Where storm waves split, heavenly might is like a prison; where elegant music enters the bones, the kingly way knows no bounds!
During the Zhenguan era, Tang envoys set sail east across the waves, seeking to display the empire's might in Fusang. Colorful ships welcomed them at Naniwatsu, but hidden blades lurked beneath the surface! The prince raised his head and refused the formalities. The letter of state was never delivered, and the Tang mission returned in defeat. Lin Yan, an assistant administrator in Qingzhou, witnessed this humiliation firsthand and never forgot it.
Thirty years later, a thousand ships darkened the sky beyond Baekgang! Wa allied with Baekje rebels against the Tang, daring to challenge the celestial empire. The veteran Tang general Liu Rengui, though still under punishment, took command. Warships formed ranks, and fire arrows split the sky! The histories record: four hundred Wa ships burned, their smoke and flames scorching the heavens, the sea turned entirely red! That blaze upon the waves consumed the island nation's ambitions and branded the word “Tang” into the bones of the people of the eastern islands.
The flames of war had barely died down when Tang culture blazed across Nara. Envoys to the Tang arrived in a flood, and the people of Wa vied to admire Chinese culture. Yet beneath the songs and dances of the palace, currents ran dark: Wa envoys secretly sketched a sea-crossing map, and sails bound for home concealed murderous designs; a student returning from the Tang stole forbidden books, yet at the brink of life and death won the favor of the Son of Heaven, Khan of Heaven!
Lin Yan spent half his life tossed by the tides of fate. He witnessed the terror of burning warships and saw how robes, ceremony, and music seeped into Fusang. As he laid his hand on charred wood from Baekgang and heard the drums of “The Prince of Lanling” played atop Nara's city walls, he finally understood the true meaning of the Tang's heavenly might:
“Burning ships is easy. Burning hearts is hard! Only when the barbarians yearn for Chinese civilization to the very marrow can there be heavenly might without war!”
Drawing on the official histories, the Old Book of Tang and the Nihon Shoki, this novel brings to life the most ruthless and refined epic of conquest in Tang diplomacy. See how flames forged submission and civilization carved itself into the bones!
All sources used in this book come from historical records.
