One day, I happened to catch a glimpse of a Chinese historical fiction movie based on a true story called Little Big Soldier and watched the ending. (I liked what I saw and will probably watch the whole thing in the future.)

Slight Spoiler: I didn't like how it seemed all for naught when one of the male leads surrendered to a third party, but something my mother (who had watched part of the movie) said about the General (the male lead) would probably end up working under the First Emperor of China as a provincial governor made me think...hey, what if I make a story out of that premise?

What would a General (and crown prince/king) surrendering to a Conqueror, and them working together, albeit reluctantly, mean for a Chinese kingdom? What would happen if he had a tragic backstory like his brother dying in the struggle for a throne like *spoiler* what happened in the movie?

Originally, it was a fanfic idea, even though I had not watched most of the movie. Then, I started coming up with these scenarios and fleshing out these characters. The Conqueror, based at first partly on the first Emperor of China, was meant to be a flat character but ended up fully fleshing out into a...well, a human being who is definitely now not a fictionalized representation of the  Qin Emperor or the historical accounts I have read of him. As the story chapters have kept growing, and I have outlined the plot, new characters that influenced the story (but did not ultimately change the plot drastically) showed up. Unlike many of my other works, I did not know the ending at first, and played around with figuring out the events that happened leading to the climax before writing. By then-it wasn't a fanfic anymore, but a whole other story set in Ancient China during the war-torn era after the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

Setting- Time: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, after later Tang Dynasty

Location: Southeast China/Japan

The first summary of this story describes what happens in the first three chapters, and not much has changed since then in those chapters only that the world and characters have expanded in the subsequent chapters.

As I am aware of, and also dislike, when magic is half-hardheartedly just poofed in a historical setting without much relevance to the actual story (not that I do not enjoy historical fiction fantasy), this is not a wuxia or tianxia story. Although there are martial artists and swordsmen, it is also not set in the jianghu realm like other stories. (Terms you pick up when watching Chinese dramas/movies, and reading Chinese stories translated to English.)

Disclaimer: The characters are fictional even though it is a historical setting. Unlike other stories, like Lapis, I did not use/attempt to use real people that existed and portray a fictionalized account of their lives. If there is any historical inaccuracy to the time period or how the characters act, it is not intentional. This is my first attempt at historical fiction C-drama-like story so please forgive me as I am new to this.

Nevertheless, I recommend to strap back, enjoy the panoramic view and immerse yourself in the wonders of Ancient China!