Chapter Summaries

After Shilke brought White Butcher and the Wei laborers into Yellow Sand City, White Butcher explained the Centaur cavalry’s role in Wei’s defeat to Zhou Xu. Zhou Xu learned that the mercenaries had fielded three hundred cavalry and ordered his men to discreetly monitor the newcomers.

• Shilke led White Butcher and the Wei laborers into Yellow Sand City, where they saw the destroyed gate and encountered Centaur cavalry.
• White Butcher told Shilke that Centaur cavalry had fought for Huaxia during Wei’s war and contributed to Wei’s destruction.
• Zhou Xu questioned White Butcher, who admitted his hostility toward centaurs but distinguished the present group from the mercenaries of the past.
• White Butcher told Zhou Xu that the mercenary corps had sent three hundred Centaur cavalry into the earlier battle, but he knew little about their base or operations.
• Zhou Xu ordered Shilke to limit contact with White Butcher’s group and have Shi Lei discreetly watch their movements.

Zhou Xu worried that the First Emperor might hire centaur mercenaries to crush a future rebellion, then focus his forces on Yellow Sand City, and he stayed up late considering the threat. In the morning, he rested while Shilke welcomed White Butcher and the Wei State laborers into the breakfast line.

• Zhou Xu concluded that the centaur mercenaries were a limited threat to Yellow Sand City’s defenses but could help the First Emperor suppress the planned rebel army, and he doubted Great Zhou could outbid them.
• Zhou Xu slept poorly, then told an Elf Knight to inform Shi Lei that he would rest for the morning.
• Zhuo Ge and Diak worried that absorbing White Butcher’s centaur mercenaries into Great Zhou might not go smoothly, though their concerns did not disturb their sleep.
• The Wei State laborers asked White Butcher whether they could get breakfast, and Shilke told them to join the line and receive food.

Zhou Xu approved the enlistment of White Butcher and 517 Wei State Army laborers, appointing White Butcher a Second Lieutenant and putting him in charge of their training. White Butcher left to report to Shi Lei and learn Great Zhou’s military standards, while Zhou Xu expected the recruits to be ready for the coming battle.

• White Butcher and the Wei State Army laborers ate breakfast with the Great Zhou soldiers, and Shi Lei held off assigning them work while they recovered.
• After waking past noon, Zhou Xu summoned White Butcher and learned that all 517 laborers wanted to enlist.
• Zhou Xu told White Butcher the recruits must follow army discipline and named him a Second Lieutenant in command of all 517 men.
• Zhou Xu ordered White Butcher to train the recruits and prepare them to enter battle at any time.
• White Butcher accepted the command and went to report to Shi Lei for guidance on Great Zhou’s military systems and standards.

Shi Lei worried that White Butcher’s five hundred former Wei soldiers might remain a separate group, but Zhou Xu judged they posed little threat while Great Zhou waited for Yan Sheng’s internal strife to weaken him. In Yellow Sand City, desperate townspeople began seeking work, and a father and son who tried to reach their fields were stopped at the gate before someone offered them a way to farm within Great Zhou territory.

• Shi Lei warned Zhou Xu about the risk of letting White Butcher train and lead the newly incorporated former Wei soldiers, and Zhou Xu said their small force was no immediate danger.
• Zhou Xu spent three days waiting in a defensive posture for Yan Sheng to make his move as Great Zhou prepared to gradually assimilate the soldiers.
• An old man in Yellow Sand City decided to take his son outside to farm, arguing that ordinary people had little reason to care who ruled them.
• A patrol squad questioned the father and son but let them continue through the city.
• At the western gate, guards refused to open the gates, and the old man pleaded for permission to reach his fields.
• An unidentified person offered to arrange for the father and son to farm within Great Zhou territory.

Zhou Xu met Kong Daqian and his son in Yellow Sand City and offered them farmland and a new home in Great Zhou. After discovering Kong Daqian’s talent, Zhou Xu recruited him to persuade other farming households to relocate.

• Kong Daqian and his son panicked and kowtowed when they learned the armored man was the Great King Zhou Xu.
• Zhou Xu helped them up and offered to move them from Yellow Sand City to farm in Great Zhou.
• Zhou Xu discovered through Eye of Insight that Kong Daqian had three-star intelligence potential, while his eighteen-year-old son had ordinary attributes and a farming talent.
• Kong Daqian agreed to relocate with a returning unit and asked Zhou Xu what task he wanted him to do.
• Zhou Xu asked Kong Daqian to persuade Yellow Sand City's farming households to move to Great Zhou.

