In her previous life, Shen Zhaoning led her clan on a desperate journey to escape famine, only to die in the desert sands beyond Yumen Pass.
This time, she returns to three months before disaster strikes.
Drought is coming, grain prices are quietly climbing, and the rivers are drying up. Everyone else thinks it's an ordinary year, but Shen Zhaoning knows what's ahead: not just famine, but refugees, plague, bandits, and one deadly ordeal after another.
This time, she will no longer be the meek daughter of the Shen family.
First, she cuts off the relatives who drain her family dry. Then she stockpiles grain, medicine, and seeds, and leads her entire clan from their homeland, heading west along the ancient road. They cross besieged cities and barren slopes, evade officials and fight off bandits. On a famine road strewn with corpses, she carves out a way for her clan to survive.
When they reach Yumen Pass, everyone thinks this is the end of their flight.
Only Shen Zhaoning knows that the true path to survival isn't merely staying alive. It's building a city.
The wasteland must be reclaimed, wells dug, crops planted, trade routes opened, and laws established.
She wants more than to protect her family. Here in the sandy lands beyond the pass, she will build a frontier city where ordinary people can make a living.
Pei Yanzhou, a disgraced young general from the frontier army, only meant to rely on her long enough to survive. But step by step, he watches this woman, gentle on the outside and strong within, gather refugees, clansfolk, craftsmen, and wounded soldiers into a city, turning a desolate ancient road into a path to survival.
From fleeing famine to finding a foothold at the pass;
from protecting her clan to defending an entire city.
In this life, Shen Zhaoning will no longer be crushed by the chaos of the age. At the end of the desert sands, she will be the one to rekindle the warmth of everyday life.
First of all, I would like to give it a full star review. When I read it, I didn't know it was a new book. I was most afraid of catching up on the update 🤭. However, the plot is still quite good. I like the heroine's decisive character. It's just that the second aunt always jumps out and criticizes people. I can't stand it. She has a stupid brain and a weak mouth, which is very annoying.