Recaps

Yang Zhengshan was appointed defensive officer of Yinghe Fortress and arranged posts for his relatives and trusted men. As he prepared to take office, he considered the hardship facing the fort’s military households and worried that the drought had left them without wells.

• Zhou Lan asked Yang Zhengshan to lend her soldiers to train Jianning Guard troops, and he agreed to send Yang Mingzhi and five older men.
• Yang Zhengshan celebrated his promotion with his followers and appointed Yang Chengze Fortress Official of Linguan Fortress, with Old Li to assist him.
• Yang Zhengshan assigned Yang Mingwu as Vice Thousand-Man Commander and Yang Mingzhi as Pacification Officer of Yinghe Fortress.
• Yang Zhengshan considered the settlements, beacon towers, soldiers, and military households under his new command and resolved to address their poverty.
• Yang Zhengshan worried that the drought might have left the military settlements without wells and wanted to take office soon, but had to wait for his seal and official robes.

Yang Zhengshan took office as Defense Officer of Yinghe Fortress and immediately moved to secure its offices and examine its accounts. The chapter ended with Yang Chengxu and the others finding numerous problems in the fortress's books.

• Zhou Lan sent Yang Zhengshan his official robe and seal, and Yang Zhengshan left Linguan Fortress with his family and fifty soldiers.
• Xu Zhen and the other officials welcomed Yang Zhengshan at Yinghe Fortress, where Xu Zhen resented him for taking the post he had hoped to obtain.
• Yang Zhengshan sent Yang Mingwu and two Squads to guard the official office's study, accounting office, storerooms, and granaries.
• Yang Zhengshan observed the poor, hostile-looking military households and went to the Accounting Office instead of the Study or Council Hall.
• Yang Chengxu and the others inspected the account books and quickly found numerous irregularities.

Yang Zhengshan uncovered widespread corruption among Yinghe Fortress’s officials and had them arrested after Xu Zhen attacked him. He then took control of the neighboring forts and began addressing the drought’s effects on soldiers and military households.

• Yang Chengxu and the other auditors found missing grain, misused silver, and twenty missing ox-sinew bows in the accounts.
• Yang Zhengshan rejected Xu Zhen’s attempt to blame Official Zhang and ordered the officials arrested for violating national and military law.
• Xu Zhen attacked Yang Zhengshan, who knocked him unconscious with a slap, then had the officials locked in prison.
• Yang Zhengshan sent Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengxu to take over Xiangyuan Fortress and Sanshan Fortress without resistance.
• Yang Zhengshan surveyed the three forts and their watchtowers, found military households suffering from drought, and arranged carts to deliver drinking water to remote outposts.

Yang Zhengshan’s promotion to Thousand-Man Commander brought celebration to Yang Family Village, while he remained focused on the drought and the danger it posed to the border. At Yinghe Fortress, he sensed that rain was coming despite the cloudless sky and planned to bring his family there after the autumn harvest.

• Yang Mingcheng learned that Yang Zhengshan had been promoted to Thousand-Man Commander, and villagers from Yang Family Village and nearby settlements flocked to offer congratulations.
• Yang Zhengshan inspected the parched fields and worried that the drought would leave military households with little food and drive the Hu Tribe to raid the border.
• Yang Zhengshan sensed that rain was coming, though the sky was clear, and wondered whether the Spirit Spring Space caused the feeling.
• Yang Minghao doubted his father’s prediction, and Yang Zhengshan told him the family could come to Yinghe Fortress after the autumn harvest.
• A sudden, violent gust of wind swept through the courtyard at Yinghe Fortress.

Yang Zhengshan sensed the rain that ended Chongshan Town’s long drought, then traveled to Jianning Guard to seek resources for his struggling troops. Zhou Lan ordered him to begin training an elite force despite the grain shortage, leaving him considering how to recruit enough men.

• Yang Zhengshan sensed an approaching storm, and heavy rain fell across Chongshan Town for a day and a night.
• Lu Chongde assigned warhorses, armor, and weapons to the garrisons rather than giving them all to Liang Chu’s Zhenbiao Five Battalions.
• After the poor autumn harvest, Yang Zhengshan rode to Jianning Guard with ten elite cavalry scouts to seek supplies.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that the newly appointed Lü Hua was a Secret Martial Guard agent and met with Zhou Lan.
• Zhou Lan offered Yang Zhengshan three thousand taels, five hundred sets of arms and armor, and three hundred warhorses to train troops, and allowed him to recruit from military households.
• Yang Zhengshan accepted the assignment and considered turning refugees into military households to build his force.

