Qiming 1158

The year 1158, which corresponds to the twenty-eighth year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty

In this era, the Four Great Inventions have been fully improved and applied in social production. There is paper, gunpowder, the imperial examination system, technology, developed commerce, and a sufficient population, with social productivity far surpassing that of the Han and Tang dynasties

In this era, the Jin Dynasty dominated the Central Plains, the Western Xia occupied the northwest, the Dali established its stronghold in the southwest, and the Southern Song maintained a precarious position in a corner.

The vast Northwest and Central Asia, the Western Liao has not yet lost the ideal of restoring its homeland

On the vast grasslands, the Mongol tribes are slowly developing, accumulating a terrifying power capable of overturning the world order

How can one find a path that leads to light rather than to decline in this fragmented and tumultuous world?

First of all, one cannot hold any form of expectation towards the Southern Song Dynasty