This book takes the Kangxi Battle of Yaksa and the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk as the historical background and tells the story of the ups and downs of Amul, a young man from Daur. Tsarist Russia plundered and burned the Amur tribal settlements, killing all his relatives. Seriously injured, he fled all the way to the Jilin Shipyard, where he was rescued by Lin Wanhe, a lonely origami. In the troubled times, the two warmed each other, and developed a mutual affection between Mulberry Forest and the shipyard. However, their peaceful life came to an abrupt end when Tsarist Russia invaded again.
In order to regain his homeland and protect his sweetheart, Amul was recruited to join the navy and went to the Yaksa battlefield twice. He was familiar with the waterways, mountains and forests of northern Xinjiang, and served as a guide for the army. He witnessed red-coated cannons destroying cities and rattan soldiers fighting bloody battles. He also witnessed his brother Zhao Erxiao and countless soldiers dying of cold, hunger, and diseases, and spending their lives in the bitter cold trenches. The Qing army defeated the Russian army in a bloody battle, and when victory was imminent, the imperial court issued an order to withdraw the siege and negotiate peace with Galdan.
The Treaty of Nerchinsk demarcated the border, and the Amur native land on the north bank of the Heilongjiang River, where they had lived for generations, was assigned to Tsarist Russia. Thousands of border residents had no place to return. All his enthusiasm was in vain, and the disheartened Amul removed his armor and returned home, married Lin Wanhe and stayed together. While taking care of the mother of his brother who died in the war, he worked in the shipyard to make a living.
For the rest of his life, he watched the fireworks by the river, always harboring the regret that his homeland was broken and his comrades died in vain. When he died at the end of his life, his last wish was to scatter his ashes into the Songhua River and float with the current towards his hometown where he could never return.
The novel jumps out of the narrative of grand historical books and examines war and peace through the joys and sorrows of small people: the Qing army won the battlefield, but countless people lost their homes forever. Behind the great victory recorded in history is the nostalgia and pain that ordinary people can't resolve in their lifetime.
