Chapter Summaries

Zuwaro questioned Ryuzoji Iehiro about Wagoku’s clans and trade, then delayed his return to Hizen while assigning him to help plan a gold-trading expedition. Iehiro proposed using gold to assemble a Hizen pirate band to raid Joseon, while Zuwaro and Losanda prepared to sail south and discussed expanding the Kingdom’s power.

• Ryuzoji Iehiro explained the Ryuzoji and Soni clans’ strength and described Hizen’s trade routes to Joseon and Great Ming.
• Zuwaro postponed Iehiro’s return to Hizen and asked him to help plan the Kingdom’s gold trade and list needed goods and artisans.
• Iehiro named eight coastal clans involved in piracy and offered to raise a Hizen pirate band to attack Joseon’s Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces and their shipyards.
• Zuwaro told Iehiro to join the October gold trade and assigned him an accountant’s role.
• Zuwaro invited Losanda to sail south with seven ships, keeping two cargo ships hidden from the Wajin.
• Zuwaro told Losanda he hoped gold and reliable warriors would help establish a northern chief diocese and eventually unite the Rubber People against the Demon invasion.

Master Juehui and Morino Kiyoshi discussed the Tendai Sect’s northward trade in artisans and the sect’s need for Sanda gold. Juehui chose to pursue the trade, and the sect’s ships answered with a thunderous chant as its five hundred Warrior Monks prepared for the voyage.

• Master Juehui finished preaching to the artisans aboard the Hokke-maru and told Morino Kiyoshi that they were sacrificing themselves for Buddhism while the monks pursued wealth and honor.
• Juehui admitted that he and Morino would not sacrifice themselves, explaining that the Tendai Sect placed its survival and monks above the believers and the Dharma.
• Morino Kiyoshi warned that openly placing profit above righteousness could undermine the sect’s standing in Ezo Land.
• Juehui and Morino discussed the Sanda trade’s 223 jin of gold and its 140 jin net profit, which rivaled years of Mount Nan-ei’s rent surplus.
• Juehui declared that the sect needed gold and ordered the trade to proceed, while five hundred Warrior Monks aboard ten ships chanted and gripped their weapons.

Master Juehui led the Tendai Sect’s fleet to Wajin Land, intending to secure influence over the Sanda gold trade and prepare to fight the Sanda if profitable. The fleet arrived at Katsuyama Castle as the Kakizaki Clan arrested Ando Sadasue, clearing the way for Kakizaki Mitsuhiro to consolidate control of Wajin Land.

• Master Juehui explained to Morino Kiyoshi that the Tendai Sect had sent ten warships and five hundred Warrior Monks under the pretext of protecting Kakizaki Mitsuhiro from the Sanda and bringing Kakizaki Yoshihiro into the sect.
• Morino Kiyoshi warned Master Juehui that the Sanda warriors were formidable and argued that the sect should continue trading for gold rather than risk a military confrontation.
• Master Juehui ordered Morino Kiyoshi to keep trading for as much gold as possible while he assessed whether the Sanda could be attacked, and he declared that the sect would establish a branch temple in Wajin Land.
• Two days later, Master Juehui’s fleet arrived at Katsuyama Castle, where Kakizaki Mitsunaga’s Samurai arrested Matsumae Guardian Ando Sadasue for colluding with the Sanda.
• Kakizaki Mitsuhiro’s clan removed the final obstacle to unifying Wajin Land while Master Juehui and the Tendai fleet watched without intervening.

The Wajin trading party arrived at the Shiribetsu River and found the Sanda Gold Clan’s army far larger and stronger than before. Dharma Master Juehui nevertheless planned to exploit the Sanda’s weakness at sea, ordering Morino Kiyoshi to trade as usual while he prepared to act.

