Song Guts

Lu Chen, a modern associate professor of military history, dies in a car accident. When he opens his eyes again, he is the garrison commander of a run-down stockade in Hebei West Circuit during the seventh year of the Xuanhe era of the Song dynasty. He has two hundred men under his command, half of them old, weak, sick, or injured. Their weapons are in tatters, and their superiors have withheld every last bit of their provisions and pay. Worse still, this is the start of the countdown to the fall of the Northern Song. The Jin armies are about to invade in force, and the Jingkang disaster is just around the corner. Lu Chen remembers every key turning point, every lost battle, every disastrous decision. He had hoped to use those memories to change history, but soon discovers that this world’s past doesn’t quite match what he studied. Some people who were supposed to die are still alive, while others who should exist are nowhere to be found. The historical script he carries has become an incomplete map that is only seventy percent accurate. But whatever the margin of error, one thing is certain: if nobody acts, Bianjing will fall in two years, the court will flee south, and half of China will be trampled under the Jin armies’ hooves. So he cannot wait, dare not wait, and has no time to wait. Starting with this run-down stockade, he will keep the Song dynasty alive a little longer.