Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang learned that more than two hundred thousand displaced people and bandits were being driven toward Kunzhou, along a route dangerously close to Heyin. She and her advisers discussed how to prepare and seek help, and the chapter ended with a request for aid arriving sooner than expected.

• Xu Xie warned Shen Tang that over two hundred thousand starving refugees and bandits had been driven out of Ganzhou and might reach Heyin in a little over a month.
• Shen Tang summoned Qi Shan and her other advisers, who weighed redirecting the refugees, borrowing troops, and preparing Heyin for an attack.
• Kang Shi estimated that only thirty to fifty thousand might reach Heyin, while Chu Yao warned that looting along the route could swell their numbers as local people joined them.
• Chu Yao mapped the refugees' likely route through territories of Shen Tang's former allies and predicted those allies would request help.
• Shen Tang's group began preparing defenses and seeking cooperation with other powers, and a request for help arrived sooner than expected.

Shen Tang learned that refugees and bandits had overrun towns in Luxia Prefecture and were besieging Lord Lu with a force that included more than a thousand elite soldiers. She agreed to help but asked the messenger to wait two days while she sought reinforcements from Tianhai, Shang Nan, and Yiru.

• Shen Tang rejected the people’s food and clothing donations and confirmed that Heyin’s former bandit strongholds could shelter them if needed.
• A messenger arrived with Lord Lu’s plea for help after refugees and bandits captured towns and surrounded Luxia Prefecture.
• Bai Su and Xianyu Jian captured the messenger after he fought Bai Su in the mountains, then brought him to Shen Tang.
• The messenger told Shen Tang that the enemy included an Eighth-Rank Gongcheng and more than a thousand Second-Class Shangzao soldiers.
• Shen Tang agreed that she could not leave Lord Lu unaided, but asked the messenger to wait no more than two days while she awaited replies to requests for troops from Tianhai, Shang Nan, and Yiru.

Shen Tang promised to send troops to help Lu repel the tens of thousands of refugees and bandits in Luxia, while her allies debated who should lead the expedition and who would defend Heyin. The chapter ended with Wu Xian receiving Shen Tang’s letter and wondering whether she was an idiot.

• Shen Tang assured the messenger from Luxia that she would send troops, and he accepted her offer with gratitude.
• The messenger watched Tu Rong defeat a grown soldier, then met Lin Feng and learned that Luxia faced tens of thousands of bandits and refugees.
• Lin Feng delivered the military budget documents to Gongshu Wu, while Zhao Feng wondered whether he would join the expedition and who would guard Heyin.
• Gongshu Wu proposed leaving a contingent from the Tianhai Sect to defend Heyin while he and Zhao Feng went to Luxia.
• Wu Xian read Shen Tang’s letter and asked Qin Li whether Shen Youli could be an idiot.

Wu Xian agreed to send troops to help Shen Tang guard Heyin, and Gu Ren and Zhang He sent reinforcements as well. Shen Tang gathered the three contingents for a banquet, then revealed that only about 2,500 of her own troops would join their 7,500 elite soldiers in reinforcing Luxia Prefecture, leaving the three families to provide most of Heyin’s defense.

• Qin Li warned Wu Xian that Shen Tang’s request to guard Heyin was a public ploy that would force him to protect the commandery or risk his reputation.
• Wu Xian agreed to help Shen Tang and appointed Qin Li to command the troops, while Gu Ren and Zhang He also sent contingents after receiving the same request.
• Chao Lian, Shao Chong, and their sixth brother arrived with Gu Ren’s forces, and the three contingents gathered in Heyin alongside Qin Li’s troops.
• At Shen Tang’s welcoming feast, Qin Li considered asking her to cover the troops’ expenses, but Shao Chong offered to share the provisions he had brought.
• Shen Tang announced that more than ten thousand elite troops would reinforce Luxia Prefecture, and the three families realized that their 7,500 troops would do most of the fighting and leave them responsible for defending Heyin.

Shen Tang led an eleven-thousand-five-hundred-strong coalition toward Luxia Commandery after arranging for the other factions’ troops to defend Heyin and help with public works. She reached a devastated Luxia Prefecture as its seat neared collapse, while a bandit force prepared to attack the coalition.

