Building an Empire in Great Qin

On a storm-lashed night, the embankment at the Lishan Mausoleum is on the verge of collapse. The stones embezzled by the overseer crumble at a touch. As the prisoners across the camp await death, one condemned road builder crouches on the dam, rubbing soil between his fingers. “Dig three feet farther east. There’s still time.”

His name is Ling Su, the last builder in the line of the Mohist Grandmaster. Hiding his identity, he has joined the convict camp to work on the imperial roads. Others build roads with whips; he relies on mathematics: spotting hollow-packed earth, keeping the lines true, calculating materials. Every step he takes cuts into the overseer’s embezzled profits. The village roads he builds fill the granaries; the imperial roads he lays carry Wang Jian’s armies as they conquer the six kingdoms.

But the farther the roads stretch, the closer he comes to the hell that rose from beneath Lishan. The empire depends on him to unite the realm, only to plan to bury him there in the end.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.