When the Tang dynasty fell, Master Lumen burned the fourth strategy from his Peaceful Years book beneath a lamp.
When the fire died, she cut the remaining manuscript into three pieces and gave one to each of her three disciples.
The eldest disciple took charge of enriching the state, the second of diplomacy, and the third of setting things right. Each descended the mountain with one strategy and a fragment of the manuscript, fleeing the turmoil and serving a different lord.
The master left them just one sentence: "I can give you the three strategies. As for the fourth, that depends on your own fate."
After that, the Central Plains changed its name five times, and the ten kingdoms south of the Yangtze fought among themselves. The three disciples each held their own territory, serving the young rulers of Tanzhou, Jiangling, and Jiangning.
Their three rulers used tea certificates to open trade routes, market towns to gauge the strength of their rivals, and hidden troops to protect their isolated cities. Beyond the clash of arms, another silent struggle for supremacy began.
Each thought she was fighting for the realm.
No one knew that the fourth strategy, coveted by every ruler, was the true calamity threatening these peaceful years.
