Chapter Summaries

Luo Chong organized the construction of a vast border city and assigned You Fu to transport timber from Giant Wood Commandery. On Bamboo Island, Beast Tooth decided whether to carry out the leader’s order to pressure the Xin Tribe.

• After Luo Chong explained You Zhi’s diplomatic mission, You Fu left to take the fleet toward Giant Wood Commandery for timber.
• Luo Chong designed an enormous inner city with docks, warehouses, residences, a school, government offices, and barracks to serve as the Han Tribe’s border stronghold.
• Luo Chong approved the city plan and appointed Xue Dongliang to lead construction, with earth taken from the future moat.
• Beast Tooth read You Zhi’s letter bearing the leader’s seal and considered the order to burn the vehicles and pressure the Xin Tribe.
• After seeing the golden scepter’s inscription, Beast Tooth resolved to act despite the danger to the emissary group.

Beast Tooth confronted Xin Tribe Elders over their unpaid debt by destroying the Han Tribe’s carts, forcing Elder Zhu to apologize and promise to persuade the Great Leader to pay. Beast Tooth warned that the Han Tribe was also reclaiming carts across the tribe, leaving Xin Tribe’s cooperation with Han on the verge of collapse.

• Elders Mi, Dou, and Zhu argued over the thirty carts Elder of Livestock had available, and Elder Zhu claimed twenty for construction work for the Great Leader.
• Beast Tooth and the Emissary Group began smashing and burning the carts, saying Xin Tribe had failed to pay for them and that they still belonged to the Han Tribe.
• Elder Mi attacked Beast Tooth, but Beast Tooth kicked him down and warned that the Han Tribe was destroying carts at Xin Tribe’s farmlands, construction sites, mines, and Salt Field.
• Elder Zhu apologized to Beast Tooth and promised to persuade the Great Leader to pay the Han Tribe in full.
• Elder Zhu left to approach the Great Leader, while Beast Tooth learned that Zhu supported the Han Tribe and wanted its people and culture to remain in Xin Tribe.

Beast Tooth used a bluff and the destruction of thirty carriages to pressure the Xin Tribe into negotiating, while keeping most of his people hidden as a contingency. The Xin Tribe’s Great Leader ordered the elders to halt the supposed attacks and proposed paying for the carriages in stages, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Beast Tooth returned to the Emissary Group’s quarters and prepared to defend his people, knowing that his claim about attacks across Bamboo Island was a bluff and that sixty of his people were hiding outside the valley.
• Elder of Construction confronted the Great Leader in Clear Spring Valley and urged him to settle the payment before the Xin Tribe lost the Han Tribe’s carriages and assistance.
• The Great Leader argued that the Xin Tribe could not provide the promised cattle and horses because Modun had failed to supply them, then asked whether the Han emissaries had really left to destroy carriages.
• Elder of Livestock reported that no one had been seen leaving the valley, but suggested that the emissaries might have slipped out; the Great Leader ordered messages sent to stop them.
• The Great Leader told Elder of Construction and Elder Dou to offer a lower price, pay for one thousand carriages’ worth of cattle and horses first, and negotiate for the remainder with Modun and the Han Tribe.
• The Great Leader ordered someone to contact Niu Wei in the Han Tribe and make him help resolve the dispute.

Beast Tooth negotiated the overdue payment for the Han Tribe’s carts with the Xin Tribe, securing two thousand cattle and horses plus White Salt for the balance. Commander Xin accepted the settlement but remained wary of allowing the Han Emissary Group to reside permanently on Bamboo Island.

• Elder of Construction told Beast Tooth that the Xin Tribe would provide one thousand cattle and horses and seek the rest from Modun, but Beast Tooth rejected both the reduced price and shifting the debt to Modun.
• Beast Tooth demanded twenty percent extra compensation for the six-month delay, then proposed that the Xin Tribe provide two thousand cattle and horses and pay the remaining balance in White Salt.
• Elder of Construction reported Beast Tooth’s proposal to Commander Xin, who angrily objected to the added compensation and the original price.
• Elder of Construction defended the Han Tribe’s terms and warned Commander Xin that rejecting their trade and knowledge would harm the Xin Tribe’s development and reputation.
• Commander Xin agreed to settle the payment with cattle, horses, and White Salt, but said he still wanted to discuss the Emissary Group’s permanent residence with Beast Tooth.

