The Rise and Fall Began with a Compound Bow

"Killing without military authority is punishable by the executioner's blade."

Zhu Biao's blade was already at Xiao Yun's throat. Xiao Yun offered no defense, saying only, "Allow me to verify one thing: Hua Rong will shoot a signal flare tonight."

The light went out, and the Three Estates were shaken. How could a poor estate guard know the enemy's movements?

In the first year of Xuanhe, at Dulong Ridge. On the eve of Liangshan's third attack on Zhu Family Village, Xiao Yun awoke in the estate guards' barracks. He had no rank or authority, only three months of command over troop deployments, granted in exchange for signing a military order with a deadline. Wu Yong sent someone to deliver a forged contract meant to sow discord in the Zhu family. Xiao Yun pieced together a chain of evidence from four sources: handwriting, seals, accounts, and witnesses. When Liangshan blockaded the lake and cut off supplies, he organized a navy, broke the blockade, and calculated the fish market's accounts. The ten strongholds of Qingzhou each had their own private punishments, so he established separate tribunals for soldiers and civilians, placing military law under military command and civil law under civilian officials.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.