- Era background: During the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1068-1077), Wang Anshi's reform implemented the "opening of the Xihe River". The Song army expanded to the Hehuang area (today's eastern Qinghai and southern Gansu) and launched a complex game with the Tubo regime, party forces and local tribes.
- Core conflict: Su Jingnian, a Han official, went to Hehuang with the ambition of "expanding the territory and pacifying the border", but he was caught in a dilemma between military conquest and cultural integration, personal ideals and people's livelihood hardships. The fates of Mu Ya, the daughter of the Tubo tribe leader, and Chen Shisan, the son of a local Han merchant, were intertwined, and they faced war, plague and power struggles together.
