Tribute Ledger

Synopsis

In the inland kingdom of Pyung, every vassal village survives under a brutal steppe rule: the richer a village looks in the public tribute ledger, the more the khanate takes. Wen Ji-rul, a tired under-merchant exiled to the canal-prefecture of Mok-ho, knows how to make wealth disappear on paper because he spent his career hiding nobles' fortunes beneath salt prices. With the khan's autumn audit one week away and kidnapped village children waiting in the khan's camp, Wen must coordinate real grain shipments, manipulate trusted salt-grain indexes, and convince hostile headmen to support a legal lie. When a Salt Bureau inspector with her own hostage brother arrives, the fraud becomes a shared knife between them. But every false number must survive three audit formulas, two refusing villages, one vengeful capital official, and a khanate translator who knows exactly what Wen is doing.

Chapters

Comments