Chapter Summaries

Bi Gan and Jizi independently explored ways to print text, while Jizi introduced paper to the officials at court. The officials recognized that paper could transform their work and eagerly began using it.

• Bi Gan realized stone carbon could leave marks on paper and discussed printing with Jizi, who proposed using bronze character molds to create movable type.
• Jizi brought paper to the Nine-Chamber Hall, where the officials were too busy with court business to notice it at first.
• Jizi borrowed Xin Jia's brush and demonstrated that ink could be written cleanly on paper.
• Jizi explained that paper was inexpensive and ideal for writing, and the officials excitedly took sheets to try.
• The officials realized paper was lighter than bamboo slips and could help them handle government work faster, even while traveling or on leave.

Jizi introduced paper to the ministers, who realized it could spread knowledge, strengthen Great Shang, and reduce its reliance on noble families. As they used paper for official work, they discovered that competing inherited writing traditions disagreed over how characters should be written.

• The ministers recognized that paper could spread knowledge widely and help Great Shang train officials without depending so heavily on nobles and Feudal Lords.
• Yang Ren praised Jizi for inventing paper, but Jizi privately remembered that Bi Gan had made it and accepted the credit only to spare King Zhou distress.
• Chong Houhu proposed using paper for memorials to King Zhou, and the ministers rapidly completed their government work on it.
• Xin Jia decided to write a book during his upcoming recess, while Yang Ren and other ministers compared their handwriting and argued over conflicting ways to write characters.
• The ministers placed their paper documents on a bronze tray instead of loading them onto carts, and Chong Houhu predicted King Zhou would be delighted by the new state treasure.

Jizi brought paper memorials to court, where Zi Shou mistook the ministers’ reduced paperwork for a protest and delighted in what he thought was their resistance. He discovered more than a hundred neatly written memorials hidden on his desk, threatening the foolishness points he had hoped to earn.

• Jizi told Bi Gan that the ministers had responded to the new paper, and Bi Gan celebrated the prospect of Great Shang’s future.
• Zi Shou reprimanded Yang Ren for attending court during his scheduled recess, docked his salary, and extended his time off to three months.
• Zi Shou noticed that the court had brought only one cart of memorials and assumed the ministers were silently protesting their recess.
• Jizi explained that the cart held minor Censorate reports and revealed that the ministers had written over a hundred memorials on paper.
• Zi Shou found the paper memorials beneath fruit and walnuts on his desk and saw that the yellow hemp paper was suitable for writing.

At court, Zi Shou learned that paper had been invented and was already spreading, undermining his plans to earn Foolishness Value by ruling foolishly. After the ministers proposed expanding the relay-station network, a sudden fire broke out in the West Garden, and Zi Shou suspected Lü Yue and Yuan Hong were fighting.

• Jizi claimed he had invented paper, and the ministers praised its low cost and growing use across the realm.
• Zi Shou realized he could neither suppress nor openly promote paper without risking his throne and his plans to earn Foolishness Value.
• Zi Shou named the invention Jizi Paper, and Jizi insisted on calling it Bi-Jizi Paper.
• Fei Zhong proposed expanding the relay stations so paper memorials and information could travel throughout the realm.
• A loud noise interrupted court, and Zi Shou saw flames rising from the West Garden as he wondered whether Lü Yue and Yuan Hong had started fighting.

Zi Shou and his ministers investigated the fire at the West Garden and discovered that Lü Yue and the Seven Colonels had developed manure fertilizer. The officials recognized its potential to improve crop yields, while Grandee Yao Zhong asked why the fertilizer was being stored in a pit with other materials mixed in.

• Zi Shou led his ministers to the West Garden after seeing flames rise above it, and they recoiled at the stench of feces.
• Lü Yue, Yuan Hong, and the others offered confused explanations until Yang Xian pointed out the manure fertilizer in a large pit.
• Yang Xian explained that the fertilizer could restore soil fertility, and Bo Yi identified a Book of Songs poem that had inspired them to try it.
• The ministers became excited about the fertilizer’s promise of better harvests, and Zi Shou accepted that the West Garden had developed it.
• Grandee Yao Zhong approached the pit and asked why the dung had been stored there and what else had been mixed into it.

Lü Yue and the West Garden ministers explained how they made manure fertilizer and discovered biogas after a pit explosion. Zi Shou used the danger as a reason to delay promoting manure fertilizer, but worried that biogas could become a weapon and considered how to turn the situation to his advantage.

