The Battle of Muye ended without the fall of Yin Shang. King Wu Ding of Shang and his queen, Fu Hao, had prepared an escape route for the Shang people in advance. On the eve of the kingdom's collapse, King Zhou, Di Xin, entrusted the Black Bird jade tally and the bronze troop-mobilization tally to Fu Yu, heir to the naval fleet. Eighty-nine warships and 3,700 armored soldiers set sail as the Three Rivers Navy of Yin Shang embarked on an epic voyage across the ancient oceans.
Across vast, surging seas, ancient ships sailed far from home, navigating by the stars and calculating their course, fighting hurricanes, shipworms, and storms that ripped their sails. The fleet was scattered, then struggled to reunite across the boundless ocean. The Zhou army pursued them, epidemics swept through the fleet, conservative nobles harbored rebellious intentions, and surviving soldiers carried the bitterness of a shattered homeland. The ancestors reached a new continent and began with a stockade, reclaiming wild land, smelting copper by ancient methods, building a state, and establishing land laws, household registers, criminal codes, and ancestral temples. They introduced maize, contended with native tribes, and faced the choice of whether to preserve or abolish the ancient rite of human sacrifice.
An alternate-history epic set in the pre-Qin era, a story of ancient clans and their people, helmed by a powerful female lead. The descendants of Yin Shang migrate overseas to survive, building ancient ships, developing the land, advancing civilization, and rebuilding their state. In a savage, desperate wilderness, they abolish human sacrifice and bear witness to the brilliance of human nature.
A sweeping maritime saga of exploration and state-building. Inspired by archaeological discoveries and excavated relics, the novel uses engineering research to imagine the Yin people crossing east to the Americas and founding a nation overseas. This is not real history.
Originally titled The Sea Merchants: The Black Bird's Voyage Across the Ocean. Copyright registered. An original, full-length novel written in the form of a sea journal, completed and available as a free serial.