Beast Tooth negotiated with Commander Xin to establish a permanent Han Tribe presence and develop trade between Han and Xin. He proposed building a road across the Dark Bridge, and Commander Xin weighed the options as Beast Tooth outlined a quick wooden bridge or a lasting raised causeway.

• Beast Tooth secretly told the sixty carriage smashers to return in separate batches after a day, while assuring Elder of Construction that he had recalled them.
• Beast Tooth joined Elder of Construction at the Bamboo Building, where Commander Xin asked what Han Tribe needed and what benefits Xin Tribe would receive.
• Beast Tooth proposed opening sea and land trade routes, explaining that Han Tribe could build a road across the Dark Bridge to connect Bamboo Island with the grasslands.
• Commander Xin worried that a road could expose Bamboo Island to Nomadic Tribe raids, but Beast Tooth suggested Xin Tribe could control access with a checkpoint and argued Han Tribe had no reason to plunder them.
• Beast Tooth described a temporary wooden bridge and a permanent raised causeway, leaving Commander Xin to choose between the faster, cheaper option and the more durable project.

Beast Tooth persuaded Commander Xin to let Han Tribe remain on Bamboo Island by proposing a permanent road across the Dark Bridge and offering trade, technology, and construction support. With Xin Tribe’s agreement secured, Luo Chong reviewed Beast Tooth’s report and turned his attention to Modun’s unpaid debt.

• Elder of Construction and Commander Xin chose a permanent road across the Dark Bridge, and Beast Tooth proposed enclosing it with Sea-Blocking Dams made from sand-filled Hemp Sacks.
• Beast Tooth offered Han Tribe’s supplies and craftsmen to build the dams and road in exchange for a permanent Emissary Group settlement and large-scale trade, and Commander Xin agreed.
• Beast Tooth promised Xin Tribe writing, printing, farming, construction, banking, ceramics, and weaving technology, including hemp cultivation and cloth-making.
• Beast Tooth privately considered Han Tribe’s plans to control Bamboo Island’s economy and cultivate resentment against Commander Xin’s rule.
• Luo Chong read Beast Tooth’s report, noted the supplies Han Tribe needed to send, and went outside after reviewing You Zhi’s reports about Modun’s outstanding debt.

Luo Chong welcomed Ling Feng and the Thousand Sheep Tribe into the Han Tribe, providing supplies and arranging for the newcomers to register and settle near the Military Camp. Their arrival left him wrestling with how to manage grassland herders and preserve the pastures the Han Tribe needed for livestock.

• Ling Feng arrived with over a thousand people from the Thousand Sheep Tribe and told Luo Chong that Yili had agreed to join the Han Tribe.
• Yili pledged his tribe’s loyalty, and Luo Chong welcomed them, promising White Salt, Iron Spoons, and a peaceful place to live.
• Ling Feng led the Thousand Sheep Tribe to pitch tents and organize their livestock and belongings near the Military Camp.
• Luo Chong assigned Ying Rui to register the newcomers, distribute supplies, and tally their property without confiscating their livestock.
• Luo Chong considered the difficulty of balancing settlement and control with nomadic herding, which the Han Tribe needed to raise its animals.

Luo Chong investigated the Thousand Sheep Tribe’s herding households and learned from Ling Feng that goats damaged grasslands more severely than sheep. He planned to promote sustainable grazing by encouraging sheep, planting forage, rotating pastures, and changing livestock prices, leaving the herders’ transition to be implemented.

• Luo Chong visited herder households with Ying Rui, registered their families, distributed iron pots, spoons, and knives, and gathered information about their populations and livestock.
• Ling Feng explained the differences among the herders’ goats and sheep, including how goats stripped grass roots and bark while sheep allowed pastures to regrow.
• Luo Chong agreed to promote sheep husbandry and improve the grasslands by planting forage and dividing pastures for rotational grazing.
• Ling Feng warned that herders depended on goats for milk and meat, so they would not abandon them simply because they were told to.
• Luo Chong proposed raising the purchase price of sheep and refusing to buy goats, while encouraging herders to increase cattle and sheep or combine farming with herding.