• Yang Xian and Lü Yue described how they fermented dung, ash, bones, and plant stalks into fertilizer that also repelled pests.
• Yang Xian demonstrated that gas from the dung pit burned as a flame, identifying it as biogas.
• Yang Xian explained that Yuan Hong had accidentally ignited a new pit while measuring it, causing an explosion that damaged the Sheep House and singed Yang Xian’s beard.
• Zi Shou ordered the West Garden to conduct more experiments before biogas or manure fertilizer was introduced elsewhere.
• Zi Shou considered using biogas’s danger to delay fertilizer promotion and wondered how to profit from the discovery.

Zi Shou named manure fertilizer West Garden Fertilizer and biogas Lü Gas, then arranged a deliberately unconvincing trial in Shanglin Garden to prevent their widespread adoption. His ministers interpreted his choices as sincere efforts to protect their credit and take responsibility for any accidents.

• Zi Shou named the fertilizer and biogas after Lü Yue and the West Garden, but Lü Yue and the others worried about the explosion and the dangers of promoting biogas.
• Yang Xian proposed testing manure fertilizer on barren land with respected commoners who were not experienced farmers.
• Zi Shou instead ordered skilled farmers from the Dark Phoenix Guard to test it on the most fertile land in Shanglin Garden.
• Zi Shou praised and rewarded Yang Xian, then told his ministers that he would take no credit for their achievements and would handle their mistakes.
• The ministers were moved by what they believed was Zi Shou's sincerity, and Zi Shou ordered his carriage prepared to return to the palace.

Mei De, a new Dark Phoenix Guard official, was approached by Ji Gao, who disguised himself as a retainer of the Marquis of the South and tried to recruit him as an informant. Ji Gao offered hospitality and planned to exploit Mei De’s low rank and presumed dissatisfaction, but Mei De’s response to Ji Gao’s complaint about his pay left him confused.

• Mei De reflected on the fierce competition for plots of land and felt proud that he had secured one despite the filthy, hazardous fertilizer.
• Ji Gao approached Mei De and claimed to be E Gao from the Marquis of the South’s household, then asked him to enter the Marquis’s service.
• Mei De refused to abandon his post under King Zhou, but agreed to visit Ji Gao’s residence after accepting fine jade.
• Ji Gao hosted Mei De with wine, dancers, music, and flattery while planning to recruit him as an informant for Xiqi.
• Ji Gao complained that Mei De’s salary was too low, and Mei De looked around and asked whether the residence was cold.

Ji Gao tried to recruit Mei De, but learned that the Dark Phoenix Guard enjoyed generous pay, benefits, and a chance to earn merit, so he turned instead to Chaoge’s dissatisfied nobles. He and the Si Family Head agreed to exploit the court’s reduced oversight to stir up trouble.

• Ji Gao lit a charcoal fire for Mei De and tried to persuade him that Chaoge’s high charcoal prices and the Dark Phoenix Guard’s work conditions made him a potential recruit.
• Mei De explained that the palace supplied charcoal, paid him over a thousand wen monthly, and invited the Dark Phoenix Guard to banquets; he also said the guard planned to farm in Shanglin Garden to earn merit.
• Ji Gao abandoned his attempt to win over the Dark Phoenix Guard and decided that Chaoge’s nobles would be easier to recruit.
• Ji Gao traveled northwest and met with the Si Family Head, whose family resented King Zhou’s demands that nobles sell their lands and mountains.
• Ji Gao and the Si Family Head agreed to stir up trouble while court officials were on leave, Grand Tutor Wen was away, and the Hall of Worthies had only Zhang Da on duty.

Zi Shou ordered the Dark Phoenix Guard to investigate missing arsenal weapons and kill the families of everyone implicated, despite Chong Yingbiao's warning. In the northwest, mining settlements prospered under Huang Feihu, and Huang Ming sought help identifying newly discovered ores.

• Chong Yingbiao told Zi Shou that Lu Xiong had thrown the arsenal officials into the Qi River after finding that less than a tenth of the weapons remained.
• Zi Shou ordered a thorough investigation and commanded Chong Yingbiao to kill the families of those implicated and use torture to extract information.
• Chong Yingbiao accepted Zi Shou's decree despite warning that it could cause unrest and damage the king's reputation.
• Huang Feihu's arrangements helped northern herders settle near Carbon Mountain and other mines, where they mined ore and earned a living.
• Huang Ming called for Lord Huang after discovering unfamiliar ores he could not identify.

Huang Ming received Xin Jia’s instructions to search for copper, iron, and other ores as trade transformed the Carbon Mountain mining district. Meanwhile, the Si Family Head gathered nobles who planned to obstruct the arsenal investigation and use the palace’s need for weapons and armor to challenge King Zhou.

