Twelve Lines of War Smoke

A fictional dynasty: Great Yin.

Great Yin had stood for over two hundred years, but after reaching its height, it began to decline. The iron cavalry of the northern “Shuoting” pressed south, warlords carved up the western territories, salt-and-iron magnates grew powerful in the southeast, and peace and war factions fought for influence at court.

Ten years ago, the northern stronghold known as the “Seven Forts of Yanmen” fell overnight. More than thirty thousand troops of the Northern Garrison were wiped out, and their commander, Gu Chongshan, was condemned for “colluding with the enemy and betraying the nation.” His entire family was executed. After that, the northern frontier lay exposed, and the nation’s fortunes steadily declined.

But the truth was not so simple.

The fall of the forts had in fact been the result of a conspiracy between powerful court officials, a corrupt military supply network, and Shuoting’s spies.

The only thing that could restore the truth and lead to a group of former subordinates, an armory, border-defense maps, and a list of secret oaths was an old dossier known as **The Secret Files of the Northern Pass**.

The dossier had been split into twelve parts and scattered far and wide.

Twelve people with no connection to one another each stumbled upon one of the pieces, and were drawn into the game by the same hidden web.