• Shen Tang tactfully raised the issue of supplying provisions, then arranged a force of three thousand five hundred to march to Luxia while Qi Shan and Gu Chi stayed behind in Heyin.
• Shen Tang instructed Qi Shan and Gu Chi to persuade the allied forces left in Heyin to help build waterways and reservoirs in exchange for spiritual wine.
• Shen Tang became provisional commander of the eleven thousand five hundred allied troops, and they marched toward Luxia Commandery.
• The bandit chief, believing the coalition was weak and outnumbered, sent a hardcase with thirty thousand men to meet them while preparing to assault the commandery seat.
• Shen Tang’s army reached Luxia Prefecture and found it burned and devastated; the messenger feared for his relatives inside the still-standing but endangered city.

Shen Tang questioned whether the refugees branded as bandits were driven to rebellion by Zheng Qiao’s tyranny, while Chu Yao urged her to defeat them before she could help them. After the army discovered the enemy had trained scouts, the bandits surrounded them, and the four allied forces prepared to fight on separate fronts.

• Shen Tang told Chu Yao she sympathized with the refugees and blamed corrupt nobles and Zheng Qiao’s rule for driving them from their land, but Chu Yao reminded her that armed attackers were still enemies.
• Shao Chong brought down a hawk that Chu Yao suspected was a scout, and the strategists concluded the bandit force had trained personnel and hidden resources.
• Chu Yao and Gongshu Wu rallied the allied army, and Shen Tang assigned each of the four families a separate side to defend when the bandits surrounded them at dusk.
• The allied forces clashed with the bandits, and two swift swordsmen cut through the enemy’s front ranks before Kang Shi spread a battlefield chessboard and Chu Yao began a Word Spirit.

Shen Tang’s forces fought the bandits while Chu Yao, Kang Shi, and Xianyu Jian used their abilities to support the battle. Back in Heyin, Qi Shan argued with Qin Li over whether Qin’s soldiers should help build waterways and reservoirs.

• Chu Yao weakened the enemy with ominous literary qi, while Gongshu Wu and Zhao Feng charged through the enemy ranks under the Five Virtues of the General.
• Kang Shi ordered Xianyu Jian to lead troops into the formation as Chu Yao’s snow-like Word Spirit spread despair across the battlefield.
• Bai Su and Lü Jue fought through the enemy ranks, while Shen Tang targeted the scar-faced bandit leader and mocked him as a filial son.
• Qi Shan summoned Qin Li and asked him to lend his soldiers for waterway and reservoir construction, but Qin Li rejected the demand.
• Qi Shan argued that the projects would benefit both Heyin and Tianhai and told Qin Li that pride meant nothing to the starving.

Qi Shan clashed with Qin Li over whether Martial Gall Warriors should help commoners farm, accusing Qin Li of ignoring the suffering that had helped destroy his homeland. After leaving Qin Li furious, Qi Shan met Gu Chi and prepared to seek help from Shang Nan and Yiru.

• Qin Li refused to lend Qi Shan his people, arguing that Martial Gall Warriors farming would undermine commoners and destabilize society.
• Qi Shan challenged Qin Li's assumptions by recounting the royal court's abuses and the suffering of commoners in Qin Li's fallen homeland.
• Qi Shan accused Qin Li of complicity in the deaths of commoners, then left after making Qin Li cough up blood.
• Gu Chi met Qi Shan outside and said he had come to collect his corpse, then reported that Qin Li was in a terrible mood.
• Qi Shan insisted he could persuade Shang Nan and Yiru after Gu Chi questioned whether he could handle the task.

Qi Shan sought Yiru’s support for Heyin’s labor plans while Qin Li unexpectedly agreed to lend Tianhai’s manpower. Gu Chi explained the potential benefits and risks of using Martial Gall Warriors for agricultural labor, leaving Qin Li considering how the system might work and be kept in check.

