The Long Ballad of Great Ming

Li Tong, Liu Ying, Zhang Shouyi, Liu Jiye, Chang Haoran, and the other students of the Nanjing Imperial College spent their days idling about in Nanjing.

They thought they would spend their whole lives eating their fill and waiting to die like pigs, but then news arrived from Liaodong: Japan had invaded Korea and was now plotting to annex the Ming Empire.

From the emperor to the court officials, no one believed the Korean envoy's tearful pleas.

But young men like Li Tong, Chang Haoran, and Zhang Shouyi believed that enlisting to fight the enemy was their only chance to stop living like pigs.

The young men resolutely set out on their journey.

They grew up quickly and each found love along the way.