The End of the Qin Dynasty: On the Eve of My Execution, Shang Yang Summoned Me to Court

"Separate out everyone who can read. We'll kill them first thing tomorrow!"

At the Lishan convict camp, Zhao Cheng heard those words and felt the grain ledger tucked against his chest.

It listed several dead men who had somehow still collected their grain yesterday.

Expose the truth, and he'd die tonight. Play dumb, and they'd kill him tomorrow anyway.

But that night, a piece of inscribed iron drew him into an invisible court.

Shang Yang sat among the ministers. He didn't offer to save Zhao Cheng. Instead, he asked, "What do you have that would make the man commanding the soldiers reluctant to kill you?"

Zhao Cheng lowered his eyes to the grain ledger and suddenly understood.

The man who wanted him dead had a blade.

But no matter how sharp the blade, it couldn't plug the holes in an entire ledger.

It was anyone's guess who would lose their head first tomorrow!