Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun accused Li Wenying of misconduct and proposed exiling him to Two Worlds Mountain, prompting a fierce debate over whether he intended to protect or remove the famed general. As the Empress Dowager intervened, the court awaited her judgment.

• Fang Yun listed four accusations against Li Wenying and proposed that he be exiled to Two Worlds Mountain for three years.
• Cao Dean and several officials supported Fang Yun, while Zhang Poyue joked that he wanted Li Wenying's post as Minister of War.
• Sheng Boyuan and other officials condemned Fang Yun, and the court divided into a heated argument over the proposed exile.
• Li Wenying recalled his long history with Fang Yun and realized that Fang Yun's recent gifts had likely been meant to prepare him for service at Two Worlds Mountain.
• The Empress Dowager coughed from behind the curtain, silencing the court as the officials waited for her to speak.

Fang Yun challenged the Dowager Empress and Sheng Boyuan’s attempt to protect Li Wenying from punishment, then asked Li whether he regretted leaving the Jing Kingdom. Li declared that he trusted Fang Yun and his people, chose to depart, and left the Golden Throne Hall to Fang Yun’s farewell poem.

• The Dowager Empress argued that Li Wenying should not be severely punished, and Fang Yun cited evidence for his charges against Li.
• Fang Yun asked Li whether he felt guilty for being absent during the Jing Kingdom’s calamities and Liu Shan’s abuses.
• Li said he felt no guilt because he trusted Fang Yun and the Jing Kingdom to endure without him, and he chose to leave.
• Li walked out of the Golden Throne Hall without anyone trying to stop him.
• Fang Yun recited a farewell poem as Li left, and Li laughed as he crossed the imperial palace square.

After Li Wenying left Jing Kingdom, Fang Yun faced criticism for their break and announced a plan for Ritual Restoration. At court, with Zhang Poyue commanding the capital’s outer forces and Ritual Hall Grand Academician Lin Shouyan attending, Fang Yun invoked Confucius and questioned the Jing Lord about the meaning of his words.

• News spread that Li Wenying had left for Two Worlds Mountain, and people on the Discourse Ranking condemned Fang Yun while others defended his decision.
• News emerged that Fang Yun had sent Li Wenying treasures, including Saint Body Fruit, and Zhang Poyue proclaimed himself and Fang Yun Jing Kingdom’s new Twin Jewels.
• The Left Prime Minister’s Office announced that Fang Yun intended to carry out Ritual Restoration, prompting officials and the Empress Dowager to discuss how to respond.
• The Empress Dowager approved Zhang Poyue’s temporary appointment as Grand General after Marshal Chen Zhixu recommended him.
• At court, Ritual Hall Grand Academician Lin Shouyan attended for the first time, and Fang Yun quoted Confucius before asking the Jing Lord whether he understood the passage.

Fang Yun argued before the Jing Lord and assembled ministers that ritual teachings and benevolence had to guide the Jing Kingdom, using passages from The Analects to support his case. He ended by declaring that he would promote ritual teachings and sweep away entrenched abuses.

• The Jing Lord cited Sage Kong’s teaching that moral guidance and ritual could make people willingly refrain from wrongdoing, earning Fang Yun’s praise.
• Fang Yun described his years studying the causes of crime, poverty, and official abuse, then claimed he had found the answer in The Analects.
• Fang Yun asked whether the people resented officials, and Cao Dean confirmed that public grievances had persisted since ancient times.
• The Jing Lord recited Sage Kong’s passage linking proper names and words to flourishing ritual and music, while the officials struggled to challenge Fang Yun’s interpretation.
• Fang Yun declared that, as Left Prime Minister, he would carry on Sage Kong’s wishes by promoting ritual teachings and sweeping away entrenched abuses.

Fang Yun pushed the Grand Secretariat to adopt a daily rite and have the Censorate report officials who violated ritual propriety, while the Jing Lord delayed the imperial decision until the next day. After court, the Censorate gathered to debate the proposal.

• Fang Yun called on Jing Kingdom's officials to observe a daily rite and asked He Mingxiang whether the Censorate would impeach officials for violating ritual propriety.
• Fang Yun secured Cao Dean's support and Yang Xuwen's non-opposition, declaring that the Grand Secretariat had reached a consensus.
• Fang Yun asked the Jing Lord for instructions, and the Jing Lord said she would decide after the Grand Secretariat drafted an edict.
• Fang Yun told the court that the Document Office would draft the edict and await word the next day, while Sheng Boyuan cautioned him to consider everyone at court.
• The Left Prime Minister's Document Office began drafting two edicts, and twenty-one Censorate censors gathered to debate them.

Fang Yun’s decree to include supervision of the daily rite in the Censorate’s assessments sparked debate, but Censor-in-Chief He Mingxiang backed the Grand Secretariat’s resolution. Fang Yun then introduced limits on officials’ tableware as a measure of wartime frugality, and many officials surrendered their expensive pieces.