Luo Chong organized the growing herder population and put the Han Tribe’s forces on alert after learning that Modun had disappeared and the Xin Tribe’s envoys had been killed. Modun had decided to ambush the caravan carrying White Salt and supplies before confronting the Han Tribe’s soldiers.

• Luo Chong traded grain for goats, arranged shipments of seeds and tools, and brought small sailboats to Grassland New City.
• Luo Chong reorganized more than five thousand herders into a household registration system managed through their former leaders.
• Luo Chong learned that Modun was missing and that the Xin Tribe’s cattle, horses, and White Salt were being escorted toward the Military Camp, so he ordered the departments to prepare for danger.
• You Zhi reported that scouts found the murdered Xin Tribe envoys, and Luo Chong learned that they had delivered a final ultimatum to Modun.
• Modun killed the envoys after learning that the Xin Tribe’s White Salt shipment had reached the grasslands, then chose to attack the Han Tribe’s caravan and seize its supplies and cavalry equipment.

Luo Chong prepared a two-pronged response to Modun: the Huben Guard would raid Modun’s pastures while herder cavalry escorted the vulnerable White Salt caravan. He persuaded the reluctant herders to fight by promising them iron armor and arrows, then began equipping them for the mission.

• Luo Chong rejected a direct pursuit of Modun’s cavalry and planned a sneak attack on Modun’s lakeside pastures, while also arranging defenses for the caravan and Military Camp.
• Luo Chong assigned Blood Butcher and one Huben Guard to raid Modun’s encampments, ordering them to burn tents, seize captives and livestock, and destroy anything they could not carry away.
• Luo Chong called on the newly allied herders to form a twelve-hundred-man cavalry force to escort the White Salt caravan, explaining that Modun threatened the salt shipment and the Han Tribe’s infantry could not ride.
• After Yili questioned why the herders had to fight, Luo Chong promised them iron armor and iron-tipped arrows, and demonstrated the armor’s protection by striking Blood Butcher.
• Yili agreed to lead the herders into battle, and Luo Chong arranged to lend them armor from the Qianniu Guard’s archers and crossbowmen.
• Luo Chong had the herders put on spare uniforms beneath their borrowed armor and began outfitting the cavalry.

Luo Chong sent cavalry to reinforce the caravan and dispatched the Huben Guard by ship to attack Modun’s empty camp, while preparing the Military Camp for defense. Modun secretly set out to seize the caravan’s supplies, and the two forces were moving toward a likely confrontation.

• Luo Chong equipped twelve hundred herders with armor, boots, arrows, provisions, and orders to protect the caravan and withdraw if casualties became heavy.
• Luo Chong combined the herders with cavalry from the Han Tribe’s guards and sent them toward the caravan with Wuyun as their guide.
• Luo Chong warned Blood Butcher not to underestimate Modun’s forces, and the Huben Guard sailed out with ships assigned to carry prisoners and livestock.
• Luo Chong placed the Military Camp on Level-One Combat Readiness and assigned its defense to the Qianniu Guard’s pikemen.
• Modun secretly led his forces through uninhabited areas to find the caravan and seize its White Salt, cattle, and horses.
• You Zhi led the caravan openly toward the Military Camp, and two mounted herders spotted it and sounded an ox-horn trumpet.

You Zhi led the Han Tribe’s caravan through Modun’s pursuit, using sacks of yellow earth and hemp-rope tripwires to slow the cavalry and escape. After discovering the supposed salt was dirt, Modun split his forces to pursue the caravan and search for the real White Salt.

