Chapter Summaries

Luo Chong welcomed the Wine Tribe into the Han Tribe and sampled their naturally fermented rice wine. After Wine Seal explained how their ancestors discovered brewing, Luo Chong recognized the wine starter as a valuable shortcut for developing distilled liquor.

• Yun Zhi brought the Wine Tribe, led by the intoxicated Old Man Wine, before Luo Chong, and Old Man Wine pledged the tribe and its brewing method to the Han Tribe.
• Luo Chong welcomed the Wine Tribe and left further communication to Yun Zhi and Wine Seal, Old Man Wine’s eldest son.
• Wine Seal served Luo Chong the tribe’s cloudy rice wine and described how moldy grain had accidentally fermented leftover rice into wine.
• Luo Chong identified the brewing process’s reliance on cooked grain, fermentation catalysts, and time, and recognized the Wine Tribe’s mature wine starter as valuable for producing distilled liquor.

Luo Chong assigned the Jiu Clan to develop many kinds of Wine Yeast and investigate making medical alcohol from waste materials. A message then reported that a Xin Tribe cavalry unit had arrived to trade, leaving Luo Chong to decide how to respond.

• Luo Chong recognized the Wine Tribe’s White Grains as inherited Wine Yeast and offered the Jiu Clan responsibility for a new wine workshop.
• Luo Chong ordered the Jiu Clan to test different ingredients and fermentation methods, record their results, and investigate producing high-proof medical alcohol from corn cobs and bran.
• Yun Zhi took the newly joined Jiu Clan to arrange their living quarters, then brought Luo Chong a Flying Eagle Message from Liuyang Commandery.
• Luo Chong told Yun Zhi that a Xin Tribe cavalry unit led by a Great Elder had arrived seeking a major trade, and explained their past clashes and technological limits.
• Yun Zhi asked how Luo Chong planned to reply to the Xin Tribe.

Luo Chong decided to pursue trade with the Xin Tribe rather than war, while using Han Tribe currency and diplomacy to gain influence. He planned an official emissary mission and a covert intelligence organization, the Golden Crow Guard, to infiltrate the Xin Tribe.

• Luo Chong told Yun Zhi he would visit Liuyang Commandery before deciding how to reply to the Xin Tribe, and he prepared winemaking notes for the R&D Group.
• Luo Chong met Dashu in Liuyang Commandery, and they agreed that trade with the Xin Tribe would be more beneficial than war.
• Luo Chong planned to send an emissary group to protect Han merchants and negotiate with Xin leaders, while secretly establishing an intelligence network.
• Luo Chong named the covert organization the Golden Crow Guard and selected Yi, a loyal Wildman working at the Hanyang City ironworks, to lead it.
• Luo Chong planned to send loyal operatives into the Xin Tribe as migrant workers and technical specialists to earn the trust of its leaders and gather influence.

Luo Chong secretly formed the Golden Crow Guard and recruited Han Tribe members for a long-term undercover mission in the Xin Tribe. After the chosen agents began work in Liuyang Commandery, he arrived to meet Niu Wei and the others.

• Luo Chong appointed Jin Yi commander of the secret Golden Crow Guard and had him recruit sixty candidates under a false cover story.
• Forty-two candidates initially accepted the dangerous mission after Jin Yi offered noble titles, pay, and future positions.
• Luo Chong revealed that the mission was to infiltrate the Xin Tribe, then let the recruits withdraw; fourteen left, leaving twenty-eight agents.
• Luo Chong explained that the agents would gather intelligence and could later serve as Imperial Guard Officers protecting him.
• Jin Yi trained the twenty-eight recruits in spycraft, then took them to Liuyang Commandery to begin work without notifying its officials.
• Three days after the agents started, Luo Chong arrived at the prefect's office and formally received Niu Wei and the others.

Niu Wei met with Luo Chong to discuss trade between the Xin Tribe and the Han Tribe, and he sampled the Han Tribe’s brown sugar and black tea. Luo Chong set the terms for trade, requiring the Xin Tribe to adopt Han measures and currency.

• Niu Wei arrived at the Liuyang Prefecture residence and presented himself to Luo Chong as the Xin Tribe’s Elder of Trade.
• Niu Wei said he had brought cattle and sheep as gifts and wanted to discuss trade, then revealed that the Xin Tribe had another gift on the way.
• Luo Chong served Niu Wei brown sugar and black tea, and Niu Wei was astonished by the sweetness and asked to buy some.
• Luo Chong agreed to trade with the Xin Tribe on the condition that it use Han units of measurement and Han currency.
• Niu Wei welcomed the chance to learn the Han Tribe’s measuring system and obtain scales.

