In the sixth year of Zhengtong, war suddenly erupted. A Ming army of 150,000 marched to the southwestern frontier, setting its sights on the defiant Lu Chuan chieftaincy. This was an expedition destined to go down in history, and a living hell from which no one could emerge unscathed.
Veteran general Wang Ji agonized over the choice between serving his emperor and saving countless lives. Dai leader Si Renfa would become a demon of slaughter to protect his ancient homeland. Firearms clashed with war elephants along the Nu River, while schemes and ideals fought for dominance at court. From the secret chambers where decisions were made in Beijing's Forbidden City to the bloody mire of the forests in western Yunnan, the empire's will became a war machine crushing countless lives beneath its wheels.
But does victory mean the end?
When news of triumph raced into the capital, rewards sparked new divisions. As the scorched earth awaited rebuilding, hatred took root in the hearts of a new generation. Victorious heroes woke from nightmares in the dead of night, while surviving soldiers died in silence among the fields of a foreign land. And in the depths of history's shadow, the embers of revenge had already begun to glow anew.
This is a novel about the full truth of war.
It does more than tell an epic tale of clashing arms and charging horses: it also looks unflinchingly at the absurd price of victory. It gives court ministers, frontier generals, firearms experts, Dai youths, and nameless soldiers a chance to ask: between preserving unity and respecting difference, between imperial glory and individual fate, is there a third way?
The smoke of war has cleared, but the embers still smolder. The true war has never ended.