• Gu Chi explained why Yiru would be the easiest faction to persuade and questioned Qi Shan about his grudge against Qin Li.
• Qi Shan visited the Yiru camp, while Qin Li arrived at the government offices looking for him.
• Qin Li told Gu Chi that Tianhai agreed to provide manpower for Heyin’s waterways and reservoirs, then asked about the consequences of the plan.
• Gu Chi argued that Martial Gall Warriors could reduce corvée labor and make grain plentiful, while Qin Li raised concerns about powerful clans controlling land and warriors challenging the state.
• Gu Chi said rulers could develop ways to restrain Martial Gall Warriors and argued that prosperous warriors would have little reason to rebel.

Qin Li weighed the risks of Shen Jun’s reforms, while Gu Chi defended their urgent benefits to Heyin and later learned more about Qi Shan’s past with Qin Li. During a battle against bandits, the four families encountered eerie Heavy Shield Warriors, and Chu Yao and Xianyu Jian began countering them as Shao Chong lost control and attacked the enemy.

• Qin Li warned Gu Chi that Shen Jun’s reforms could threaten powerful interests, though he acknowledged their benefits to Heyin’s commoners.
• Gu Chi and Qin Li discussed labor, reservoirs, and irrigation before Qi Shan returned and revealed that he had served the hostile faction that conquered Qin Li’s homeland after Qin Li’s late lord died.
• Shen Tang and the three Tianhai families fought off a bandit ambush until the scar-faced bandit deployed five hundred seemingly numb, pain-insensitive Heavy Shield Warriors.
• Chu Yao discovered that his Word Spirit had no effect on the Heavy Shield Warriors and sent a literary-energy crow to investigate, but they destroyed it.
• Shao Chong was stirred into a violent episode and charged into the bandit ranks, slaughtering enemies while retaining enough reason to spare his own troops.
• Chu Yao ordered Xianyu Jian to coordinate an attack, using Landslide and Collapse to bog down the Heavy Shield Warriors while the Martial Qi Soldiers’ shields began to corrode.

Shen Tang’s forces defeated the bandit army after Chu Yao’s Literary Qi tactics broke through its Heavy Shield Warriors, then halted to recover before continuing toward the Lu Xia Commandery Seat. They arrived to find the battered city still holding, while questions remained about the enemy’s strange warriors and Literary Scholar.

• Chu Yao used [The Plum Replaces the Peach] and [When They Are Exhausted, We Are Abundant] to turn the Heavy Shield Warriors’ weakening against them, helping the allied troops win the battle.
• Shen Tang killed the scar-faced bandit chief, and the allied forces let the remaining enemy troops retreat before clearing the battlefield.
• Shen Tang helped Shao Chong suppress his Gu Mother after he said the Heavy Shield Warriors’ shouting had triggered its agitation.
• The four houses rested and recovered instead of immediately advancing, while Kang Shi warned that the enemy’s Literary Scholar might be planning something.
• Shen Tang and the other commanders led their forces to the Lu Xia Commandery Seat and found its damaged walls and gates still defended beneath a standing flag.

Shen Tang and reinforcements from four prefectures reached Luxia after the city survived a fierce siege, but the Prefect of Luxia’s strange behavior made her suspect a hidden threat. At the banquet, she tested him and watched his deputy governor, leaving her wary as she asked the man’s name.

• Shou Xing announced that reinforcements from Heyin, Tianhai, Shang Nan, and Yiru had arrived, and the Prefect of Luxia came out to meet them.
• The Prefect of Luxia greeted Shen Tang coldly, then invited her troops into the city after his aide rebuked him for his discourtesy.
• Shen Tang saw the bodies and damage left by the battle, then ordered Bai Su to check the soldiers’ food and warned the other houses to stay vigilant.
• At the banquet, Shen Tang described a fabricated strategist to test the Prefect of Luxia; he denied knowing anyone matching the description.
• Shen Tang noticed that Luxia’s deputy governor did not fit the Prefect’s stated preferences, alerted Chu Yao and Zhao Feng, and asked the man his name.

At the welcoming banquet, Shen Tang discovered that Prefect Lu’s commandery seat had fallen and that the apparent allies had walked into a trap. As the ambush erupted, Prefect Lu stayed behind to hold off the attackers while Shen Tang led the others toward the main force to retake Lu Xia Commandery Seat.

