Everyone in Chang'an knows that Su Qingyuan, the legitimate daughter of the Su family, is a frail beauty unlikely to live past twenty-five.
Born weak and sickly, she has spent years confined to the inner chambers, coughing at every step. Though learned and full of strategic insight, she is destined to be no more than a delicate flower from a distinguished family, admired by others.
Until an imperial decree marries her to Xiao Jinye, the God of War of Hexi.
He became a general at a young age and guards Hexi, commanding a hundred thousand cavalry and striking such fear into enemy ranks that they flee at the mere mention of him. Yet he knows nothing of court intrigue and is so straightforward that the court officials regard him as an easy-to-manipulate brute.
Everyone expects this political marriage to become a joke.
No one knows that this sickly wife is the one truly moving the pieces.
While he fights bloodily on the front lines, she lies ill in Chang'an, using dispatches, maps, and reports on trade routes to calculate the course of a war thousands of miles away and devise brilliant strategies from her sickbed.
He cannot see through the schemes at court, so she helps him tell loyalists from traitors, dismantle plots, and protect the entire Xiao family. In turn, he uses his military power as a shield to keep her safe, astonishing the whole court.
As enemy forces approach, princes battle for the throne, and the chief minister lays his schemes, storms gather at court and on the frontier alike. Though weakened by illness, she joins him across thousands of miles to play a great game that will decide the fate of the realm.
Only later do the officials finally understand:
The truly terrifying one was never the God of War who swept across the battlefield.
It was the frail beauty who spent her days clutching a hand warmer and coughing softly.
This is the story of a sickly noblewoman who uses her wits to shape the realm, and a battle-hardened general who gives his life to defend it. It is also a legend of two people who bring out the best in each other and join hands to protect their homeland and its people.