• The Wajin ships and warriors reached the river mouth, where the Sanda Tribe waited in a fortified camp.
• Kudo Shigeyasu and Morino Kiyoshi saw that the Sanda had assembled hundreds of disciplined troops, including twenty heavily armored Jurchen cavalrymen.
• Dharma Master Juehui argued that the Sanda’s weakness was its small number of ships and that the Wajin fleet could strike them at sea.
• Morino Kiyoshi warned that attacking could provoke the Sanda to march south, but Juehui dismissed the danger to the Tendai Sect and said it would shelter Kakizaki Yoshihiro if needed.
• Juehui ordered Morino Kiyoshi to trade normally, unload the ships’ goods, and exchange them for as much gold as possible while he handled the planned contingencies.

Morino Kiyoshi brought Zuwaro a large shipment of books, artisans, provisions, weapons, ships, and a Joseon medical woman whom Zuwaro hoped could teach variolation. Zuwaro offered to pay lavishly and asked Morino whether he had enough gold for the deal, leaving the trade’s final terms unsettled.

• Morino Kiyoshi and Matsushita Shojiro crossed the Shiribetsu River and presented Zuwaro with a catalog listing the shipment’s goods and eighty-one artisans.
• Zuwaro inspected the Wajin ships and negotiated to buy one damaged merchant ship from Morino Kiyoshi.
• Morino Kiyoshi described the artisans and introduced a Joseon medical woman he claimed was a master physician with royal-court experience.
• Zuwaro demanded to know whether the woman could perform variolation against smallpox and offered fifty catties of gold if she proved capable.
• Morino Kiyoshi questioned whether Zuwaro had enough gold to pay for the entire shipment and suggested trading part of the goods first or waiting for gold to be fetched.

Morino Kiyoshi admitted that the Tendai Sect’s High Priest Juehui planned to attack the Sanda Tribe’s gold, while insisting that he remained committed to trade with Zuwaro. Zuwaro learned of the threat, and Morino arranged for the Joseon medical artisan Caishan to meet the Sanda nobles.

• Zuwaro threatened Morino Kiyoshi with his Iron Knife, and Morino swore that he valued their friendship and wanted their gold trade to continue.
• Morino explained that High Priest Juehui was in charge of the expedition and had ordered him to probe the Sanda Tribe’s strength.
• Morino warned Zuwaro that Juehui planned to seize the tribe’s gold and denied taking part in the scheme.
• Zuwaro questioned whether a larger Wajin force supported Juehui, but Morino said there was no army of several thousand in Ezo.
• Morino asked Zuwaro to stay alert after the trade, then ordered Shojiro to bring the medical artisan Caishan to meet the Sanda nobles.

Zuwaro and Losanda tested Caishan, a captured Joseon medical woman, and mistook her pulse readings for spirit magic. Losanda asked her to help combat the coming smallpox plague, but her unfamiliarity with the disease and inoculation made the Kingdom men suspect Morino Kiyoshi had deceived them.

• Caishan took Zuwaro’s pulse and identified signs of gout and kidney yang deficiency, prompting his surprise at her apparent skill.
• Losanda let Caishan examine him, and she described symptoms of heart fire, insomnia, and restless dreams.
• Losanda showed Caishan the king’s letter naming smallpox and asked whether she knew how to treat it or perform inoculation.
• Caishan said she had never heard of smallpox, and Zuwaro and Losanda accused Morino Kiyoshi of deceiving them as the warriors drew their axes and surrounded him.

Xolotl taught noble youths about smallpox and the threat that foreign plagues posed to the Alliance, explaining how they spread and urging strict quarantine and vaccination. He left them with hope that the Medical Priests would develop a vaccine before the diseases arrived.

• Cuitlahuac asked Xolotl about the word “smallpox” in the illustrated Book of Plague, and Xolotl began a lesson for the noble youths in his school.
• Xolotl explained smallpox’s symptoms, transmission, and danger, then instructed the youths to isolate infected communities and burn contaminated bodies, clothing, and houses.
• Cuitlahuac asked whether strong warriors could survive smallpox, and Xolotl warned that children and the elderly faced especially high death rates.
• Xolotl told the youths that foreign plagues would threaten the Alliance and urged them to copy and study the Book of Plague.
• Xolotl promised that the Medical Priests would pursue vaccination so children could gain protection from smallpox.

