Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang proposed using National Fortune to let women control when they became pregnant, prompting her advisers to warn that the realm needed to rebuild its population after war. They settled on a cautious trial that would give women time to recover after childbirth, beginning in Longwu Commandery.

• Shen Tang proposed using National Fortune to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the harms of repeated childbirth and poor hygiene.
• Qin Li warned that limiting births was ill-timed while the war-ravaged realm needed to recover its population, and Chu Yao pointed out that the National Seal lacked sufficient Fortune for a realm-wide plan.
• Xun Zhen supported spacing births, and Ning Yan suggested giving women who had recently given birth a one-year interval before another pregnancy, with an exception if their child died.
• Chu Yao proposed testing the reform in one commandery first, and Shen Tang agreed that Longwu Commandery would be the first trial site, followed by Heyin Commandery and then Yanzhou.
• Qian Yong remarked that using National Fortune during sex felt strange, drawing stunned silence from his colleagues.

Shen Tang explained to Chu Yao why she had raised reforms for female soldiers, then struggled to restore Ganzhou’s broken government offices and recruit officials. After the man who had impregnated a female soldier was found, she questioned him and learned he appeared not to recognize the woman.

• Shen Tang told Chu Yao that she had overlooked the female soldiers’ needs and wanted to address their safety, relationships, and place in society while she still had the power to reshape laws.
• Shen Tang discovered that most government offices in Ganzhou had stopped functioning and that local clans were refusing to offer candidates for government service.
• Shen Tang learned that the jade wheat harvest looked promising and summoned her advisers after a messenger reported that the man who had impregnated a female soldier had been found.
• The man accused Shen Tang of having him kidnapped after he had turned her down, leaving her and the others confused.
• The female soldier identified the man as the one she had slept with, but he said he did not know her, so Shen Tang reminded him of their encounter and asked whether she had obtained his consent.

Shen Tang investigated whether a Female Soldier had forced a man into sex and learned their encounter was initially coerced but later mutual, leaving the soldier pregnant. The inquiry ended with the man revealing that prominent families rejected Shen Tang because they believed a rumor that she was building a harem, and Shen Tang erupted in fury.

• Shen Tang questioned the man and the Female Soldier about their encounter, and Gu Chi confirmed that the soldier had frightened the man into agreeing before he later willingly joined her.
• Shen Tang gave the Female Soldier a lighter punishment and transferred her to the Civil Service until she decided whether to keep the child and recovered from childbirth.
• The man insisted the Female Soldier could not keep the child because his family would reject it, while she challenged his authority over her pregnancy.
• Shen Tang asked the man why prominent families had rejected her, and he claimed they believed she was recruiting attractive subordinates to fill her harem.
• Shen Tang grabbed a table in rage, and her subordinates restrained her while others kicked the man and tried to keep him alive.

Shen Tang turned the scandal involving a female soldier and an aristocratic man into a plan to pressure wealthy families into donating money, while also ordering an illustrated physiology booklet for the women's camp. The chapter ended with the man's family learning he had been taken away and fearing what Shen Tang might do to him.

• Shen Tang calmed down after her subordinates stopped her from killing the man, then ordered him bound and examined while she planned to strengthen the women's camp regulations.
• Chu Yao and Gu Chi advised Shen Tang not to suppress the rumors by force, and Shen Tang decided to demand donations from aristocratic families under threat of punishment.
• Shen Tang asked Qin Li to find a painter to illustrate a physiology booklet for ordinary female soldiers, and several days later she arranged to print thousands of copies.
• The man's family learned that soldiers bearing Shen Tang's banner had taken him away, and his wife feared Shen Tang was retaliating against their refusal to recruit.
• The family worried that rumors of Shen Tang's affairs with her unmarried subordinates might explain why she had taken their son.

Wu Xian informed Shen Tang that Tao Yan’s former followers had spread scandalous rumors about her, prompting Shen Tang and her subordinates to turn the noble families’ reluctance to support her into a campaign for donations. The chapter left the families alarmed as Wu Xian rejected their overtures and publicly declared his close bond with Shen Tang.