• Censors debated whether Fang Yun’s decree threatened the Censorate, with several arguing that he had respected its independence and strengthened its authority.
• He Mingxiang supported the Grand Secretariat’s resolution, and the censors ended their argument.
• Fang Yun announced two imperial edicts and required Jing officials to follow the Lesser Rites by limiting their tableware to an average value of five hundred taels per set.
• Officials and private citizens welcomed the rule because it applied only to serving officials and did not burden the public or porcelain industry.
• Many officials prepared to surrender their expensive tableware, and a queue formed outside the Ministry of Personnel as Fang Yun’s policy received praise on the Discourse Ranking.

Fang Yun’s Daily Rites drew public support but also stirred complaints, and a censor’s report of a Fang Party official violating the rules tested whether Fang Yun would enforce them impartially. Fang Yun punished the official severely and rewarded the censor, leaving officials shocked and debating his decision.

• Fang Yun announced the second rite, limiting carriage ornaments and costs, and removed ornaments from his own carriage.
• The Left Prime Minister’s Office issued the third rite regulating officials’ boots, as complaints emerged from some officials, merchants, and workers.
• Over the following days, the Daily Rites became routine, and a circuit censor named Luo Yu impeached a sixth-rank associate prefect in Xiang Prefecture for wearing expensive boots.
• Officials suspected that a Royalist circuit censor had maneuvered Luo Yu into reporting the Fang Party associate prefect.
• Fang Yun’s response withheld the associate prefect’s salary for a year, gave him a lower-lower evaluation, and barred his promotion for five years, while raising Luo Yu’s evaluation to upper-middle.
• Officials reacted with shock, while some praised Fang Yun for treating officials impartially and others criticized or defended the associate prefect.

Fang Yun’s ritual restoration continued to reshape court politics, and the twelfth rite requiring officials to carry rice a hundred li for their parents was enacted despite widespread objections. He then published the Illustrated Tales of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, whose story of Guo Ju sparked a fierce debate across the Jing Kingdom and the Discourse Ranking.

• He Mingxiang directed censors to report ritual violations, and the Censorate reported more than a dozen lower-ranking officials while avoiding several prefectures.
• Fang Yun recorded punishments for the newly reported offenders in the Ministry of Personnel’s performance files.
• Officials fiercely debated the twelfth rite, which required them to carry twenty jin of rice home from a place a hundred li away for their parents’ birthdays.
• The Imperial Jade Seal made the twelfth rite an imperial command, while senior officials and the imperial family did not obstruct it.
• Fang Yun published the Illustrated Tales of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars on the Discourse Ranking after the rite took effect.
• Readers and court officials erupted into debate over the ninth story, in which Guo Ju planned to bury his son to feed his mother before discovering gold.

Fang Yun faced resistance over his plan to introduce Illustrated Tales of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars into schools, then used court to announce increasingly impractical rites based on the Book of Rites. His book proposal stalled, while his fourteenth rite sparked further condemnation and bewilderment.

• Officials opposed Fang Yun’s plan to promote Illustrated Tales of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, especially because he had restored the story of burying his son to support his mother.
• At court, Fang Yun presented the Jing Lord with a lamb and announced the thirteenth rite, restricting officials’ gifts to lambs, geese, or pheasants.
• Sheng Boyuan mocked Fang Yun’s rule, and officials carried livestock and poultry to Sheng Boyuan’s banquet, turning the spectacle into a joke on the Discourse Ranking.
• The court discussion ended without approval for introducing Illustrated Tales of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars into schools.
• Fang Yun announced the fourteenth rite, which required officials to wear sounding jade pendants and follow prescribed rhythms and paths on formal occasions.

Fang Yun proposed sweeping reforms to purge profit from the Jing Kingdom’s government, including cutting officials’ salaries and reducing taxes, provoking a massive backlash in court. After the Empress Dowager postponed the session for three days, Fang Yun claimed illness and stayed away, then released a new work titled Political History.

• Officials fiercely condemned Fang Yun’s fourteenth rite, while many former supporters remained silent.
• Fang Yun proposed abolishing profit-related government functions and using ritual, benevolence, and righteousness as the court’s guiding principles.
• Fang Yun called for reductions to officials’ salaries and public taxes, and said the Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of Works should also abandon profit.
• He Mingxiang, Sheng Boyuan, and more than a third of the officials impeached Fang Yun for destabilizing the court and the nation.
• The Empress Dowager postponed court for three days, and Fang Yun left in his Marquis Wu Chariot.
• Fang Yun claimed illness and skipped the next court session, then released a new work titled Political History.

Fang Yun's Political History introduced the Myriad Worlds' political systems and sparked debate over reform and royal authority. After the book went on sale, the Sacred Academy recognized his Plague Treatise, and a second Rainbow Reception appeared over Spring Garden.

