Liu Yu, once a peddler of sandals, rose from a humble alley with a three-foot sword. He put down Huan Xuan, destroyed Southern Yan, and reclaimed Guanzhong. Born to a common family, he overthrew a world ruled by aristocratic clans and founded the Liu Song dynasty. Its rise was swift, but its fall came just as suddenly. In sixty years, eight emperors succeeded one another, four died violent deaths, and the annals were filled with brothers and kin killing one another. From the true dragon descending at night in Pengcheng to the flames of war spreading across the Huai River’s northern banks; from the refined splendor of the Yuanjia era to the chaos of Taishi, when the imperial clan was slaughtered to the last: this is both a triumphant song of a hero founding a dynasty and a tragic lament for the curse of power.
