and if there were any, it was in the space of 5 min, we didn't have time to see the plan being built, unfolding nor appreciate if it works. The female characters have just become secondary characters, Sun Ruo Wei who appears very little, especially after the death of the new Emperor (former Crown Prince).
The character of Zhu Zhan Ji was so promising during the first thirty episodes that I wonder how we ended up with him just with scenes of anger with no thinking and cunning. As for Hu Shan Xiang, she becomes the Empress, and overnight she is pregnant, there is literally no scene between Hu Shan Xiang and Zhu Zhan Ji that shows they spent time together. Nothing. The only tender moment is when he caresses her hands after receiving the news that she is pregnant, but before nothing.

The thing is this part was very focused on the death of the Emperor, the Crown Prince ascending the throne becoming Emperor, then his brothers who scheme to rebel, then his death too, and finally Zhu Zhan Ji who becomes Emperor and defeats his uncles. Ten episodes that feel so empty, honestly, like really me loving shows like this, I'm baffled because I feel like it was really empty.

So, I stopped there, hoping to gain interest back again, watching few series in between but the will never came back.

So I dropped the series. Honestly to me, it feels that the potential was wasted, which is a shame, they could have done better with the script, because it is only about that, the actors were all very good.

A disappointment. I still recommend the series but don't expect highly complex writing of the script nor a satisfying character development.