Chapter Summaries

Zhu Di received imperial edicts ordering all princes to surrender military authority and travel to Yingtian for Zhu Xiongying’s ceremony. He reluctantly handed over the Northern Peace Army’s military seal and watched the court install its own military and civil officials in Beiping.

• Zhu Neng informed Zhu Di that the imperial envoys had arrived, and Zhu Di gathered Xu Miaoyun and his sons to receive them.
• The Ministry of Rites envoy announced that the princes must attend Zhu Xiongying’s ceremony in Yingtian and surrender their military authority to the court.
• Zhu Di questioned the decree but, after Xu Miaoyun urged him and Imperial Guards prepared to act, he reluctantly accepted it.
• The envoy told Zhu Di to depart immediately, while Tang Shengzong arrived to take command of the Northern Peace Army.
• Zhu Gaochi brought the military seal to Zhu Di, who handed it to Tang Shengzong and asked him to treat the soldiers well.
• The envoy introduced Fang Xiaoru as Beiping’s new provincial administrator, and Zhu Di ordered Zhu Neng to summon Guo Zi so they could transfer governmental affairs.

Zhu Ying established strict security for Royal Industry’s new workshops as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao summoned him to discuss the widespread seizure of farmland. The chapter ended with Zhu Yuanzhang demanding a way to reclaim the land without provoking upheaval across the realm.

• Zhu Di accepted that he had to leave Northern Peace after the imperial edicts stripped the vassal princes of military power, while Yao Guangxiao had no way to oppose the order.
• Zhu Ying warned more than a thousand recruited craftsmen to keep workshop secrets, appointed Lin Fu to manage them, and ordered Guo Zhen to inspect everyone leaving the camp.
• Zhu Ying considered establishing a Royal Bank after the five Royal Industry workshops began their preparations.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao showed Zhu Ying land survey registers revealing that powerful families had annexed nearly half the farmland, leaving commoners to rent fields at punishing rates.
• Zhu Yuanzhang proposed forcing landholders to return the seized land, but Zhu Ying questioned whether they would surrender it and Zhu Biao warned that coercion could cause turmoil throughout the realm.

Zhu Ying persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to adopt Tanding Rumou, taxing land instead of household population and abolishing tax exemptions. He then stunned them with a world map that showed Great Ming occupied less than a tenth of the world's land, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang's belief that it controlled most of the world shattered.

• Zhu Ying explained that Tanding Rumou would tax people according to their land and end tax exemptions, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao approved the reform.
• Zhu Ying warned that nobles and powerful families would resist the policy, while Zhu Yuanzhang vowed to overcome opposition and Zhu Biao planned to announce it at court.
• Zhu Ying told Zhu Yuanzhang that his plans favored offense over defense against foreign tribes, prompting Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to question whether northern lands could be controlled.
• Zhu Ying challenged Zhu Yuanzhang's claim that Great Ming occupied more than half the world and had Guo Zhen and Liu Lei hang a large world map in the hall.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao examined the map and realized Great Ming occupied less than a tenth of the world, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang speechless.

After declaring his ambition to unify the world, Zhu Ying won Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao’s support for his reforms and warned them that Zhu Biao’s health was in danger. He began treating them with herbal medicine and a body-tempering routine, hoping to keep them alive longer while he pursued expansion.

• Zhu Ying told Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao that he intended to unify the entire world, and both pledged to support his reforms.
• Zhu Ying warned Zhu Biao that overwork and travel could cause him to die suddenly, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his son to care for his health.
• Zhu Ying told Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to exercise and take medicine, explaining that he wanted both of them to live longer.
• Zhu Ying presented Solidify Yuan Pills and Bone Tempering Powder, reassuring Zhu Yuanzhang that he had made them himself from medicinal herbs.
• Zhu Ying demonstrated a basic body-tempering technique and instructed Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to practice it with medicinal baths.

At court, Zhu Yuanzhang announced Tanding Rumou, Zhu Ying’s land-based tax policy, after revealing that commoners held less than sixty percent of Great Ming’s registered land. Zhu Ying explained how population taxes burdened tenants and began to address officials’ low salaries, leaving the court awaiting the rest of his proposed reforms.

• Zhao Mian reported that less than sixty percent of Great Ming’s registered land remained in commoners’ hands, while the rest was held by nobles, officials, and jinshi degree holders.
• Zhu Yuanzhang condemned land annexation, abolished tax exemptions for princes, nobles, and jinshi degree holders, and ordered a self-reproach edict.
• Zhu Yuanzhang replaced population-based taxation with land-acreage taxation and credited Zhu Ying with proposing Tanding Rumou.
• Zhu Ying rebuked the officials for land annexation, acknowledged their low salaries, and said he would announce a pay increase.
• Zhu Ying explained how poll taxes and tenant rent impoverished people without land, then began promising a response to those who seized or annexed the people’s land.

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.