Where Winds Meet opens in 962 CE, but its bloodiest arguments were settled decades earlier. After the An Lushan Rebellion, Tang military governors ruled fanzhen like private kingdoms until Huang Chao shattered what remained of central authority. Zhu Wen abolished Tang in 907; fifty-four years of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms followed.
[spoiler]Li Zuo (historical Emperor Ai) survives Zhu Wen's poison when Liu Qingyi drinks in his place (908). Sun Buqi hides the truth and later experiments on her in the Gleaming Abyss. After 923, Li Zuo reunites with her, watches her choose death in 936, and founds the Aureate Pavilion on dream-puppet immortality — the same year Shi Jingtang cedes the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to Yelü Deguang.
Wang Qing's Northern Vow, Jiang Yan's disgrace at Zhongdu Bridge (946), the Kaifeng sack (947), Chai Rong's Hanging Blade and Hidden Swallow, and Zhao Kuangyin's 960 Chenqiao Mutiny all orbit that territorial loss. The prologue's stolen Zhenguan Jade and Uncle Jiang's disappearance are late echoes of a catastrophe that began when a general traded mountains for a throne.[/spoiler]
*Based on analysis by [fwalicia](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYiieNxEKskaAzhrmA0p7iQ).*
