Chapter Summaries

Xolotl received a Portuguese flag from Cuba and realized that European history had already diverged from the future he remembered. After divining ill omens and interpreting one as a sign involving a horse, he decided to request two foals and prepare for the changes ahead.

• Xolotl granted himself authority over negotiations with Yodzocahi and ordered the Alliance envoys to meet him the next day.
• Xolotl examined a Portuguese flag captured in Cuba and wondered why Portuguese ships had appeared and where Columbus's fleet was.
• Xolotl concluded that his historical knowledge could no longer predict events reliably and performed two divinations that seemed to show ill omens.
• Xolotl recalled that a changing line in the second divination involved a strong horse and decided to ask Chimer for two foals from Great Whale Island.
• Xolotl wrote Chimer a letter requesting the foals as the New and Old Continents entered a period of sweeping change.

Zuwaro and Maha Aguda traveled upstream along the Heilongjiang after conquering the Mang'achan Tribe, and Zuwaro studied the Ming seal and the empire's legacy in the region. Aguda spotted smoke and heard fighting beyond a river bend, leaving the fleet on alert as they approached.

• Zuwaro examined the Mang'achan Tribe's Great Ming seal while Aguda discussed how they divided the tribe's people, horses, and spoils.
• Zuwaro recalled how his fleet had reached the Maha Tribe with rice and joined Aguda's warriors in capturing the Mang'achan stronghold.
• The Mang'achan elders surrendered their imperial garments, edict, and seal, which led Zuwaro to question Great Ming's rule over the frontier tribes.
• Aguda used Zuwaro's telescope and spotted smoke beyond the river bend, then warned that a large group of tribes was fighting nearby.
• The warriors heard killing cries and dogs barking, and the fleet prepared its armor and bows.

Maha Aguda and Zuwaro’s fleet came upon three Wild Jurchen tribes besieging a wealthy Tame Jurchen stockade and held back rather than join the battle. As the defenders neared defeat, Ali, an Assistant Regional Military Commissioner, escaped with five cavalrymen and appealed to the fleet for help.

• Maha Aguda and Zuwaro followed the sounds of fighting and signal arrows toward a battlefield near the river.
• They saw three Wild Jurchen tribes attacking a fortified stockade defended by a smaller Tame Jurchen tribe.
• Maha Aguda urged the fleet to land and claim a share of the stockade’s riches, but Zuwaro chose to wait and avoid losses.
• The attacking tribes noticed the fleet and sent more than a hundred fighters to guard against its interference.
• Ali and eight Tame Jurchen cavalrymen charged out through a rear gate; after three fell, the remaining six reached the fleet, and Ali begged it to save his Harman Tribe.

Zuwaro and Maha Aguda lured Harman chieftain Ali and his riders aboard their ships, where Ali realized they were not Ming officials. When Udiha chiefs demanded the horses and armor, Maha Aguda challenged them with a display of strength and aimed an arrow at their leader.

• Maha Aguda warned Zuwaro that fighting the Wild Jurchen force could cost them heavily, so Zuwaro decided to seize the six Harman riders without openly fighting the attackers.
• Tiger Slave claimed the fleet belonged to the Manjing Guard, then he and Xiong Da forced Ali and his five companions aboard the ships and confiscated their weapons and armor.
• Ali recognized that the crew included Wild Jurchen, Mongols, and other foreign warriors, and he suspected Zuwaro's group were impostors.
• The Udiha chiefs and their warriors reached the riverbank and demanded the six horses and the armor, claiming the fleet had taken their prey.
• Maha Aguda introduced the fleet as the Dafaha Tribe, hurled a Stone Hammer onto the shore, and drew his great bow on the leading Udiha chief.

Maha Aguda impressed three Wild Jurchen chieftains with his powerful archery and claimed the Great Spirit had granted him divine strength. As Ali learned that Fushan Guard was also besieged, he confronted the collapse of Great Ming authority in Outer Northeast and the relentless southward migration of Wild tribes.

• Maha Aguda shot a heavy arrow more than a hundred paces, frightening the three Wild Jurchen chieftains into introducing themselves.
• Maha Aguda told Wuzhe Aguda, Wuzhe Nurha, and Wuzhe Daimin that he had come south from the Great Sea and gained divine strength after surviving a lightning strike.
• The chieftains revealed that their tribes had captured Harman Guard and that Fushan Guard was under siege.
• Ali realized that nearby guards had fallen or faced attack, leaving Yi'erguli Guard as the nearest possible source of reinforcements.
• Ali regretted that his tribe had not sought inner attachment to Great Ming and feared that the empire's retreat would leave Outer Northeast in prolonged chaos.

Maha Aguda prepared to fight the Wuzhe tribes over a stockade, but Zuwaro persuaded him to bargain for their captives instead. The Wuzhe chiefs were stunned when Maha offered iron goods and medical help in exchange for the men, women, and children they could not keep alive.

