Chapter Summaries

Qing Mo and the Tang court framed the Goguryeo envoy for insulting Li Shimin and the Tang Dynasty, then executed him despite his protests. After the army rested, envoys from Silla and Baekje arrived seeking Qing Mo, who was at the coast catching seafood, and Zhao Xinmin went to report their visit.

• Qing Mo caused Li Shimin's Jade Pendant to appear in the Goguryeo envoy's hand, and Du Ruhui accused the envoy of stealing it.
• The Goguryeo envoy pleaded for his life and offered land and campaign expenses, but Qing Mo denied making any promises and ordered Zhao Xinmin to draft a proclamation accusing him of insulting Li Shimin and slandering the Imperial Preceptor.
• Li Shimin approved the accusations, and Qin Shubao ordered guards to seize the envoy; Cheng Yaojin had the envoy's mouth stuffed as he was dragged away to be executed.
• After several days of rest, the Tang army prepared to depart, and the envoys of Silla and Baekje arrived after seeing the Goguryeo envoy's head displayed outside the camp.
• The Silla and Baekje envoys sought Qing Mo at the coast, where his guards stopped them; Zhao Xinmin went to report their request to Qing Mo.

Qing Mo met the envoys of Silla and Baekje and revealed that the Tang Dynasty planned to incorporate the Three Peninsula Kingdoms into China, not merely defeat Goguryeo. The envoys offered military support and provisions for a future campaign against Japan, but Qing Mo left them stunned by declaring that their kingdoms would cease to exist.

• Qing Mo delayed meeting the Silla and Baekje envoys until he had finished catching a grouper.
• The Silla and Baekje envoys offered to help Tang defeat Goguryeo, then asked whether Tang would withdraw afterward.
• Qing Mo said Tang would advance east after destroying Goguryeo, prompting the envoys to offer troops and provisions for a campaign against Japan.
• The Silla envoy offered the king’s younger sister to serve Qing Mo’s wives, and Qing Mo confirmed that Tang planned to campaign against Japan while ordering the envoys to keep it secret.
• Qing Mo told the envoys that Tang intended to permanently incorporate the Three Peninsula Kingdoms into China and that Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje would no longer exist.

Qing Mo gave the Silla and Baekje envoys a choice between surrendering to the Tang Dynasty or fighting alongside Goguryeo, and they decided not to make enemies of Tang. The Tang army reached Liaodong City, where Gao Yanwu rallied the defenders and prepared to resist.

• Qing Mo threatened Silla and Baekje with annexation, offered surrender or an alliance with Goguryeo, and reminded them that Tang was ready to fight all three kingdoms.
• Qing Mo conjured seafood from the sea, and the envoys decided they must never become enemies of Tang.
• Gao Yanwu learned the Tang army had arrived outside Liaodong City and led his men to the walls.
• Gao Yanwu rallied the city's eighty thousand defenders, who pledged to defend Liaodong to the death.

Li Shimin’s Tang army began its assault on Liaodong City after Gao Yanwu refused to surrender, but the city’s formidable defenses and stubborn defenders turned the attack into a fierce stalemate. As the fighting continued, Xue Rengui shot Gao Yanwu in the left eye, earning Li Shimin’s praise.

• Li Jing and Du Ruhui warned Li Shimin that Liaodong City had concealed arrow towers, trenches, and ditches that could make a frontal assault costly.
• Li Shimin and Gao Yanwu traded challenges and threats, but Gao refused to surrender and vowed to defend the city.
• Yuchi Gong’s Divine Might Army fired more than a hundred cannons at the city, then used its remaining shells before the Tang troops charged the walls.
• Gao Yanwu rallied his defenders after the bombardment, and the Tang and Goguryeo forces fought to a stalemate atop the battered walls.
• Xue Rengui shot Gao Yanwu in the left eye with an arrow, and Li Shimin praised the shot and promised him a reward.

