Chapter Summaries

Wang Xuan ordered the Blood Slaughter Army to storm Annam’s heavily fortified pass without the Special Operations Team’s help so the soldiers could gain experience in a bloody battle. The assault overwhelmed the defenders, and Wang Xuan ended up lamenting that the enemy was too weak to test his army.

• The general and the two deputy generals agreed to fight the Blood Slaughter Army, while the general secretly planned to seek refuge with Prefect Hu after inflicting losses on Wang Xuan.
• Di Haokuo proposed using the Special Operations Team to attack the pass from the mountains, but Wang Xuan reserved the frontal assault for the main army to toughen its soldiers.
• Wang Xuan sent the Special Operations Team up both mountains, then deployed three thousand soldiers beneath the walls with crossbowmen and siege ladders.
• The Blood Slaughter Army advanced through arrow fire and rolling logs, then climbed the ladders and gained the wall through disciplined tactics and superior equipment.
• Wang Xuan and his officials complained that the Annamese defenders were too weak to provide meaningful training, and Wang Xuan resented them for repeating his own words.

Wang Xuan used the conquest of Annam to expand the Wang Auxiliary Army and prepare an invasion of Guangdong and Guangxi. As the army seized counties in both provinces, he ordered Qi Hongliang to mobilize Guangdong’s garrisons and ruthlessly purge them, while promising him control of both provinces.

• Wang Xuan ordered more troops to storm the Annamese fortress, then assigned prisoners to Chen Xinyuan to expand the Wang Auxiliary Army and develop mines, factories, roads, and shipyards in Annam.
• Chen Xinyuan led twenty thousand Wang Auxiliary Army soldiers into Siming Prefecture and Lianzhou Prefecture, captured several counties, and advanced toward the prefectural cities.
• Prefect Hu learned from a fugitive Annamese general that Chen Xinyuan’s invading force was Wang Xuan’s army, but reported Chen as the bandit leader to conceal his source.
• Qi Hongliang prepared to use the invasion reports and Wang Xuan’s secret letter to take control of Guangdong’s wartime affairs.
• Wang Xuan ordered Qi Hongliang to mobilize Guangdong’s garrisons and enforce military law without mercy, including confiscating estates and executing officers who resisted.
• Wang Xuan told Qi Hongliang to seal off Lianzhou Prefecture and predicted that Qi would soon become Governor-General of the Two Guangs.

Wei Ruxin’s troops harassed towns on their march to Lianzhou, where Magistrate He refused them entry and publicly denounced him. Wang Xuan learned of the troops’ misconduct and prepared to close Lianzhou’s gates and unleash Qi Hongliang once the forces gathered.

• Wei Ruxin’s troops looted and abused people as they marched from Shaozhou, causing counties along the route to shut their gates.
• Magistrate He condemned Wei Ruxin from the city wall and refused his demand for food and entry.
• Wei Ruxin considered attacking the county town but ordered his troops to retreat rather than risk being branded rebels.
• News of Magistrate He’s stand spread across Guangdong, earning him praise from commoners and scholars and condemnation from the army.
• Wang Xuan investigated Magistrate He, recorded the troops’ abuses, and planned to close Lianzhou’s gates and unleash Qi Hongliang.
• Wang Xuan stockpiled provisions in Lianzhou as soldiers continued to gather there.

Fang Congzhe learned that Annam had invaded Guangdong and Guangxi, and the court struggled to fund a response and choose a commander. Li Shantang arranged for Qi Hongliang and several officials to lead the campaign; as the newly appointed Sun Chengzong traveled south by sea with Hong Chengchou and Yuan Chonghuan, he learned the expedition was a chance for advancement and that the danger was supposedly low.

• Fang Congzhe received an emergency dispatch reporting that Annam had seized nine counties in Guangdong and Guangxi and was approaching a prefectural city.
• Li Shantang urged a forceful response while Li Ruhua insisted the Ministry of Revenue had no money, and the ministers postponed the decision until court.
• At the next court session, Li Shantang proposed Qi Hongliang as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and named several officials to assist him, including Hong Chengchou, Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chengzong, and Cao Wenzhao.
• Sun Chengzong was bewildered by his transfer from the Crown Prince's residence but accepted that leaving the court's factional struggles could be beneficial.
• Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou, and Yuan Chonghuan traveled south and prepared to take a ship from Tianjin, where Hong explained that the campaign offered valuable experience and little danger.

