Sentenced to the Liaodong Front, the Criminal's Daughter Lines Up to Beg

Zhou Yan was a scapegoat conscripted to Liaodong. After three years of enduring hardship, he became the youngest squad leader in the border army. That winter, the capital was turned upside down. Three major cases erupted one after another, and the disgraced officials' female relatives were all exiled to Liaodong.

Across the snowy wasteland, the exiles came in one long line after another: a princess from the previous dynasty, the daughter of a Minister of Revenue whose family had been confiscated, the orphaned daughter of a disgraced general...

More died of cold by the roadside or were seized and sold by the garrison soldiers than ever made it to Liaodong alive.

Those who did arrive alive knelt before Zhou Yan's camp gate.

"Lord Zhou, please take us in."

"We can work, sew, tend the fire, anything you need."

"We only ask for one thing... a place where we can sleep without being dragged away."

Looking at the expanse of kneeling women in fine clothes and silk skirts, Zhou Yan remembered the day he was conscripted. No one had taken him in, either.

"You can enter the camp." He let the curtain fall. "Three rules: work for your meals, no sneaking off, and you take turns standing night watch, too."

He thought he was simply showing kindness.

Until he discovered that every "criminal girl" he took in was bringing her dowry into his camp...

The Minister of Revenue's daughter's trousseau included a whole chest of medical books and prescriptions.

The general's orphaned daughter had studied military manuals since childhood and drew camp defense maps more neatly than the old clerk.

The princess from the previous dynasty knew the seals of half the officials in the capital and could spot a forged document at a glance.

And the snow in Liaodong kept falling harder, while the exiles were still making their way there.