Troubled Song

Troubled Song is a long-form time-travel historical novel by the web novelist Yu Wanlou, belonging to the historical military genre. Set in the late Northern Song dynasty, the story follows Li Cheng, a young man who has just retired from the military and returned to university. While hiking in the Shennongjia wilderness, he is struck by a fiery light and thunder from the sky; when he wakes from unconsciousness, he has crossed a thousand years and landed in the city of Bianliang in the second year of the Xuanhe era (1120). At this time the Northern Song appears peaceful and prosperous, with entertainment quarters and theaters bustling all night, but in truth the Jin state is growing ever stronger in the north, Emperor Huizong is sunk in pleasure, and treacherous officials hold sway at court while factional strife never ceases—a catastrophic disaster is approaching. Li Cheng starts out in the streets and pleasure quarters, and by chance enters officialdom, crossing paths in turn with figures such as Zhao Gou, Prince of Kang; Zong Ze; Yue Fei; Cai Jing; and even Song Jiang. While maneuvering for survival amid court intrigue, he promotes the development of firearms, improves military equipment, and reforms the army, trying to win a glimmer of hope for the dynasty before the Jingkang catastrophe arrives. The book unfolds in eight volumes, from the splendor of Bianliang to the collapse of Jingkang, and on to the rebuilding of the country after the southward flight, interweaving battlefield slaughter, political maneuvering, and romantic entanglements of the jianghu. With real historical events as its skeleton and augmented by the technology and insight a time traveler brings, the work, against a tragic undertone of "knowing it cannot be done yet doing it anyway," depicts how a modern person weighs national aspirations against personal feelings in a troubled age. The book runs about 850,000 characters in eight volumes, the first of which is "Song and Dance of Bianliang."