Tieyi Pass, the most desolate outpost at the northern edge of the Great Liang Empire.
The Northern Rong cavalry attack year after year, and the imperial court abandons the pass year after year. The bones of three generations of border guards lie piled here, and Shen Che’s only family member is buried here too.
On the night the old general died defending the city walls, Shen Che crawled out from beneath the corpses. Behind him, only seventeen soldiers were still standing.
He has to defend a lone city. The court has already ordered a retreat. Supplies are cut off, reinforcements are nowhere to be seen, and even the imperial edict bears the words “Abandon the Pass.”
But he won’t leave.
Not because he isn’t afraid to die, but because he promised the old general: “As long as the border stands, we still have a home.”
He has four brothers: Zhao Tieniu, as honest and sturdy as an ox; Gu Changfeng, a sharp-tongued strategist; Xie Lingyun, a cold-faced master archer; and Helan Ci, a lone wolf from the Western Regions. The night they swore brotherhood over a blood oath, all five cut their palms, drank wine mixed with their blood, and vowed to live and die together.
“We may not have been born on the same day, month, or year...”
“But may we die on the same day, month, and year!”
Su Yunjin is the daughter of a condemned official. Shen Che saves her on the way to exile. She had thought the frontier held nothing but wasteland and slaughter, but in this city of blood and fire, she finds the warmest sincerity in the world.
He teaches her to ride. She mends his battle robes.
“My city, my brothers, my woman, they’re all here.”
“In this life, I, Shen Che, will defend only one city and love only one woman.”
