Exiled to Liaodong: Guarding a Lonely Fortress at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Year 4 of the Chongzhen era, Liaodong. Luo Xiao opens his eyes to find himself a disgraced officer exiled to a tiny fort on the empire's farthest frontier. He has more than three hundred old and infirm mouths to feed, enough grain for just six days, and nineteen matchlocks, fewer than half of which can fire. Outside the walls, enemy horsemen roam the land. Above him, superiors wait to bleed him dry. All he has is an old wooden board the size of his palm. For every enemy slain, gun forged, and supply route secured, he can use the board to trade for blueprints, materials, and things this world has never seen. Others defend their cities by throwing men into the breach. He won't. First he'll build furnaces, then smelt iron, then raise an army. He'll turn this unwanted, isolated fort into the hardest nail in the Great Ming.