Luo Chong negotiated a cart trade with Niu Wei and allowed the Xin Tribe delegation to tour Liuyang Commandery under strict restrictions. Niu Wei presented pearls as gifts, and Luo Chong’s knowledge of pearl cultivation left him impressed as he headed to the market.

• Luo Chong agreed to trade bare carts to the Xin Tribe for oxen and horses and allowed Niu Wei’s group to move around Liuyang Commandery under strict rules.
• Niu Wei thanked Luo Chong, accepted the brown sugar, and began to leave with his subordinates.
• Niu Wei returned with a bag of pearls and conch shells as gifts for Luo Chong.
• Luo Chong explained that the supposed Snail Bone were pearls and claimed they could be cultivated artificially.
• Niu Wei left with his subordinates and went to the market, eager to explore Liuyang Commandery.

Niu Wei and his men toured the Han Tribe market with a minor official, learning about local goods and buying comfortable hemp-cloth shoes. At the snack street, they tried Gray Water Zongzi and honey-drizzled Bamboo Tube Zongzi, ending with Niu Wei eagerly biting into his first piece.

• Niu Wei asked the minor official about hemp-cloth shoes made from worn-out clothes and learned that his men could work for wages or sell goods, but could not roam freely.
• Niu Wei had the minor official buy a pair of cloth shoes for each man, charging the cost to their account.
• Niu Wei and his men browsed the market stalls and reached the snack street around lunchtime.
• The minor official explained how Gray Water Zongzi and Bamboo Tube Zongzi were made, and Niu Wei offered to buy both kinds for everyone.
• The zongzi seller served the group honey-drizzled Bamboo Tube Zongzi, and Niu Wei took an eager bite.

Luo Chong devised the Gourmet Plan to weaken the Xin Tribe by introducing liquor, low-yield crops, and new foods, while arranging work for Niu Wei’s people as Golden Crow Guard agents prepared to infiltrate them. He then visited Liuyang Commandery’s shipyard to oversee construction of a river sailboat, where the keel and ribs were assembled.

• Luo Chong divided Niu Wei’s hundred people among a distillery, farms, oil and tofu workshops, and an official kiln, with Golden Crow Guard agents placed alongside them.
• Luo Chong outlined a plan to reduce the Xin Tribe’s food reserves by promoting brewing, wheat, soybeans, and peanuts, then support any uprising with supplies and high-yield rice.
• Luo Chong handed the contact and infiltration work to Jin Yi and went to the new shipyard to guide shipbuilding.
• Luo Chong inspected the Steaming Dragon timber steamer and explained how it would soften planks for faster ship construction.
• Luo Chong oversaw workers assembling a twenty-meter river sailboat’s keel and forty ribs, which they joined with wooden pegs and Fish Maw Glue before preparing to fit the hull planks.

The Han Tribe launched its first large river sailboat and tested the bare hull with a crowded crew, while Niu Wei watched and considered what such a ship could mean for his people. The chapter left him planning to ask Chieftain Han whether the Xin Tribe could buy one.

• Luo Chong oversaw the hull’s waterproofing, using antelope horn, hide fat, cloth scraps, and hemp rope to compensate for scarce fish bladders.
• Luo Chong arranged a quiet launch, and Han Tribe workers and Rou Rou and Hui Shan hauled the Wood Boat into the river.
• Luo Chong boarded the ship with a hundred boatmen, who rowed it while others checked the cabins for leaks.
• Farmers, workers, and peddlers gathered along the riverbank and marveled at the ship’s size and capacity.
• Niu Wei watched the ship and asked his interpreter to find out whether the Xin Tribe could buy one and what it would cost.

Luo Chong completed the outfitting of the Han Tribe’s large prototype ship and demonstrated how its sails could propel it without rowers. Niu Wei watched in amazement as the ship sailed away, then learned that it used wind for power.

• Niu Wei asked whether the Xin Tribe could buy the large ship, but the translator explained that it would take years to build and there was no way to transport it to Bamboo Island.
• Luo Chong ordered the ship back to the shipyard after craftsmen inspected its hull and found no obvious leaks.
• Luo Chong oversaw the construction of the ship’s cabin, platform, masts, and other fittings while Niu Wei watched the work from the riverbank.
• Shipbuilders raised a huge red sail marked with the black character “Han,” and the completed ship began moving without anyone rowing it.
• The minor official explained to Niu Wei that the ship used wind for power and could rely on oars when there was no wind.

Luo Chong prepared the Han Tribe’s new sailing ships and assigned You Fu and You Ye separate expeditions to explore distant waterways and contact the tribes living along them. The brothers departed with missions to map routes, gather intelligence, and help expand the Han Tribe’s reach.