• Fang Yun sent classical Chinese and vernacular versions of Political History to the Sacred Academy, where scholars read about the political systems of humanity and other races.
• Scholars debated whether the systems in the book could guide gradual reform, while opponents accused Fang Yun of disrupting royal authority and the Miscellaneous School's Sacred Way.
• The Profound Court Book Firm printed both versions, and Political History went on sale across the Jing Kingdom and major cities in other countries.
• Rainbow Reception appeared over Spring Garden, drawing congratulations and questions about Fang Yun's new work.
• The Sacred Academy Medical Hall announced that it had approved Fang Yun's Plague Treatise for study by the Medical School.
• A second Rainbow Bridge descended into Spring Garden before the first had faded, leaving two rainbows in the sky.

Fang Yun’s histories repeatedly expanded the Sacred Ways of the Human Race, drawing six rainbows and numerous Sacred Way artifacts to his residence. As critics accused him of neglecting the Confucian School, four more rainbows appeared at once, bringing the total to ten and shaking the Four Seas and Eight Wastelands.

• The Medical Hall praised Fang Yun’s History of Medicine and announced plans for specialized medical academies, while the Crafts Hall complained that the Medical School had announced its plans first.
• The Crafts Hall announced that History of Engineering had expanded the Craftsmen School’s Sacred Way and said its academy in Xiang Prefecture was already under construction.
• The War Hall credited History of Military Studies with drawing forth the Army Soul Horn and Myriad Victories Tiger Tally, then announced School of War academies in Xiang Prefecture and Mi Prefecture.
• The Hall of Punishment announced that History of Law would provide the foundation for legal reforms, and the Agriculture Hall said History of Agriculture had pointed the way for future agricultural studies.
• Confucian and other disciples complained that Fang Yun was strengthening other schools, while his opponents accused him of provoking a Contest of Sacred Ways.
• Four rainbows appeared from the Sacred Academy at once, bringing the total to ten as the Four Seas and Eight Wastelands trembled and ten thousand dragons emerged from the sea.

Fang Yun’s four new commentaries were received by the Sacred Academy, and ten rainbows appeared over the sky. The achievement disrupted efforts to impeach him, while officials scrambled to congratulate him or retrieve their memorials.

• The Sacred Academy announced Fang Yun’s New Annotations to the Four Books and displayed ten rainbows across the sky.
• The Wu Lord ordered Fang Yun’s books distributed throughout the Wu Kingdom and made them the subject of upcoming Classic Lectures.
• Yang Xuwen withdrew his agreement to support Sheng Boyuan’s impeachment plan and hurried to buy a lamb to congratulate Fang Yun.
• Officials who had gathered with Sheng Boyuan decided to send gifts to Fang Yun after seeing Yang Xuwen’s response.
• He Mingxiang flew toward the imperial palace to retrieve the censors’ impeachment memorials, while the other censors prepared gifts and considered helping him.

After Fang Yun’s Ten Rainbows Across the Sky achievement, people across the Jing Kingdom rushed to send him gifts according to his ritual rules, overwhelming Spring Garden with livestock. Fang Yun asked them to stop and simply thank him, while their voices of gratitude strengthened the Longevity Jade Throne.

• Scholars on the Discourse Ranking defended Fang Yun against old accusations and mocked his critics.
• Officials and scholars in the capital bought lambs, geese, and pheasants to congratulate Fang Yun, quickly exhausting the city’s supplies.
• Scholars attached pheasant feathers to domestic chickens, while buyers streamed into nearby farms to find more birds.
• Ordinary residents joined in by buying ducks, and crowds carrying livestock packed the streets around Spring Garden.
• Fang Yun used Tongue Blossoms Thunder to ask everyone to stop bringing gifts and thank him in their hearts instead.
• People across the capital voiced their gratitude, and the Longevity Jade Throne absorbed popular will and national fortune.

Fang Yun pleaded guilty before the court, then publicly explained that his Ritual Restoration policies were misguided and halted them. He proposed rules restricting the restoration of ancient rites, and his declaration resonated through the palace and joined with the Jing Kingdom’s National Fortune.

• Fang Yun ordered the poultry and livestock gifted to Spring Garden distributed to the capital’s cleaners, then spent the night pondering Political Science.
• At court, Fang Yun submitted a memorial pleading guilty, but the Empress Dowager rejected his requested punishment.
• Fang Yun apologized to the officials, the Jing Lord, and the Empress Dowager with a deep bow.
• Fang Yun argued that changing times made old rituals unsuitable and halted Ritual Restoration, handing related affairs to the Ministry of Rites.
• Fang Yun declared that ancient rites could not be restored if anyone objected, while new rites could proceed with approval from seventy percent of officials; his words merged with the Jing Kingdom’s National Fortune.