Sun Chengzong traveled with Hong Chengchou and Yuan Chonghuan to Fuzhou, where the port, prosperous residents, paved roads, and public clock overturned his assumptions about Fujian. After hearing that Wang Xuan had transformed the province, Sun arrived at Wang Xuan’s residence eager to see more of the region.

• Sun Chengzong boarded a huge ship and spent the voyage marveling at the ocean and its creatures.
• Hong Chengchou brought Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan to Fuzhou, where Sun was stunned by the bustling port and well-dressed residents.
• Hong Chengchou showed Sun the cement-paved roads, and Sun condemned the expense until Hong said Fujian’s people welcomed the improvements.
• Sun watched the city’s giant clock ring eleven times and argued with a local who claimed Fujian had no beggars and plenty of work.
• Hong Chengchou told Sun that Wang Xuan had made Fujian wealthy, and a carriage from Wang Xuan’s residence took the group to his estate.
• Sun found Wang Xuan’s residence plainer and smaller than he expected and resolved to explore Fujian.

Sun Chengzong toured Fujian with Hong Chengchou and saw its prosperous cities, modern transport, factories, and comfortable countryside, leaving him baffled by how Wang Xuan had transformed the region. After sailing to Guangzhou, he felt relieved to find it as poor as the rest of the Great Ming and prepared to meet Wang Xuan.

• Sun Chengzong asked Hong Chengchou to arrange a tour of Fujian, and they set out with a residence attendant.
• Sun Chengzong questioned the four-horse buses and unfamiliar coins before visiting a poor district filled with apartment buildings, children, and busy residents.
• At a textile factory, Sun Chengzong saw women operating efficient machinery and learned that factory wages helped support their families.
• Sun Chengzong toured villages and county towns, where he saw healthy residents and learned about the region’s fishing, rice-paddy aquaculture, and affordable food.
• Sun Chengzong sailed to Guangzhou after his visit and felt relieved to find it as poor as the rest of the Great Ming, while resolving to meet Wang Xuan.

Wang Xuan received Qi Hongliang’s appointment as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, but openly defied the imperial envoy and had him killed. He then welcomed Hong Chengchou, Yuan Chonghuan, and Sun Chengzong into his service and prepared to leave for Lianzhou.

• Yuan Chonghuan arrived in Guangzhou with Hong Chengchou and Sun Chengzong, pleased with his new position and hoping to learn from Mr. Wuzhou.
• Wang Xuan interrupted the eunuch’s demands for formal reception, slapped him, seized the Imperial Edict and official seal, and handed the seal to Qi Hongliang.
• Wang Xuan questioned the eunuch about the palace, then ordered his execution when he proved unhelpful and dismissed the death as a result of illness.
• Wang Xuan told Qi Hongliang they would leave for Lianzhou the next day and welcomed Hong Chengchou, Yuan Chonghuan, and Sun Chengzong as talents he intended to train.
• Hong Chengchou and Yuan Chonghuan thanked Wang Xuan, while Sun Chengzong stayed silent and disapproved of his disregard for imperial authority.

Wang Xuan answered Sun Chengzong’s question about rebellion by describing Fujian’s overwhelming military and economic strength, then argued that he had no reason to become emperor. Sun Chengzong and the others were left stunned by Wang Xuan’s claims and his refusal to pursue the throne.

• Wang Xuan told Fan Wencheng that he valued obedient, capable people more than declarations of loyalty, then gave Sun Chengzong permission to ask him anything.
• Sun Chengzong asked Wang Xuan whether he planned to rebel, and Wang Xuan asked whether he could succeed if he did.
• Wang Xuan described Fujian’s steel output, trained garrison, grain supply, and tax revenue, leaving Sun Chengzong overwhelmed by the province’s strength.
• Sun Chengzong argued that the Great Ming’s territory, million armored troops, and loyal subjects would prevent Wang Xuan from succeeding, but Wang Xuan dismissed his claims as vague boasting.
• Wang Xuan said he could destroy the Great Ming within five years and described his brutal suppression of Annam, then ended the discussion before Sun Chengzong could respond.
• Wang Xuan declared that he would have to be sick in the head to give up his good life to become emperor, and said dynasties did not last while aristocratic families did.

