Solitary Garrison

In the first year of Zhenyuan, Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, 18-year-old Zhao Dingbian joined the army for his brother. He left Tongzhou and traveled thousands of miles westward, becoming the last batch of garrison soldiers in the Anxi Protectorate. The year he arrived in Kucha, the Hexi Corridor was cut off by Tibet, and Anxi and Chang'an were "separated". He didn't know that for the next forty-two years, he would never be able to go back. This is a lonely city that has been forgotten. There was a red flag with a flame floating on the top of the city. It was as red as blood, and the word "Tang" was as black as charcoal. The garrison in the city was reduced from 20,000 to 3,000, from 3,000 to 500, and from 500 to dozens. The reinforcements they had been waiting for their whole life never came. But they didn't surrender. Zhao Dingbian changed from a new soldier to a veteran, and from a veteran to a general. His colleagues died one by one, and his enemies changed from generation to generation. He met the shrewd and naive Qiuci girl Sumana, the Sogdian businessman Li Huaiyu who survived in the cracks, and the white-haired Protector of the Imperial Guard Guo Xin. Some stood firm, some betrayed, some died, and some survived. Forty-two years later, Chang'an has long forgotten Anxi, but Anxi has never forgotten Chang'an. This is not a story about victory. This is a story about "knowing that you can't do something but doing it".