New Hero Chronicle · Secret Mirror of the Zhengyuan Era

Author: Yang Xuefan Li Han Kangqiao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: A series of new narrative novels. Written by emerging writers, fully crafted, ancient stories with a modern twist. Who are the knights-errant? What are they busy with? Where is the mysterious gateway to the world of knight-errantry? The New Knight-Errant Chronicles: The Hidden Mirror in the Reign of Zhengyuan includes the following four novels:
The Hidden Mirror in the Reign of Zhengyuan is based on the Tang Dynasty legend Nie Yingniang. In this novel, the female knight-errant Nie Yingniang falls in love with a poor young man who polishes mirrors. The mirror helps a stone-hearted female knight-errant return to her true feminine nature. The story touches on a series of issues: love, family, systems, and the barriers, suspicions, discrimination, empathy, and trust between people.
The Empire and the Dagger’s Direction attempts to rewrite the historical tale of Jing Ke assassinating Qin Shi Huang. The two men in the story, Jing Ke and the Qin Emperor, are both driven by great ambitions. The former toils day and night for a grand aspiration, while the latter risks his life to commit an extraordinary murder, knowing it is a futile endeavor but still proceeding anyway. The dagger points at the former but also at the latter.
The Royal Bodyguard parodies The Three Heroes and Five Righteous Ones. Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty orders Bao Zheng of Kaifeng Prefecture to seek out wandering knights-errant to serve the court. During the selection process, the masks of the knights-errant are stripped away one by one, and they become mere entertainment for the court, losing their true essence of knight-errantry. In reality, the martial world does not exist—it is merely a stage set up by the royal family.
To Kill a Man in Chu completely subverts the characters. Qing Ji is no longer Prince Qing Ji, and the assassin Yueli is no longer the knight-errant Yueli. The novel humorously points out that heroes and knights-errant do not exist in an extremely irrational era.