Near the towering Northern Great Wall, there were many towns and villages.
The local people had lived here for generations, so long that no one remembered when their ancestors first arrived. Many unwritten rules had been preserved to this day.
One such rule was that the people living by the Great Wall were not to be disturbed by the wars of successive dynasties. No army would ever be sent to invade. Even as the Celestial Mandate of the Central Plains Dynasty changed hands—from Daqian to Great Zhou, and then to Great Yan—the small towns remained, and the people within lived in peace.
Fields of crops stretched out in every direction. Yellow dogs and children ran through the countryside, and smoke curled up from the eaves of houses where stout women bustled about their chores.
A drunken man in a conical hat, leaning on a bamboo staff and carrying a wine gourd, staggered over with a grin. He teased an eight-year-old boy:
