Theme: Historical fiction (Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms → the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty)
Core conflict: At the end of the Five Dynasties, the world was torn apart. Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin, Li Yu, Qian Hongchu and others all had their own ambitions. In this chess game, who is the player and who is the pawn? The price of the struggle for power is that everyone will lose the most precious thing.
Narrative structure: a multi-line narrative of group portraits, with four main lines intertwined and advanced: Zhao Kuangyin, Chai Rong, Qian Hongchu, and Li Yu
Time span: from the first year of Xiande in the Later Zhou Dynasty (954) to the third year of Taiping and Xingguo in the Song Dynasty (978), about twenty-four years