• The sailors tested the new sailing ships and trained with survey boats, landing craft, and leather-float life rings while the shipyard accelerated production.
• Luo Chong considered creating a driving school to train and license carriage drivers and sailors.
• You Fu and You Ye arrived with sails from Hanyang City and complained that Luo Chong had left them without missions for months.
• Luo Chong showed the brothers the sailing ships and explained how their sails used the wind to propel them.
• Luo Chong assigned You Fu to lead a downstream fleet toward the Gold Sand River and record the route, local tribes, and daily conditions.
• Luo Chong assigned You Ye to explore and map the Great Marsh, contact its tribes, and help Yun Zhi transport people and supplies; You Ye and You Fu both promised to carry out their missions.

Luo Chong prepared textbooks and planned to expand schooling across the Han Tribe before returning to Hanyang Commandery to print his books. He offered Niu Wei a chance to study, but the steep tuition left the Xin Tribe's Elder of Trade stunned.

• Luo Chong reviewed the development of Weishan Commandery and the sugar workshop, then considered how Brown Sugar could support new foods.
• Luo Chong completed textbooks on language, etiquette, arithmetic, and natural science, while continuing work on Han Laws.
• Luo Chong told Dashu to build another Residential and Commercial District in Liuyang Commandery so it could serve as a school.
• Luo Chong summoned Niu Wei and offered schooling to members of the Xin Tribe, with Niu Wei allowed to attend regardless of age.
• Luo Chong quoted annual tuition of ten cattle and ten horses per student, and Niu Wei was appalled by the potential cost.

Luo Chong proposed that the Xin Tribe exchange cattle and horses for Han Tribe goods and students, then offered printing and writing technologies in return for a twenty-year Han Tribe concession within Xin territory. Niu Wei saw potential benefits but lacked authority to agree, so Luo Chong arranged for a hundred-member emissary group to negotiate directly with the Xin Tribe’s Chieftain.

• Luo Chong explained that the Han Tribe had little surplus salt, ironware, or cloth for trade and planned to use the Xin Tribe as a supplier of livestock.
• Niu Wei agreed to send a first group of one hundred students, and Luo Chong said he wanted young people under sixteen because they learned faster.
• Luo Chong offered to teach the Xin Tribe how to make writing sets and use printing technology in exchange for a leased coastal site with workshops, a school, a dock, a bank, and protection for Han personnel.
• Niu Wei considered the proposal advantageous but said only the Xin Tribe’s Chieftain could approve it.
• Luo Chong proposed sending a hundred-member emissary group with Niu Wei to negotiate, with the group returning to the Han Tribe if the Chieftain refused.

Niu Wei gathered his subordinates to review the skills, seeds, and workers they had secretly acquired from the Han Tribe. He arranged for half of his people to return with the Han Tribe’s emissary group to meet the Xin Tribe’s chieftain, while he stayed behind to travel with Chieftain Han to Hanyang City.

• Niu Wei met with Luo Chong, and they agreed that the returning group would explain the situation to Chieftain Han and seek his approval.
• Niu Wei’s minor leaders reported learning Han Tribe farming and brewing methods, collecting grain and vegetable seeds, recruiting skilled workers, and discovering how to make tofu products.
• Niu Wei decided they would explore ways to obtain ironworking knowledge through the Han Tribe’s emissary group.
• Niu Wei ordered his people to gather the recruits and establish a temporary camp along the return route.
• Niu Wei split his people, leaving fifty in the Han Tribe to keep learning while the other fifty would escort the hundred-person emissary group to the Xin Tribe without revealing the recruited craftsmen’s identities.

Luo Chong’s caravan and Niu Wei’s Xin Tribe delegation traveled to Hanyang City, where Niu Wei saw the Han Tribe’s roads, bridge, defenses, and transport network. The chapter left the delegation entering Hanyang City and marveling at its clean, orderly, blue-brick architecture.

• Jin Yi’s Golden Crow Guard confirmed that twelve of its twenty-eight infiltrators had been taken away and planned further recruitment among students.
• Luo Chong prepared white paper and writing supplies for Hanyang City, including portable oil-ink brushes designed for official use.
• On the third day of negotiations, Luo Chong and Niu Wei set out west with the caravan and the fifty people bound for Hanyang City.
• Niu Wei observed the Han Tribe’s new settlements, irrigation works, and tools as the group traveled through Sitong County toward Ruyang Commandery.
• Niu Wei crossed a wooden bridge and saw boats, slag-paved roads, and Hanyang City’s imposing defensive works.
• The group entered Hanyang City, and Niu Wei was astonished by its blue-brick buildings, paved streets, and orderly layout.

