When the Artillery Roared

In 1875, few people in the late Qing Dynasty seemed to have any hope. Carrying the expectations of a high-ranking official, Liu Fayi was among the first students sent abroad by the government. He set off for the Royal Naval College in Britain, unsure what awaited him. The tangled loves and hates of fate all begin here: the formidable Japanese rival he would face in the years to come, his first love, the brothers with whom he would share life and death, and the noble benefactor who would grant him a British title. He also had no idea what the war that would go down in history twenty years later would mean for his fate and that of his country. For now, he was simply a naive young man with a heart set on serving his country and repaying his debts of gratitude. He boarded the Bismarck, a grand ocean liner, and slowly sailed toward the unknown...

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.