A Day in Bianjing: The Song Dynasty's 24 Hours of Chang'an

On the night of the Lantern Festival in the seventh year of Xuanhe, a million lanterns in Bianjing are about to light up one by one. Shen Jun, a former assistant director of the Imperial Arsenal, limps as he searches for his missing beloved daughter. Zhao Buyi, a disgraced member of the imperial clan, is half-deaf, yet vows to expose the plot that framed him.

Neither knows that a web of fire and thunder has already begun to ensnare the Aoshan lantern mountain, Xuande Tower, and the grain shipments on the Bian River.

If it is not dismantled within twelve shichen, hundreds of thousands of people out to see the lanterns will burn alongside the lantern mountain.

This is the Song Dynasty's version of The Longest Day in Chang'an, and a life-or-death countdown spanning twelve shichen in the Great Song.