The History of China

#351.2 – Strange Tales XI.2: The Body Won’t Behave

It’s one thing to go invading the resting places of the dead and reaping the well-deserved consequences of your own bad choices. But it’s a different kind of horror entir

#351 - Strange Tales XI.1: Don't Wake the Grave

The leaves are blood-red once again, the coffee’s back to hot, and somewhere in old China, the dead begin to stir restlessly. Grave robbers, well-diggers, strange hobbyis

#350 - Taiping 25: Rings Within Rings

In the summer of 1861, the strangest siege of the war took shape on the banks of the Yangtze. As Heaven itself sent forth cosmic signs – of victory or disaster, no one co

#349 - Taiping 24: The Bouncer

By the autumn of 1860, the Qing Dynasty had run out of armies to lose. What was left of its war was being run out of a mountain valley in southern Anhui by a half-blind s

#348 - Arrow War 2: Ashes of Perfect Brightness

For two days in mid-October, ash fell like snow atop Beijing. All that remained of one of the greatest cultural storehouses in all of human history, put to the torch as a

#347 - Arrow War 1: The Servants' Entrance

A suspicious ship of dubious registry is boarded by Qing marines off Canton, 12 of her crew are taken captive for piracy, and the British allege their flag was hauled dow

#346 - Taiping 23: Friends From Afar

The Loyal King does everything right. He writes ahead to Shanghai to announce he's coming – as a friend! And only for the Qing parts of the city! His standing orders: no

#345 - Taiping 22: Heaven Below

For a thousand years, Suzhou and Hangzhou stood as synonyms for the next best thing to Heaven itself. Well... that was before 1860. As of now, Hangzhou is a fire-gutted r

#344 - Taiping 21: Borrowed Things

The stealth troops successfully sneak past the enemy lines in dead men's coats. The false flags planted on the hillside fool the city guard. The front gate assault divert

#308.5 - Zheng Yi Sao, Pt. 3: The Tiger's Mouth

Please check out this entire series-arc, re-written, expanded, & re-recorded as of Aug 2026:- Ep. 306: Dead Men Tell No Tales: https://megaphone.link/ARML5251369441- Ep.

#343 - Taiping 20: The Guest & the Host

Li Xiucheng thinks the plan is pointless. He said so out loud, to his superiors… and lost. So of course, it’s him tasked with leading it out the gate. He is, after all, t

#342 - Taiping 19: Approved In the Margins

A man disguised as a peddler stands on the bank of the Yangtze watching a British fleet go past, and tries to hitch a ride to Nanjing. He's been trying to reach the rebel

#341 - Taiping 18: Titles of the Dead

In the Heavenly capital of Nanjing, a government that’s now mostly murdered has to be restaffed… somehow. And so their old titles are simply dusted off and re-distributed

#340 - Taiping 17: Out of Kings

The Heavenly Kingdom, having recently killed kings three and four of its founding five – and misplaced the fifth – attempts to solve its acute leadership shortage. To tha

#339 - Taiping 16: At Sixes & Sevens

The Taiping's greatest summer curdles into its bloodiest autumn. Two months after the East King demands to be crowned Hong Xiuquan's equal, three of his brother-kings con

#338 - Taiping 15: The Summer of 10,000 Years

The Taiping Army is riding high. Having finally broken two massive, three-year-long sieges over the course of a single summer, ultimate victory seems within their grasp.

#337 - Taiping 14: Tears Enough to Swell the River

Three months after the biggest win of his life, Zeng Guofan tries to drown himself.Again.His fleet gets ambushed, split in half, & set ablaze by a 23-year-old nobody both

#336 - Taiping 13: The Order of Caps and Shoes

Zeng Guofan goes to war to defend a fixed universe – and nearly drowns proving how unfixed his own place in it actually is. Across a single year, Hunan's most unlikely ge

#335 - Taiping 12: The Man In Hunan

While the Northern Expedition dies in the freezing mud of Shandong, the Taiping's second strike — the Western Expedition — turns its sights on the provinces they've alrea

#334 - Taiping 11: The Spear of Heaven and the Winter Wolf

The Taiping Army commits to one of its most audacious acts yet – an assault on the Qing throne itself, a thousand miles north in Beijing. To reach it, it will launch its