Recaps

Zi Shou used public entertainments, livestock projects, and new officials to reshape Great Shang while conflicts grew along its borders. The feudal lords began arriving in Chaoge as Ji Chang continued plotting against the king.

• Tongtian punished Shi Ji for leaving the sect, gave her the Heart-Piercing Lock, and warned her not to lose to Taiyi again.
• Zi Shou appointed Yang Jian Demon-Slaying Great General, learned how Guanjiangkou produced sea salt, and ordered feudal lords to send rare stones for the Flower and Stone Transport.
• Zi Shou staged feasts and horse races to reinforce his pleasure-seeking image, while Bo Yi and Shu Qi remonstrated with him and were sent to the West Garden.
• Bo Yi and Shu Qi learned Zhu Zizhen’s livestock methods and compiled guidance on raising animals, while Hu Ximei showed the ministers her integrated poultry, fish, and silkworm operation.
• Zi Shou promoted cockfighting, football, and opera, and Shi Yan decided theater could influence how common people viewed the king.
• Su Quanzhong led an army through a blizzard and defeated Tu Fang, while Chao Lei sailed around the Eastern Yi defenses and raided their territory.
• Shi Ji found that sea salt was harmful but less so than common coarse salt, and Zhao Gongming presented tools for standardizing weights and measures before Zi Shou appointed him to promote them.
• The Kongtong Seal landed on Mount Qi and reached Ji Chang, who continued planning to exploit border conflicts, while Mai Yun and Mai Zhi assassinated the King of Yu Yue as feudal lords arrived in Chaoge.

Zi Shou used the feudal lords’ gathering to execute Marquis Li, assert central authority, and reveal Shang’s victories over the frontier peoples. As he sent Ji Chang to Youli and Jiang Wenhuan to govern Li Territory, fresh unrest and the Rong threat put Shang’s control to the test.

• Chong Houhu returned to Chaoge with Shen Gongbao and learned from Zhao Bing that Su Hu had defeated the Tu Fang, while Li Jing and Deng Jiugong hinted that King Zhou had planned the rebellions’ suppression.
• Zi Shou used football and an opera to shape the lords’ view of his rule, then executed Marquis Li after exposing his use of human sacrifices and rejecting his warnings about the Western Rong.
• Li Jing defended the execution as lawful and proposed equal laws, while Zi Shou invited the lords to Shanglin Garden and used an ordinary stone to judge their tribute and punish them.
• Ji Chang accused Zi Shou of mishandling the frontier and demanded aid for the rebellions, but Zi Shou revealed victories over the Eastern Yi, Baiyue, Tu Fang, and Gui Fang, leaving the lords cowed.
• Zi Shou appointed Jiang Wenhuan governor of Li Territory, kept foreign leaders in Chaoge, and sent Ji Chang to Youli after Fei Zhong accused him of treason.
• Zi Shou set Bo Yi and Shu Qi to build roads, while Chong Houhu recognized that roads could expand Chaoge’s thriving commerce and enrich the state.
• Yu Yue rebelled after its leader’s death, but Zi Shou approved Ji Chang’s proposal to have the Tu Fang people build roads, believing he was allowing the king to be misled.
• Jiang Wenhuan faced resentment in Li Territory as Li Yu secretly sought to provoke a Wugao Rong invasion, and Jiang threatened the Rong when their combined forces demanded tribute at Li City.

Jiang Wenhuan defeated the Rongdi at Li City while Zi Shou used the crisis to weaken Marquis Li’s influence and reshape relations with the nobles. The palace market, a plague in the southern borderlands, and a royal hunt then tested Zi Shou’s rule, leaving Ding Ce and his sworn brothers assigned to the Chaoge Hunting Team.

• Jiang Wenhuan repeatedly rode out from Li City to kill Rongdi warriors, then united the defenders and drove King Wugao and King Yuwu’s forces away.
• Zi Shou used the reports of Jiang Wenhuan’s victory to isolate Marquis Li’s line and ordered You Hun to take prisoners’ families to the Northern Border to support construction of the Great Wall.
• Zi Shou summoned noble youths to trade in Shanglin Garden, and Peng Zun learned the market’s ways from an Old Woman before urging his family to start a merchant caravan.
• The noble family heads offered forests and proposed organizing caravans, while Zi Shou decided the Palace Market should continue operating.
• A plague spread through Three Mountains Pass, and Qian Bao and Wan Nian found a treatment that cured Deng Jiugong and the afflicted soldiers and civilians.
• Zi Shou accepted Deng Chanyu as a consort, summoned Qian Bao for a reward, and held a field hunt that ended with three hunters bringing down the White Tiger.
• At the feast, Jiao Ge criticized the killing of a pregnant animal, but Ding Ce defended controlled hunting and was transferred with Guo Chen and Dong Zhong to the Chaoge Hunting Team.

Zi Shou forced the creation of a Medical Academy, where Shang Qingjun and the female physicians saved Tai Ren, while Bo Yikao’s gifts and Xiqi’s envoys became entangled in court politics. The Qiang then advanced on Xiqi, and Bo Yikao was surrounded after his party was ambushed.

• Zi Shou humiliated Ji Chang by making him kill and eat his horse, then banished Jiao Ge from Chaoge.
• Huang Feihu secured the northern tribes’ submission, and Xin Jia proposed mining to provide them with lasting work.
• Zi Shou ordered a cesarean delivery for Lady Jia, and the Three Xiao Sisters helped Qian Bao save her and her son, Huang Tianxiang.
• Zi Shou founded a Medical Academy and compelled noble families to send their daughters, while Bo Yikao arrived in Chaoge and tried to sway opinion against the policy.
• Bo Yikao’s presentation of the White-Faced Ape exposed Hong Yao’s ties to Xiqi, and Zi Shou dismantled the Seven Fragrance Chariot before Tai Ren fell critically ill.
• Shang Qingjun and the female physicians revived Tai Ren, and Zi Shou named Shang Qingjun an Imperial Physician after learning Ji Fa had broken their engagement.
• Jiang Midang led the Qiang west toward Xiqi, and Ji Fa sent troops to meet Bo Yikao’s party as Qiang Fang approached.
• Ehe’s troops ambushed Bo Yikao’s party, and Bo Yikao stayed behind to face them while Chong Heihu carried his final request to Ji Fa.