Recaps

Zhu Ying announced sweeping land and tax reforms, higher official salaries, and a separate Royal Industry to fund the imperial clan and reward officials. Zhu Yuanzhang backed the policies, ordered the army to stand ready, and later asked Zhu Ying how he had won the Huai West generals’ support.

• Zhu Ying declared land-based taxes, state ownership of land, and a half-year deadline to finalize registration and end private land sales, while Zhu Yuanzhang secured the court’s assent.
• Zhu Ying announced plans to raise officials’ salaries and use the Royal Industry, funded by the Shen Family businesses and his breweries, to support the imperial clan and provide performance-based rewards.
• Zhao Mian warned that the Royal Industry might not earn enough to support the imperial clan and reward officials across the realm, and Zhu Ying promised visible results within a month.
• Lan Yu and the Huai West generals publicly supported the reforms, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered four dukes to keep troops on standby as the policies were implemented.
• After the officials departed, Zhu Yuanzhang advised Zhu Biao and Zhu Ying to maintain control of the military, then asked Zhu Ying what he had told the Huai West generals; Zhu Ying said he had let them see the true world.

Zhu Ying’s Tanding Rumou policy won the Emperor and Huai West generals’ support, while landholding officials rushed to sell their fields ahead of its public announcement. The chapter ended as Liu Jing began reading the imperial edict to a gathered crowd in Ying Tian City.

• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao praised Zhu Ying’s policy, and Zhu Biao agreed to carry it through as the nobles’ land sales began.
• Lan Yu and the Huai West generals publicly pledged obedience and urged one another to sell their fields before the edict was issued.
• Zhu Biao proposed delaying the proclamation for two days, and Zhu Ying agreed that the nobles could use the time to sell land without changing the policy’s course.
• Zhu Ying learned that the Royal Industry had acquired seventy percent of the fields sold by Huai West generals and ordered Lin Fu to buy more.
• Liu Jing escorted the sealed edict through Ying Tian City, gathered a large crowd, and began reading the decree that would establish Tanding Rumou as national policy.

Liu Jing proclaimed Zhu Yuanzhang’s self-reproach edict abolishing tax exemptions and replacing the poll tax with Tanding Rumou, drawing an exuberant response from Yingtian’s commoners. As Zhu Di’s party neared Yingtian for an audience, he remained fearful and concealed the reason from Xu Miaoyun until Zhu Neng reported that an imperial proclamation was passing by.

• Liu Jing read Zhu Yuanzhang’s self-reproach edict and announced the abolition of tax-exemption privileges and the new acreage-based Tanding Rumou tax.
• Liu Jing explained that people without land would pay no grain tax, and the commoners celebrated Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiongying.
• Liu Jing ordered vice ministers to send the edict by fast horse throughout the realm, while Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao discussed its reception and ordered its swift enforcement.
• Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang that the princes would reach Yingtian within half a month, and Zhu Yuanzhang observed that their absence from their fiefs could help the policy take effect.
• As Zhu Di’s party traveled through Yangzhou Prefecture toward Yingtian, he admitted to himself that he feared going to the capital and avoided explaining his worry to Xu Miaoyun.
• Zhu Neng reported that an imperial proclamation escorted by the Kyoto Army was passing through.

Zhu Di learned that Zhu Yuanzhang had abolished tax exemptions and replaced the poll tax with Zhu Xiongying’s land tax policy, threatening the Prince of Yan’s finances. Yao Guangxiao recognized the policy’s political force and concluded that Zhu Di could not defeat Zhu Xiongying while he remained alive.

