All Who Live in Troubled Times: The Power Games of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Fifty-three years, five dynasties, thirteen emperors: on average, one emperor lost his head every four years.

These were the most turbulent fifty-three years in Chinese history, a dark age that tested human nature to its limits.

Some called their enemies father and ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, leaving the Central Plains defenseless for three hundred years.

Some killed their sons and murdered their fathers for the throne.

Some had themselves castrated before becoming emperor, and one dynasty kept twenty thousand eunuchs.

Yet some held fast to their principles in the darkness, saving a baby and rescuing the people of an entire city.

Here you will find the most brutal killings, the most absurd systems, the most wretched struggle for survival, and the most tragic poetry.

Zhu Wen, Li Cunxu, Shi Jingtang, Feng Dao, Li Yu, Lady Huarui...

They spent their lives answering the same question:

When order collapses, how should you live?