The Long Song of Blazing Flames

Whose brows and eyes recalled whose smile, bright as flowers? Whose face turned whose realm upside down? Who promised whom rivers and mountains stretching for miles, a land as beautiful as a painting? Who abandoned whom, leaving a beauty alone at the ends of the earth? During the reign of Emperor Xinglong of the Feng Dynasty, the emperor fell gravely ill and could no longer govern in person. The great clans seized control of the state, while court officials formed factions for personal gain and corruption ran rampant. Natural and man-made disasters struck one after another, enemies surrounded the borders, and the common people suffered terribly. Refugees and bandits filled the roads, and the nation teetered on the brink of collapse. Knowing the nation was on the verge of ruin, Emperor Xinglong urgently summoned Lie Qiancheng, commander of the Yanlin Army and Marquis of Wuwei, back to the capital. He was to set the court in order, quell internal unrest, drive out foreign enemies, resettle the people, restore peace to the land, and secure the realm. A thousand miles away in the frigid northern frontier, Helian Zhao, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the remaining forces of the previous dynasty and Prince of Pingnan, was making preparations for war. He moved among the various tribes, readying an alliance to launch a counterattack against Great Feng and divide the provinces among themselves. Hooves trampled the mountains and rivers into ruin; armies marched, and silence fell across ten thousand miles. Would this bring glory for generations to come, or the sorrow of a struggle where the victor became king and the vanquished were branded traitors? The ruthless battle to the death had quietly begun.