Shuoyuan

In the third year of Yongxi, the northern campaign ended in a crushing defeat. Two hundred thousand imperial troops were lost, Yang Ye died for his country, and the northern defenses collapsed in an instant. A modern soul transmigrates into Zhao Lie, a deputy general in the Great Song. He defies an imperial order in public and bluntly points out the flaws in the new troop-rotation policy. His reward is not acceptance, but a prison cell where he awaits punishment. Liao cavalry threaten Hebei, the court distrusts military men, and the shadow of the warlords of the Five Dynasties weighs on the ruler and his ministers. Stripped of rank and title, he has only a battered band of survivors and a notebook detailing the border army’s countless deep-rooted problems. Hoping for a fair-minded emperor is a fantasy; Hoping to protect himself through military achievements is a dead end. He has no plans to seize the Song dynasty’s throne. He only wants to defend its vast northern frontier. He fights his way through the flames of war, testing bloodshed against reality as he struggles to pry open the old policy of favoring civil officials over military men. Suspicion will never disappear completely, but the survival of the country will ultimately outweigh fear of its generals. This is the story of a military commander who fights his way toward another chance at survival in the Great Song’s hopeless predicament.