Yang Zhengshan arranged grain purchases, refugee settlement, and troop training for Yinghe Fortress, while discovering that raising horses with Spirit Spring Water could become a profitable Yang family business. He left the fortress preparing its military households for winter and beginning the work of training soldiers and hiring laborers.

• Yang Zhengshan sent Yang Mingwu to Anning County with two thousand taels of silver to buy grain for the tun fortresses.
• Zhao Yuan delivered three hundred warhorses and five hundred sets of armor and weapons, and Yang Zhengshan realized Spirit Spring Water could make horse breeding profitable.
• Yang Zhengshan appointed Old Li as horse-rearing officer and ordered him to stock fodder by hiring military households.
• Yang Zhengshan planned rotating basic and advanced training for troops from the four tun fortresses, beacon towers, and signal fire towers.
• Yang Zhengshan assigned Yang Chengze to recruit refugees, Yang Chengxu to organize drills, Yang Chengche to patrol, and Yang Qinwu to hire twenty laborers.

Yang Mingwu returned to Yang Family Village, where Yang Zhengxiang arranged for the villagers to sell their grain at the current market price. At Yinghe Fortress, Yang Zhengshan organized charcoal production and improvements to the tun fortresses, while preparing to begin training soldiers.

• Yang Mingwu reunited with Yang Zhengxiang, his parents, his wife, and his child after returning to Yang Family Village with fifty soldiers.
• Yang Mingwu delivered Yang Zhengshan’s letter about the drought, and Yang Zhengxiang set the village grain price at four taels of silver per dan.
• Yang Mingwu told Yang Mingcheng to prepare to return to Yinghe Fortress with him in a few days.
• Yang Zhengshan directed workers to build and fire a charcoal kiln outside Yinghe Fortress, hoping to create work for military households.
• Yang Zhengshan ordered improvements across the tun fortresses and forbade households from privately raising pigs, chickens, or ducks, arranging instead for shared livestock pens.
• Yang Chengxu reported that the first two hundred soldiers, their cooks, and their lodging were ready for training to begin three days later.

Yang Zhengshan completed his first charcoal-burning trial and began intensive military training at Yinghe Fortress, promising promotions to top performers. Yang Mingcheng then returned with his family, and Yang Zhengshan reunited with his children and grandchildren.

• Yang Zhengshan praised Li Erhu’s first batch of charcoal, put him in charge of charcoal production, and ordered more kilns built at Yinghe Fortress and Sanshan Fortress.
• Yang Zhengshan sent Yang Minghao to ask Luo Shang to sell the charcoal in Chongshan Pass City for a commission.
• Soldiers from the surrounding fortresses and towers gathered at Yinghe Fortress, where Yang Zhengshan warned them that training would be harsh and offered officer appointments to the top performers in a later martial tournament.
• Yang Mingcheng returned to Yinghe Fortress with more than twenty carts of grain and his family, and he and the others knelt to greet Yang Zhengshan.
• Yang Zhengshan reunited with his grandchildren and gave them maltose, but Yang Wanqing pulled several strands from his beard and then cried until Wang took her to soothe her.

Yang Zhengshan settled his family in Yinghe Fortress, arranged work for his nephews and disciples, and brought his family together briefly before Yang Minghao returned to training troops. As autumn advanced, Yang Chengze brought more than four hundred refugees to the fortress, and after Yang Zhengshan arranged housing and work for them, he took Yang Mingcheng out for a ride to discuss an important task.

• Yang Zhengshan read Lu Songhe's request for positions for his grandsons and invited Lu Wenchun and Lu Wenjie to Yinghe Fortress while excluding Lu Wenhua.
• Yang Zhengshan reassured Yang Mingcheng that he would soon entrust him with an important matter, and discussed Lin Zhan's studies and welcomed Wang Mingzhe.
• Yang Minghao returned to Yinghe Fortress for a family reunion meal, then went back to Jianning Guard to continue training troops for Zhou Lan.
• Yang Chengze brought 130 refugee households, numbering more than 400 people, to Yinghe Fortress, where Yang Zhengshan arranged registrations, homes, farmland, supplies, and work for them.
• Yang Zhengshan told Yang Mingcheng he had rested enough, then rode with him out of Tun Fortress.