Zuwaro and Losanda questioned the Joseon medical woman Caishan about inoculation after she identified the books and treatments she carried. Morino Kiyoshi falsely claimed she was willing to serve the Gold Clan, and Caishan was taken aboard their ship with her medical books and tools, still weeping.

• Caishan described smallpox and searched her medical chest for books that explained its symptoms and treatments.
• Zuwaro and Losanda asked Caishan about inoculation, and she explained its dangers and the need to maintain a weakened strain using successive human carriers.
• Morino Kiyoshi told Zuwaro that Caishan knew inoculation and willingly served the Gold Clan, although she had only been crying in fear.
• Zuwaro ordered Tiger Slave to pay Morino fifty catties of gold and sent Caishan aboard the ship under guard.
• Caishan recalled being sold to the Jisheng Institute as a child and walked toward the ship, overwhelmed by the difference between her former price and the gold paid for her.

Morino Kiyoshi completed a gold-for-goods-and-artisans trade with Zuwaro, then explained that Tendai Sect interference forced him to leave Ezo for a while. He revealed that he would join next year’s Tally Permit tribute fleet to the Ming Dynasty, leaving the future of their trade uncertain.

• Master Juehui watched the traders depart and considered attacking the Sanda fleet and seizing its gold.
• Morino Kiyoshi and Zuwaro settled the trade at seven hundred jin of gold, including payment for goods and eighty-one artisans.
• Zuwaro gave Morino tequila and a corncob pipe of Divine Smoke, then questioned him about the threat from Master Juehui and the next trade.
• Morino explained that the Tendai Sect’s influence made a direct confrontation dangerous, so he planned to leave until the conflict settled.
• Morino revealed he would join the Sakai Port tribute fleet to the Ming Dynasty next spring, and he and Zuwaro exchanged farewells.

Kudo Shigeyasu feared the Tendai Sect’s growing influence and the Sanda army’s strength, so he ordered Sukesaburo to secretly approach the Sanda camp while preparing the Kakizaki Clan to return south. The chapter ended with Sukesaburo leaving the reeds and running toward the Sanda camp.

• A Tendai Fleet messenger told Kudo Shigeyasu that the trade was complete and the Kakizaki warriors had to march south without the fleet.
• Kudo Shigeyasu suspected the Sanda men could threaten Wajin Land and decided the Kakizaki Clan had to prepare for the worst.
• Kudo Shigeyasu instructed Sukesaburo to carry out a secret mission and promised to protect his son and household.
• Sukesaburo reluctantly swore to serve the Kakizaki Clan, and Kudo Shigeyasu ordered a forced march to Katsuyama Castle.
• After the fleet and Kakizaki troops departed, Sukesaburo emerged from the reeds and ran toward the Sanda camp.

Zuwaro and Losanda debated how to protect their forces from an approaching Tendai Sect fleet while Ryuzoji Iehiro proposed seeking intelligence from the Kakizaki Clan. Before Iehiro could depart as an envoy, Sukesaburo arrived with the enemy’s plans and revealed that the Kakizaki Clan would stay out of the conflict.

• Zuwaro proposed splitting the troops, sending the Jurchen and Ainu by land while the kingdom and Sanda warriors returned by sea, and he and Losanda argued over who should lead the escort and who should fight.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro urged the leaders to hold the camp until they learned the enemy’s strength and offered to go south to persuade the Kakizaki Clan to remain neutral.
• Zuwaro agreed to send Iehiro south, but alert dogs sounded before he could leave, and Tiger Slave brought a captured Wajin into the tent.
• Sukesaburo identified himself as a Kakizaki Clan warrior and disclosed that ten Tendai ships carrying five hundred Warrior Monks would arrive in about two days to attack the fleet or plunder the gold camp.
• Sukesaburo revealed that the Kakizaki Clan army would continue south and avoid fighting the Sanda forces while the clan consolidated its newly acquired territory.

