Sword’s Courage, Poet’s Soul: The Biography of Xin Qiji

The Sword’s Courage, the Poet’s Soul: A Biography of Xin Qiji is an epic historical novel of sweeping grandeur and profound emotion. Centered on the tumultuous life of Xin Qiji, the legendary hero of the Southern Song and one of its greatest poets, it vividly brings to life an era of shattered lands and unending warfare.

The novel opens in Jinan, beneath the hooves of the Jin invaders. As a boy, Xin Qiji witnesses the loss of his homeland under the tutelage of his grandfather, Xin Zan, and a seed of vengeance is planted in his heart. He excels in both the literary and martial arts. Twice he travels to the Jin capital of Yanjing to observe the enemy, honing combat skills that could take on thousands and a strategic mind that can see the wider world. When Jin ruler Wanyan Liang invades south, the flames of resistance spread across the north. Xin Qiji resolutely gives away his family fortune to raise a force, then leads his followers to join Geng Jing, the greatest rebel leader in Shandong, becoming the secretary in charge of military affairs. While on a mission to travel south and make contact with the court, he learns that the traitor Yiduan has stolen the commander’s seal and defected to the Jin. Xin Qiji performs an astonishing feat: riding alone, he pursues the traitor for a thousand miles, cuts him down in the midst of the Jin army, and recovers the seal! Before he can catch his breath, he hears that his commander, Geng Jing, has been murdered by the traitor Zhang Anguo, leaving the rebel army on the verge of collapse. Xin Qiji displays his extraordinary prowess once more. Leading fifty men ready to die, he charges straight into a Jin camp of tens of thousands, captures Zhang Anguo in front of them all, then rallies more than ten thousand former followers and leads them south across the Huai River to return to their homeland! The young hero’s name resounds throughout the land.