Yang Zhengshan established plans for a horse farm and arranged to sell the fortress’s charcoal through Luo Shang. When Second Master Lu arrived with a proposal to send the Lu Family’s grain to Chongshan Pass, Yang Zhengshan agreed to introduce him to General Zhou and rode with him to Jianning Guard.

• Yang Zhengshan chose a grassland near Tun Fortress for a horse farm and tasked Yang Mingcheng with buying horses and organizing its construction.
• Yang Zhengshan introduced Yang Mingcheng to Luo Shang and agreed that Luo Shang would sell charcoal for a twenty-percent share of the sale price.
• Yang Mingcheng and Yang Minghao bought ten inexpensive, weak horses in Pass City, and Yang Mingcheng began arranging the farm’s construction.
• Luo Shang reported that Governor Lu Chongde and Marquis Changping Liang Chu had begun reforms that were revitalizing Chongshan Pass and preparing for a future expedition against the East Sea Hu Tribe.
• Second Master Lu asked Yang Zhengshan to introduce him to General Zhou so the Lu Family could offer its grain to Chongshan Pass during the shortage.
• Yang Zhengshan agreed and rode with Second Master Lu and their attendants to Jianning Guard.

Yang Zhengshan arranged for the Lu Family to sell grain to Zhou Lan, earning a favor, silver, and five hundred dan of grain for his own use. He then took in a group of exiled convicts, including former Right Censor-in-Chief Liu Yuanfu, and planned to use their labor to repair beacon towers and signal fire towers.

• Yang Zhengshan introduced Second Master Lu to Zhou Lan, who agreed to buy the Lu Family’s ten thousand dan of grain for four taels and three qian per dan and promised to remember the favor.
• Second Master Lu gave Yang Zhengshan two thousand taels in silver notes, and Zhou Lan offered him five hundred dan of grain and assigned him a group of military exiles.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that the Liu Family included Liu Yuanfu, a former Right Censor-in-Chief exiled after calling the emperor old and muddleheaded in a court remonstrance.
• Yang Zhengshan led more than five hundred convicts to Yinghe Fortress with Zhao Yuan and his soldiers, then sent most of them to Sanshan Fortress and Xiangyuan Fortress while keeping the Liu Family at Yinghe Fortress.
• Yang Zhengshan planned to use the convicts as laborers to repair beacon towers and signal fire towers.

Yang Zhengshan assigned the Lu brothers new administrative duties and funded construction of the Horse Farm before visiting the exiled Liu Family. He invited Liu Zhe to run Yinghe Fortress's free school and recruit more teachers, leaving the school set to begin with local children.

• Yang Zhengshan appointed Lu Wenchun to oversee the Accounting Office and Lu Wenhua to take over the Needlework and Charcoal Workshops.
• Yang Zhengshan gave Yang Mingcheng two hundred taels of silver to accelerate construction of the Horse Farm.
• Yang Zhengshan visited Liu Yuanfu's courtyard and asked Liu Zhe to take charge of the school in Yinghe Fortress.
• Liu Zhe accepted the teaching post after Yang Zhengshan explained that military households' children would attend for free and that the first class would have over forty pupils.
• Yang Zhengshan offered Liu Zhe three taels of silver monthly and asked him to help recruit six additional teachers from among the Liu Family.

Yang Zhengshan oversaw the school and soldiers’ training, guided his family’s cultivation, and inspected the Yang Family’s horse farm and workshops. He sold the improved horses and directed the charcoal workers to replant trees, while the family prepared for the New Year.