• Wu Xian learned that Tao Yan’s former followers had spread rumors portraying Shen Tang as violent and debauched, leading noble families to hesitate about joining her.
• Shen Tang’s recruiters found that noble families were avoiding her and instead seeking ties with Wu Xian, who feared they were giving Shen Tang an excuse to attack him.
• Wu Xian sent Shen Tang a letter denying involvement and sharing what he had learned; Shen Tang discovered Tao Yan’s former followers were behind the rumors.
• Shen Tang climbed onto a rooftop to complain that her subordinates’ unmarried status had fueled the scandal, then climbed down after Chu Jie reminded her of Chu Yao’s hardships.
• Gu Chi proposed threatening the three families that donated the least, and Shen Tang approved the plan to pressure the noble families for money.
• The families learned of the threatened clan exterminations, while Wu Xian returned their gifts and announced that he and Shen Tang were as close as siblings.

An aristocratic clan’s Patriarch joined a plot to overthrow Shen Tang and deploy a beauty trap, but Gongxi Chou discovered the scheme and forced the conspirators to claim they were preparing a donation. He then left to pressure the other families, noticing eerie shadows spread across the estate.

• The Patriarch rejected paying Shen Tang and began organizing aristocratic families to attack her, deciding to use a beauty trap against her.
• The retainer contacted the other families, whose members split between paying Shen Tang and plotting against her.
• A Patriarch and his son prepared the son to ensnare Shen Tang while the clan ostensibly gathered its donation.
• Gongxi Chou entered their secret chamber, confronted them with a threatening scroll, and released his Sixteenth Rank Grand Shang Zao might.
• The Patriarch claimed the family was discussing a donation, and Gongxi Chou left to urge the other families along.
• Gongxi Chou spotted crawling shadows across the estate’s rooftops and walls and steered clear of them.

Lin Feng and Yu Zi raided powerful clans to seize their stored provisions and demand donations, while Shen Tang’s forces crushed clans that resisted. At the third estate, Lin Feng recognized the grounds and found a young warrior accusing her side of bullying the weak.

• Yu Zi told Master Song that Shen Tang’s forces had uncovered bandits in his estate, and Master Song agreed to surrender the provisions and increase the clan’s donation after reading Shen Youli’s threatening letter.
• Lin Feng and Yu Zi left for the next estate as Yu Zi discussed the failed honey-trap plan and the clans’ likely attempts to resist.
• Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian’s forces crushed a clan that chose to fight, and Xianyu Jian welcomed the chance to take its private troops.
• Lin Feng and Yu Zi reached the third estate, where Lin Feng led the group through familiar corridors despite not knowing why she recognized them.
• Lin Feng found a young warrior shielding the estate’s people, and he accused her side of bullying the weak and questioned their claim to serve under Lord Shen.

Lin Feng stopped Lord Shen’s soldiers from attacking the Lin Lineage by revealing that she was the supposedly dead Jiaojiao and persuading her great-grandfather to let her settle the matter. She paid five thousand taels to avert punishment and left the family questioning whether someone had framed them.

• Chao Lian explained that he had come to the Lin residence to deliver a letter, then held back against the attackers because they were using Lord Shen’s banner.
• Lin Feng told Old Master Lin that Lord Shen would spare the Lin Lineage if it paid a light punishment, but he refused to submit.
• Lin Feng stopped Yu Zi from dueling Old Master Lin and revealed that she was his great-granddaughter, Jiaojiao.
• Lin Feng invoked the clan rules and her responsibility as a descendant to take charge, and Old Master Lin reluctantly agreed.
• Lin Feng ordered the Lin Lineage to pay five thousand taels and warned the elders that schemers might have set them up to provoke Lord Shen.

Lin Feng explained Shen Youli’s past campaigns against aristocratic clans and learned that the families’ refusal to serve stemmed from fear that Shen would confiscate all their land. The elders realized the families had plotted rebellion partly because Shen’s camp did not know the clans’ customary land-sharing agreement, while Lin Feng maintained that the ringleaders had still deserved their fate.