At the mouth of the Shubuto River, Morino Kiyoshi argued with Master Juehui over the gold and the dangerous raid against the Sanda People, then sailed south with three merchant ships. Juehui entrusted the attack to Monk Official Shiba Shin'i, whose ten warships sailed north in formation toward Ezo.

• Morino Kiyoshi refused to wait at the Kakizaki Clan's port and insisted on taking the gold south to prepare for the tribute trade.
• Master Juehui warned Morino to return the gold safely, while Morino criticized the plan to seize it from the Sanda People and warned Shiba Shin'i to preserve his warriors if the raid failed.
• Morino Kiyoshi left aboard the southbound merchant ships after trading barbed remarks with Master Juehui.
• Master Juehui asked Shiba Shin'i to lead the water battle against the Sanda Tribe and declared them enemies of the Dharma.
• Shiba Shin'i sounded his conch, and the ten Kan-style warships formed an orderly fleet and sailed north.

Master Juehui’s fleet reached the Sanda camp and found its ships fortified on shore, foiling his planned naval attack. He then spotted hundreds of Gold Talismans displayed on a tree beneath a Yuan Invaders’ Eagle Banner and weighed whether to attack for the treasure.

• Master Juehui stopped meditating when the fleet halted near the river mouth and learned the Sanda fleet had not departed as expected.
• Master Juehui saw six Sanda ships dragged ashore and fortified as defensive stockades, with Sanda Samurai guarding the camp.
• Master Juehui suspected the Sanda had been warned in advance and blamed the Kakizaki Clan for ruining his plan.
• Master Juehui and Shiba Shin'i spotted hundreds of Gold Talismans hanging from a tree beneath the Yuan Invaders’ Eagle Banner.
• Master Juehui considered attacking the Sanda camp to seize the gold for his sect.

Zuwaro and Ryuzoji Iehiro watched the Tendai Fleet hesitate offshore, confident that their fortified camp and Golden Treasure Tree would draw the enemy into a costly attack. The fleet finally began its assault with horns, prayers, and a volley of arrows.

• Ryuzoji Iehiro used the Divine Eye Lens to inspect the Tendai ships and identified Great Monk Juehui and the experienced commander Shiba Shin'i among their leaders.
• Iehiro warned Zuwaro that Shiba Shin'i's skill made tricks unlikely to work, but Zuwaro said the Kingdom's warriors would prevail in a direct battle.
• Zuwaro and Iehiro discussed how the Golden Treasure Tree might tempt the fleet to attack, while their camp's defenses kept them safe from a naval engagement.
• The Tendai Fleet sounded its conches, rallied its Warrior Monks, and began advancing toward shore.
• The Tendai ships launched a volley of arrows at the shore camp.

The Tendai Sect fleet attacked the Kingdom’s shore defenses with arrows and powerful bed crossbows, but the defenders adapted and suffered limited casualties. Ryuzoji Iehiro recognized the fleet’s next weapon as gunpowder arrows just as they began striking the barricade and camp.

• The Tendai Sect fleet exchanged arrow volleys with the Kingdom’s ship barricade until Tami-kusa ordered the defenders to stop wasting arrows and shelter behind their shields.
• The fleet fired bed crossbows through the barricade, killing and wounding defenders, while Zuwaro questioned Ryuzoji Iehiro about the weapons.
• Ryuzoji Iehiro explained that the crossbows were powerful but fragile, and Tami-kusa reinforced the defenders with additional shields as the fleet continued firing.
• The bed crossbows broke down after repeated volleys, and the Tendai fleet paused before preparing another attack.
• The fleet launched flaming gunpowder arrows toward the ship barricade and Sanda camp, astonishing Zuwaro and Ryuzoji Iehiro.