• Liu Yuanfu brought six Liu Family disciples to Yinghe Fortress, and Yang Zhengshan showed them the school as it opened for its first forty students; the first batch of soldiers also finished basic training and returned to garrison duty.
• Yang Zhengshan trained Yang Yunxue, Wang Yunqiao, Lin Zhan, and the other Yang Family martial artists, then cultivated by the Yinghe River before returning home for breakfast.
• Yang Zhengshan visited the horse farm with Yang Mingcheng, learned from Ma San that the horses were thriving, and ordered the ten improved horses sold and replaced with mares and foals.
• Yang Zhengshan secretly poured Spirit Spring Water into the horses’ manger before leaving the farm with Yang Mingcheng.
• Lu Wenhua brought Yang Zhengshan the Needlework Workshop and Charcoal Workshop earnings, and Yang Zhengshan told him to have Li Erhu’s workers plant trees in spring and record the money under Wenchun’s account.

Yang Zhengshan organized the Yang Family’s New Year gifts and visited Chongshan Pass City to prepare presents for his superiors and acquaintances. While searching for a gift for Zhou Lan, he found inspiration to write military texts himself and bought every military book in the shop.

• Yang Zhengshan instructed Yang Mingcheng to prepare gifts for the Yang Family’s in-laws and acquaintances, and gave him five hundred taels for the purchases.
• Yang Zhengshan visited Yang Chengze at Linguan Fortress and allowed him five days to return home for the New Year.
• Yang Zhengshan and Yang Mingcheng traveled to Chongshan Pass City, where Yang Zhengshan delivered gifts to the Luo Family and Shopkeeper Lu.
• Yang Zhengshan struggled to choose a gift for Zhou Lan, then entered a bookstore and selected a sword technique and a spear technique.
• Yang Zhengshan realized he could write military texts, including the Thirty-Six Stratagems and a Record of Military Training, and bought all six military books in the shop.

Yang Zhengshan spent his savings on gifts and wrote a revised Thirty-Six Stratagems to present to Zhou Lan for New Year. Zhou Lan recognized the military text’s extraordinary value and asked Yang Zhengshan where it came from.

• Yang Zhengshan bought books, a hundred-year-old ginseng root, tea, furs, and cloth, then returned to Yinghe Fortress to prepare a New Year gift for Zhou Lan.
• Unable to finish his planned Record of Military Training in time, Yang Zhengshan composed a revised Thirty-Six Stratagems over ten days, changing references that did not fit the world’s history.
• Yang Zhengshan traveled to Jianning Guard with two carts of gifts and spent two days visiting its officials, including Zhong Luan and Mu Qiu.
• Yang Zhengshan went to Zhou Lan’s shogunate and met her elder brother, Zhou Xu, whom he recognized as the heir of the Duke Ning Mansion and sensed was dangerous.
• Yang Zhengshan presented Zhou Lan with Thirty-Six Stratagems, and she read it with growing astonishment before asking where it had come from.

Yang Zhengshan impressed Zhou Xu with his military-strategy booklet, then returned to Yinghe Fortress and distributed New Year meat to the military households. The chapter ended with Liu Yuanfu recognizing Yang Zhengshan’s gift as an effort to win the people’s loyalty, while Liu Zhang defended accepting his kindness.

• Yang Zhengshan admitted that he had written the booklet, and Zhou Xu praised its detailed explanation of “Deceive the heavens to cross the sea” before questioning him about military strategy.
• Zhou Xu and Zhou Lan discussed military affairs and court matters with Yang Zhengshan over lunch, then Yang Zhengshan returned to Yinghe Fortress.
• Zhou Lan sent Yang Zhengshan four carriages of New Year gifts, including Gold-Lacquer Mountain Pattern Armor, which he accepted happily.
• On New Year’s Eve, Yang Zhengshan had pork and mutton distributed to every military household under Yinghe Fortress and sent extra meat to Mr. Liu.
• Liu Yuanfu called Yang Zhengshan’s distribution a calculated effort to win people’s hearts, while Liu Zhe and Liu Zhang insisted that the Liu Family should accept his care.

Yang Zhengshan oversaw the family’s New Year and prepared for the soldiers’ martial competition while tending medicinal herbs in the Spirit Spring Space. Li gave birth to a healthy son, and Yang Zhengshan took Yang Mingcheng to Pass City to find servants to help the family.

