Splendor in the Capital

Fifteen years ago, in the battle at Canglang Valley on the northern frontier, all thirty thousand soldiers perished. Shen Chongshan, the Marquis of Zhenbei, vanished without a trace, while Deputy General Shen Yi died in battle, leaving behind only a bloodstained piece of armor.

Fifteen years later, Zhou Quan, an official in the Ministry of War, suddenly "died of illness," leaving behind a death report implicating a hidden scandal in the northern frontier's military supplies. Undercurrents stir in the capital. The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, the Privy Council, Prince Duan, Prince Xian... all the various factions turn their attention to an old case buried beneath a cover-up.

Shen Zhiyi, the unremarkable legitimate eldest daughter of the Minister's residence, is also the orphaned child of one of the Marquis of Zhenbei's former subordinates. After a high fever, she gains fragments of vague yet searing memories from a past life. To uncover the truth behind her father's death in battle, she uses her frailty as armor and her intelligence as a blade, navigating both the inner household and the imperial court as she follows every clue in pursuit of the long-buried "blood-price" accounts and the northern frontier's "secret vault."

Li Yan, the frail, sickly Prince Xian who lives in seclusion, is the emperor's youngest brother. The world calls him a walking medicine jar, unaware that he moves his pieces amid fits of coughing and conceals his edge beneath his ailing frame. He watches the turmoil at court with a cold eye and secretly investigates the old case, vowing to uncover the truth behind the conspiracy that caused the dynasty's northern defenses to collapse.

When military supply ledgers hidden inside a coffin in a dried-up well resurface, when the coded phrase "split it thirty-seven" points to high-ranking officials at court, and when word arrives from the northern frontier that the Marquis of Zhenbei may still be alive...

A vast web sweeping across the court and implicating the fate of the nation has begun to tighten. Revenge is no petty grudge over wives, concubines, legitimacy, and birth order. It is the cry of thirty thousand loyal souls and the righteous spirit of the land.