Iron Phoenix
The Living Wire
Intelligence is not only what one knows, but what one is willing to use.
Chen Jingwei has survived the cage of Yan Prince Li Mo's residence, but freedom has not made the world simpler.
With the imperial court breaking apart and An Lushan's rebellion burning across the north, the weapon she built from records, testimony, and silence must be reforged for a battlefield where governments collapse faster than truth can be filed.
Li Mo holds the northern line with discipline cold enough to be mistaken for cruelty. Gao Wenzhao carries messages through roads where loyalty has become a price measured in grain, blood, and distance. In the ruins between court procedure and open war, Jingwei must learn that intelligence is not only what one knows, but what one is willing to use.
The Living Wire continues Iron Phoenix as a story of court intrigue, military intelligence, slow-burning trust, and the cost of surviving after the cage is gone.