Wang Xuan rejected the prospect of becoming emperor and declared that he wanted to become a sage by expanding the Great Ming across the world. After Sun Chengzong pledged his loyalty, Wang Xuan traveled to Lianzhou to reorganize Guangdong’s military and administration as the armies gathered for a campaign against Annam.

• Wang Xuan argued that emperors lived constrained, short lives and that he already held wealth and authority without needing the throne.
• Wang Xuan said he wanted to become a sage and described his ambition to expand the Great Ming, beginning with Annam and the Indochinese Peninsula.
• Sun Chengzong accepted Wang Xuan’s vision and pledged his loyalty, hoping to share in the historic achievement.
• Wang Xuan ordered everyone to rest before heading to Lianzhou, then spent seven days traveling there from Guangzhou.
• Fan Wencheng persuaded Lianzhou’s officials to welcome Wang Xuan’s force, while the Annamese army stayed in its camp.
• Qi Hongliang’s large, disciplined, armored force approached Lianzhou, impressing the gathered officials.

Wang Xuan criticized Sun Chengzong’s reverence for ancient ideas and argued that Fujian’s wealth and the Great Ming’s decline depended on production, taxation, and military power. After the final garrison troops reached Lianzhou Prefecture, soldiers sealed its roads and cut the prefecture off from the outside world.

• Qi Hongliang arrived at Lianzhou Prefecture with Wang Xuan, and the prefect welcomed them with extravagant praise.
• Fan Wencheng told Wang Xuan that troops from two prefectures were late, prompting Wang Xuan to threaten the commanders with severe punishment.
• Wang Xuan defended his slaughter in Annam by challenging Sun Chengzong and the others’ objections based on Confucian thought.
• Wang Xuan explained to Sun Chengzong how technology could increase wealth and how military weakness and powerful officials had undermined the Great Ming’s tax revenue.
• Wang Xuan said Fujian’s tax reforms had required massacres and military deterrence to overcome resistance from prominent families.
• Five days later, the last garrison troops arrived, and soldiers blocked every major road out of Lianzhou Prefecture.

Wang Xuan asserted control over the gathered Guangdong commanders by enforcing military law against Hua Junming and Yin Xinghan, then faced their resistance when he revealed he was not a Great Ming official. Hua Junming recognized Wang Xuan as the King of Fujian and crawled toward him in submission.

• Qi Hongliang arrived at the military camp with two thousand men, and the prefectural Commanders of the Guards entered the headquarters hall.
• A Commander of the Guards tried to stop Wang Xuan from entering, but Wang Xuan knocked him down and took the seat of honor beside Qi Hongliang.
• Wang Xuan ordered Hua Junming and Yin Xinghan to answer for arriving late, and Commander Zhao stated that military law required their deaths.
• Qi Hongliang supported the punishment, but the other commanders defended the accused and challenged Wang Xuan's authority after he said he was no Great Ming official.
• Hua Junming recognized Wang Xuan as the King of Fujian, knocked down two protesting commanders, and crawled toward Wang Xuan.

Wang Xuan trapped the corrupt commanders and officials at the military inspection, then used the uprising they provoked to expose and eliminate hidden enemies. The chapter ended with the Special Operations Team slaughtering the thousand-plus soldiers who charged the reviewing platform, leaving the assembled army cowed.

• Hua Junming crawled to Wang Xuan, confessed, and begged to become his dog, and Wang Xuan accepted his submission.
• Wang Xuan ordered his personal guards to seize the officials, and Yin Xinghan lost an arm when he attacked before being subdued.
• At the reviewing platform, Yu Sheng announced Yin Xinghan's crimes, and Wang Xuan's men executed him before more than twenty thousand soldiers.
• The captured commanders urged their trusted soldiers to attack, and Wang Xuan welcomed the chance to expose them all at once.
• Yu Sheng sent one hundred Special Operations Team members against the thousand-plus attackers, and they routed and killed them while the other soldiers watched in fear.

