Old Friend of Mountains and Rivers

In 755 AD, the prosperous Tang Dynasty collapsed under the iron heel of Anlu Mountain. Xiao Yunqing, the general of Shuofang, refused to rebel, and his entire clan was massacred, but he survived. With hatred and responsibility, he devoted himself to countering the rebellion, but was forced to face the cruel choice of "cannibalism to defend the city" during the Battle of Suiyang. At the same time, Yang Yuzheng, a woman who was related to Yang Guozhong but hated the powerful, lost everything in the war and witnessed the purgatory of exchanging children and eating food while in exile. She met Xiao Yunqing, only to find that this man who once had a sincere heart had been corrupted beyond recognition by war and power. In Chang'an City, Li Xuan (the prototype of Li Guangbi) and other famous generals tried their best to save the crisis, but they were hampered by the constraints of eunuchs and the suspicion of the emperor. The fates of Hu merchants, refugee monks, and surviving literati in the Western Regions were also intertwined in the flames of war. Eight years later, the rebellion subsided and devastation spread across the land. Xiao Yunqing became a marquis but suffered a nervous breakdown and retired to the mountains; Yang Yuzheng compiled his war-torn manuscripts and secretly spread the truth; while the new tax law was implemented, vassal towns rose, and undercurrents surged... This is an epic about loyalty and betrayal, survival and dignity. When the prosperous times collapsed, some people became beasts, some became saints, and even more people just struggled to live as human beings in the blood and fire.