• Zhu Di stopped the Ministry of Rites convoy and demanded to hear the imperial decree before it reached Daning Prefecture.
• The decree envoy told Zhu Di that Zhu Yuanzhang had abolished tax exemptions and adopted Zhu Xiongying’s Tanding Rumou policy, taxing landowners while exempting people without land.
• Zhu Di told Xu Miaoyun that the new taxes would burden his lands and businesses, then went to discuss the decree with Yao Guangxiao.
• Yao Guangxiao praised the policy’s effects on the court and commoners but said it would pressure powerful landowners to distribute or cultivate their land.
• After learning Zhu Xiongying had devised the policy, Yao Guangxiao declared that Zhu Di could not win while Zhu Xiongying lived, and Zhu Di accused him of harming him.

Zhu Ying secured authority over Ming currency and presented his plan to establish the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank. He ordered royal guards to take over two Ministry of Revenue treasuries, beginning the bank’s establishment.

• Zhu Yuanzhang granted Zhu Ying full authority over issuing Ming banknotes, copper coins, and silver, and ordered Zhao Mian to support him.
• Zhao Mian reported that the Tanding Rumou policy was winning popular support, while Zhu Yuanzhang warned that its land taxes must be fully collected after the autumn harvest.
• Zhu Ying explained his plan for a Royal Bank to Zhao Mian and Qin Da, describing how it would gather wealth and support its circulation across the realm.
• After reading Zhu Ying’s plan, Zhao Mian volunteered to become the bank’s first manager and left to seek Zhu Yuanzhang’s approval to resign as Minister of Revenue.
• Zhu Ying confirmed that the Ministry of Works would cooperate and ordered five hundred royal guards to take over the Guanghui Treasury and Guangyuan Treasury.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao praised Zhu Ying’s Royal Bank plan and summoned the princes to Yingtian, while Zhu Ying prepared to confront Zhu Di over the Northern Frontier betrayal. At the palace gathering, Zhu challenged Zhu Yuanzhang’s decision to curtail the princes’ authority, leaving the other princes watching nervously.

• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao discussed Zhu Ying’s Royal Bank policy, his growing family, and the princes’ arrival in Yingtian.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the princes to enter the palace at noon and summoned Zhu Ying to join them.
• Zhu Ying told Liu Lei to bring the Black Guard’s evidence and captured agent into the palace, intending to make Zhu Di pay for the Northern Frontier plot.
• The fifteen princes paid their respects to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, and Zhu Yuanzhang declared that Zhu Ying would acknowledge his ancestors and return to the clan.
• Zhu questioned Zhu Yuanzhang’s decision to strip the princes of military and appointment powers, suggesting the emperor’s self-reproach edict warned them not to object.

The feudal princes protested Zhu Yuanzhang’s curtailment edict, but their defiance convinced Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao that stripping them of power was necessary. Zhu Ying entered and, after Zhu Fu questioned his identity, seized him by the throat, leaving the hall stunned.

• Zhu Fu, Zhu Gui, and Zhu Tan challenged the edict and blamed Zhu Xiongying for the loss of their privileges.
• Zhu Biao sided with Zhu Yuanzhang, condemning his brothers for abusing their authority and declaring they would remain powerless princes.
• Zhu Ying listened outside Wenyuan Pavilion as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao rejected the princes’ complaints.
• Zhu Ying entered and announced that the imperial clan’s support would also change, making Zhu Di uneasy.
• Zhu Fu questioned whether Zhu Ying was truly Zhu Xiongying, and Zhu Ying seized him by the throat and lifted him into the air.

Zhu Ying intimidated the feudal princes and secured Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao’s support for his policies and succession. After the princes left, Zhu Ying stopped Zhu Di to investigate matters involving him and Daning’s fifty thousand frontier soldiers.

• Zhu Ying seized Zhu Fu, condemned his cruelty and contempt for commoners, then threw him into a beam.
• Zhu Ying blasted the feudal princes across the hall with a punch and warned them to obey his policies or face his mercilessness.
• Several princes appealed to Zhu Yuanzhang over Zhu Ying’s threats, but Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao affirmed Zhu Ying as the future heir and backed his authority.
• Zhu Ying announced that the imperial clan’s support would no longer come from the state treasury, and Zhu Yuanzhang explained that Royal Industry would fund it under new regulations.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the princes to leave, then Zhu Ying stopped Zhu Di and said he needed to investigate matters that concerned him and Daning’s fifty thousand frontier soldiers.