Li Shimin planned to isolate Liaodong City after Goguryeo sent reinforcements, while Li Shande arrived with military supplies and news from Chang'an. Qing Mo gave Li Shande blueprints for an ocean-going treasure ship and ordered him to deliver them to Chenggan, setting the stage for the Tang Dynasty’s expansion at sea.

• Li Shimin chose Li Jing’s plan to cut off Goguryeo’s twenty thousand reinforcements and ordered Qin Qiong and Hou Junji to lead five thousand troops against them.
• Li Shande arrived with supplies, and Zhao Xinmin learned from him that his wife and children in Chang'an were well.
• Qing Mo asked Li Shande about the wool trade plan, Li Xiu’er, and preparations to rebuild cities on the peninsula, and Li Shande reported that the work was underway.
• Qing Mo gave Li Shande detailed blueprints for an ocean-going treasure ship and told him to take them and a letter to Chenggan.
• Li Shande agreed to deliver Qing Mo’s message personally, and Qing Mo offered him ginseng after Liaodong City fell.

Qin Qiong and Hou Junji defeated the Goguryeo reinforcements, leaving Liaodong City isolated. The Tang army launched a full siege the next morning, breached the city, and began taking it street by street as Li Shimin declared victory.

• Qin Qiong and Hou Junji ambushed and routed the Goguryeo relief force, killing its commander and deputy commander and capturing the surviving soldiers.
• Qin Qiong and Hou Junji reported their victory to Li Shimin, who recorded their merits and ordered them to rest before the next day's assault.
• Gao Yanwu rallied Liaodong City's wavering deputies by urging them to defend their families and Goguryeo, and they pledged to resist the Tang army to the death.
• Li Shimin ordered the siege to begin at dawn, and Yuchi Gong's cannon fire and explosives blasted a breach in Liaodong City's defenses.
• Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, Hou Junji, and other Tang generals led troops through the breach while more soldiers battered down the gates and fought through the streets.
• Qing Mo secretly ordered Xue Rengui to eliminate the city's officials and nobles, while Li Shimin celebrated Liaodong City's fall.

After Liaodong City fell, Gao Yanwu and his remaining defenders died in a final charge, while Li Shimin’s forces secured the city and Qing Mo chose gifts for Xiu'er. The King of Goguryeo tried to rally his forces, but Tang armies led by Li Jing reached the royal capital and surrounded it before reinforcements could arrive.

• Gao Yanwu refused to surrender and led his wounded defenders in a final charge, where Tang soldiers killed them after a brief battle.
• Li Shimin praised the capture of Liaodong City, and Cheng Yaojin reported that the remaining resistance there had been crushed.
• Qing Mo gave Li Shande a fine ginseng root as a gift for Xiu'er and promised to choose more presents.
• The King of Goguryeo ordered his commanders to gather their armies, but a guard reported that several Tang forces were advancing on the royal capital, including Li Jing’s rapidly moving force.
• Before Goguryeo's reinforcements could reach the capital, the Tang army surrounded it completely.

The Tang army launched its assault on Goguryeo’s royal capital, using cannons and explosives to smash the walls before its troops stormed inside. As Goguryeo’s king and ministers fled or panicked, Cheng Yaojin and the other generals pushed toward the palace, leaving the capital in Tang hands.

• The Silla and Baekje envoys watched the Tang army surround Goguryeo’s capital and felt reassured that their nations had chosen to merge into the Tang Dynasty.
• Yuchi Gong prepared the Divine Might Army’s cannons while the Goguryeo king demanded that his ministers find a way to save the kingdom.
• Li Shimin ordered an immediate attack, and the Tang cannons battered Goguryeo’s city walls and threw the palace into panic.
• The Goguryeo king fled through a secret passage with trusted followers as ministers and nobles scattered from the capital.
• Tang artillery and explosive packs brought down part of the wall, and Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and the other generals led the army into the city.
• Tang troops overwhelmed Goguryeo’s defenders and advanced toward the royal palace as Cheng Yaojin celebrated the prospect of drinking Jade Nectar.