• The Wuzhe chiefs claimed the stockade’s supplies and warned Maha Aguda that their warriors could outnumber his men, so both sides readied their weapons.
• Zuwaro stopped Maha Aguda from attacking and convinced him to trade for captives, promising he could feed them and put them to work.
• Maha Aguda agreed to seek captives rather than grain, ironware, or livestock from the stockade.
• Maha Aguda offered the Wuzhe tribes iron weapons and pots in exchange for their captives, and promised to take their badly injured warriors aboard his ships for treatment.
• The three Wuzhe chiefs reacted with disbelief to Maha Aguda’s offer to take only people.

Maha Aguda offered the Wuzhe chieftains an unusually generous exchange of Ironware for captives, and they eagerly brought survivors from the Harman Tribe to the river. The chieftains counted the captives and Maha agreed to trade for them all, but he insisted on inspecting the warriors and fighters before handing over their Ironware.

• Maha Aguda announced Ironware prices for captives and threw an Iron Axe ashore to demonstrate his strength and good faith.
• The three Wuzhe chieftains accepted the offer and sent Nurha, Daimin, and other riders to gather living captives from the stockade.
• Wild warriors stopped looting and drove surviving Harman tribespeople toward the river, while the elderly and badly wounded had already been killed.
• Ali watched from the Longship as his stockade fell and his people were herded away as captives.
• The Wuzhe chieftains counted five warriors, twenty fighters, twenty surplus males, and a hundred women and children, and Maha offered Ironware for all of them.
• Maha agreed to trade fifty Iron Spears and one hundred and twenty Iron Arrows for the women, children, and surplus males, then asked to inspect the warriors and fighters.

Maha Aguda and Zuwaro traded captured Tame Jurchen and ironware with the Wuzhe chiefs, then escaped when the chiefs grew greedy and threatened the ships. As the fleet sailed away, Maha Aguda claimed Zuwaro was a forest Shaman whose sacrifices brought the tribe its ships, cannons, and iron goods.

• The Wuzhe tribes tested the captives' strength with bows and agreed to trade them for ironware.
• Maha Aguda and Zuwaro loaded the captives and trade goods aboard three Longships as more Wild Jurchen gathered on shore.
• When the Wuzhe chiefs tried to keep the ships from leaving, Zuwaro ordered the cannons fired, scattering horses and disrupting the riders.
• The Longships escaped into the river, and Maha Aguda told the Wuzhe chiefs that a forest Shaman had obtained their goods through sacrificial offerings.
• Maha Aguda identified Zuwaro as his brother-in-law, the Great Bird Chief and forest Shaman.

Zuwaro’s fleet returned down the Heilongjiang to the Maha Tribe with captives from the southern tribes, including the Harman chieftain Ali. At Nurgan, Zuwaro brought Ali into Yongning Temple and demanded that he pay a price for the survival of his people.

• Zuwaro considered the dangers of trading and sailing on the Heilongjiang as his fleet headed back toward the Maha Tribe.
• The fleet reached Nurgan after four days, and Ali recognized the ruined stronghold as the abandoned Nurgan Regional Military Commission.
• Ali wondered how the strange tribe could possess large ships, iron goods, and a Tiger-Crouching Cannon, and feared that his people might be sacrificed.
• Two armored warriors carried Ali into the altered Yongning Temple, where he saw a bloodstained altar and Shamans, including Priest Kuihuo.
• Zuwaro reminded Ali that he had saved the Harman people and demanded a price, then told him he wanted Ali’s soul.
• The temple doors shut, and Ali’s scream and wailing faded into the forest.

Zuwaro inducted the captured southern chieftain Ali into the Main God’s faith and used his knowledge to map the tribes along the great river. The chapter ended with Ali revealing that he had sacrificed his braid and blood and received a hidden hummingbird emblem tattooed over his heart.

• After four days without seeing Zuwaro or Kuihuo, Maha Aguda entered Yongning Temple and found Zuwaro leading Ali in prayers as a Priest Apprentice.
• Zuwaro showed Maha Aguda the unfinished map of northern lands and explained that Ali’s fear of death had made him receptive to the Main God.
• Zuwaro argued that the southern tribes had lost faith in the benevolent good god and needed the Main God’s promise of warmth, harvest, and salvation through blood sacrifice.
• Ali explained that Zuwaro’s spirit-communing ritual had revealed the Blood-Eyed Main God and that he had sacrificed his blood and braid.
• Ali revealed a dark-red hummingbird emblem tattooed over his heart, which he said would let him feel the Main God whenever he prayed.

Zuwaro learned how Great Ming once controlled the lower Heilongjiang through river forts, tribal guards, and a fleet, and why its costly withdrawal left the region exposed. Ali’s account of Harman’s tribute and trade with Kaiyuan gave Zuwaro an idea for the future.