Kong Daqian accepted Zhou Xu’s task of persuading Yellow Sand City’s farmers to move and cultivate land in Great Zhou’s territory. Meanwhile, First Emperor Yan Sheng learned that Yellow Sand City had fallen and ordered spies to report exactly how it happened.

• Kong Daqian left with Kong Tiegan and planned to visit Old Huang to persuade the farmers to relocate.
• Yan Sheng spent his time indulging with two palace maidens before Minister Li of the Ministry of War requested an urgent audience.
• Minister Li told Yan Sheng that Yellow Sand City had fallen and that Long Zhantian had retreated with his garrison to Black Stone City.
• Yan Sheng questioned whether the centaur mercenaries had been involved and ordered spies in Yellow Sand City to send a detailed report.

After inspecting Yellow Sand City's granary, Zhou Xu found that it held mostly rice and arranged for porridge to be distributed to hungry residents. Kong Daqian set out to persuade more farmers to join Great Zhou as news of the aid spread through the city.

• Zhou Xu inspected the granary and discovered its stores consisted mainly of rice.
• Kong Daqian told Zhou Xu that farmers lacked food because they could no longer leave the city to work their fields.
• Zhou Xu ordered porridge stalls to open at four locations in Yellow Sand City twice a day, starting the next morning.
• Kong Daqian took his son to inform other farmers and persuade those still uncertain or opposed to join Great Zhou.
• Zhou Xu arranged for the kitchen to prepare porridge, and patrol teams spread the news throughout the city.

Zhou Xu distributed porridge in Yellow Sand City while encouraging residents to move to Great Zhou territory, and hundreds registered. He selected a first batch of three hundred, prioritizing needed trades such as farmers, and began preparing them for transfer through the World Edge.

• Zhou Xu’s soldiers distributed morning porridge and invited residents to register for voluntary migration, prompting Kong Daqian and many farmers to sign up.
• More than five hundred residents registered on the first day, and another three or four hundred signed up over the next two days.
• Zhou Xu helped select the first three hundred people for transfer, prioritizing farmers and other needed occupations, then notified those chosen to report to the World Edge.
• A young man who withdrew from the first batch learned that registering again would place him in the final batch, but he did not ask the soldier to restore his name.
• Zhou Xu’s team crossed withdrawing residents off the list and moved the next eligible people up in order.

Three hundred citizens from Yellow Sand City passed through the energy passage into Great Zhou and were distributed among its settlements, while Yan Sheng learned of the city's fall and considered how to stop the population transfer. He left worried about the enemy's siege weapon and the silence from the Centaur mercenaries.

• Kong Daqian and the other citizens traveled through the energy passage, marveled at Great Zhou's fresh air and vast terrain, and reached Barren Mountain Village.
• The transfer organizers left thirty people in Barren Mountain Village and divided the remaining citizens among other settlements to disperse them.
• A spy's letter reached Yan Sheng, reporting a tremendous sound near Yellow Sand City's gate and the enemy's effort to move its population.
• Yan Sheng inferred that the enemy had powerful siege equipment and decided he needed to strike before they could continue transferring citizens.
• Yan Sheng learned his two thousand recruits would need months of training and remained unable to contact the Centaur mercenaries.

Zhou Xu managed Yellow Sand City’s dwindling food and organized a second transfer of residents into Great Zhou. Meanwhile, Li Ce’s steady campaign against the Ratmen left Claw convinced that his forces had no hope of survival.

• Zhou Xu refused to increase the grain allocated for porridge, prioritizing his soldiers as more Yellow Sand City residents signed up to move into Great Zhou.
• Zhou Xu finalized a second transfer list of three hundred people, including a hundred reserved for Iron Mountain Mine, and sent them through the energy channel.
• Li Ce destroyed four Ratmen nests and responded steadily as the Ratmen shifted to harassment and attrition tactics.
• Soros watched Li Ce frustrate the Ratmen’s attacks, while Claw grew increasingly volatile and despairing as the Lizardmen advanced.

After the Wyvern Riders discovered the Ratmen’s last nest, Claw rallied his starving, battered forces for a final battle against the Lizardmen. Li Ce’s disciplined troops routed the Rat Tide and began encircling and annihilating its survivors.