• Modun gathered several thousand cavalrymen and chased the Han Tribe’s caravan after his scouts spotted it.
• You Zhi ordered the drivers to drop hemp sacks tied together with ropes, creating tripwires that caused widespread chaos and casualties among the pursuing cavalry.
• As the caravan discarded its sacks and gained speed, Modun stopped the pursuit, and his men discovered the sacks contained yellow earth rather than White Salt.
• A trusted aide urged Modun to search for the real White Salt instead of focusing only on the caravan.
• Modun sent the wounded back to camp and divided the remaining cavalry into three groups to pursue the caravan, search Dark Bridge by the bay, and scout other routes.

You Zhi used the merchant caravan as a decoy while Gesang and Saren secretly transported the White Salt, and Modun's forces searched in vain. Meanwhile, Blood Butcher led the Huben Guard to Modun's lakeside pasture and began a dawn landing assault.

• You Zhi arranged for Gesang's herdsmen to carry the White Salt and livestock at night while the merchant caravan drew Modun's attention with carts loaded with dirt.
• Modun's troops continued searching for the salt as Modun brooded over the casualties caused by You Zhi's tripwires.
• Blood Butcher's scouts confirmed that Modun's main pasture held an estimated three to four thousand defenders and found a suitable landing point.
• Blood Butcher ordered the Huben Guard to prepare for a pre-dawn attack, and the soldiers ate, armed themselves, and boarded their Landing Crafts.
• Women at the lakeshore spotted the fleet's buoys and approaching sailboats before Blood Butcher ordered the troops to land and attack.

The Han Tribe launched a landing assault on Modun's grazing grounds, and its vanguard formed a shield wall against the gathering grassland cavalry. As the defenders' attacks began to strain the formation, Blood Butcher ordered archers to fire from their boats to protect the landing.

• The Han Tribe's vanguard landed under cover of shipboard archers, while crossbow bolts killed the herders who remained on the shore.
• A young woman alerted Modun's tribespeople that the Han Tribe was attacking, and more than two thousand cavalrymen gathered near the lake.
• The Han Tribe's soldiers formed a semicircular shield wall with long spears projecting through it, stalling the cavalry's attempts to attack.
• The cavalry threw stones and spears at the formation, but the armor and shields limited the damage until a bronze spear struck a soldier and briefly opened a gap.
• Blood Butcher halted several hundred archers and crossbowmen in their boats and ordered them to fire at the enemy while the rest of the archers landed.

Blood Butcher led the Huben Guard ashore and advanced on Modun's camp, using iron-armored formations and fire arrows to rout the herdsmen. As the Guard scattered into small units to pursue the fleeing camp, Jian Dun's squad killed a dismounted enemy and pressed on to earn military merit.

• Blood Butcher landed with the archers and formed the Huben Guard into a moving circular formation that repelled Modun's cavalry with rotating crossbow fire.
• Blood Butcher ordered fire arrows launched at the camp, setting tents ablaze and sending herdsmen, families, and livestock fleeing amid widespread chaos.
• Blood Butcher ordered the Guard to break into Five Elements formations and pursue the scattered herdsmen, while the cavalry's isolated counterattacks failed to overcome the Han soldiers' armor and weapons.
• Jian Dun told his archers to target an enemy horse, and they brought it down with crossbow bolts.
• Jian Dun led his squad after the injured rider; a spear soldier killed the herdsman, and Jian Dun took his head as proof of the kill.

The Han Tribe overwhelmed the Modun Tribe’s camp, but a group of herdsmen used lassos from horseback to drag away Huben Guard soldiers and their bodies. Blood Butcher hastily formed a Han cavalry unit to recover the dead, and the chapter ended with the camp being searched and prisoners, livestock, spoils, and casualties gathered by the lake.

• Jian Dun’s group killed a cavalryman as Han soldiers burned the camp and killed its defenders under the Chieftain’s order to leave no one alive.
• A young herdsman rallied nearly two hundred riders to attack with lassos, dragging away Huben Guard soldiers and capturing armor and a living prisoner.
• Blood Butcher ordered a temporary cavalry unit to pursue the herdsmen and recover the bodies of the fallen Han soldiers.
• The Han riders reclaimed the bodies, while the young herdsman killed his prisoner with an arrow as he fled.
• Xue Dongliang joined the Huben Guard at the lake as they gathered prisoners, livestock, spoils, and casualty records.

