The North and South United (Complete in Three Volumes)

Through sixteen great battles, this book recounts nearly two hundred years of history, from the end of the Eastern Jin through the Southern dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, and the Northern dynasties of Northern Wei, Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Qi, and Northern Zhou, ending with the unification under the Sui. Key figures link together the history of the Northern and Southern dynasties, including Liu Yu, Tuoba Gui, Liu Yilong, Tuoba Tao, Xiao Daocheng, Empress Feng, Tuoba Hong, Er Zhu Rong, Gao Huan, Yuwen Tai, and Yang Jian, giving readers a quick grasp of this era of division and chaos. The southward migration of northerners forms the central thread of the rise and fall of the Northern and Southern dynasties. When the northerners stopped moving south, the northern states learned to manage conflicts between different peoples and blend Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist cultures. The chaotic era of division between north and south was then drawing to a close. “When the time is right, heaven and earth lend their strength.” Yang Jian seized the moment and unified the lands north and south of the Yangtze, which had been in turmoil for more than three hundred years. “The heroes of a thousand years pass by; the woodcutter and fisherman sing a song.” A brand-new picture is about to unfold, and a magnificent age of grandeur is on its way!