• Lin Feng defended Shen Youli’s actions in Heyin, Longwu, and Sibao, arguing that the targeted clans had harmed commoners and acted against Shen.
• Lin Feng accused the aristocratic families of spreading rumors about Shen and plotting against her after she sought donations and tried to recruit them.
• Lin Feng’s great-grandfather explained that the families feared Shen would confiscate all their land instead of honoring the customary agreement to leave them a share.
• Lin Feng’s great-grandfather revealed that the families had collectively refused service to force Shen to clarify her intentions and protect their holdings.
• Lin Feng explained that Shen and her advisors had not known about the land-sharing custom, leaving the elders to wonder whether some families had died without knowing the real cause of the crisis.
• Lin Feng insisted that the ringleader families had deserved their fate and called their demand to keep thirty percent of their land greedy.

Lin Feng secured her place in the Lingzhou Lin clan and learned that members of the Gu family were safe in Sibao Prefecture. Shen Tang discovered that her clash with the great clans had been caused by a misunderstanding, then considered Xie Qi’s proposal for redistributing clan land.

• Lin Feng argued that Shen Tang could weaken the great clans and support smaller families, then convinced her great-grandfather that she would remain with the Lingzhou Lin clan.
• The old man with the cane accepted Lin Feng as the Lin clan’s phoenix maiden and sent word to the other families to explain the misunderstanding.
• Chao Lian told Lin Feng that Fourth Uncle was alive, and Lin Feng revealed that Gu Ren’s family had been moved to Sibao Prefecture for protection.
• Shen Tang learned from Xie Qi that the great clans had expected an unspoken negotiation after her show of force, and she questioned how much land they should retain.
• Xie Qi proposed taking all clan land, auditing each family’s population, and returning a set amount of land to each person.

Shen Tang uncovered why Xie Qi had turned against the Xie clan and planned a threatening banquet to confront the region’s aristocratic families. The clan heads arrived under heavy pressure, and the chapter ended with Shen Tang eating while one guest eagerly enjoyed the feast.

• Shen Tang deduced that Xie Qi’s clan elders had mismanaged the family’s assets, and Xie Qi confessed that they had tried to seize his estate and refused to recognize his eldest daughter as heir.
• Shen Tang rejected Xie Qi’s suggestion to use clan lands and declared that she wanted to replace the clans’ public functions with government services for everyone.
• Shen Tang invited the clan heads to a banquet, while Qin Li explained that Yanzhou and Ganzhou’s chaotic official systems came from their history of shifting rulers.
• Shen Tang’s troops restricted the clans’ ability to organize, and the clan heads reluctantly traveled to attend her banquet.
• Shen Tang greeted the clan heads in a martial arts field, where armed soldiers served the food, then began eating as the guests sat in fear.
• A white-haired old man rested with his eyes closed while someone beside him ate with relish.

At Shen Tang’s banquet, she revealed her plan to bring the noble families’ farmland under state control and offered them new rules for renting land. Lin Feng led the way by surrendering the Lin Clan’s farmland, while Shen Tang warned the other heads of household that private land would face higher taxes and miss out on state benefits.

• Lin Feng ate heartily at the banquet and introduced herself to a head of household as Lin Feng, the Lin Clan’s great-granddaughter.
• Shen Tang had companies of soldiers perform drills, then praised selected heads of household before presenting bamboo slips outlining her land reform.
• Shen Tang displayed a map and asked the assembled families to identify land her army had not conquered; Lin Feng stood and offered a list of all the Lin Clan’s farmland.
• Lin Feng’s uncle objected, but the old man explained that Lin Feng now headed her branch of the Lin Clan and could decide what to surrender.
• Xie Qi explained that families would still be able to rent farmland from the government after the land audit, and Shen Tang presented the proposed rental rules.
• Shen Tang said families that kept private farmland would pay higher taxes and would not receive improved grain seeds or the National Fortune’s protection.

