After Jingkang: I Shall Defend Great Song

Synopsis

In the first year of the Jianyan era, the humiliation of Jingkang remained unavenged, and the Jurchen army’s iron hooves trampled across the Yellow River. The new Southern Song emperor, Zhao Gou (Zhao Jiu), fled south in panic, only to fall down a well at Mingdao Palace in Bozhou. Nine hundred years later, the soul of a doctoral student in Song history unexpectedly transmigrated into the body of this timid emperor.

Faced with civil officials afraid to fight, military commanders lacking spirit, an army short on provisions and will to fight, and the Jurchen forces closing in with their “search every mountain and scour every sea” campaign, the transmigrated emperor tore up the destined path of flight south. He issued an order to hold the Wo River against the Jurchens, ate thin porridge alongside his soldiers, gave up his jade pendant to persuade people to donate provisions, and personally ventured into danger to behead a traitor. Armed with nine hundred years of historical foresight, he kindled the first spark of resistance against the Jurchens in Bozhou.

From reorganizing the Imperial Army and dismantling the Jurchens’ network of collaborators to rallying the people and putting famous generals like Han Shizhong to good use, Zhao Jiu knows one thing: if the Yellow River is not held, the Huai River will be in danger; if the Huai River falls, the Yangtze will be impossible to defend. He must fight the Jurchen cavalry and root out the court’s entrenched corruption. He must bring back the two emperors to legitimize his rule, and, more importantly, rebuild the Song dynasty from the ground up. This is a path to restoring the Song that history books never recorded. Every step lies on the edge of life and death, and every choice determines whether Chinese civilization will survive. See how a modern soul, amid the flames of war and chaos, keeps a collapsing empire standing and gives the Song dynasty a different fate. (Check out the new book, “The Cowardly Emperor Zhao Gou? I Shall March North and Unify the Central Plains.” It’s a long-form novel, also featuring someone who becomes Zhao Gou after the Jingkang Incident.)