Zhu Ying exposed Zhu Di’s secret army and revealed that he knew Zhu Di’s ambition from the future he had foreseen. Zhu Di admitted his guilt and pleaded with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to spare his family and retainers.

• Zhu Yuanzhang questioned Zhu Di about the Northern Yuan ambush and why he had concealed Zhu Ying’s identity, but Zhu Di denied wrongdoing.
• Zhu Ying accused Zhu Di of treason and had Liu Lei bring in Zhu Yi and records documenting more than two thousand hidden deathsworn warriors.
• Zhu Biao reviewed the records, and Zhu Di stopped denying the charges and admitted that ambition had driven him.
• Zhu Ying revealed that Yao Guangxiao had predicted Zhu Biao’s death and Zhu Di’s eventual rise to the throne if Zhu Ying had not returned.
• Zhu Ying recounted how Zhu Di would have rebelled against Zhu Yunwen, won the realm, and imprisoned the Crown Prince’s children.
• Zhu Di accepted responsibility and begged Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao not to punish Miaoyun, Gao Zhi, or the others.

Zhu Ying forced Zhu Yuanzhang to punish Zhu Di for betraying him and endangering the Ming army. Zhu Di was stripped of his title and imperial status, imprisoned for life, and his descendants were made commoners, while Zhu Yuanzhang acknowledged that Zhu Ying’s return had prevented the grim future he described.

• Zhu Ying confronted Zhu Di over his attempt to have him killed at the Northern Frontier and demanded that Zhu Yuanzhang choose between them.
• Zhu Ying said he would not kill Zhu Di but demanded life imprisonment, abolition of the Prince of Yan title, and the removal of Zhu Di’s descendants from the imperial family.
• Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, and Zhu Biao drafted the decree stripping Zhu Di and his descendants of their imperial status and sending Zhu Di to the Imperial Clan Court for life.
• Zhu Di accepted defeat and accused Zhu Ying of raising deathsworn men, but Zhu Ying revealed that Zhu Yuanzhang already knew about his tens of thousands of followers.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the evidence burned and the deathsworn men killed, then told Zhu Ying that he believed the future he had described and was grateful for his return.

Zhu Ying and Zhu Yuanzhang discussed Zhu Di’s punishment, Zhu Ying’s return to the imperial clan, and the new bank. Zhu Di was stripped of his princely and imperial status and imprisoned for life, while Xu Miaoyun learned of his arrest and received an imperial edict at Prince of Yan’s Manor.

• Zhu Ying thanked Zhu Yuanzhang for taking his side, and Zhu Biao said preparations were underway to clear Xiongying’s name and restore him to the imperial clan.
• Zhu Ying said the bank was nearly ready to open, and Zhu Yuanzhang promised to support his plans.
• Guo Zhen delivered Zhu Yuanzhang’s decree to the Imperial Clan Court, stripping Zhu Di of his title and clan status, reducing his descendants to commoners, and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
• Zhu Di told the Lord of the Imperial Clan Court that he had lost and asked him to tell Xu Miaoyun not to beg for mercy; he was imprisoned in a courtyard beside Zhu Shuang.
• Xu Miaoyun learned that Zhu Di had been taken to the Imperial Clan Court, and Zhu Fu and the other princes blamed Zhu Xiongying for his arrest.
• The Lord of the Imperial Clan Court arrived at Prince of Yan’s Manor with an imperial edict.

The Imperial Clan Court declared that Zhu Di had lost his title and imperial status, but gave Xu Miaoyun no reason for the punishment. Zhu Fu and the other feudal princes blamed Zhu Xiongying and set out to confront him, while Zhu Ying learned that Wang Wei had surrounded his mansion and welcomed the chance to act against them.

