In the tenth year of Shaoxing, the northern expedition won a great victory, but twelve imperial gold plaques ordered the army to return.
Yue Fei headed south, and his towering achievements were on the verge of ruin overnight. Yue Yun held Huazhou alone, his isolated troops guarding the Yellow River.
Dark currents surged through the imperial court, while storm clouds gathered along the frontier. The treasury was empty, the soldiers went unaided, and the people were plunged into misery.
Everyone followed the tide of events. He alone defied fate.
He would not return, would not compromise, and would not abandon the people of the Central Plains.
He would make a lonely city his bulwark and his lone army an iron wall,
seeking to keep loyal ministers alive, defend their homeland, and prop up the crumbling edifice of the Great Song.
As a great building collapses, one pillar can hardly hold it up. The tide of events surges like a flood: can one man stand against it?