After the Huben Guard seized livestock and prisoners at Modun’s grazing site, Blood Butcher and Xue Dongliang organized the spoils, wounded, and return journey. The Guard set off toward the Han Tribe’s Grassland New City while the displaced herders debated how to find Modun and rebuild their lives.

• Xue Dongliang told Blood Butcher that the Huben Guard had captured more than a hundred thousand animals and over three thousand prisoners, but had suffered 289 casualties, including deaths caused by livestock and sheepdog bites.
• Xue Dongliang explained that Modun had taken most able-bodied men away, leaving families and livestock vulnerable when the Huben Guard attacked.
• Blood Butcher decided to keep the livestock, make captured women tend the herds under guard, and use the ships to transport the wounded, meat, and some prisoners.
• The Huben Guard gathered the prisoners and animals, processed carcasses and hides, and loaded supplies onto the ships.
• The Boat Fleet departed toward the Han Tribe’s Grassland New City, leaving fifteen Two-Masted Sailboats to accompany and supply the marching Guard.
• The fleeing herders considered returning to their burned grazing site and decided they needed to find Modun and join his army.

Modun's forces searched for the White Salt while Arslan's cavalry pursued You Zhi's decoy caravan, which was carrying no real cargo. After the Han Tribe reinforcements arrived, the groups camped in a standoff, and Modun learned that the Han Tribe had attacked his home base by sailing across the lake.

• Modun's search parties found the northern camp empty and plundered small tribes, while Saren and Gesang carried the real White Salt toward the Han Tribe's new city.
• Arslan rejected Bagen's advice to abandon the pursuit, but retreated when he saw the Han Tribe reinforcements approaching.
• Ling Feng joined You Zhi and learned that the caravan's carts were empty and Gesang's tribe was transporting the White Salt by another route.
• You Zhi and Ling Feng decided to camp and wait for Gesang's tribe, while Arslan watched them from a safe distance.
• Survivors told Modun that the Han Tribe had attacked his home base from the lake, and Modun mistakenly believed several thousand soldiers had taken part.

Modun searched for a way to recover from the Han Tribe’s attack and obtain the metal and White Salt his tribe needed. After Dalantai impressed him with plans to counter the Han Army, Modun adopted him and tasked him with forming a new force to capture skilled Han prisoners alive.

• Modun ruled out attacking the Han Tribe’s camp, recalled his herdsmen to their pasture, and considered raiding smaller tribes for supplies.
• Modun questioned the junior leaders about captured Han soldiers and learned that Dalantai had devised a way to capture them with lassos.
• Dalantai proposed leather and felt armor, blunt weapons, and harassment tactics to counter the Han Army’s strengths.
• Modun praised Dalantai, learned his name and family history, and adopted him as his son.
• Modun ordered Dalantai to recruit five hundred young men and capture Han Tribe members with useful skills alive.

You Zhi brought the White Salt and newly allied nomads safely back to the Han Tribe, while Modun’s forces raided nearby tribes and Luo Chong rewarded the army and the Fallen Heroes’ families. After returning to Hanyang City, Luo Chong received Beast Tooth’s message that the Emissary Group had secured a permanent base on Bamboo Island.

• Saren and Gesang delivered the White Salt to You Zhi, and You Zhi led the caravan and allied nomads back to camp rather than risk a battle with Arslan.
• Modun refused to launch an immediate attack on the Han Tribe and sent his armies to raid smaller tribes to rebuild their strength.
• The Han Tribe celebrated the return of You Zhi’s caravan and the Huben Guard, then Luo Chong distributed promotions, land, livestock, and compensation to soldiers and the families of Fallen Heroes.
• Luo Chong arranged for excess sheep and White Salt to be exchanged for cattle and horses, increasing the Han Tribe’s livestock and draft-animal supplies.
• Luo Chong returned to Hanyang City and reunited with Luo Cheng and Luo Lan, then received Beast Tooth’s message confirming the Emissary Group’s permanent base on Bamboo Island.