Ironwall City

Biodata

Defenses and Layout

• The city’s wall stands thirty zhang high and is at least ten-odd meters thick. Its gate is about one meter thick 53.
• Marks remain on the gray wall from an earlier war in which the city stopped a Star Luo Empire army from advancing on Heaven Dou 53.
• Streets are wide enough for roughly four carriages abreast, allowing large military units to move through the city 53.
• Elite troops remain stationed on the walls even when soldiers are assembled for other duties; the city protects the empire’s final defensive line before the capital 74 90.

City Life and Institutions

• The garrison shapes the city’s population: many civilians are soldiers’ dependents, and traffic through its gates is relatively light 53 72.
• Its Great Soul Arena has a stern, military atmosphere. Su Yuntao’s thousand-year Second Soul Ring draws attention there during his winning run 56.
• Smithies serve the military stronghold, where damaged equipment may need to be repaired locally if replacement weapons cannot arrive in time 56.
• Ironwall City remains lively after dark, with lit stalls selling everyday goods and trinkets and vendors serving food in the streets 82.

Political History

A few years before Xue Qinghe’s visit, Second Prince Xue Shan won support among Ironwall City’s soldiers by eating, living, and training alongside them. When Emperor Xue Ye later assigned Xue Qinghe to inspect the city, some officers’ preference for Xue Shan showed in their treatment of the First Prince 57 71.

Tang Shan helped Xue Qinghe devise a response aimed at winning the army’s loyalty rather than merely defeating its Soul Masters. As rumors spread that the city’s residents favored Xue Shan as heir, commander Hong Zhen feared the close ties between civilians and soldiers would make the emperor suspect the army of disloyalty. Xue Qinghe used that pressure to secure a public challenge for Tang Shan against the garrison’s Soul Masters 71 72 73.

Tang Shan defeated the army’s one-ring Soul Masters and badly injured a two-ring opponent. Xue Qinghe subsequently agreed to omit the later unrest from his report, while still reporting the soldiers’ initial conduct. An Imperial Guard account later confirmed the city’s support for Xue Shan; Xue Ye was angered by it but pleased that Xue Qinghe had gained the soldiers’ loyalty and diminished his brother’s standing in the army 78 89 90.