Chapter 1

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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As the chrysanthemums bloom in the ninth month, my flowers will flourish after all others have withered.

The fragrance soars through Chang'an, and the city is adorned with golden armor.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Empire was already in a state of terminal decline. Huang Chao, a scholar who failed the imperial exams, wrote this poem in Chang'an, expressing his ambitions. Soon after, in 874 AD, Huang Chao led a rebellion with Wang Xianzhi, and the Tang Empire, already deeply entrenched in warlordism, was drained of its last national strength in this war.

Huang Chao ultimately failed and died. The Tang Empire, on the brink of collapse, lasted for another two decades before being usurped by Zhu Wen in 907 AD. The once glorious Tang Empire, the center of world civilization, officially fell, and Chinese history entered the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhu Wen established the "Liang" dynasty, historically known as the Later Liang, becoming the first central government of the Five Dynasties period, which lasted for 53 years.

Zhu Wen was originally a general under Huang Chao. After surrendering to the Tang court, he turned against the rebels and then usurped the Tang to establish the Liang. He had a mortal enemy, Li Keyong, the Governor of Hedong and Prince of Jin, who had fought against the rebels together at the end of the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Later Liang, the two sides were constantly at war. When both Zhu Wen and Li Keyong died, their sons continued the conflict. Finally, in 923 AD, Li Keyong's son, Li Cunxu, declared himself emperor, with the state name "Tang," historically known as the Later Tang, and then overthrew the Later Liang. History entered the second period of the Five Dynasties: the Later Tang.

Shi Jingtang, the Governor of Hedong in the Later Tang, was a founding hero and was highly favored by the court. Emperor Li Siyuan even married his daughter to him. However, after Li Congke ascended the throne, due to the objective threat posed by the military leaders, there was mutual suspicion and rivalry between the emperor and his ministers. Shi Jingtang decided to rebel against the Later Tang, ceding the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to the Liao Empire and recognizing the Liao Emperor as his father, seeking his help. Thus, he joined forces with the Liao army to attack and overthrow the Later Tang. In 936 AD, Shi Jingtang declared himself emperor, with the state name "Jin," historically known as the Later Jin.

Shi Jingtang's act of recognizing a father caused many people in the country to feel humiliated, and rebellions never ceased. Both of his sons were killed in these rebellions. Before his death, Shi Jingtang passed the throne to his adopted son, Shi Chonggui, who decided to gradually break away from the Liao Empire. This immediately led to a war with the Liao, who launched three major invasions. In the last war, Shi Chonggui was defeated, and his family was captured and mistreated, leading to the fall of the Later Jin.

However, the Khitans, due to their long history of pillaging and massacres, were not welcomed by the Han people in Hebei and Henan. After the Khitan ruler ascended the throne in Kaifeng, he found it impossible to rule and felt that staying in the Central Plains was dangerous. He decided to retreat. With no ruler in the Central Plains, Liu Zhongyuan, the Governor of Hedong in the Later Jin, declared himself emperor in Taiyuan, leading his army south to take control of Luoyang and Kaifeng, and subsequently reclaimed the states of Hebei and Henan. In 947 AD, he established the "Han" dynasty, historically known as the Later Han.

Guo Wei was a founding hero of the Later Han and was highly favored by the emperor. After the death of Emperor Liu Zhongyuan, Guo Wei helped the Later Han emperor suppress multiple rebellions, including the rebellion of Li Shouzhen, the Governor of Hezhong, who declared himself emperor and posed a significant threat to the court. However, Emperor Li Yun feared that Guo Wei would follow the example of his predecessors, leading to mutual distrust and internal strife. He killed Guo Wei's entire family but failed to eliminate Guo Wei. Guo Wei's army returned to Kaifeng and killed Emperor Li Yun, leading to the fall of the Later Han. In 951 AD, Guo Wei declared himself emperor, with the state name "Zhou."

