During the Qingyuan era of the Southern Song, Emperor Ningzong Zhao Kuo was incompetent and ineffectual. The treacherous chancellor Han Tuozhou colluded with Grand Empress Dowager Wu Shaofen to seize power and rule with an iron fist. He imposed sweeping bans on political factions and purged his opponents, leaving the court riddled with cliques and corruption. Beyond the court, the Jin still dreamed of annexing the Southern Song, while Han Chinese rebels rose up in the occupied territories. Beset by troubles at home and abroad, the already tottering Southern Song teetered on the brink of collapse. Then, like thunder out of a clear sky, the vast treasure left behind by the late treacherous chancellor Qin Hui resurfaced. Martial wanderers, outlaws, members of the Zhao imperial clan, and spies from various nations all coveted it, each with their own designs. The famed Xin Qiji, the great Confucian scholar Zhu Xi, descendants of Yue Fei, and Qin Hui’s heirs were all drawn deeply into the affair…