• Ali described how Wild People raids had destroyed or weakened the Ming-allied guards along the lower Heilongjiang, leaving only a few strongholds.
• Ali explained that Great Ming withdrew because maintaining distant troops and supply routes cost too much, especially after Jilin Shipyard and the Huntong River fleet were abandoned.
• Ali recounted that his father had rejected an offer to move Harman Tribe south onto Jianzhou lands, and regretted the choice after the tribe was destroyed.
• Ali described the rewards and profits Harman had gained through tribute missions and trading furs at Kaiyuan’s market.
• Zuwaro realized Harman’s next tribute mission was due in the spring of the year after next and became interested in Kaiyuan.

Zuwaro questioned Harman chief Ali about the long Jurchen tribute route to Kaiyuan and learned how Great Ming handled tribute, trade, and tribal identities. After Ali explained Kaiyuan’s markets and artisans, Zuwaro revealed plans to take a thousand jin of gold to Great Ming and ask its emperor for skilled artisans.

• Ali traced the tribute route from Harman Guard to Kaiyuan and explained how tribal riders joined forces to travel safely south.
• Ali warned Zuwaro that claiming the sensitive Manjing Guard identity could draw official scrutiny, and suggested using the defunct Fuduo River Guard instead.
• Ali described Great Ming’s lenient policies toward Jurchen tribute and explained that Kaiyuan’s market allowed tribute tribes to trade for goods, including some ironware.
• Zuwaro asked whether Kaiyuan had shipbuilders and blacksmiths, then showed Ali a one-jin gold talisman.
• Zuwaro said he planned to take ten bags containing a thousand jin of gold to Great Ming, seek an audience with the emperor, and request the best artisans; Ali was stunned by the amount.

Zuwaro tried to persuade Ali that a thousand catties of gold could secure a Ming audience and artisans, but Ali warned that the Liaodong border army would kill them to seize such an immense fortune. The chapter ended with Ali predicting that Ming officers would report their massacre as a victory and claim rewards.

• Ali was stunned by Zuwaro's promise of a thousand catties of gold, and Xiong Da brought in a sack of Gold Talismans to prove the wealth was real.
• Ali briefly imagined using the gold to buy grain and smuggle iron weapons, but the blood and sacrifices in Yongning Temple made him wary.
• Ali told Zuwaro that the gold would make them targets, since the Jurchen tribes valued it only in the south and Ming border soldiers were desperate for money.
• Ali explained the Liaodong army's low pay, phantom salaries, embezzlement, and secret trade with Jurchen tribes to show how deeply its officers would covet the gold.
• Ali warned that taking a thousand catties of gold to Kaiyuan would likely bring a Ming military massacre, which officers would falsely report as the defeat of invading tribute-seekers.

Zuwaro learned from Harman chieftain Ali how Great Ming’s Liaodong officials viewed the Jurchen tribes and why displaying too much gold could invite attack. Ali outlined a cautious route for tribute and trade, then offered a covert way to obtain shipwrights through his distant ties to a powerful Liaodong figure.

• Ali warned Zuwaro that Great Ming treated even loyal Tame Jurchen as barbarians and that Liaodong troops might rob tribes showing too much wealth.
• Zuwaro concluded that Great Ming might not recognize his state letter and considered entering a Jurchen tribute party to negotiate for artisans.
• Ali advised limiting a two-hundred-rider tribute party to eight jin of gold and eight hundred taels of silver, disguising the gold as placer gold, and quietly bribing the Kaiyuan Garrison Eunuch Official.
• Ali explained that blacksmiths were nearly impossible to remove from Liaodong, but shipwrights from the abolished Jilin Shipyard might be obtained through discreet payments and old connections.
• Ali hinted that a powerful figure in Liaodong would take a particular liking to Zuwaro when they met.

Zuwaro learned from Ali that Jurchen eunuchs at the Great Ming court could be a powerful, reliable channel for trade and influence, and he began considering a future tribute mission. He then turned his attention west, where Ali said the Three Guards of Duoyan controlled the region’s herds and could supply horses, cattle, and sheep.

• Ali explained that Jurchen eunuchs had historically served as influential intermediaries for northeastern tribes in Great Ming.
• Ali recounted his meetings with eunuchs Wei Lang and Luo Quan and said he had bribed Luo Quan to obtain permission to take iron armor beyond the Border Wall.
• Zuwaro concluded that eunuchs could be a more dependable route into Great Ming than civil officials or border commanders and resolved to keep the idea in mind.
• Zuwaro asked Ali whether the Three Guards of Duoyan were the source for buying large numbers of livestock.
• Ali confirmed that the Three Guards of Duoyan controlled the upstream grasslands and herds, and said Jurchen ties would help Zuwaro buy animals from their smaller tribes.

