The Legend of Anle

The kingdom is Great Jing (大靖), founded, the saying goes, by the Han and Di families together. Ten years before the story begins, the Di family was convicted of treason, and only a single orphan girl is left, held in prison on Mount Dai (玳山). Crown Prince Han Ye (韩烨, played by Gong Jun, 龚俊) is determined to save her.

On a trip south to put down pirates, Han Ye meets Ren Anle (played by Dilraba Dilmurat, 迪丽热巴), who insists she will marry him and nobody else. Behind the act, she is in fact Di Ziyuan (帝梓元), the Di family's daughter, and she has come to the capital to overturn the verdict against her family. Only Luo Mingxi (洛铭西, played by Liu Yuning, 刘宇宁), the Minister of Justice, who secretly helps her, knows who she is.

Once in the capital, Ren Anle takes on a series of public cases, including an exam-cheating scandal and a flood-relief investigation, and she and Han Ye find that they want the same things for the country. Their growing affection sits against a political situation that is anything but simple.

The setting is invented rather than tied to a real dynasty. The drama is adapted from the novel Di Huang Shu (帝皇书, "the emperor's book") by Xing Ling (星零), published in 2018. It was produced by Shanghai Film and Media (上海影视传媒) and shot at Hengdian World Studios, with an opening ceremony on July 20, 2021, and a wrap on November 12 the same year. Release came about twenty months later.

It premiered on Youku on July 12, 2023, taking the slot after the romance Hidden Love (偷偷藏不住). Xinhua, republishing a Guangzhou Daily report on July 14, said the drama topped the whole-network heat rankings on both Maoyan and Dengta shortly after launch, the two industry tracking platforms.