In the final years of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song, Yue Fei was framed and put to death, while the court contented itself with a corner of the realm. Qin Hui controlled the government, corrupt officials like Zhang Jun ran rampant, and the northern Jin dynasty watched hungrily. At this darkest hour, four “good-for-nothings” quietly came together in the empire’s most desolate place of exile.
Chen Qinian, a disgraced technical official; Shi Yong, a lame veteran of the Yue Family Army; Liu Mingxuan, a polymath genius who failed the imperial exams; and A Ruan, an illiterate girl from the boat-dwelling Tanka people. On barren Meizhou Island, they built infrastructure, fought corrupt officials, and solved cold cases, turning this forsaken land into a secluded paradise.
A boatload of spoiled military supplies drew them into a conspiracy that shook the entire court. From the island to Mingzhou and then Lin’an, from the streets to the palace, the four relied on grassroots ingenuity to maneuver among corrupt officials like Qin Hui and Zhang Jun, seeking a way to survive in the cracks of history.
When Jin emperor Wanyan Liang launched a full-scale invasion south and war clouds gathered over Caishi, these four overlooked little people would travel north with Yu Yunwen on a diplomatic mission into enemy territory. With engineering expertise and martial-world stratagems, they would become the most unexpected key to victory in a battle that would decide the fate of the nation!
Though low in rank, they never forget their country’s troubles. Watch this alliance of good-for-nothings carve out a path to survival in the darkest of times and rise to greatness from a cold mountain stream!