When Guo Wei declared himself emperor and established the state, Liu Chong, the Governor of Hedong in the Later Han, also declared himself emperor in Taiyuan, historically known as the Northern Han, becoming one of the "Ten Kingdoms" outside the Central Plains. Liu Chong attempted to borrow troops from the Khitans to overthrow the Later Zhou and become the ruler of the Central Plains, but he failed. The Later Zhou also failed to conquer the Northern Han throughout its reign, and the two sides were constantly at war. Besides the Northern Han, there were numerous regional powers in the south, including Sichuan, Hunan, and Jiangnan, collectively known as the Ten Kingdoms.

The Later Zhou went through two emperors, Guo Wei and his adopted son Chai Rong, and the state gradually grew stronger, beginning to implement a strategy for the unification of China. However, when the third emperor, Chai Zongxun, ascended the throne at the age of a few years, the military general Zhao Kuangyin, who was originally a commander of the Later Zhou, staged a coup at Chenqiao in 960 AD and declared himself emperor, establishing the Song Dynasty. The Later Zhou thus fell, and the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms came to an end, marking the beginning of the Northern Song period in Chinese history.

...

The Fu family.

Fu Yanqing was a prominent figure during the later period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, born into a family of military generals. His grandfather was King Wu of Wu, Fu Chu, and his father, King Qin of Qin, Fu Cunshen, was a foster son of Li Keyong. By the time of Fu Yanqing, he had been granted the titles of King of Huaiyang, King of Wei, and King of Wei, and his nine brothers were all military leaders with significant power.

However, the most famous member of the Fu family was his daughter, as three of his daughters became empresses, ruling the country. Among these three empresses, the eldest daughter, Fu Shi, was the empress of Emperor Chai Rong of the Later Zhou.

In 947 AD, Liu Zhongyuan established the Later Han, the fourth dynasty of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. That year, Fu Shi was 16 years old. Due to her father's transfer to Yanzhou, she moved with him. In Yanzhou, she encountered a young man who was starving and near death. Moved by compassion, she pleaded with her father to save this young man named Guo Shao.

Soon after, Fu Shi married the son of the Later Han general Li Shouzhen and moved to Hezhong. Guo Shao accompanied her as a guard.

In 950 AD, a wandering Taoist saw Fu Shi and said she had the appearance of an empress. This further fueled Li Shouzhen's ambitions: if his daughter-in-law was to be an empress, wouldn't his son be an emperor? Li Shouzhen thus decided to rebel in Hezhong.

The Later Han court sent Guo Wei to suppress the rebellion. Li Shouzhen was defeated, and his family was killed by the rebel army. Fu Shi did not want to die with them and fled into the inner palace, but her attendants and servants had all fled. She only encountered Guo Shao, who was willing to protect her from the pursuing soldiers.

Guo Shao, moved by Fu Shi's act of saving his life and other reasons, decided to repay her with his life. He was struck on the head by a blunt weapon in the chaos and was thrown into a mass grave outside the city. At this moment, a strange event occurred: the young man from the Five Dynasties, who had just died, was possessed by a soul from the modern era and woke up with great difficulty.

Fu Shi did not die. Instead, she relied on her father Fu Yanqing's relationship with Guo Wei and was recognized as his adopted daughter. Soon, Guo Wei and Fu Yanqing formed an alliance through marriage, and Fu Shi was remarried to Guo Wei's adopted son, Chai Rong.

Guo Wei's family was completely wiped out in the internal strife of the Later Han, and he had no sons left. He had to make his adopted son, Chai Rong, his successor and eventually passed the throne to Chai Rong after three years. Fu Shi, being Chai Rong's wife, became the first empress from the Fu family.

However, it seemed that a butterfly had appeared in the long river of history. When Li Shouzhen rebelled in Hezhong, a guard who was supposed to die came back to life, like an unknown butterfly whose wings gradually changed the face of history...

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