The Tang army captured Goguryeo’s royal city, and Qing Mo and Li Shimin arranged for the fleeing Goguryeo king to be secretly killed rather than let him escape. After Goguryeo’s fall, Li Shimin celebrated the victory with a lavish banquet and Jade Nectar.

• The Goguryeo king escaped the burning royal city through a secret passage and vowed to restore his kingdom, but Xue Rengui’s cavalry found him and his companions outside the city.
• After learning the king had fled, Qing Mo instructed Zhao Xinmin to tell Xue Rengui to pretend he had found no one and to take the fugitives away for a secret execution.
• Li Shimin entered the captured palace, and he and Qing Mo decided to eliminate the Goguryeo king to prevent future trouble.
• Li Shimin held a victory banquet in the royal palace and gave Jade Nectar to the gathered commanders and officials.
• Li Shimin toasted the Tang Dynasty’s expansion, and the assembled ministers and generals raised their cups in celebration.

Li Shimin and the victorious army returned to Chang'an, where officials, princes, and crowds welcomed them. Qing Mo reunited with Mo Yanyu and He Xi, handed them the peninsula’s development plans, and ended the night with them in his room.

• Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Ke welcomed Li Shimin and congratulated him on bringing the Three Peninsula Kingdoms under China’s rule.
• The princes and officials greeted Qing Mo, while Zhao Xinmin spotted his wife, children, and friends among the crowd.
• Li Shimin reunited with Empress Zhangsun and held a grand banquet for the officials.
• Qing Mo returned to his residence, rewarded the household staff with triple wages, and told Fortune to store the expedition’s spoils.
• Mo Yanyu and He Xi welcomed Qing Mo, and he assigned them the peninsula’s development plans so he could rest.
• Mo Yanyu and He Xi tempted Qing Mo, who carried them into his room and closed the door.

Qing Mo tasked Li Chengqian, Li Ke, and Li Tai with establishing a Tang Medical Academy in Chang’an and inviting Sun Simiao to become its first dean. Tang Jian then sought permission to sail overseas, but Qing Mo told him to wait until Great Tang’s southern campaigns secured a harbor in Annam; Tang Jian remained determined to claim the title of China’s First Overseas Pioneer.

• Li Chengqian and Li Ke urged Li Tai to lose weight, and Qing Mo persuaded him by warning that his health and future marriage could suffer.
• Qing Mo proposed founding a medical academy in Chang’an, collecting folk remedies, and rewarding medical innovations, with Sun Simiao as its first dean.
• Li Chengqian, Li Ke, and Li Tai agreed to invite Sun Simiao and pursue the academy with imperial funding.
• Tang Jian arrived to ask when he could sail abroad, and Qing Mo explained that Great Tang intended to conquer India and surrounding lands and destroy the Tibetan Empire.
• Qing Mo advised Tang Jian to wait until the army secured Annam as a harbor before sailing toward Luzon, rejecting his suggestion to depart from Liao Prefecture.
• Tang Jian resisted Qing Mo’s advice and remained determined to sail first and earn a place in history.

Tang Jian secured Qing Mo’s approval to lead a small envoy to Luzon and received a navigation manual, then begged for an even greater historical achievement Qing Mo promised to Li Chengqian after he became emperor. Tang Jian refused to wait and hurried to find the Sage to plead for the chance himself.

• Tang Jian begged Qing Mo for permission to travel overseas, and Qing Mo assigned him to lead about ten people from Lingnan to Luzon to establish diplomatic relations.
• Qing Mo gave Tang Jian his Essential Notes on Navigation and urged him to study its safety instructions carefully.
• As Tang Jian prepared to leave, Qing Mo offered him another chance to earn a place in history, but said Li Chengqian should pursue the dangerous achievement after ascending the throne.
• Tang Jian pleaded to undertake the achievement immediately, while Li Chengqian told him he might have to wait until the Sage retired; Li Tai and Li Ke slipped away.
• Qing Mo left the residence, Li Chengqian escaped Tang Jian’s grasp, and Tang Jian decided to find the Sage and plead for the opportunity.

