In the winter of the seventh year of Xuanhe, a first snow covered the bustling city of Bianjing, but it could not hide the bloody warning message coming from the border - the Jin army moved south in two directions, approaching the capital of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Chen, the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, unexpectedly received a secret letter and learned that the crisis of national annihilation was imminent. At that time, the court was corrupt, Huizong was addicted to pleasure, powerful ministers Tong Guan and Cai You were whitewashing the peace, and loyalists were either demoted or dead. Although Zhao Chen was only a fifth-rank official, he had the original intention of "protecting the people" and secretly ran with his demoted friend Li Gang, trying to contact the unemployed veteran Zhong Shidao to deploy defense.
On one side is the warm light of the lanterns on Zhuque Street and the false prosperity of the wine shop. On the other side is the scrawled secret letter about the urgent situation at the border and the frowning brows of colleagues worried about the country. Zhao Chen wandered on the Longjin Bridge in the wind and snow, looking at the vague inscriptions "Hope the sea will be flat". Knowing that he could not shake the building with his own strength, he still chose to use his pen as a blade and his job as a shield. In the torrent of history, he protected this prosperous imperial capital that was destined to be shattered in the flames of war, and also wrote a tragic struggle belonging to a small person.
