Ironclad Beauty in the Snow at the Border Pass

Shen Qinglan is the sole surviving heir of the military Shen family. After her family was framed and destroyed, she concealed her identity and joined the frontier army. By the age of twenty-two, her military achievements had earned her a promotion to deputy general. Her blood feud remained unresolved, yet she put the protection of the border people ahead of her personal grudge, until Zhao Yan, an Inspector of the Privy Council, entered her camp with a map. This refined young scion of the imperial clan not only saw through her disguise, but also brought news that her enemy, Xiao Jingyan, still held unchecked power in the Privy Council. Amid the wind and sand of the frontier, she and Ainu'er, a princess of a Mongol tribe, turned from sworn enemies into friends who would risk their lives for each other. By the curling kitchen smoke, retired veteran Gu Fengyun passed on all the military strategies he had learned over a lifetime. When Xiao Jingyan's schemes once again threatened the realm, Shen Qinglan led her iron cavalry to shatter them, Zhao Yan broke the deadlock at court, and Ainu'er's horsemen thundered to their aid. Meanwhile, the late emperor's secret edict, kept close to Gu Fengyun's heart, would at last unleash a storm that cleared the names of the wronged. The sword pointed toward both the smoke of battle and the undercurrents in the capital. In this contest with the nation's borders as its game board, she swore to protect the land and reclaim a world where the innocent could be cleared of blame.