Penniless and homeless, the young Liu Yun had traveled to Peking, which remained peaceful, unchanged. The emperor still resided within the Forbidden City’s great complex of lavish palaces surrounded by bloodred walls; merchants, scholars, entertainers, and outlaws still sought their fortunes in this center of commerce and culture. Forced to support himself by begging, Liu Yun almost died of cold and hunger that winter. Then, when his exam score finally reached Peking, the government awarded him a clerkship in the Bureau of Foreign Relations, where he exhibited a talent for languages and diplomacy and began his climb up the civil service ladder. Over the next nine years, he heard distressing news of Hsi. The Ming army was losing ground; the Manchus had taken Szechuan and Fukien Provinces. Famines and peasant uprisings plagued the country. Hsi got wounded, recovered, and became a general. He went missing; was presumed dead. Then one day his prediction came true.

Forty-six years ago, peasant rebels had attacked Peking. The weak, corrupt Ming government was powerless to resist. The emperor hanged himself. In desperation, the bureaucrats asked the Manchus to quell the rebellion, ceding the capital to them as a reward. Manchu troops entered the Forbidden City, cutting down peasants armed with sticks. As Liu Yun and other Ming officials, now under Manchu domination, rescued documents from a burning building, Liu Yun looked up at the sound of a familiar voice. His heart lurched.

Into the courtyard rode his brother, leading troops resplendent in Ming army regalia. “Hsi!” Liu Yun cried as gladness filled his heart. “You’re alive!”

Then he watched in horror while Hsi’s troops attacked the Manchus. “Younger brother, what are you doing?”

Bloody sword still raised, Hsi turned on Liu Yun. The battle raged around them. “I could ask you the same question, elder brother.” Hsi’s stern face showed no joy at their reunion. “How can you serve those who slew our parents and stole our land?”

“Younger brother, your war is over,” Liu Yun said, stung by Hsi’s hostility. “The Manchus have won. The Ming rulers have lost the Mandate of Heaven to them. Surrender.”

“Coward! Fool! You’re not my brother anymore!” As more Manchu soldiers stormed the courtyard, Hsi launched another offense, shouting orders to his troops.

Within days, the Manchus had slain the last peasant rebel. They occupied Peking, completing their conquest of China. Liu Yun and his colleages transferred their allegiance to the new rulers. China’s civil service machine ground on. Liu Yun rose to the position of minister of foreign relations. He married; fathered children. Later, with his wife dead and his sons grown, he took religious vows and began his second career as an overseas priest. He tried to forget the brother who had spurned him, whom he never saw again after that meeting at the besieged palace.