The Ashes of War: The Road Home is a moving story of war, homecoming, and protection.
Shen Yanzhi, a battle-hardened general, fought bitterly in the northern desert for three years and finally led his remaining troops to rout the bandits. Then came urgent news: the Northern Di had breached the pass and were advancing on his hometown, Yanzhou. He rode day and night, returning through blood and fire to find a battered, isolated city and the bloodstained Shen banner atop its walls.
Overcome by fear and guilt, he rushed into his home, where he beheld the most precious sight of his life and endured its deepest pain. His wife, Su Weizhi, had given birth to their daughter amid the enemy's encroaching flames. Though wounded by an arrow, she remained astonishingly steadfast and kept everyone calm. She named their daughter Nian Gui, meaning that she hoped he would return soon. Facing his pale, frail wife and daughter, Shen Yanzhi was overcome with emotion. All his military honors meant less than the lamp lit to welcome him home.
Thus the story unfolds along two intertwined paths. In the open, Shen Yanzhi serves as the city's defending general, strengthening its defenses, caring for the wounded, and facing the threat of the northern Di tribes' return. On the familiar battlefields of old, he has gained a deeper vulnerability and forged himself a stronger armor. In the quieter story beneath it, he and his wife and daughter rebuild their home amid the ruins of war. From clumsily learning to cook to holding a hundred-day celebration for his daughter, the small, ordinary comforts of daily life heal the wounds of war and help him truly understand what it means to protect someone: not only defending one's home and country, but being there for every little moment.
This is not only the homecoming of the renowned Shen Yanzhi, from “the nation's sharpest blade” to “the foundation of his family,” but also the story of a city and a home