• Shen Tang questioned Jiang Sheng and teased Prefect Lu during the banquet, then prepared to perform for the guests.
• Bai Su burst into the hall carrying Prefect Lu’s wounded daughter and warned that Lu Xia Commandery Seat had fallen after its people were massacred.
• Armed attackers surrounded the hall as fires broke out, and Prefect Lu killed a subordinate he suspected of colluding with the enemy.
• Shen Tang and her companions fought through the ambush, while Prefect Lu furiously accused Jiang Sheng of betrayal.
• Shen Tang used Steal the Peach to pull Prefect Lu away from the attackers and urged him to regroup with the main force.
• Prefect Lu sent Shen Tang and the others ahead, then stayed behind to fight the attackers as Jiang Sheng left for the true battlefield.

Shen Tang’s forces repelled a fire-bull attack with Kang Shi’s [Water Drowns Seven Armies], then drove the enemy into retreat. Shen Tang found the dying Prefect Lu, who learned that the city was safe and heard his daughter call to him before he died.

• Shao Chong’s camp repelled an ambush while Kang Shi and the other groups prepared to face the approaching fire-bull formation.
• Kang Shi combined the Literary Qi of the four groups’ scholars and the strength of their soldiers to unleash [Water Drowns Seven Armies], drowning the fire bulls and scattering the enemy.
• Jiang Sheng rescued many people in Literary Qi boats, and Shen Tang arrived as the fighting continued against the few fire bulls that broke through.
• The refugee-bandit leaders retreated, leaving commoners and puppets behind, while Shen Tang ordered her troops to secure the prisoners and search for Prefect Lu.
• Shen Tang found Prefect Lu mortally wounded beneath a broken wall; he asked about the bandits, the city’s people, and his daughter before she called to him and he died.

Shen Tang comforted the dying Prefect Lu and promised to protect his surviving daughter, then learned how Luxia Prefecture had fallen through betrayal and corruption. She exposed the disguised Jiang Sheng, who explained his shifting loyalties and offered to join her, leaving Shen Tang startled when he called the National Seal a prize worth pursuing.

• Bai Su used the rescued girl's voice so Prefect Lu could hear his daughter's words before he died, and Shen Tang promised to care for the girl and restore peace to the land.
• Shen Tang ordered Prefect Lu's remains gathered and questioned the few officials left in Luxia Prefecture about the city's fall.
• An official revealed that Prefect Lu's brother-in-law embezzled treasury funds, secretly aided the attackers, and helped arrange the slaughter of Prefect Lu's family; Shen Tang ordered his youngest son properly buried.
• Shen Tang recognized the official as Jiang Sheng and challenged him over his ties to Prefect Lu and the refugee-bandit army.
• Jiang Sheng explained that he had warned Prefect Lu about the attack, feigned cooperation with the bandits, and decided to approach Shen Tang after events took an unexpected turn.
• When Shen Tang questioned why he had come, Jiang Sheng said the National Seal was a catch, leaving her visibly flustered.

Shen Tang recruited Jiang Sheng after learning that his Way of the Scholar let him read qi and identify the National Seal, then worked to stabilize Luxia Prefecture and persuaded Miss Lu to move to Heyin. The chapter ended with Jiang Sheng joking that Shen Tang could marry Miss Lu, and Shen Tang teasing him about needing a horse and a spear.

• Jiang Sheng revealed that he could read qi, and Shen Tang decided to recruit him rather than risk making him an enemy.
• Jiang Sheng dispelled his disguise and explained that Shen Tang's qi was so unusual that he could not see it at all.
• Bai Su and Lü Jue welcomed Jiang Sheng as a new colleague, and Jiang Sheng mentioned that he had once made an enemy of a Literary Scholar named Yuan Liang.
• Shen Tang's forces raided corrupt officials' associates for supplies, and Shen Tang urged the bereaved Miss Lu to leave Luxia Prefecture for Heyin with her infant nephew.
• Miss Lu agreed to go to Heyin after Shen Tang explained her late father's request and the danger of remaining in Luxia Prefecture.
• Jiang Sheng suggested that Lord Lu had entrusted Miss Lu to Shen Tang so she could marry her, and Shen Tang responded with a joke about Jiang Sheng lacking a horse and a spear.

