Three Bows to the Mountains and Rivers

The imperial court is rife with backstabbing, and factional strife cuts like a knife. Gu Zhao, the son of an aristocratic family; Shen Ji'an, the son of a merchant; and Zhao Lie, the son of a landowner, meet by chance on an outing beyond the city and become sworn brothers despite their different surnames. One vows to wield the pen like a blade, one to clear the way with money, and one to protect others with his life. A chaotic age has no patience for youthful idealism. A cruel official drives Zhao Lie into rebellion. Gu Zhao and Shen Ji'an secretly send him aid, only to be accused by their political enemies of colluding with bandits. Both families are destroyed, and the three brothers are scattered across the land. After three years in hiding, Shen Ji'an has become a merchant wealthier than a nation, Gu Zhao reenters officialdom under a new identity, and Zhao Lie has gathered tens of thousands of rebel troops. From then on, one man moves the seals like pieces on a board in the imperial court; another wields money as a weapon along the trade routes; and a third gives orders with his blade amid the flames of war. Though thousands of miles apart, the three brothers drive their enemies step by step into a dead end. When the realm changes hands and the old dynasty falls, the man with the seal ascends the throne, the man with the money becomes the richest under heaven, and the man with the blade is ennobled as Grand General. The blood pact they made years ago becomes the foundation of a new order. And the reckoning they have been waiting for has only just begun.