Dominion and Devotion

To protect her family's noble title, He Yan, the eldest daughter of the He family, is forced to don a mask and pose as the family's eldest son, "He Ru Fei." As a young girl, He Yan first meets the brilliant scholar Xiao Jue at Xianchang Academy. Determined to escape her family's fate, she leaves the academy and heads to the battlefield.

Years later, He Yan returns home as a celebrated hero, only to be betrayed by her family when her brother He Ru Fei reappears. Surviving the treachery, He Yan assumes a new identity as He Yan, the daughter of a city gate officer, and disguises herself as a man to join the military in Yezhou, vowing to reclaim everything that was taken from her.

In Yezhou, He Yan befriends the gentle and refined Chu Zhao and once again crosses paths with Xiao Jue. However, Xiao Jue suspects He Yan of being a spy and constantly tests her. Despite his suspicions, He Yan clings to Xiao Jue and proves her abilities by becoming the top soldier in Yezhou's defense force. Through various trials, including the Sun family incident, the Ji Yang Princess affair, and the battle to defend Rundu, the two face life and death together and gradually come to understand each other's true feelings.

Ashes to crown has only started airing when writing this, but doesn't matter because this rec is for the similarities you might enjoy considering the FLs/MLs:

The FLs start out in politically weak positions, but are thrown into court & palace intrigue and have to learn how to survive these situations and secure their positions and gain some actual power instead of being others' puppets. Both FLs also have some revenge aspects in their plans.
Women empowerment aspects :)

Both shows play into some role-reversal aspects considering that the FL ends up in a politically more powerful position and ML is a devoted supporter (though with some antagonistic phases/starts from ML).

Both MLs have hidden identities, know martial arts and grew up surviving abusive 'families' and their schemes.

a) Dominion and Devotion:
FL is hiding her gender and grew up crossdressed as the 5. prince. after the king's death she is used as puppet-emperor by a powerful political faction and has to survive their schemes and establish herself as actual regent with support in the court.
ML is growing up hidden as eunich in the palace, having to survive his own share of being used by others for their schemes but also being among the ones using the FL at the start.

b) Ashes to Crown:
FL grew up as general's daughter in the desert region away from the capital, but is drawn to the capital due to stories about her dead mum and also her first love, a noble with ambitions.
After some betrayel she becomes the Grand Princess to protect the child-empo
eror and has to survive schemes against her & the young emperor, trying to establish her own political support system & power.
ML hiding his identity was part of FL's dad's army and is tasked with protecting her, which he does in his own sometimes antagonistic way.
FL makes him leader of the imperial guard to keep him close and try to win his absolute support against the palace intrigues.

Both dramas involve one of the leads pretending to be the opposite gender and taking refuge in a woman's only village while the other lead is on a quest for revenge regarding the death of their family.

- Short drama.
- FL disguises herself as a man and is the emperor.
- ML is the rival and wants to destroy her.

Both FLs pretend to be a man, in a non-cute more believable way.
In Dominion and Devotion the FL is the emperor, it's more dramatic.
In The Cross-Dressed Union the FL is a scholar, and HIS WIFE is a cross-dressed man, it is more light-hearted.

Both dramas have a FL pretending to be a man, in a non-cute more believable way.
In Dominion and Devotion the FL is the emperor, she then takes on a concubine, but the eunuch is the ML.
In The Letter from the Cloud the FL marries to the SFL, but they have their MLs as well.

The female lead of dominion and devotion cross dresses as a man and could actually feasibly pass as a man. She is smart and strategic.

Enemies to lovers working towards the same end game. Though the leads in D&D are not as crazy, the tension and chemistry between both dramas are great. Also historical/period dramas that lean into political themes.

- Emperor MC (FL in DaD, ML in SoTK)
- Secret related to the emperor (twin replacement in SoTK, gender secret in DaD)
- Kind and compassionate emperor (FL in DaD, ML in SoTK)
- Emperor's mentor and love interest is jaded and cruel but deep down kinder than they appear (ML in DaD, FL is SoTK)
- Smart and strong power couple
- "Us against the world"
- Emperor is a puppet ruler with little to no actual power
- Troubling times for the empire (one at the start of a new dynasty, the other at the end of a dynasty)
- Palace setting & politics
- Intense and thrilling
- Beautifully shot with lovely music

Main differences are obviously the fact that DaD's emperor is a woman cross-dressing as a man who takes up the throne while in SoTK ML is the emperor's twin who takes his place. In SoTK, the leads are emperor and empress while in DaD, the leads are emperor/ess and eunuch.

Both dramas deal with court politics where the couple is fighting against the corrupted officials. Deals with investigation and scheming. Both higher quality web dramas.

Same male lead, and also a beautifully shot shortish costume drama with a genuinely competent female lead

- Royal MC that's low-ranking and unfavored (emperor FL in DaD, prince ML in DLX)
- Other MC is a palace servant (eunuch in DaD, head maid in DLX)
- MC's mentor and love interest is jaded and cruel but deep down kinder than they appear (ML in DaD, FL is DLX)
- Master x Servant dynamic
- Smart and strong power couple
- "Us against the world"
- Intense and kinda melancholic chemistry
- Revenge
- Palace setting & politics
- Intense and thrilling
- Very beautiful and well-crafted miniseries

DLX is kinda like if DaD had the roles reversed, the royal lead actually *wanted* to rule, and they were in it together since the get-go.

Both are mini dramas with a melancholy tone and palace setting. Both leads have hidden and swapped identities and both FLs reign as emperor, making difficult decisions and purging the courts. Both FLs seemingly care about the ML, but put the country above him. Both have tragic endings.

- female lead disguised as a male and becomes a ruler.
- love interest between fl and close male subject. In King’s affection he is the tutor and in Dominion and Devotion he is the “eneuch”.
- both historical dramas