Fang Yun pleaded guilty in court, but his declaration against recklessly restoring ancient rites produced the Voice of the State and established his unmatched legitimacy among Jing scholars. He then argued that Confucius followed the Rites of Zhou because they suited their era, leaving the court to recognize that Fang Yun had used his apparent offense to advance the case for new rites.

• Fang Yun’s words produced the Voice of the State, stunning the court and making many scholars regard him as Jing’s rightful ruler.
• Zhang Poyue and Fang Yun’s other friends warned him that his bond with Jing’s national fortune could affect his Sacred Way, but Fang Yun replied that a scholar should bear the burden of an entire race.
• Lin Shouyan noticed Fang Yun had spoken as a sage and warned the Ritual Hall’s council elders that Fang Yun intended to defy the great rites.
• Fang Yun explained that Confucius followed the Rites of Zhou because they suited the needs of their era, and declared that even a Saint would follow new rites when they arose.
• The Voice of the Great Dao repeated Fang Yun’s words, while the court remained silent and Lin Shouyan reconsidered them as a scholar.
• The officials realized Fang Yun had lured his opponents into condemning him before revealing his prepared works and true purpose in court.

Fang Yun convinced the officials to accept ritual restoration and imposed severe penalties on himself, then outlined his plan to strengthen Jing Kingdom through specialized colleges. He left the court preparing to recruit distinguished teachers with substantial rewards.

• Fang Yun persuaded the officials that Sage Kong had pursued innovation in ritual and declared that he had corrected his own mistake.
• Fang Yun requested that his title be reduced to Nation-Quelling Duke, barred himself from ever receiving a king's title again, forfeited three years' salary, and accepted conditional ten-year exile from Jing Kingdom.
• Fang Yun announced that he would lead Jing Kingdom forward and described plans to establish more than a hundred colleges, with twenty-two already underway.
• Yang Xuwen offered to recruit former students and associates as teachers, and Fang Yun thanked him.
• Fang Yun proposed rewards for college teachers, including divine treasures for years of service and special benefits for Grand Academicians and Great Scholars.

Fang Yun won officials’ support for his academies, then proposed a new system for deciding Jing Kingdom’s policies. He called it Cabinet Centralization, leaving the court stunned by the scale of his reforms.

• Yang Xuwen and Zhang Poyue sought teaching positions at Fang Yun’s academies, and other officials praised the plan as a boon to Jing Kingdom.
• The Empress Dowager worried that Fang Yun’s academies would draw talented officials away from the royal court and strengthen his influence.
• Fang Yun announced that his next reform would pursue profit under the supervision of rites and law, prompting Sheng Boyuan to question his approach.
• Fang Yun proposed that major policies require approval by the Grand Secretariat Councillors and that the most consequential policies also require approval from the Grand Secretariat Attendants.
• Fang Yun named his proposed system of government Cabinet Centralization, and the officials reacted with shock.

Fang Yun proposed formalizing cabinet centralization while preserving the monarch’s authority, and explained that the Hall of Punishment’s decree would support the reform. He then discussed elections with Wei Xu, arguing that genuine people-centered government required an exceptionally informed and capable populace.

• Fang Yun said cabinet centralization would regulate the Grand Secretariat without abolishing the monarch’s authority, and Cao Dean and Yang Xuwen agreed to consider a memorial subject to approval by the monarch.
• Lin Shouyan ruled that the reform violated neither ritual nor law, while Fang Yun said he would seek a written decree from the Hall of Punishment.
• Cao Dean criticized the elective system, but Wei Xu defended elections and asked Fang Yun to explain his position.
• Fang Yun said elections were best only under ideal conditions and argued that societies needed highly capable, knowledgeable commoners for people-centered government to be genuine.
• Fang Yun described a powerful people-centered nation whose Upper House remained controlled by wealthy elites and indirectly hereditary members.

Fang Yun argued that people-centered government and elections were impractical and dangerous for the Jing Kingdom, so officials should pursue gradual reform. He began that reform by proposing that the Ministry of Personnel evaluate officials primarily by their achievements in benefiting the people and the country.

• Fang Yun argued that ordinary people and officials were swayed by emotion and that bureaucrats tended to protect their own interests after gaining power.
• Cao Dean noted that although Chen Sheng and Wu Guang began Qin's downfall, Emperor Gaozu of Han ultimately took power.
• Fang Yun asked Wei Xu whether the Jing Kingdom could support people-centered government or elections, and Wei Xu admitted it could not.
• Fang Yun warned that radical reforms amid internal conflict and the threat of Demon Barbarians could ruin the country, and called for gradual improvement.
• Fang Yun told Huang Zongyu to prioritize administrative achievements over the Four Virtues when evaluating officials.
• Fang Yun declared that seeking benefits for the people and the country was the heart of Jing Kingdom's reform.