The Land Splits Apart

The Yongjia Southward Migration: China falls into chaos. For the next three hundred years, north and south remain divided, and the ravages of war never cease. In the north, the Five Hu tribes ride into the Central Plains, rising and falling in turn. In the south, the aristocracy of the Southern Dynasties cling to their refuge south of the Yangtze, while usurpations and assassinations follow one after another.

A poor peddler, abandoned by his father on a snowy night, rises from the gambling dens of Jingkou. He destroys Southern Yan, defeats Later Qin, and recovers the Guanzhong region, before finally replacing the Jin Dynasty with the Song and laying the foundations for 170 years of the Southern Dynasties. After that, the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen succeed one another like images in a revolving lantern. Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moves the capital and reforms the state, but dies before fulfilling his ambitions. Emperor Wu of Liang devotes himself to Buddhism, while Hou Jing's iron cavalry marches south. The capital stands besieged for a hundred days, and the splendor of Jiangnan goes up in flames. The two great leaders Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai divide the north, as blood stains the lands between the rivers and passes at Shawan, Mangshan, and Yubi. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou suppresses Buddhism, reorganizes the army, and conquers Qi to reunify the north, but fate grants him too few years. In the end, Yang Jian inherits the Northern Zhou legacy and brings the realm to order in eight years. He captures the last Chen emperor at the Well of Rouge, and three hundred years of division finally give way to unity.

Across seven volumes, this story lays bare the power struggles at court and the rise and fall of an age of chaos. After long division comes unity: division brings suffering, while unification is the inevitable tide. After three hundred years of people being plunged into misery, the great reunification is finally achieved under the Kaihuang era.