I had no intention of writing about this drama since the hero dies in episode 50 which means to me the end of the drama. Still I watched the 6 further episodes which were full of painful love and sadness. You have no option : love is everything but happiness. Get out your handkerchiefs...
I realised then that I had to share my feelings with you and explain why this drama is such a disappointment although the production did a good job with the sets, the direction, the OST and the actors.
First of all, the hero ( Cheng Xu) is pathetic : who on earth would be stupid enough to renounce his legitimate right to take the title of emperor and just settle for the title of prince regent because of a woman ? Certainly not a general whose aim is victory no matter what ! Who would give up his right to be happy in his mariage just because he didn't marry the girl he was in love with ? Certainely not a prince who can have as many concubines as he wants to ! I really didn't like the way the hero was shown : an outstanding general on battlefields but a simple idealistic boy obsessed with his lost love and unable to live his own life ! How can he be so heartless with his wife who shows him so much love and just wants to be happy with him ? His whole life, he is obssessed with Ming Yu, he can't let her go and thinks that they can still be together... He is just throwing his life away ! Is she worth all the sufferings he is going through ? Is she worth to put his ambitions and goals aside ? Is she worth to be saved by him so many times ? Cheng Xu is the one who makes the great country Sheng where people can find peace and serenity (Chang'an) but he is just the Empress puppet ! How pathetic !
So, the hero is unable to get the woman he loves, nor to revenge, nor to get the emperor status which was originally his. Okay, an ill-fated hero, why not after all ? Still, to me, we can't expect a great storyline out of feminist ideas and idealist romantic love exposed in an unappropriate historical context.

What really bothered me was that this drama was mostly a whole nonsens. Fortunately, nothing is based on historical events, this drama is pure fiction. Ming Yu is a woman more clever than anyone. She actually is this drama's main character. She is beautiful, brilliant and is a war strategist (but not only, she is fated to rule the world). When she becomes the Emperor's consort she thought that the man she loved and whom she promised to wait for was dead. But the man she loved, Cheng Xu the 9th prince, was still alive : she betrayed him. So she depressed and did everything she could not to fulfill her marital duties. The Emperor was so much in love with her that he thought she was homesick. Honestly, we all know that no one can say no to an Emperor ! What he wants he just gets it. l really didn't appreciate her nor couldn't find her interesting. She is manipulative and only use her true love Cheng Xu in order to make her son the crown prince who will become an incapable and pityful immature emperor...

Who else than Cheng Yi could have been the 9th Prince Cheng Xu in this drama ? Without him and his awsome acting I would have rated this drama 6,5. Thank you Cheng Yi for saving this drama !