Zuwaro and Ryuzoji Iehiro defended the Sanda camp from the Tendai Fleet’s fire arrows, then used a gold bribe and a threat to lure the fleet into landing. The Tendai warriors came ashore at a distant tidal flat, preparing for a desperate battle before sunset.

• The Tendai Fleet fired repeated volleys of fire arrows and iron-tipped arrows, but the Kingdom Warriors used mud and sand to protect their ships and put out fires.
• Zuwaro ordered the camp’s burning tents left alone, while Ryuzoji Iehiro recognized that the Tendai commander seemed reluctant to land.
• Zuwaro and Ryuzoji Iehiro sent an Ainu sailor to offer the Tendai Fleet one hundred jin of gold for a truce and threaten a larger Sanda army if it refused.
• After debating aboard the Hokke-maru, the Tendai Fleet sailed west and landed on a tidal flat away from the Sanda camp.
• A Tendai commander and hundreds of Warrior Monks went ashore, chanting and preparing to fight.

Zuwaro lured the Tendai Warrior Monks into abandoning formation to seize a golden treasure tree, then trapped them under arrows and a cannon shot as the Sanda forces sprang their ambush. Tiger Slave struck down Monk Official Shiba Shin'i as the defeated monks collapsed.

• Monk Official Shiba Shin'i led the Tendai Warrior Monks toward the Sanda camp, while Zuwaro ordered the defenders to retreat toward the ship fort.
• The Warrior Monks broke through the fence and scattered to seize the gold, abandoning their formation as Zuwaro's archers shot into the camp.
• Monk Official Shiba Shin'i rallied the surviving monks to attack the ship barricade, where the defenders fired three tiger-crouching cannons and shattered their charge.
• Twenty Jurchen heavy riders led by Ali charged from the woods as the remaining Jurchen warriors followed.
• Monk Official Shiba Shin'i drew his Tachi, but Tiger Slave struck him down with a Mace and declared that those who could not win should kneel.

The Sanda routed the Tendai Warrior Monks and captured Master Juehui after their Zheyang Ships overtook the retreating Tendai Fleet. Juehui ordered the fleet to surrender, leaving all ten Kan-style ships in Sanda hands.

• Jurchen cavalry and Kingdom Samurai overwhelmed the surrounded Tendai Warrior Monks, breaking their resistance and scattering the survivors.
• Master Juehui ordered the Tendai Fleet to abandon the Warrior Monks and retreat from the Ezo shore.
• Two Sanda Zheyang Ships caught the fleeing fleet and fired cannons at its ships.
• Losanda’s crew boarded Hokke-maru and captured Master Juehui alive.
• Master Juehui ordered the entire Tendai Fleet to stop and surrender to the Sanda.

After defeating the Wajin, the Sanda forces gathered captives, recovered spoils, and prepared to convert prisoners and return to Shenhuatai Port before winter. Zuwaro sent Ali to invite the Buyo-Kanham Tribe to a victory sacrifice and set plans in motion for the fleet’s departure.

• Ali returned with the last captured Warrior Monks, bringing the total prisoners to more than two hundred, while the wounded were treated and Master Juehui urged the captives to obey.
• Xiongkulu Aro’s Wild Jurchen cavalry exchanged recovered Gold Talismans for captured Wajin armor, helmets, and arrows.
• Ali learned that 892 of the 1,000 Gold Talismans had been recovered, and that warriors could keep any unrecovered gold without punishment.
• Ali saw Wajin artisans repairing the captured ships as Kingdom Warriors supervised more than two hundred Wajin sailors.
• Zuwaro ordered Ali to invite the Buyo-Kanham Tribe’s chief and headmen to a victory sacrifice three days later, then planned a prisoner conversion ceremony and a return to Shenhuatai Port before the November freeze-up.