Age and ashes

During the Tianbao era, Li Ke, a sixteen-year-old boy from Chang'an, grew restless with the monotony of daily life. Without telling his father, he left home and traveled to Hexi to enlist in the army. He began as a common soldier, and through the trials of war, gradually rose to become a distinctive general. Yet just as he was beginning to achieve recognition, An Lushan launched a rebellion from Fanyang, and an army of 150,000 swept across the Central Plains. The prosperous age collapsed overnight. Chang'an fell, Emperor Xuanzong fled west in haste, and Concubine Yang perished at Maweiyi. Li Ke followed the Hexi Army through the turmoil, narrowly escaping death in major engagements such as the bloody battle at Tongguan and the recapture of Chang'an. He witnessed firsthand the tragedy of Ge Shuhan, Du Fu's deep concern for the nation, and Li Bai's decline. He also saw countless comrades fall beside him. By the time the eight-year Anshi Rebellion finally ended, the Tang Dynasty lay fractured and exhausted. In his later years, as Li Ke looked back on his life, what he missed most was the Chang'an of his youth—that golden age of spring breezes and triumphant days, when all nations came to pay homage.