Wang Xuan purged corrupt military officers in Lianzhou, reorganized the troops, and ordered their property confiscated to support recruitment. As he struggled to find enough soldiers without provoking the imperial court, he directed Qi Hongliang to investigate Lianzhou’s notorious landlords and seize their land.

• Wang Xuan ordered Hua Junming to identify military officials who deserved to live, then had the five Guards commanders and the remaining condemned officers executed.
• Wang Xuan assigned Qi Xinghui to train and reorganize the troops, ordered Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou, and Yuan Chonghuan to learn from him, and made Zhao write a memorial explaining the executions.
• Wang Xuan ordered Hua Junming to confiscate the executed officers’ property and farmland, while Li Yan arranged contact with the Guangdong Imperial Guard’s commander and plans to replace its personnel.
• Wang Xuan considered how to obtain enough recruits without openly confronting the imperial court, as reports showed the confiscated military land could support only about five thousand soldiers.
• Wang Xuan told Qi Hongliang to investigate prominent families in each prefecture and begin by removing Lianzhou Prefecture’s notorious landlords to free up more land.

Wang Xuan launched a sweeping crackdown on powerful families across Guangdong, then rapidly recruited an army while Jiangnan’s factions watched with alarm. The chapter ended with the Guan, Wu, and other Huguang families gathering in Wuchang to plan how to counter him.

• Wang Xuan mobilized troops and first-rate experts to carry out simultaneous operations against influential families in Guangdong’s prefectures.
• Wang Xuan hosted Qinghong Zaobai and the other experts, discussed temple growth with Yue Buqun, and joked with Ding Yi and Tian Boguang.
• Wang Xuan’s forces surrounded targeted residences, announced their crimes, and swiftly slaughtered the families and confiscated their property.
• Wang Xuan recruited 62,000 soldiers across Guangdong’s eleven prefectures and brought in supplies from Fujian.
• Jiangnan’s factions and great families learned of Wang Xuan’s actions and feared he might eventually target their own regions.
• Guan Yingzhen, Wu Liangsi, and six other major families gathered in Wuchang Prefecture to devise a countermeasure against Wang Xuan.

The Guan family head gathered powerful clan leaders, who discussed Wang Xuan’s growing army and attacks on great families. They decided to enlist the Zhe Faction and Donglin Party against him, convinced that the local clans’ influence would prevent him from rising further.

• The Guan family head entertained the assembled clan leaders with an extravagant feast and an erotic performance before turning to business.
• The leaders shared reports that Wang Xuan had built a disciplined fifty-thousand-strong army in Fujian and recruited more than sixty thousand people in Guangdong.
• The Wu family head and others warned that Wang Xuan threatened the great clans and might rebel as the Ming dynasty weakened.
• The clan leaders resolved to involve the Zhe Faction and Donglin Party and stop Wang Xuan from expanding further.
• The Guan family head declared that Wang Xuan had lost the support of the local great clans and would eventually fail.

The Chu, Zhe, Donglin, and Qi Factions gathered to discuss Wang Xuan, whom they feared would threaten their clans and interests if his power continued to grow. Unable to agree on a costly military campaign, they settled on blocking his expansion from Guangxi and driving the Annamese forces out of Guangdong.

• Guan Yingzhen and Gao Panlong exchanged barbed greetings before the faction leaders gathered and reviewed intelligence on Wang Xuan.
• Gao Panlong asked what the factions planned to do, and the leaders agreed Wang Xuan could not be allowed to expand further.
• Qi Shijiao suggested summoning Wang Xuan to the capital or crushing Fujian and Guangdong with an army, but the others doubted either plan would work.
• Guan Yingzhen proposed sealing routes from Guangxi into Guangdong and using the Annamese invasion as a pretext to intervene.
• The other factions agreed to send people to Guangxi, drive out the Annamese, and block Wang Xuan's routes into Guangdong.

