1. The Xuanwu Gate Bloodbath
In the ninth year of Wude, the Xuanwu Gate coup wiped out the entire line of Li Jiancheng, the Hidden Crown Prince.
But no one knew that Li Chengzong, Prince of Taiyuan, who should have died young, had used Li Chunfeng's help to fake his death and disappear into the shadows.
2. A Century in Hiding
A century later, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. This county duke, whose title had been reduced after the Zhenguan era and who carried the blood feud of the Xuanwu Gate massacre, suddenly appeared at Xiangji Temple and turned the tide. After inheriting the title of Hidden Prince, he vanished mysteriously once more.
3. Huang Chao Shatters the Tang
In the second year of Qianfu, the Rising-to-the-Sky General Huang Chao rallied a million displaced people and swept across the Central Plains under the banner of his poem, “After Failing the Imperial Examination, I Compose a Poem About Chrysanthemums.”
4. The Orphan Returns
When the "Golden Armor Across the City" forces breached Chang'an, Li Congzhao, the great-great-grandson of Li Chengzong, was forced to shed his disguise and proclaim anew that Jiancheng's descendants still lived, and the Tang's spirit still endured.
Only then did Emperor Xizong, fleeing west, understand: the blood debt of the Xuanwu Gate had never been repaid, from beginning to end.
5. The Warlord's Chessboard
Under the title of Acting Prefect of Fengxiang, Li Congzhao gathers his old followers and quietly builds his strength as he navigates between the imperial court and the warlords.
After he and Zheng Tian join forces to defeat the invading Qi army in a bloody battle at Longweibei, Emperor Xizong stabs him in the back. An imperial edict to suppress the rebellion sets all the realm's powers in motion, and the Tang Dynasty plunges fully into an era of turmoil and rivalry.
6. The Throne of Thorns
But when he beheads Huang Chao at Langhu Valley on Mount Tai, he unexpectedly catches sight of a Heavenly Mandate Stele left behind by his ancestor Li Chengzong before leaving this world. At last, he resolves to establish the Tang Dynasty anew.
Revive the imperial examinations, build five capitals, enfeoff five emperors, and pacify the realm.
Use the fortune of the imperial clan as kindling and the industries of the realm as its foundation, build the glory of a sacred Tang, and lead the whole realm to ascension.