Shen Tang defended her land reform proposal to the gathered family heads, addressing their concerns about farmland and support for poor clansmen. As resistance faded, she introduced Qin Li, whose scholarly ability could expose hidden fields, then revealed copper weights on a tray.

• Lin Feng explained that National Fortune had helped raise crop yields, convincing the family heads that Shen Tang could feed her army without extorting them.
• Kang Nian questioned whether the land system could support future generations, and Shen Tang said reform could adapt as circumstances and cultivation expanded.
• The Ning family head pleaded for support for collateral relatives and children, and Shen Tang proposed government schools and subsidies before revealing that Ning Yan was his daughter.
• Shen Tang said Ning Yan and her daughter would return, then revealed that Kang Shi was Kang Nian’s younger brother and her right-hand man, unsettling the family heads.
• The family heads accepted that resistance was futile and discussed submitting land deeds and harvest records while quietly considering ways to manipulate the measurements.
• Shen Tang introduced Qin Li as the official in charge of land reform and said his Way of the Scholar could identify terrain and farmland quality; two Female Soldiers then brought in trays, including copper weights.

Shen Tang imposed standardized weights and measures and introduced résumé-based recruitment to weaken the great clans’ control over government positions. The clans accepted her proposals, while the Ning family head worried about his estranged daughter Ning Yan and Wu Xian learned of Shen Tang’s bold actions.

• Shen Tang presented standardized scales and a ruler and required their use for land measurements and grain weighing in Kang Country.
• Shen Tang gave the clan heads résumé templates and explained that applicants would be assessed, assigned suitable posts, and serve a six-month internship.
• Shen Tang encouraged Kang Nian to let capable women in the Kang Clan apply, while the clan heads agreed to recommend promising men and women.
• The Ning family head recalled how he had restricted Ning Yan’s education and arranged her marriage, then worried that she had little attachment to the Ning Clan.
• A clan head urged the Ning family head not to hold back his talented daughters, and the Ning family head stiffly agreed.
• Wu Xian heard reports of Shen Tang’s confrontation with the clans and marveled that she dared to act so boldly.

Wu Xian returned to Tianhai and discovered that Zhao Feng’s family had been mistreated while he was away, leading him to execute dozens of people and confront his principal wife. He put her under house arrest after she admitted to knowing about the Zhao household’s plight, while his second son chose to stay with her and his eldest son did not come.

• Wu Xian returned from Yiru and learned that Madam Zhao and her family had come to say farewell, but he asked them to wait two days so he could arrange an escort.
• Wu Xian sent food and medicine to Zhao Feng’s family, then summoned people and ordered the execution of dozens connected to his principal wife and her maiden family.
• Wu Xian confronted his principal wife over concealing the Zhao household’s troubles, and she admitted that she had known what happened but refused to risk her son for them.
• Wu Xian ordered his principal wife confined to the rear courtyard, and his second son defied him by refusing to leave her side.
• Wu Xian left the courtyard and learned that his eldest son knew of the incident but had not come, then went to Consort Mi’s courtyard to cool down.

The Second Young Master tried to comfort Madam while plotting to secure his position over his elder brother. Meanwhile, Zhao Feng’s family reached Shen Tang’s territory, where Zhao Wei reunited with her mother, who failed to recognize her.

• The Second Young Master told Madam that Wu Xian had confined her to make her reflect, then planned to help her seek his forgiveness while resenting his father’s apparent preference for his elder brother.
• Wu Xian sent Zhao Feng’s wife and family out of Tianhai with five hundred elite soldiers and generous travel funds.
• Zhao Feng’s family arrived safely at Shen Tang’s border, where Cui Xiao arranged for Zhao Wei to meet them.
• Zhao Feng’s wife worried that Zhao Feng was absent but was reassured that he was safe.
• Zhao Wei rushed in and hugged her mother, who did not recognize the burly warrior as her daughter.

Zhao Wei reunited with Madam Zhao Feng and her brothers, who struggled to adjust to her powerful new build as she settled into their family life. Meanwhile, Wu Xian suspected Xu Xie had helped Qin Li’s people escape and received an ill-timed report that Xu Xie could not come to Tianhai.

