Siheyuan: Starting in 1942

In 1948, Chen Jingming moved into No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, Beijing.

The neighbors had no idea who this visitor from Nanyang was. They only knew he was quiet and taciturn, and that a pomegranate tree grew in his courtyard.

Two months later, the first shipment of supplies was unloaded at Tianjin Port. Rifles, trucks, planes. Enough to replace everything in the entire North China Field Army from head to toe.

He handed it all over, then withdrew. Beneath the pomegranate tree, the commotion next door, with chickens running wild, had nothing to do with him.

In June 1950, the Korean War broke out.

On the day the US forces landed at Incheon, he received a telegram: “The first reequipped units have crossed the Yalu River.”

Chen Jingming burned the telegram.

He had known from the beginning that this day would come. Those four million tons of supplies had long since been delivered.

Five years later. Beirut, Lebanon.

At the docks in Jounieh Bay, tanks were rolling down the ramps one after another. In the underground vault of the gold exchange, sixty-two tons of gold had just been stored. The bank secrecy law awaited a vote in the parliamentary chamber.

This time, he was no longer standing beneath the pomegranate tree. He sat in his study at Cold Spring Harbor, watching another country on the map fill up, bit by bit, with his will.

This novel focuses on long-term Cold War strategy, with a wealth of foreshadowing across multiple volumes that comes together in a concentrated payoff. It emphasizes layered deductions and strategic maneuvering on a grand scale.