• Lord of the Imperial Clan Court read an edict stripping Zhu Di of his title and clan status, demoting his descendants to commoners, and confining him for life without explaining why.
• Zhu Fu, Zhu Gui, and other feudal princes accused Zhu Xiongying of targeting Zhu Di and agreed to gather their Wang Wei and surround Zhu Ying's residence.
• Zhu Quan urged Xu Miaoyun to seek an audience with Zhu Yuanzhang and find out whether Zhu Di had committed an offense; Xu Miaoyun agreed and hurried to the palace with Zhu Gaochi.
• Zhu Quan warned Xu Miaoyun that the princes were using Zhu Di's punishment to target Zhu Xiongying, then left to avoid becoming involved.
• Liu Lei told Zhu Ying that the princes were assembling Wang Wei, and Xiao Han reported that they had surrounded the mansion.
• Zhu Ying recognized that the princes wanted to make his treatment of Zhu Di a public scandal and said he would let them make a scene.

Zhu Ying let the feudal princes publicly accuse him of harming Zhu Di, but their armed protest drew the people of Ying Tian City to defend him. When the confrontation turned violent and Prince Yi Zhu ordered his guards to attack civilians, Zhu Ying went outside and commanded his guards to arrest the princes’ soldiers and cripple those who had hurt people.

• Zhu Ying told Xu Miaojin and the others that Zhu Di had betrayed his army to Northern Yuan and raised deathsworn warriors because he feared Zhu Ying would reclaim his imperial identity.
• Eight feudal princes surrounded Prince Yuhuai's Mansion, while Zhu Gui and the others shouted accusations and drew crowds of onlookers.
• An elderly man rebuked the princes and urged the gathered commoners to protect Zhu Ying, prompting the crowd to surround the princes’ guards.
• Prince Yi Zhu ordered his guards to kill the commoners, and the confrontation outside the mansion descended into violence.
• After Xiao Han reported the clash, Zhu Ying went outside and ordered his guards to arrest the feudal princes’ soldiers and break the limbs of anyone who had harmed civilians.

Zhu Ying’s guards defeated the feudal princes’ troops after they attacked Prince Yuhuai’s Mansion, and Zhu Ying had the princes arrested. In the palace, Zhu Yuanzhang revealed Zhu Di’s treason and asked Zhu Ying how he wanted to punish the princes, leaving Zhu Ying to decide their fate.

• Liu Lei led Prince Yuhuai’s Guards in beating down the feudal princes’ guards after they attacked commoners outside the mansion.
• Zhu Ying apologized to the injured commoners, promised them an explanation, and ordered his guards to seize the feudal princes.
• Guo Zhen arrived with the Imperial Guards and announced Zhu Yuanzhang’s order to arrest the princes’ guards and escort the princes to the palace.
• Zhu Ying ordered Xiao Han to arrange treatment for the injured commoners, then went to the palace with the feudal princes in custody.
• Zhu Yuanzhang rebuked the feudal princes and revealed that Zhu Di had colluded with the Northern Yuan and secretly raised nearly three thousand dead soldiers.
• Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Ying how he intended to deal with the feudal princes, and Zhu Ying questioned whether Zhu Yuanzhang truly meant to leave their punishment to him.

Zhu Ying had Zhu Yuanzhang approve restrictions on the feudal princes and ordered their crimes investigated after Prince Yan Zhu Di’s rebellion. Imperial Guard records exposed Zhu Fu, Zhu Gui, and Prince Yi Zhu as brutal rulers, and Zhu Ying stripped them of their titles and condemned them to lifelong imprisonment; the five remaining princes had committed no comparable atrocities.