Harman chieftain Ali explained the history and shifting loyalties of the Three Guards of Duoyan, then identified a route to reach the Fuyu Guard and buy horses. The journey would lead to Harbin, a shallow river crossing where swans landed.

• Ali described the origins, bloodline rankings, and changing positions of the Three Guards of Duoyan, and recalled their rewards under the Taizong Emperor.
• Ali explained that after Taizong's death, the Three Guards turned away from the Ming court, with the Duoyan Guard now threatening Guangning and the Liaoxi Corridor.
• Ali told Zuwaro that the Fuyu Guard was the closest of the three to their Jurchen tribes and could be reached by following the Huntong and Songhua rivers south and west.
• Ali said the Fuyu Guard's pastoral tribes could sell them horses, though bringing the horses back would be difficult.
• Ali named Harbin as the shallow, grassy river mouth where the tribes crossed and where they could meet the Fuyu Guard.

Zuwaro weighed routes for buying horses and chose to trade with the small Forest People tribes near Halabo rather than risk a large expedition through Haixi Jurchen lands. He learned that salt, which the Wajin could supply cheaply in bulk, would be a valuable trade good for them.

• Ali explained that reaching the Fuyu Guard to buy horses required a long journey through Wildman and Haixi Jurchen territories, and that returning with a large herd would require many guards and trusted local allies.
• Zuwaro grew wary of involving the Haixi Jurchen and asked Ali about the nearer Forest People tribes instead.
• Ali described the route west to Halabo and said the small Forest People tribes there could provide horses and other livestock.
• Zuwaro decided to travel west in spring to trade for livestock and asked what goods the Forest People valued.
• Kuihuo showed Zuwaro salt, explaining that coastal tribes had welcomed it and the Forest People needed it too.

Zuwaro learned from Ali that Salt was scarce across the Northeast and that Great Ming’s poor Liaodong commoners could barely afford it, making Salt smuggling less profitable than he had expected. As the first snow fell, Zuwaro and Ali sailed south with Jurchen tribespeople to establish a new home at Shenhuatai Port.

• Ali explained that northeastern tribes and Liaodong residents were short of Salt, and that official Salt prices were high because of Great Ming’s monopoly.
• Zuwaro calculated that Salt was worth too little in gold to make smuggling it into Great Ming worthwhile.
• Ali described the poverty and heavy taxation endured by Han commoners, and Zuwaro marveled at Great Ming’s power.
• Zuwaro invited Ali and the Harman Tribe to settle at Shenhuatai Port as part of a new home for the Rubber People tribes.
• As the first September snow fell, three kingdom Longships carried Zuwaro, Ali, warriors, and more than two hundred Jurchen people south toward Shenhuatai Port.

Losanda reunited with Zuwaro at Shenhuatai Port and described the dangerous voyage along the Divine Revelation Island Chain. He delivered the Mountain Tribe Matriarch’s proposal to send Mountain Tribe and Deer Tribe branches south through the kingdom, leaving Zuwaro surprised by the prospect of settling Mashiri Island.

• Losanda and Zuwaro reunited aboard a Zheyang Ship at Shenhuatai Port and celebrated with tequila.
• Losanda recounted how his crew crossed the Divine Revelation Island Chain in just over two months, losing warriors and sailors to murderous waves and storms.
• Losanda explained that he had married Mu Zidiao, the Mountain Tribe Matriarch’s granddaughter, while resting at Divine Twin Smoke Port.
• Losanda told Zuwaro that the Mountain Tribe and Deer Tribe faced losses from severe snow and might seek new hunting grounds in the south.
• Zuwaro realized the tribes hoped to travel south through the kingdom and settle Mashiri Island.

Zuwaro rejected the Mountain Tribe’s plan to migrate south by raiding local tribes and chose a policy of absorbing their hungry settlements as kin in exchange for supplies. Losanda then introduced Ryuzoji Iehiro, a converted Wajin noble who sought the Main God’s support in reclaiming his clan leadership and spreading the faith in Kyushu.

• Losanda told Zuwaro that the Mountain Tribe expected to send roughly a thousand people south and described its plan for migrating as armed, plundering great tents.
• Zuwaro rejected the great-tent plan because he wanted to protect the Ainu tribes and preserve the Kingdom’s trade with the Wajin.
• Losanda explained his alternative plan for Mountain Tribe settlements to join the Sea Tribe as kin in return for supplies, while retaining the option to return to their original tribes.
• Zuwaro approved the divided-settlement plan and assigned Losanda to negotiate the first migration in spring, promising to secure the needed supplies through trade.
• Losanda presented Ryuzoji Iehiro, a converted Wajin noble who asked Zuwaro to authorize him to bring the Main God’s faith to Kyushu and promised his clan’s conversion if he regained its leadership.