Fine rain fell like silk over the stone-paved streets of Tianjing. I stood on the high terrace of the Heavenly King's Palace, gazing at the capital I had once fought to defend. The distant rumble of artillery told me Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army was closing in again. But my thoughts drifted farther away, toward the dream I had told the soldiers about countless times.
My surname is Hong, and my given name is Xiuquan. But in another world, they called me the "Second Prince."
