Restoring the Song Dynasty

Shao means, first, to inherit; second, to guide.

In 1127, the Northern Song dynasty fell. Soon afterward, amid the hopes of the people, Zhao Gou, the emperor's ninth son, ascended the throne in Shangqiu, inheriting the Song lineage and adopting the Jianyan era name.

Yet within three months, Li Gang was dismissed as chancellor, Chen Dong was executed, Yue Fei was driven from the army, Zong Ze was abandoned in Dongjing, and the anti-Jin defenses in Hebei were dismantled in their entirety... After all that effort, the court officials finally reached agreement and settled on a glorious strategy for resisting the Jin: escorting His Majesty south to the Huai region, then on to Yangzhou.

But just as the journey began, after paying his respects to the Daoist patriarch at Mingdao Palace in Bozhou, Zhao Gou tumbled headfirst into the famous Nine Dragons Well. When he climbed back out, he no longer recognized his trusted aides!

I must fight the Jin! But where are all my trusted men?!

This is the heartfelt cry of a soul from nine hundred years in the future. After reluctantly inheriting the name of the Great Song, he sets out to guide the court and the realm down a new path.

Thus, Shao Song.