Shen Tang put Jiang Sheng to work managing Luxia Prefecture while arranging relief and considering how to strengthen her influence there. When Qi Shan arrived with supplies, he and Jiang Sheng recognized each other as old enemies and immediately fought, leaving Shen Tang to learn their feud was tied to Jiang Sheng’s Way of the Scholar.

• Jiang Sheng mistook Shen Tang’s remarks for a confession that she was a natural eunuch, then praised her and resolved to keep the supposed secret.
• Shen Tang assigned Jiang Sheng major responsibilities in Luxia and sent Literary Scholars from the other three families to inspect losses and count victims.
• Qi Shan arrived with grain and provisions, and he advised Shen Tang to build influence in Luxia through the surviving family of Prefect Lu.
• Shen Tang introduced Qi Shan and Jiang Sheng, who recognized each other and attacked with swords until Chu Yao and Kang Shi restrained them.
• Jiang Sheng blamed Qi Shan for leaving him trapped in Lu for years, while Qi Shan said Jiang Sheng’s Way of the Scholar was responsible for their conflict.

Shen Tang learned how Qi Shan had injured Jiang Sheng in their old feud and discovered the dangerous condition required for Jiang Sheng to perfect his Way of the Scholar. She chose to trust him, while Kang Shi’s confession about his own ability left her dispirited.

• Jiang Sheng recounted how Qi Shan’s schemes and attack damaged his Literary Palace and disrupted his attempt to perfect his Way of the Scholar.
• Jiang Sheng explained that his ability to read Qi now required Shen Tang’s literary energy, and that perfecting it would mean personally cutting off a king’s head.
• Shen Tang declared that she trusted Jiang Sheng and would not doubt him, and Jiang Sheng accepted her trust.
• After the others left, Kang Shi confessed that his Way of the Scholar made him lose whenever he gambled.
• Jiang Sheng told Qi Shan about an enemy whose ability caused Shen Tang’s brain to stop working properly, and Shen Tang overheard them.

Shen Tang restored order in Luxia Prefecture with help from neighboring families, while Yan An and Zheng Qiao responded to news of her actions in their own ways. After leaving Kang Shi and a thousand troops to help govern Luxia, Shen Tang headed back to Heyin, where she admitted she had delayed the journey to keep the other families’ people working longer.

• Shen Tang ordered a campaign to suppress Luxia’s bandits, and Jiang Sheng proposed rewarding commoners who reported their whereabouts.
• With rewards and promises of secrecy, the authorities cleared Luxia Prefecture’s bandits within seven days, and the four families agreed to share its administration until a new prefect arrived.
• Yan An learned that Shen Tang had turned away refugees and bandits with reinforcements from Shang Nan, Tianhai, and Yiru, while Zheng Qiao dismissed reports about Yan An and declared that he trusted no one’s loyalty.
• Zheng Qiao summoned Yan An back to court after his recovery from illness.
• Shen Tang left Kang Shi and a thousand troops in Luxia, then delayed her return to Heyin to get more work from the three families’ people.

Shen Tang thanked Qin Li and the other commanders for their work in Heyin, then sent them home with pigs and plans for the New Year’s Games. Back in Heyin, she began turning its well-raised pork into a premium product, while the chapter ended with a warning that her distant friend in the southeast was in danger.

• Shen Tang persuaded Qin Li and the others to stay one extra day for a banquet before sending them home with gifts of pigs and invitations to the New Year’s Games.
• At the banquet, Shao Chong praised the pork raised by Shen Tang’s administrative office, and the guests agreed that it was delicious.
• Wu Xian, Zhang He, and Gu Ren received the returning commanders and pigs, and each house considered what it could learn from Heyin’s work.
• Shen Tang asked Xu Xie to build a sales network for graded Heyin premium pork, and Xu Xie agreed the plan was feasible.
• Far away in the continent’s southeast, Shen Tang’s friend worried as someone faced imminent danger.