• Yang Zhengshan celebrated the New Year with his family and continued preparations for the soldiers’ martial competition on the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month.
• Yang Zhengshan inspected the herbs in the Spirit Spring Space, including the newly sprouted Golden Thorn Blood Vine seeds.
• Yang Yunxue told Yang Zhengshan that Li was about to give birth, so he summoned a midwife and Doctor Niu and prepared hot Spirit Spring Water and Old Mountain Ginseng.
• Li gave birth to a healthy son, and Doctor Niu confirmed that both mother and child were doing well.
• Yang Zhengshan decided to buy servants to ease the household’s workload and took Yang Mingcheng to Pass City the next morning.

Yang Zhengshan bought two servant families and four young maids in Pass City, choosing Ding Qiu’s family and Wu Hai’s family. After returning to Yinghe Fortress, he gathered the household and had the new servants introduce themselves, leaving their roles and arrangements undecided.

• Yang Zhengshan asked a slave broker in Pass City to show him whole families of servants and inspected four groups.
• Yang Zhengshan recognized Ding Qiu, a Post-Heaven Martial Artist formerly serving the Zhang Family, and bought his family after bargaining down the price.
• Yang Zhengshan also bought Wu Hai’s family, then ordered four honest young maids and custom cotton-padded clothes for the servants.
• Yang Zhengshan returned to Yinghe Fortress at dusk and housed the servants temporarily in the rear chamber.
• The next morning, Yang Zhengshan asked Ding Qiu, Wu Hai, and their family members to introduce themselves to the Yang Family.

Yang Zhengshan organized his household servants and completed a military competition that assigned commanders and squad leaders. Jiang He, Yang Yunyan, and their daughter arrived at Yinghe Fortress, where Yang Zhengshan arranged their lodging and work and urged the couple to pursue martial training.

• Yang Zhengshan named four maidservants, assigned servants to family members, and ordered them to learn reading and martial arts.
• Yang Zhengshan held a martial competition and appointed Song Dashan and Ren Sheng as battalion commanders, with other participants receiving trial commander or squad leader posts.
• Yang Zhengshan distributed cavalry and other military roles among his followers while continuing to train the soldiers.
• Jiang He, Yang Yunyan, and Jiang Ning arrived at Yinghe Fortress and paid their respects to Yang Zhengshan.
• Yang Zhengshan arranged a courtyard and a monthly salary for Jiang He, then urged him and Yang Yunyan to study and practice martial arts.

Yang Zhengshan’s forces had completed their initial training just as Hu cavalry crossed the frontier, forcing him to lead his troops out of Yinghe Fortress to stop them at the frozen river. The chapter ended with Yang Zhengshan killing the enemy leader’s horse with a thrown short spear, giving his soldiers a morale boost as the two forces faced off.

• Yang Zhengshan completed the planned appointments and troop organization at Yinghe Fortress, while worrying that the Hu cavalry might invade.
• Two beacon smokes signaled the approach of about six hundred Hu cavalry, and Yang Zhengshan ordered the fortress’s troops to assemble.
• Yang Zhengshan left Yang Mingcheng to watch over the family and led his soldiers out to meet the Hu cavalry at the frozen river.
• Liu Yuanfu armed his family and told his sons they must die rather than surrender if the enemy reached the fortress.
• The Hu leader shot an arrow at Yang Zhengshan, who caught it and answered by hurling a short spear through the leader’s horse.

Yang Zhengshan lured Jala Ejen’s Hu cavalry onto the Yinghe River ice, then led a devastating countercharge that killed the enemy commander and routed the survivors. After spotting the East Sea Hu Tribe’s main army approaching, he withdrew to Yinghe Fortress and sent scouts to locate them.

• Yang Zhengshan provoked Jala Ejen into charging across the frozen river, where the ice collapsed beneath many of the Hu cavalry.
• Yang Zhengshan led his trained cavalry in a charge, killed Jala Ejen, and routed the Hu cavalry who had crossed the river.
• Yang Zhengshan ordered his men to cross elsewhere and pursue the fleeing Hu cavalry, but halted when he spotted a much larger force ahead.
• Yang Zhengshan recognized the danger and retreated with his cavalry to the south bank of the Yinghe River.
• Yang Zhengshan waited for the East Sea Hu Tribe’s main army to approach, then sent Song Dashan and scouts to search for the Hu cavalry.

