Yan Zhaoran was once a high-ranking court official, but after angering the emperor with his outspoken criticism, he was demoted to a bitterly cold frontier post. As night snow sealed the passes, he lit the signal fires on the northern frontier and wrote a blood-soaked petition to fight, unexpectedly awakening an old border pact that had lain dormant for a hundred years. Wei Shubai, a lone, valiant general once exiled by the court, appeared amid the wind and snow. Their eyes met, and though neither spoke, their blades were already crossed. They had once been colleagues, but now they were strangers. Yet when foreign enemies massed at the borders and the imperial court plotted against them, these two forgotten by the world became the only pieces on the board capable of saving the people. The beacon fires still burned, and the realm was a game of strategy. Who was the true loyal minister? And who was moving the pieces in the shadows?
