scorched-earth invasion of Kitai, violently sacking Hanjin and capturing most of the imperial family. Ren, the only Kitan general capable of defeating Altai forces in the field, rescues Shan and an imperial heir, Prince Zhizheng, and conducts a fighting retreat to the south. Ren reorganizes the Kitai military and rapidly reconquers territory in the north. He quickly becomes a folk hero but is viewed with suspicion by his superiors, and is imprisoned on trumped-up treason charges when Zhizheng, to guard against his family's restoration in the north, proclaims himself emperor of a rump Kitan state and negotiates an unfavorable peace with the Altai. Lin, meanwhile, settles in the south on the estate of her old acquaintance Lu Chen. The novel concludes ambiguously, with Hang Hsien, Zhizheng's prime minister and the son of Hang Dejin, offering Ren a choice between suicide and a life in obscurity following a faked death. Major characters Ren Daiyan: a military commander and onetime bandit, born the second son of a village clerk in western Kitai. Lin Shan: a renowned ci poet educated as a man, who marries into a distant branch of the imperial family and becomes a favored courtier. Lu Chen: the foremost ci poet of his day, once a prominent member of the imperial court's conservative faction and exiled following the ascent of Hang Dejin. Lu Chao: Lu Chen's brother and a diplomat sent to explore a Kitai-Altai alliance against the Xiaolu. Zhao Ziji: Ren's trusted companion-in-arms and second-in-command, once a junior army officer ambushed by a youthful Ren's bandit gang. Hang Dejin: the prime minister of Kitai, leader of the court's reformist faction, and onetime tutor of Emperor Wenzong. Wan'yen: the war-leader and de facto ruler of the Altai. Wang Fuyin: a respected magistrate of Kitai, once a prefectural official whose life was saved by a young Ren Daiyan, and frequently Ren's benefactor. Lin Kuo: Lin Shan's father, a gentleman-scholar who passed the imperial civil service examinations on his second attempt, but who has never held office. Qi Wai: Lin Shan's husband in a companionate marriage; an impassioned collector of historical artefacts and a member of the imperial clan. Wenzong: the Emperor of Kitai. Kai Zhen: the deputy prime minister of Kitai and Hang Dejin's rival, eventually the prime minister himself. Tuan Lung: Ren Daiyan's teacher as a youth, who instilled in him an understanding of Kitan history and culture, and later