One song, “Wine of the Pass,” cannot sing all the desolation of the frontier or tell all the tales of heroes' blood and tears. Taking a classic lyric tune as its inspiration, this book unfolds a sweeping epic of the Song-Xia borderlands.
Lu Qingya, a loyal official's son falsely accused and demoted, is caught up in the mystery of the “Arsenal Case” and forced to flee for his life. Amid the flames of Black Wind Stronghold, he meets the outlaw hero “Gust of Wind,” Zhao Qingci, the daughter of a censor with a blood feud to avenge, the mysterious tavern owner Shopkeeper Wang, and others... A jar of fiery liquor called “Wine of the Pass” binds their fates together.
From then on, his life rises and falls with the survival of the Longxi frontier. The bloody battle at Didao, machinations at court, the Xia cavalry, treacherous officials... Murderous traps and dangers lurk at every turn. Lu Qingya struggles to survive against all odds, unravels schemes thread by thread, and tempers himself in the fires of war. From a wanted fugitive alone in the world to a commander wielding the marshal's seal, he bears the burden of questions about loyalty and treachery and choices of love and duty, drinking cup after cup of “Wine of the Pass,” steeped in snowstorms, smoke, and blood.
This is not only one man's revenge and vindication, but also the story of a group of people who stand firm and make sacrifices. When the smoke of war finally clears from the frontier, what settles at the bottom of the cup is a general's white hair, old friends returned to the earth, and the joys and sorrows, courage and spirit of an age that can never be erased.