Yang Zhengshan sent Song Dashan’s scouts to hunt Hu Tribe scouts near their main army, then reinforced Yinghe Fortress and prepared to move to Linguan Fortress. Liu Yuanfu offered to help and took charge of organizing supplies, leaving Yang Zhengshan to sleep before the next day’s march.

• Song Dashan’s scouts killed Hu Tribe scouts in a night hunt and returned to Yinghe Fortress with 132 heads, at the cost of thirteen dead and eight severely wounded.
• Yang Zhengshan ordered Yang Mingwu to seek General Zhou’s instructions and Yang Mingzhi to bring two hundred soldiers to Yinghe Fortress.
• Liu Yuanfu came to offer help, and Yang Zhengshan left him in charge of Yinghe Fortress’s official office while he planned to go to Linguan Fortress.
• Yang Mingwu returned with Zhou Lan’s report that Hu cavalry had crossed through gaps between the Tun Fortresses, and that Jianning Guard was preparing to block them.
• Yang Mingzhi arrived with two hundred foot soldiers, and Liu Yuanfu organized supplies for the planned move to Linguan Fortress.

Yang Zhengshan reinforced Linguan Fortress as the Hu Tribe army gathered at Chongshan Pass, while Marquis Changping Liang Chu and army supervisor Lü Hua discussed the coming battle and a treason investigation. The chapter left the enemy poised to attack within days and Lü Hua preparing to replace Anyuan’s garrison commander to expose collaborators.

• Yang Zhengshan gave Yang Mingcheng and Wu Hai instructions, then led five hundred soldiers east to Linguan Fortress and arranged for them to camp there.
• Yang Zhengshan sent Yang Mingwu and Song Dashan to scout as the Hu Tribe army arrived at Chongshan Pass the next day.
• Liang Chu told Lu Chongde he would wait until the Hu Tribe lowered its guard before attacking, while Lü Hua revealed that the Liang Family of Jing'an had shipped supplies beyond the pass and that Cao Han, Zhang Yude, and Sun Xincheng were suspected.
• Lü Hua asked Liang Chu to replace Anyuan’s garrison commander with an untainted candidate, and Liang Chu agreed to consider whom to transfer.
• On February fifteenth, Yang Mingwu predicted snow, but Yang Zhengshan judged that it would not snow and led him down the mountain.

Yang Zhengshan prepared Linguan Fortress for a Hu Tribe assault, then led its defenders as more than fifteen hundred enemy troops arrived. The Hu commander Bo'erha demanded their surrender and declared himself a noble of the newly founded Great Ling Kingdom, leaving Yang Zhengshan curious to see how the siege would unfold.

• Yang Chengze reported that Linguan Fortress had enough supplies to last a month and had selected 123 young men to help defend it.
• Yang Zhengshan kept his scouts close to the fortress as Hu scouts increased their activity around Chongshan Pass.
• The Hu Tribe army arrived outside Linguan Fortress, and Yang Zhengshan ordered the defenders to prepare and the beacon smoke to be lit.
• Bo'erha, a third-rank noble master of the Great Ling Kingdom, demanded that the fortress surrender, but Yang Zhengshan stopped Yang Mingwu from attacking him prematurely.
• Yang Zhengshan and his officers realized that the Hu Tribe had founded a kingdom, and Yang Zhengshan watched Bo'erha to learn what the enemy would do next.

Yang Zhengshan’s soldiers held Linguan Fortress against Bo'erha’s assault until the Hu Tribe cavalry joined the siege. Yang Zhengshan then led two hundred riders out of the fortress and smashed through the enemy formation.

• Yang Zhengshan ordered his archers and Yang Mingwu’s short spear throwers to weaken the attackers, but the Hu Tribe infantry reached the walls and began climbing them.
• Liang Chu learned that Linguan Fortress was under attack and chose to watch for further developments rather than send immediate support.
• Yang Zhengshan waited as the battle intensified, then saw Bo'erha send his cavalry to join the siege.
• Yang Zhengshan led two hundred cavalry out through the southern gate and charged around the fortress to strike the Hu Tribe army from behind.
• Yang Zhengshan and Red Cloud tore through the enemy ranks, leaving Yang Zhengshan bloodied after the charge.