He won the realm, but lost everything.
This is no ordinary tale of the Three Kingdoms. Rooted in official history and brought to life through literature, it turns its gaze to the “beauties” left behind the heroes, their lives drenched in the fires of war.
Liu Xuande's life was entangled with four women:
Lady Gan was the gentle moonlight in a cold night. Lady Mi was the red cinnabar mark that could never be erased from his heart. Sun Shangxiang was the red thread tying together the blades of an alliance. Lady Wu was the brocade woven after the realm had been secured.
From the oath in the Peach Garden to entrusting his heir at Baidi City, from selling straw sandals to becoming Emperor Zhaolie, we follow Liu Bei as he tempers his benevolence among the common folk, rises and falls in Xuzhou, makes three visits to the thatched cottage in Jingzhou, and claims his place among the three powers amid the flames of Red Cliffs. With every step toward the pinnacle of power, he loses more of what he holds most dear: his brothers, his ideals, and the women who lit up his life.
Here are the clashing armies of history, and the faint glimmers of humanity. Legendary figures such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Cao Cao, and Sun Quan all take the stage, while overlooked key figures like Chen Dao, Fa Zheng, and Mi Fang are brought back to life, together weaving a tightly bound web of fate.
This is a lament for all the heroes and beauties who struggled, made choices, loved, and lost amid the chaos of war.
It is a vast tapestry painted with benevolence, intrigue, passion, and tears. Between its pages, the blossoms of the Peach Garden have all fallen, leaving only the drifting clouds over Baidi City, unchanged through a thousand years.
Open this book, and you will find more than the strategies behind the division of the realm into three. You will also find lives and hearts divided by the realm itself.
