Just after the New Year, the bitter cold of the Northern Frontier had not yet faded, but outside Canglang City, crowds were already surging.
There were no deafening gongs or drums, no fluttering colorful silk banners—only a dense, silent crowd.
Border residents, military households, merchants, and craftsmen—wrapped in thick fur coats, their faces flushed red by the biting wind—all stretched their necks, looking with eager eyes toward the gates of the majestic city that had just weathered a baptism of blood and fire.
Chapter 320