• The Wyvern Riders located the Ratmen’s last nest, and Claw resolved to fight the Lizardmen rather than risk capture by the Rotten Clan.
• Claw ordered the Ratmen to gather into a Rat Tide and charge, while Li Ce held his forces in position until the enemy approached.
• Li Ce ordered the Spearmen to engage, and their formation broke the starving, disorganized Rat Tide after one exchange.
• Li Ce sent the Green Lizard Short Spear Soldiers to encircle the scattered Ratmen using Fleetfoot, while keeping the Raptor Cavalry in reserve.
• After confirming the Ratmen could no longer turn the battle, Li Ce ordered the Raptor Cavalry forward to hasten their annihilation.

Tash fought Claw amid the battle and killed the Ratman clan leader, though his raptor saved him from a fatal wound. The encounter left Tash uncertain whether to thank his mount or worry that its instincts clashed with his fighting style.

• Tash recognized Claw in the Rat Tide and charged him with his Crystal-Iron Spear.
• Claw tried to blind Tash with blood plasma, but Tash's raptor dodged it and interrupted the pursuit.
• Claw attacked Tash repeatedly, but Tash's armor turned aside the blows while Claw grew exhausted.
• Claw let Tash's spear pierce him and stabbed at Tash's throat, but Tash's raptor pulled him back and freed him from Claw's claws.
• Tash twisted his spear inside Claw, killing him, then confirmed his identity by removing Bal's face from his head.
• Tash looked at his raptor and wondered whether to thank it for saving him or worry about its unwillingness to follow his commands.

After Claw’s death signaled the Claw Clan’s defeat, Li Ce advised Tash to temper his reckless fighting style and entrusted Soros with helping him. In Yellow Sand City, Great Zhou Soldiers captured enemy deserters, and the king’s rewards encouraged residents to help find the remaining fugitives.

• Li Ce told Tash that his endurance was an advantage, but he needed to stay alive and avoid charging into danger; he asked Soros to help Tash improve his mindset.
• After Soros agreed to work with Tash, Li Ce returned to writing a report for their king.
• Great Zhou Soldiers raided a house in Yellow Sand City and captured four deserters hiding inside.
• An officer rewarded a city resident with rice for reporting deserters and told him he could join the next migrant group in six days.
• Word of the rewards spread through Yellow Sand City, prompting residents to seek out deserters and report them.

Zhou Xu accelerated the transfer of Yellow Sand City's population, received news that the Claw Clan had been destroyed, and prepared for Yan Sheng's next moves. When enemy cavalry arrived to scout the city, Zhou Xu ordered Zhuo Ge and the others to drive them away without pursuing too far.

• Zhou Xu increased the immigrant batches from Yellow Sand City as his manpower grew, sending most of the newcomers toward the tropical regions and the empty Ratmen lands.
• Zhou Xu concluded that the populations conquered by Yan Sheng came from divided countries and would be easier for him to assimilate than a unified people.
• Li Ce's report confirmed the Claw Clan's destruction, and Zhou Xu wrote rewards for Li Ce and the other soldiers along with further military arrangements.
• An enemy cavalry unit approached Yellow Sand City and circled its outer perimeter to scout the area.
• Zhou Xu ordered Zhuo Ge and the others to drive off the cavalry but not pursue them too far.

Zhou Xu and Shi Lei assessed the enemy force approaching Yellow Sand City and identified its siege equipment. Zhou Xu explained how the eight Siege Towers would be used and left Shi Lei with a plan to defend their exits.

• A hundred enemy cavalrymen fled when Zhuo Ge and the Centaur cavalry charged out of Yellow Sand City.
• Zhou Xu and Shi Lei saw the enemy's main force approaching and estimated it numbered at least three thousand.
• Zhou Xu used Eye of Insight to identify a battering ram and eight Siege Towers among the enemy equipment.
• Zhou Xu explained the Siege Towers' function to Shi Lei and why the Three-bow Ballista could not safely fire from the stone wall.
• Shi Lei understood that the towers revealed the enemy's attack routes, and Zhou Xu ordered Spearmen to guard their exits with sword-and-shield soldiers covering the sides.

Zhou Xu’s forces harassed Long Zhantian’s advancing army before withdrawing into Yellow Sand City, where Long Zhantian chose to launch a siege rather than wait. As his troops advanced behind a shield wall, the city gate opened and a powerful attack tore through the formation.

