Introduction to "The Story of Half Bi"
During the Hongwu period of the early Ming Dynasty, the noble Guo family in Huaixi was wronged due to the Hu Weiyong case. In order to protect the family, Guo Xing, the Marquis of Gongchang, split the heirloom "Loyal and Brave" jade pendant into two halves and gave them to the eldest son Guo Jingzhen and the second son Guo Jingyang (later renamed Guo Bin). He asked them to stick to the family motto and protect the clan together.
Guo Jingzhen inherited the title but was exiled and killed. Guo Bin took half of a jade pendant with the character "Yong" and fled to Haizhou with his clan members. He enlisted in the army incognito and farmed the saline-alkali land to survive, secretly guarding his family's bloodline. For decades, Guo Bin endured the humiliation and shouldered the heavy burden. Guo Qi, a descendant of the Guo family, inherited the jade pendant with the word "loyalty" and the family mission since childhood. After guarding the border in Xuanfu and dormant in Haizhou, he grew up in the wind and rain to become a pillar of both civil and military talents.
In the first year of Hongxi, the new emperor Zhu Gaochi came to the throne and implemented lenient policies. Guo Qi went to Beijing to face the saint. With the "loyal and brave" jade pendant, ancestors' handwriting and rubbings, he joined forces with Guo Xuan, a descendant of the Wuding Marquis Mansion, and a group of old tribesmen. After resistance from the court and verification of old cases, the Guo family's injustice was finally vindicated. The novel uses the separation and reunion of jade pendants to reflect the rise and fall of the family, and connects historical events such as the Hu Weiyong case and the Jingnan Campaign to compose a family legend that spans three generations and adheres to "loyalty and bravery".
The intention: to embed the fate of the family into the political turmoil between Hongwu and Hongxi years, and through the choices of Guo Xing, Guo Bin, and Guo Qi in different eras (splitting Yu to protect the clan, hiding in hiding, and standing up to show the snow), to show the power of individuals to protect the family bloodline and stick to their true intentions with forbearance and resistance in the tide of the times.