The first Hexi map names a Han commandery gate; the second names a garrison city that once hosted Western Region musicians for Emperor Xuanzong. fwalicia's timeline treats both as chapters in one relay rather than isolated zones.
[spoiler]Samarkand's golden peaches reach Taizong's court (635–647 CE) and later pass to the Pear Garden / Masked Troupe before An Lushan shatters the empire. General Guo Xin holds Anxi for forty years; Hong Yu's courier post (~765 CE) and Kang Zhenzhu's merchant pact (~781–808 CE) anchor the decades after. When the last Anxi city falls (~808 CE), Lan He recovers the Golden Peach and eventually entrusts it to Zhang Yichao at Dasan Pass.
A modest inn beyond Liangzhou walls becomes the narrative hinge: Kuchean musician Bai Heli (720 CE), a Yaghma dancer (745–755), and later stable master Liu Sanyang — Burlap Sack — who likely reaches Horsehelm Village (~835 CE), the aquifer settlement Guo Xin mapped generations earlier. Lian Erlang turns west again in 835, befriends Lan He and Zhang Yichao, and passes the peach at Dasan Pass.
In 880 CE Huang Chao burns Chang'an. Zhang Huaishen's household is murdered the same night Cao Jing Guanyin escapes with An Liuli and Lian Daozi plays the Liangzhou melody atop the tower — the game's Chapter 3 present compressed from centuries of frontier grief.[/spoiler]
*Based on analysis by [fwalicia](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYiieNxEKskaAzhrmA0p7iQ).*
