A River of Blood Ablaze

A Japanese man obsessed with Chinese eight-legged essays falls into poverty after the Meiji Restoration. Yet through the Qing dynasty's imperial examinations, he enters China's civil service. He soon becomes a spy. Just as he is about to gain command of the military forces in China's largest, richest, and most strategically important province and take the seat of army commander, he is killed by the grandson of his mentor. During the warlord conflicts of the Republic of China era, his son, backed by his homeland, builds an army and tries to seize the governorship of that same province. Just as he is about to succeed, the same young man brings him down. If either father or son had succeeded, China would have lost its most important strategic region before Japan's formal invasion even began. Their actions are truly shameful and alarming.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.