Chapter 1: The Charter in the Ashes

The border town of Yanshui greeted its new lord with cold rain and colder silence. Wei Yuan rode through the broken gate with eleven veterans and a chest that held more paper than coin.

In the ruins of the old granary he found what the purge had missed: an imperial charter, singed at the corners, still bearing the vermilion seal. Whoever held it had the right to raise walls, levy grain, and keep a standing guard.

That night, by a fire built from a fallen roof beam, he read every line twice. Then he set the charter on the table and began the first ledger of his new barony.