China's last imperial dynasty had ended. The Japanese were invading the coastal provinces; the Communists were making trouble inland. In a remote province, a warlord was getting ready to stage his rebellion. He owned the largest gold reserve in China, having amassed a fortune from smuggling opium for the British. He wanted to 'restore the Middle Kingdom to its former glory', counting on help from a Western educated spymaster and his wife, a descendent of Confucius, a Shanghai singsong girl and her French lover who stumbled upon secrets that could change America's China policy, a soldier of...