• Zhu Yuanzhang approved Zhu Ying’s measures removing the princes’ control over private armies, governance, and Royal Industry.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Di stripped of his title and imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court, while his descendants were reduced to commoners; Xu Miaoyun pleaded to remain with him.
• Zhu Ying called for Imperial Guard records of the princes’ crimes, and Jiang Yan arrived with the case files.
• Jiang Yan detailed Zhu Fu’s killings and abuses, and Zhu Ying stripped him of his title and sentenced him to lifelong imprisonment.
• Jiang Yan exposed Zhu Gui’s and Prince Yi Zhu’s brutal crimes, and Zhu Ying gave them the same punishment as Zhu Fu.
• Zhu Yuanzhang noted that the remaining five princes had not committed comparable murders or brutality.

Zhu Ying spared five princes from severe punishment while Zhu Yuanzhang ordered four disgraced princes stripped of their titles and imprisoned. Zhu Ying moved his ancestry-recognition ceremony outside the capital to announce the new bank, then met Zhu Di’s captured adviser Yao Guangxiao and showed him a world map.

• Zhu Ying sentenced the five remaining princes to a year’s salary docking, and Zhu Biao urged Zhu Yuanzhang to publicize the princes’ crimes.
• Liu Jing reported that the ancestry-recognition ceremony was scheduled for ten days later, and Zhu Ying arranged to hold it outside Ying Tian City so he could announce the bank’s establishment.
• The Imperial Clan Court proclaimed that Zhu Di, Zhu Fu, Zhu Gui, and Zhu were stripped of their titles, removed from the imperial genealogy, and sentenced to life imprisonment, prompting praise from the gathered commoners.
• The Lord of the Imperial Clan Court announced that the people could attend Zhu Ying’s ceremony and hear him proclaim policies for the realm.
• Zhu Di, Zhu, and three other princes arrived at the Imperial Clan Court, while Zhu Di recognized that Zhu Ying had driven their downfall.
• Liu Lei brought Yao Guangxiao to Zhu Ying, who offered him service and revealed a world map that astonished the monk.

Zhu Ying persuaded Yao Guangxiao to become his strategist, tasking him with planning the Ming Dynasty’s future expansion across the world. He then reviewed preparations for new industries and his ancestral recognition ceremony before Yun Qi arrived with ceremonial robes and an ennobling edict for Lin Fu.

• Yao Guangxiao analyzed Zhu Ying’s reforms and raised the problem of supporting the growing imperial clan, while Zhu Ying explained that he had separated that burden from the national treasury.
• Zhu Ying revealed his ambition to spread Huaxia’s territory across the world and recruited Yao Guangxiao to study the map and plan future expansion.
• Zhu Ying appointed Yao Guangxiao as his strategist, arranged a residence for him, and approved his request for a copy of the world map.
• Lin Fu reported that fine salt, cane sugar, glass, soap, perfume, new banknotes, and loyal shopkeepers were ready for the ancestral recognition ceremony, and Zhu Ying ordered him to entrust key roles only to proven loyalists.
• Liu Lei informed Zhu Ying that Chief Eunuch Yun Qi had arrived, and Yun Qi delivered ceremonial robes for Zhu Ying’s family along with an edict granting Lin Fu a noble title.

Zhu Ying returned to the imperial clan in a grand public ceremony, with his name and family entered into the imperial genealogy. Zhu Yuanzhang praised Zhu Ying’s military achievements before the gathered people and prepared to announce another decree concerning the Ming Dynasty’s future.

• Yun Qi proclaimed Lin Fu Earl of Loyalty and Righteousness for caring for Zhu Ying, and Lin Fu vowed to protect him.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao arrived outside Ying Tian City, where officials and crowds gathered for Zhu Ying’s ceremony.
• Zhu Ying, Liu Yu'er, Zhu Wenxi, Xu Miaojin, Mu Ya, and Li Qingchen performed the clan-return rites as Liu Jing recounted Zhu Ying’s life and military achievements.
• Zhu Ying worshipped the Zhu ancestors and Heaven and Earth, and the Imperial Clan Court entered him and his family into the clan registry.
• Zhu Yuanzhang told the people that Zhu Ying had survived, praised his service and victories, and explained why the ceremony was held before the people.
• Zhu Yuanzhang announced that he had another decree concerning the Ming Dynasty’s future, leaving the crowd waiting to hear it.

