The Boy Emperor Who Stood Alone (Untold Chinese History - Song Dynasty) Kindle Edition

What happens when a seven-year-old child inherits not a kingdom, but its funeral?On May 8, 1278, six-year-old Zhao Bing watched his older brother die on a refugee ship off the coast of Guangzhou. Within hours, court officials draped him in an imperial robe sewn for a grown man and proclaimed him the eighteenth emperor of the Song Dynasty. Outside, a thousand ships carried 200,000 desperate souls fleeing Kublai Khan's relentless armies.For eleven months, Chancellor Lu Xiufu protected the boy emperor as they sailed from harbor to harbor, always one step ahead of Mongol forces. But at Yamen Bay, the fleet ran out of ocean. Trapped, starving, and surrounded, the Song court faced an impossible choice: surrender and live as captives, or die as emperors. When Yuan forces finally broke through on March 19, 1279, Lu Xiufu strapped the child to his back and walked to a cliff's edge. They jumped together, ending 319 years of Song rule in the time it takes to fall.This is the story history sanitizes into heroism. But strip away the mythology and one question remains: who speaks for the child who never got to choose?Discover the tragedy behind the legend in The Boy Emperor Who Stood Alone. Read more