• Zhou Xu ordered Zhuo Ge’s Centaur cavalry to harass the enemy main force and withdraw once it drew close.
• Zhuo Ge’s cavalry shot arrows at Long Zhantian’s troops, then returned to Yellow Sand City as the enemy advanced.
• Long Zhantian learned that the nearby mine and garrison camp were empty and deduced that Yellow Sand City held at least a thousand defenders.
• Long Zhantian ordered an immediate siege, and his troops advanced behind a Shield Wall with a Battering Ram.
• Shi Lei ordered the city’s archers to fire, but the enemy’s shields blocked the arrows.
• The city gate opened, and a streak of light blasted apart the Shield Wall and killed soldiers along its path.

Zhou Xu repelled Long Zhantian’s first siege of Yellow Sand City with two Three-bow Ballista attacks, then ordered nighttime harassment and patrols to publicize the victory. The people of Yellow Sand City began to see Great Zhou as powerful and benevolent, while Kong Daqian struggled with the immense labor at Plain Farm.

• Zhou Xu’s forces fired two Giant Crossbow Bolts through the city gate passage, throwing Long Zhantian’s troops into disarray.
• Long Zhantian ordered a retreat, and Zhou Xu chose not to pursue the enemy.
• Zhou Xu told Shi Lei to have Zhuo Ge’s Centaur cavalry harass the enemy camp at night and ordered patrols to spread news of the victory.
• Yellow Sand City’s residents began to consider submitting to Great Zhou after witnessing its strength and its care for the people.
• At Plain Farm, Kong Daqian surveyed the vast fields and thought they could never all be plowed.

Kong Daqian and the other farmers rested after a hard morning working Great Zhou’s fertile fields, appreciating their better lives and Minister Zhao Geng’s unassuming kindness. After sharing mangoes, they prepared to nap before clearing the fourth area that afternoon.

• Kong Tiegan complained about the workload and said he would not return to Yellow Sand City, so Kong Daqian chased him and beat him.
• Zhao Geng brought freshly harvested mangoes to the farmers and continued on to visit another shelter.
• Kong Daqian and the farmers reflected that Great Zhou offered better prospects, filling meals, and kinder officials than their homeland.
• Kong Daqian explained why mangoes cost more in Black Moon City and told the group to rest before clearing the fourth area.
• The farmers ate mangoes, drank iced tea, and fell asleep during their two-hour noon break.

Kong Daqian oversaw rice experiments and farmland cultivation at the Plains Farm as Great Zhou prepared to expand production. Outside Yellow Sand City, Long Zhantian adjusted his siege after the failed first assault, and the enemy’s Siege Towers brought the main battle to the city walls.

• Kong Daqian inspected the experimental rice paddies and found the crop growing fairly well.
• Kong Daqian joined his group in Area Four as they continued clearing and cultivating land through Area Five on Zhou Xu’s orders.
• Long Zhantian’s army endured an all-night harassment by Centaur cavalry after retreating from its first attack on Yellow Sand City.
• Zhou Xu watched the enemy advance with its formation avoiding the city gate, keeping the Three-bow Ballistae from firing effectively.
• Long Zhantian ordered the Siege Towers forward, and their gates dropped onto the battlements as siege soldiers surged out to meet Shi Lei’s defenders.

Shi Lei and Zhou Xu led Yellow Sand City's defenders against an assault by eight Siege Towers, while Yan Sheng's forces also raised Cloud Ladders along the walls. The defense reached a critical point as White Butcher joined the fight to stop the climbers and avenge Wei Kingdom's fallen.

• Shi Lei deployed Spearmen to meet soldiers emerging from the Siege Towers, but the enemy warriors endured their wounds and forced their way onto the walls.
• Zhou Xu used a Flying Stone Attack to knock soldiers from one tower's bridge, then ranged along the walls to help repel the assault.
• Shi Lei ordered the defenders to hold formation and intercept the shield-bearing soldiers as enemies poured onto the walls.
• Zhou Xu spotted enemy troops carrying Cloud Ladders and realized the ladders could overwhelm defenders occupied by the eight Siege Towers.
• White Butcher ordered his men to destroy the Cloud Ladders and led them into battle, calling on them to avenge their countrymen and brothers.