The Ambitious Hero of Troubled Times: Emperor Yang of Sui

In the first year of the Daye era of the Sui dynasty, Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, overrules all opposition and orders the construction of the Grand Canal. A million laborers perish along its banks. Qin Hao, the son of a canal boatman, loses his father, who is killed by Yang Xuan’gan, the adopted son of Yang Su, after exposing the overseers’ embezzlement of provisions. His father leaves behind the Secret Manual of Canal Transport, a booklet containing secrets of the canal routes and the Canal Gang’s Water-Splitting Swordsmanship. It becomes the prize sought by powerful Sui court officials, sinister martial sects, and anti-Sui rebels alike.

Driven by vengeance, Qin Hao flees into the martial world. Masters of the Canal Gang risk their lives to protect him, and he later meets Li Mi of Wagang Fortress, where he learns the Wave-Splitting Sword. The naive boy grows into a young martial hero whose talents are beginning to shine. He navigates the elite Sui troops controlled by Yang Su and the sinister Blackwater Alliance behind Pei Yun, while plunging into the turmoil of the late Sui era. He campaigns in Liaodong with the Wagang army, facing Goguryeo warriors and the Yuwen clan’s domineering halberd technique; infiltrates the imperial dragon boat in Jiangdu to expose the power grab behind Yang Guang’s tour; and eventually joins forces with rebel kings such as Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong to lay siege to Jiangdu and confront Yuwen Huaji, the regicide usurper.

Set against the construction of the Grand Canal in the final years of the Sui, the story weaves together court intrigue, from Yang Guang’s incompetence and Yang Su’s political dominance to the Yuwen clan’s ambitions, and the martial world’s vendettas, from the Canal Gang’s chivalry and the Blackwater Alliance’s corruption to the heroes of Wagang Fortress. It offers both the thrilling clash of Water-Splitting Swordsmanship and Black Iron Swordsmanship and the tragic cries of a million laborers rising against tyranny. Qin Hao’s quest for revenge also mirrors the people of the late Sui as they move from endurance to rebellion. The bloodied blades along the Sui embankments strike not only at his enemies, but also cleave through the rotten foundations of the dynasty. In the final glow of sunset over Jiangdu, he witnesses the fall of an empire and the passing on of the chivalrous spirit.