• Zhao Wei embraced Madam Zhao Feng, revealed her identity, and explained that years of training had made her a Martial Gall Warrior who had fought alongside Zhao Feng.
• Madam Zhao Feng and Zhao Wei’s brothers inspected her muscles, while Zhao Wei joked that Zhao Feng would find her male pets instead of a husband.
• Cui Xiao arranged lodging for the family, and Madam Zhao Feng later watched Zhao Wei train her younger brothers as Zhao Wei shared news of Zhao Feng’s posting near the border.
• Wu Xian reflected on how much he had relied on Qin Li and suspected a spy had helped move the families of Qin Li’s faction out of Tianhai.
• Wu Xian summoned Xu Xie to Tianhai to test his loyalty, but Xu Xie sent a Clan Elder in his place after reportedly breaking his leg and cracking his head in a fall.
• Wu Xian received another troubling report from the people he had sent to infiltrate Shang Nan.

Xu Xie’s plan to keep Heyin out of Wu Xian’s hands depended on a reply from Shen Youli, but Wu Xian sent a messenger to threaten him after a Xu Clan elder died in Tianhai. Xu Quan arrived with cavalry and a summons from Lord Shen, leaving Xu Xie poised to accept it and break with Wu Xian.

• Xu Xie explained to his wife that Heyin’s future depended on who controlled Shang Nan and whether Shen Youli would accept Heyin into Kang’s territory.
• A disguised messenger from Tianhai told Xu Xie that the Clan Elder he had sent there had died, then revealed that several thousand elite soldiers were escorting him and pressed Xu Xie to decide what to do.
• Xu Xie hesitated as he weighed resisting the messenger against protecting his family, until Xu Quan rode into Heyin with a hundred cavalrymen.
• Xu Quan said his soldiers had killed suspicious bandits on the road, then handed Xu Xie a sealed summons from Lord Shen.
• The messenger challenged Lord Shen’s right to recruit Xu Xie, and Xu Quan reminded his cousin that he and Wu Xian had parted ways.

Xu Xie rejected Wu Xian’s envoy after learning that Wu Xian had plotted to destroy the Xu Clan, and Shen Tang’s forces secured Heyin. Zhao Feng arrived to garrison the commandery, where Xu Xie reunited him with the infant child of an old friend.

• Xu Xie used Shen Tang’s confidential letter to refuse Wu Xian’s envoy, while Xu Quan escorted the messenger out and ordered the city searched for spies.
• Xu Quan explained that Wu Xian had sent three thousand elite troops to infiltrate Fugu City and kill the Xu Clan if they resisted.
• Xu Quan told Xu Xie that Shen Tang had sent Zhao Feng to garrison Heyin, and the cousins discussed who might guard the capital.
• Xu Xie welcomed Zhao Feng and his troops into Heyin as crowds celebrated his return.
• At the welcoming banquet, Xu Xie gave Zhao Feng the infant child of an old friend, and Zhao Feng wept as he held the baby.

Wu Xian wrestled with the political consequences of Xu Wenzhu joining Shen Youli’s camp and learned that Chao Lian’s survival had undermined his claim to Shang Nan. Chao Lian reached Xiaocheng, reunited with Gu Ren’s family, and learned they had already chosen Shen Tang’s protection.

• Consort Mi visited Wu Xian with her son and heard him explain that attacking Heyin would mean war with Shen Youli, while Gu Ren’s surviving sworn brother could inherit Shang Nan.
• Wu Xian learned that Chao Lian and two other sworn brothers had survived, and that Gu Ren’s family supported Shen Tang taking over Shang Nan.
• Chao Lian told Shen Tang he had chosen to entrust Gu Ren’s family to her and volunteered to help prevent Wu Xian from using the situation against her.
• Chao Lian arrived in Xiaocheng and reunited with Gu Ren’s eldest son and family, apologizing that he had failed to bring Gu Ren back.
• Gu Ren’s widow told Chao Lian that she and her father had already agreed to join Shen Tang’s camp to protect the family, and Chao Lian offered to stay and look after them.