Li Shimin learned that Qing Mo had promised Tang Jian a place in the history books and tried to claim the major achievement for himself, while Qing Mo was away helping a distraught couple whose daughter had disappeared. Qing Mo restored the mother’s mind and left the search for the missing child unresolved.

• Tang Jian told Li Shimin that Qing Mo had promised him a page in the history books, and Li Shimin resolved to take charge of the achievement himself.
• Li Shimin savored Qing Mo’s praise of him and sent palace guards to find the Imperial Preceptor, but Qing Mo had already left Chang'an.
• Qing Mo met a man searching for his wife, learned that their only daughter Wan'er had been missing for over ten days, and agreed to help.
• Qing Mo led the man and local volunteers to his wife, who was hiding in an alley and had lost her mind from grief.
• Palace guards recognized Qing Mo, and the crowd knelt before him; the husband begged him to save his wife and daughter.
• Qing Mo used a beam of light to restore the woman’s mind, and she immediately asked whether they had found Wan'er.

Qing Mo used the mother’s blood to guide a crowd to a gang of child traffickers, where they rescued her daughter and several other abducted children. After healing the children and injured constables, Qing Mo began interrogating a captured trafficker and threatened to make him regret refusing to talk.

• Qing Mo healed the woman’s mind, took a drop of her blood, and turned it into a red thread that led toward her missing daughter.
• Qing Mo chose to follow the thread instead of going to the palace, and palace guards joined the parents and townspeople in searching.
• The red thread led the searchers to an abandoned house, where constables were fighting a gang of traffickers; Qing Mo’s guards helped capture the criminals.
• The woman found her daughter in the house, and the searchers discovered several other abducted children, including children recognized by people in the crowd.
• Qing Mo restored the children’s spirits and healed the wounded constables, then questioned a captured trafficker who refused to answer.

Qing Mo tortured captured child traffickers into confessing, ordered a thorough investigation and harsh punishment, and comforted the rescued family by restoring the mother’s health. After returning to the palace, he tried to evade Li Shimin and the others, who had gathered to claim a page of history, but they carried him back into the Hall of Establishing Governance.

• Qing Mo intensified a trafficker’s pain until he begged to confess, then ordered him gagged and fanned while the county magistrate arranged an investigation into the trafficking network.
• Qing Mo ordered the traffickers’ crimes investigated and decreed brutal punishments, then told the rescued couple that the mother’s health had been restored and she could bear children again.
• Qing Mo and the palace guards returned to the palace instantly, and the guards directed him toward the Hall of Establishing Governance, where Li Shimin and other officials were waiting.
• Qing Mo saw Li Shimin, Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Cheng Yaojin, Li Chengqian, and the scholars gathered over a page of history and tried to leave.
• Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong seized Qing Mo by the legs, and the officials carried him back into the hall as Li Shimin welcomed him.

Qing Mo was pressed by the Zhenguan officials to reveal a way for them to earn their own pages in the history books, while Li Shimin and Li Chengqian fought over who would claim the achievement. Qing Mo promised Li Chengqian another chance to become a sage on the spot, leaving Li Shimin and the ministers eager to claim both prospects.

• Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Cheng Yaojin, and the other officials crowded around Qing Mo and competed to offer their services in exchange for a page in the history books.
• Li Chengqian asked Qing Mo to save the opportunity for him, provoking Li Shimin to chase him around the hall with a scabbard.
• Li Chengqian threatened to have Li Shimin buried far from Empress Zhangsun in Luzon, and Li Shimin caught him and struck him with the scabbard.
• Li Shimin persuaded the ministers to back his claim that he wanted to scout the achievement for Li Chengqian, while Li Chengqian insisted it was his to begin with.
• Qing Mo told Li Chengqian to let the officials have the method and promised to find him another way to become a sage on the spot.
• Li Shimin and the officials reacted with intense excitement at Qing Mo's promise of an even greater achievement.

Qing Mo urged the Tang court to secure Annam for its harvests, mines, and strategic position, and Li Shimin ordered preparations for an expedition. He then revealed that the earth was round and proposed circumnavigating it as a historic feat, leaving Tang Jian and the ministers eager to claim the honor.

