The Romance of the Ten Kingdoms: the Kingdoms Struggle for Hegemony

This book introduces that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the famous Huangchao Peasant Uprising broke out in Caozhou, Shandong Province. In the process of encircling and suppressing the rebels, the vassal towns in various places continued to develop their own power and expand their territory. In order to compete for the imperial power, they fought with each other and attacked each other. The weak and the strong preyed on each other. The winner was the king and the loser was the bandit. As a result, the short-lived dynasties of the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Wu appeared in the Central Plains, known as the Five Dynasties in history; while in the south and Hedong areas, there were ten separate kingdoms of Wu, Chu, Min, Southern Tang, Wuyue, Southern Han, Former Shu, Later Shu, Jingnan, and Northern Han, known as the Ten Kingdoms in history; the Khitan in the north also gradually became stronger and established the Liao Kingdom. This is a historical period characterized by competition between heroes, warlords fighting, swords flashing, and bloodshed.