In the chaotic final years of the Song dynasty, the Mongol Yuan forces pushed south. Jiang Dahu, a hero who rose from the ranks of common folk, swept across the land and founded the Great Qi. He abolished the civil examinations, honored the martial path, built a capital at Fenghuangdun, and established a century-long policy of putting military affairs first and civil governance second. A hundred years later, the dynasty seemed peaceful, but restorationists stirred within, while the Northern Di and Japanese pirates repeatedly raided the borders. Civil and military factions fought one another, and the realm teetered on the brink of collapse.
A transmigrated general of his generation pacified the realm through force, guarded love with his heart, and passed down his loyalty through the ages. A century later, the humble childhood names dismissed in the ancestral hall and the two loquat trees spreading their canopies beside the graves hold the secrets of Great Qi’s turbulent history, a lifetime of deep devotion, and a family’s legacy of loyal bones.
