Inspired by Xiao Daocheng, the founding emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty, this novel tells the legendary story of his rise from a humble military officer to the founder of an empire. At its heart lies a profound contradiction: How could a “common-born warrior,” whose power came from military achievements, break the century-old spell of “the Wang and Ma families ruling the realm together” in the late Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, an era that revered noble lineage above all else, and found a new dynasty under the shadow and amid the struggles of top aristocratic clans such as the Langya Wang family? The protagonist's greatest golden finger is neither a System nor supernatural power, but his profound understanding and creative application of classics such as the Book of Documents, the Zuo Tradition, and The Art of War. He turns the wisdom of history and the classics into practical political stratagems and statecraft, forging a thorny path through the cracks of history by blending the ways of kings and hegemons.