The court factions agreed to contain Wang Xuan and remove Li Shantang from the imperial court, while Qi Shijiao secretly warned Li Shantang to prepare for impeachment. Li Shantang resigned before the attack, but the court’s new appointments set up a dangerous conflict between Wang Xuan and the Donglin Party.

• The four major factions agreed to restrict Wang Xuan’s growth and decided that Li Shantang had to be removed from his post.
• Qi Shijiao told Zhou Yongchun to warn Li Shantang of the coming impeachment, choosing to preserve goodwill with Wang Xuan without opposing the plans for Guangxi.
• Li Shantang received the warning and resigned at the next court assembly before the censors could impeach him.
• The court issued edicts appointing new officials in Fujian and Guangxi, summoning Wang Xuan to the capital, and removing Qi Hongliang as governor-general.
• The factions praised Donglin Party members into accepting dangerous appointments, so Gao Panlong, Zhao Nanxing, and Yang Lian nominated Li Banghua and the factions selected Sun Chuanting as Fuzhou Prefect.
• Gao Panlong, Yang Lian, and Zhao Nanxing blamed Fang Congzhe for their predicament, unaware that the plot had not unfolded as they suspected.

After Li Shantang was dismissed, he used his court connections to help the Four Parties push Yang Lian toward the dangerous post of Fujian Governor. Wang Xuan received the news in Guangdong, dismissed the threat posed by the united factions, and focused on strengthening his army and developing Annam.

• Li Shantang sent Qi Shijiao a proposal to make Sun Chuanting Fuzhou Prefect in exchange for the vacant Fujian governorship going to a Donglin Party member.
• Qi Shijiao persuaded the other factions to recommend Yang Lian as Fujian Governor, leaving Yang Lian and the Donglin Party furious.
• After court, Li Shantang sent his information to Wang Xuan, while the Four Parties continued their plans against Wang Xuan.
• When the information reached Guangdong more than ten days later, Sun Chengzong warned Wang Xuan that the united factions could overwhelm Fujian and Guangdong.
• Wang Xuan argued that military strength mattered more than court schemes and ordered his advisers to keep training troops, capturing Annamese slaves, and developing Annam.
• Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou reported that troop training was succeeding, though its generous pay and provisions made it expensive.

Wang Xuan gathered Guangdong’s clan heads and offered them land in Lesser Liuqiu and northern Annam as part of his plan to open a “new path.” He revealed that he had engineered the Annamese invasion and proposed conquering Annam through mass slaughter, leaving the clan heads stunned but tempted by the promised land.

• Wang Xuan concentrated his sixty thousand troops in Lianzhou and sent forces under Cao Wenzhao, Sun Chengzong, and others into northern Annam to capture people for labor in Guangdong and Lesser Liuqiu.
• Qi Hongliang summoned the heads of eighty or ninety Guangdong clans to meet Wang Xuan, who introduced himself as an explorer of a “new path.”
• Wang Xuan described the fertile, three-harvest land already reclaimed in Lesser Liuqiu and invited the clan heads to inspect it.
• Wang Xuan announced that northern Annam had been occupied and offered its vast developable lands, then admitted that he had orchestrated the invasion to secure Guangdong.
• When a clan head asked how Annam could be conquered, Wang Xuan said they only needed to kill every Annamese person, and the hall fell silent.

Wang Xuan showed the great-family patriarchs the wealth and opportunities on Little Liuqiu and in Annam, then forced them to confront the mass graves left by his army’s conquest. The patriarchs returned to Guangzhou still coveting the land but understanding that it belonged to Wang Xuan and that he was not someone they could treat lightly.

• Wang Xuan ended the gathering and ordered the patriarchs to set out two mornings later, while Qi Hongliang explained his dislike of formalities.
• Over half a month, the patriarchs toured Little Liuqiu, saw its ports and developed farmland, and returned to Guangzhou eager to visit Annam.
• At Nanding City, an officer revealed that the ground beneath them was a mass grave for more than a hundred thousand people, frightening the patriarchs into fleeing.
• The patriarchs visited Thang Long Citadel, sat on its golden throne, and then toured a mass grave containing more than three hundred thousand dead.
• After returning from Annam, the patriarchs remained interested in its land but recognized that it belonged to Wang Xuan and that he was a formidable ruler.