Zhu Yuanzhang publicly enfeoffed Zhu Ying as Imperial Grandson and granted him command over all Ming armies, establishing him as the dynasty’s heir apparent and empowering him to pursue reforms. Zhu Ying announced the creation of the Grand Ming Empire Royal Bank, which would manage currency, accept deposits with interest, and provide regulated loans.

• Liu Jing proclaimed Zhu Yuanzhang’s decree naming Zhu Ying Imperial Grandson and irrevocably fixing him as the third-generation heir apparent.
• Yun Qi proclaimed a second decree granting Zhu Ying the authority of Commander-in-Chief and power to mobilize all Ming armies.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao endorsed Zhu Ying, and he accepted the people’s homage and pledged to strengthen Great Ming and serve its people.
• Zhu Ying announced the Grand Ming Empire Royal Bank, which would take over currency issuance and exchange from the Ministry of Revenue under the authority of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and himself.
• Zhu Ying explained that people could deposit money for interest and borrow at fair rates, and he promised the bank would charge no safekeeping fees.

After launching Royal Bank and Royal Industry, Zhu Ying visited Cining Palace and recovered his childhood memories as Zhu Xiongying. He woke the next morning, recognized Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao as his family, and paid respects to his late mother and grandmother.

• Zhu Ying announced the opening of Royal Bank and Royal Industry, then left Zhao Mian and Lin Fu to present them to the people.
• Lin Fu displayed Royal Industry's refined salt and other new products while Zhu Ying returned to the palace with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.
• Zhu Ying entered Cining Palace, recovered memories of his childhood and family, and fainted as he cried for his mother and grandmother.
• Imperial physicians said Zhu Ying had fainted from mental turmoil, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao stayed beside him overnight.
• Zhu Ying woke the next morning, teased Zhu Yuanzhang with a childhood memory, and confirmed that he remembered everything.
• Zhu Ying lit incense, knelt before his mother and grandmother's memorial tablets, and told them he had returned.

After recovering his memories of Zhu Xiongying, Zhu Ying gave Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao Lifespan Pills and raised their hopes of one day reviving his mother and grandmother. He then heard that the new banks and Royal Industry had attracted enormous demand, and the chapter left the Ming court considering their early success.

• Zhu Ying honored his mother and grandmother’s memorial tablets, and Zhu Biao rejoiced when Zhu Ying called him Father.
• Zhu Ying gave Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao Lifespan Pills, explaining that each pill added ten years of life and that each person could take two.
• Zhu Ying said his growing strength might one day let him revive his mother and grandmother, inspiring Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to support his plans and live longer.
• Zhu Yuanzhang took a bottle of pills and Zhu Biao accepted the other, but Zhu Ying advised them to wait until they could bathe after taking them.
• Zhao Mian reported that Ying Tian’s three banks had attracted deposits equal to a year of the city’s tax revenue in one day, and Zhu Ying ordered strict separation between bank funds and state finances.
• Lin Fu reported that Royal Industry’s goods had sold out in a day and profits had exceeded a thousand gold.

Zhu Ying laid out plans to expand Royal Industry and establish banks across Great Ming, then set new policies for officials and the imperial clan, which Zhu Yuanzhang sealed into edicts. The chapter ended when Liu Lei announced that Zhu Ying's wife was about to give birth, sending Zhu Ying rushing home as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao summoned the imperial physicians.