• Qing Mo explained Annam’s resources and importance on the Maritime Silk Road, and Li Shimin ordered Tang Jian to send envoys while officials prepared plans for campaigns against Annam, India, and the Tibetan Empire.
• When Tang Jian asked how someone could earn a page in the history books, Qing Mo said that traveling around the world would accomplish it.
• Qing Mo rejected the belief that heaven was round and earth square, explaining that the earth was a sphere and citing how mountains and ships appeared gradually from a distance.
• Li Chengqian reasoned that circumnavigation meant traveling in one direction until reaching the starting point, and Qing Mo confirmed his understanding.
• Tang Jian knelt before Qing Mo to pursue the honor of circumnavigating the globe, and Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Cheng Yaojin, and the other ministers knelt to seek a share in the undertaking.

Qing Mo arranged for Li Chengqian and Li Shimin’s court to make an early lunar landing, while preparing Tang Jian to lead a future voyage around the world. After returning home, Qing Mo learned that the Fanyang Lu Clan had proposed marriage to Xiu'er.

• Tang Jian volunteered to build seafaring experience by leading a mission to Luzon before attempting a circumnavigation, and Qing Mo promised him suitable charts afterward.
• Qing Mo told Li Chengqian he would take him to the moon, explaining that it was lifeless and that the trip would be a lunar landing rather than ascension; Li Shimin and the ministers also wanted to go.
• Qing Mo set the lunar landing for the night after tomorrow, when the moon would be full, and told Li Shimin about the human traffickers he had encountered outside Chang'an.
• Qing Mo told Mo Yanyu and He Xi that he planned for Li Chengqian to begin the Industrial Revolution after Qing Mo and his companions departed, with a detailed plan to guide him.
• Zheng Ping'an arrived at Qing Mo’s residence and reported that the Fanyang Lu Clan had proposed to marry Xiu'er.

Qing Mo asserted control over Li Xiu’er’s marriage after the Fanyang Lu Clan proposed a match, then welcomed Sun Simiao to help establish the Tang Medical Academy. He gave Li Chengqian a method for preventing smallpox and urged him to keep it secret from Li Shimin while putting it into practice with Sun Simiao.

• Zheng Ping'an told Qing Mo that the Fanyang Lu Clan had approached Li Shande about Li Xiu’er, and Qing Mo ordered him to announce that the Imperial Preceptor would decide her marriage.
• Rumors spread through Chang'an that Qing Mo would take Li Chengqian, Li Shimin, and others to the moon, while Qing Mo refused to meet the aristocratic clans seeking access to him.
• Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Ke brought Sun Simiao to Chang'an, and Qing Mo enlisted him to lead the Tang Medical Academy and gave him medical books.
• Qing Mo gave Li Chengqian detailed instructions for using cowpox inoculation to prevent smallpox and told him to work with Sun Simiao to test the method.
• Li Chengqian vowed to keep the method from Li Shimin until the experiments succeeded and threatened to fight him if he tried to claim the credit.

After a newspaper article by Wei Zheng exposed Li Shimin’s secret mahjong game, Qing Mo showed him a powerful new rocket launcher and hinted that Wei Zheng had a historical weakness. The chapter ended with Li Shimin eager to hear how he could use it against Wei Zheng.

• Tang Jian enjoyed the aristocratic clans’ lavish gifts and requests to send their younger members on the planned circumnavigation, while preparing missions to Luzon and Annam.
• Li Shimin flew into a rage over Wei Zheng’s newspaper criticism of his mahjong game and set out to find Qing Mo.
• At the Firearms Directorate, Qing Mo introduced the Type 63 107mm Rocket Launcher, and Li Shimin renamed it the Zhenguan Flame Cannon after testing its power.
• Li Shimin asked Qing Mo to help him deal with Wei Zheng, and Qing Mo said Wei Zheng had a weakness recorded in history.
• Li Shimin eagerly asked Qing Mo what Wei Zheng’s weakness was.