Niu Wei and the Xin Tribe delegation toured Hanyang City and marveled at its facilities, strict routines, and glowing Fluorescent Willows. At home, Luo Chong reunited with Zhan Ying and Xiao Die, whose resentful gaze forced him to face his overdue promise to have a child with her.

• Niu Wei and his subordinates explored their temporary camp, learned that Han Tribe soldiers studied characters, and heard the rules for the city’s evening drums and curfew.
• The translator showed Niu Wei the city square and explained that the Fluorescent Willows illuminated the streets and that foreign students would study in the Teaching Buildings.
• Niu Wei admired the glowing trees and wondered whether the Xin Tribe could obtain saplings, but the translator told him to ask Luo Chong.
• Luo Chong returned home and discovered that Zhan Ying had learned Chinese, made tofu, and adopted Han Tribe clothing and customs.
• Xiao Die embraced Luo Chong and confronted him about delaying their promised child, leaving him embarrassed and needing to explain himself.

Luo Chong reunited with Xiao Die and Zhan Ying, shared pearls with them, and resumed his work in Hanyang City. He arranged new textbooks for printing, inspected crossbow production, and chose Beast Tooth to serve as an ambassador in the Xin Tribe.

• Luo Chong agreed to try for a child with Xiao Die, and Zhan Ying joined them for dinner after Xiao Die welcomed her warmly.
• Luo Chong gave Xiao Die and Zhan Ying pearls and planned hair ornaments for them, then spent the night with both women.
• Luo Chong gave Bai Qi manuscripts for the Han Rites, Arithmetic, and Nature and ordered ten thousand copies of each book.
• Luo Chong inspected crossbow production and learned from Mutong that ox sinew was sufficient for several thousand bows, but treadle iron rings were still delayed.
• Luo Chong decided that Beast Tooth would serve as the Han Tribe's ambassador in the Xin Tribe and sent for him.

Niu Wei and the Xin Tribe’s emissaries toured the Han Tribe’s Teaching Building and marveled at its construction and teaching tools. After hearing the interpreter’s account of his work, Luo Chong appointed him Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonials, named him Hong Fu, and raised his rank.

• The interpreter showed Niu Wei and his companions the Teaching Building, explaining its fire-resistant construction, ceramic floors, blackboards, and chalk.
• Niu Wei and the emissaries toured the upper floors, praised the building, and regretted that the Han Tribe kept its workshops off-limits.
• A minor official told the Xin Tribe’s group he had to leave and went to meet Luo Chong.
• Luo Chong praised the minor official’s work as interpreter and discussed how the Han Tribe’s strength shaped its dealings with the Xin Tribe.
• Luo Chong appointed the minor official Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonials and granted him the name Hong Fu and the eighth-level rank of Shao Yu.

Luo Chong planned to place Beast Tooth in charge of a long-term mission to the Xin Tribe, where he would oversee an emissary group and help secure a Han Tribe foothold. Beast Tooth accepted, and Luo Chong began assembling the people, supplies, and support network for the expedition.

• Luo Chong told Hong Fu to let the Xin Tribe’s future students move freely, while ensuring they had food and lodging and obeyed Han Tribe law.
• Luo Chong explained the plan to gain influence over the Xin Tribe and asked Beast Tooth to lead the mission there.
• Beast Tooth accepted the assignment after asking when he would leave, and Luo Chong granted him leave to spend time with his family before departing.
• Luo Chong organized the emissary group with Eagle Clan messengers, officials, craftsmen, guides, traders, and supplies, backed by a large merchant caravan.
• Luo Chong arranged for the merchant caravan to relay news and supplies and planned for You Fu’s Boat Fleet to explore a possible sea route through the Gold Sand River.

Luo Chong reviewed the Han Tribe’s revenues and heavy construction costs as he prepared to fund four years of compulsory education. To cover the growing expense, he planned to promote traditional handicrafts and grade and assess artisans.

• Luo Chong accounted for the high costs of building five sailing ships and explained why their timber, sails, skilled labor, and auxiliary boats made each vessel expensive.
• The chapter outlined the Han Tribe’s main revenue sources, including state-run salt, iron, and cloth workshops, commercial taxes, head taxes, and trade with the Xin Tribe.
• Luo Chong judged that new commanderies and counties were nearly balancing their own budgets, but sailing ships and planned education would require substantial investment.
• Luo Chong set four years of compulsory schooling for children starting at age eight, with lessons in literacy, arithmetic, Han Rites, Natural Science, and Han Laws.
• Luo Chong planned to raise more revenue by promoting traditional handicrafts and introducing government grading and assessment of artisans.