• Zhu Ying instructed Lin Fu to expand Royal Industry and told Zhao Mian to establish banks with short manager terms, oversight, recordkeeping, and guarded vaults.
• Zhu Ying explained how banks could fund infrastructure and trade, then ordered officials' salaries doubled and proposed rewards for outstanding officials.
• Zhu Ying reduced imperial clan stipends and limited support for descendants to age fifteen, while allowing them to pursue work, military service, or the examinations afterward.
• Zhu Yuanzhang drafted and sealed edicts announcing the salary increases and imperial clan changes, and ordered Yun Qi to proclaim them throughout the realm.
• Liu Lei reported that Zhu Ying's wife was about to give birth, so Zhu Ying hurried home while Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao called for imperial physicians.

Zhu Ying and Liu Yu'er welcomed their second son, Zhu Wenzhan, who received the [Martial] talent. The court announced higher salaries for officials and reduced support for the imperial clan, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao resolved to send the disgruntled vassal kings back to their fiefs.

• Liu Yu'er gave birth to a son, and Zhu Ying used the panel to bestow the [Martial] talent on him and named him Zhu Wenzhan.
• Zhu Ying gave Liu Yu'er a Spirit Pill and promised that Zhu Wenzhan would follow him in battle, while Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao celebrated their new grandson.
• Zhu Yuanzhang told the assembled officials that good news would arrive, and Liu Jing revealed that officials' salaries would double and the Imperial Seal had been recovered.
• Imperial decrees doubled officials' salaries, offered rewards for achievements, and restricted support for imperial clan members, prompting celebration among officials and anger among vassal kings.
• Zhu Biao reported the officials' and vassal kings' reactions to Zhu Yuanzhang, who decided to send the vassal kings back to their fiefs and acknowledged that many of his sons had changed.

Zhu Ying opened his accumulated treasure chests, gained a Crown Prince’s Power Seal, and prepared further reforms after Tanding Rumou produced a sevenfold increase in Yingtian Prefecture’s autumn tax revenue. The court began implementing his commercial tax plan, while Zhu Ying turned to reforming the Ministry of Works, weapons workshops, and civil service examinations.

• Zhu Ying opened his treasure chests and obtained engineering blueprints, internal energy, Lifespan Pills, Spirit Stones, and a steam warship blueprint.
• Zhu Ying merged the General’s and Imperial Grandson’s Power Seals into the Crown Prince’s Power Seal, which strengthened civil administration and military forces.
• The feudal princes returned to their fiefdoms stripped of real authority, and Yu Xin reported that Tanding Rumou had increased Yingtian Prefecture’s autumn tax revenue more than sevenfold.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered officials to collect tax figures from across the Ming Dynasty and directed the Ministry of Revenue to implement Zhu Ying’s commercial tax reforms.
• Zhu Ying proposed bringing the weapons and firearms workshops under his control and creating civil service examinations that would recruit skilled craftsmen and other technical talent.

Zhu Ying outlined ambitious reforms and plans for Ming expansion, while Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao pledged their support. After reviewing progress on new technologies, Zhu Ying received Zhu Bai, Zhu Quan, and Zhu Yunteng, who approached him with visible apprehension.

• Zhu Ying told Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao he planned to reform the examinations, improve roads and education, change the military, and expand Ming territory; Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to support him and abandon the list of nations not to conquer.
• Zhu Ying supported Zhu Yunteng's wish to marry Yun Yu and decided to send him to train with his maternal granduncle and join the army.
• Zhu Ying asked Zhu Biao to summon Zhu Bai and Zhu Quan along with Zhu Yunteng, then left to return to his mansion.
• Liu Lei reported that workshops had produced cement, concrete, Composite Bows, and preliminary versions of Smokeless gunpowder, Red-Clad Cannons, and Flintlock Muskets; Zhu Ying ordered generous rewards for the craftsmen.
• Zhu Ying summoned Zhu Bai, Zhu Quan, and Zhu Yunteng, who entered his hall and respectfully bowed, visibly intimidated by his recent actions.