• A censor from Chaoge delivered Xin Jia’s letter to Huang Ming, who learned where to search for copper, gold, iron, and other minerals.
• Huang Ming prepared to search for copper and iron while merchants poured into the mining district, raising wages and bringing supplies to the northern herders.
• The Si Family Head met secretly with nobles who discussed blocking the Dark Phoenix Guard’s investigation and protecting their allies.
• The nobles dismissed the risk of punishment and agreed that King Zhou’s need for weapons and armor gave them leverage.
• After his steward delivered news, the Si Family Head urged the nobles to act in business as King Zhou had instructed.

With Chaoge’s arsenal nearly empty, Zi Shou faced a copper shortage engineered by nobles hoarding the metal. Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi predicted that supplies from northern mines and merchants seeking profit would eventually break the shortage, while the chapter left the court wondering whether Zi Shou’s planned banquet meant he would compromise.

• After nearly all of Chaoge’s weapons were lost, the palace began requisitioning bronze, but nobles hoarded it and drove copper prices higher.
• Zi Shou decided he could borrow the commoners’ deposits from the Bank, even if they later discovered they could not withdraw their money.
• At the Bank, Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao worried that a forced loan would destroy public trust, while Zhao Gongming stressed that the Shang Army needed weapons.
• Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi argued that merchants seeking copper would bring prices down, especially if the Northwest Protectorate supplied ore from northern mines.
• Cao Bao wondered whether Zi Shou’s planned banquet for the nobles meant he would compromise, but Zhao Gongming believed Zi Shou understood commerce and would hold firm.

At a banquet for Chaoge’s nobles, Zi Shou used an empty feast and bran to assert his authority while questioning the Si Family Head about refusing court service. He hinted that some ambitions led to death, leaving the nobles facing a possible threat.

• The Si Family Head and Yang Family Head agreed that Zi Shou’s banquet was meant to secure noble support for his reforms, and the Si Family Head planned to judge the King’s sincerity.
• The nobles arrived at the Star-Plucking Tower and found that only Zi Shou had food and wine as he ate alone.
• Zi Shou called the gathering a family banquet, drank by himself, and had attendants serve bran as dessert.
• The Si Family Head addressed Zi Shou, who asked why nobles refused to serve as court officials.
• The Si Family Head said their ambitions lay outside court, and Zi Shou replied that some ambitions lay in the realm of the dead.

Zi Shou challenged the Si Family Head’s defense of noble privilege by feeding rice bran to dressed animals and revealing a Dark Phoenix Guard report linking the armory officials to Si. He left the accusation hanging over Minister Si, while Lu Xiong worried that pursuing it could spark bloodshed and give the feudal lords cause to rebel.

• Zi Shou asked the Si Family Head to speak about the reforms, and Fei Zhong recorded the exchange after learning Vice Censor Xin was on leave.
• The Si Family Head invoked Tai Kang’s lost kingdom to warn Zi Shou that harsh reforms could alienate the realm and give nobles an opening to restore order.
• The Si Family Head argued that nobles deserved special treatment under ritual propriety and should be exempt from punishment.
• Zi Shou had a pig, an ox, and a sheep dressed like nobles eat the rice bran, then asked why nobles could not eat it too.
• Zi Shou revealed that the Dark Phoenix Guard had reported ties between the armory officials and Si, prompting Lu Xiong to challenge the reliability of the report and plead for restraint.
• Zi Shou silenced Lu Xiong and asked Minister Si what he thought of the armory affair.

The Si Family Head admitted that his household had been involved in the Armory incident and urged Zi Shou to abandon his reforms, prompting the nobles to demand a return to their traditional privileges. Zi Shou declared the unposted noble guilty of discussing state affairs and ordered the Royal Guards to kill him and his accomplices.

• The Si Family Head confessed that a servant in his household had contacted Armory officials and argued that Zi Shou should abolish the new law and heed loyal, upright men.
• Tai Dian and the nobles backed the Si Family Head, weeping and pleading with Zi Shou to stop the reforms and dismiss the men they called treacherous.
• Zi Shou asked Fei Zhong to record a death penalty for anyone without an official post who discussed state affairs, effective that day and abolished the next.
• The Si Family Head calmly accepted the punishment, and Zi Shou struck a bronze cauldron to summon the Three Hundred Royal Guards.
• Zi Shou ordered the guards to kill the Si Family Head and his accomplices without mercy.

The Si Family Head accepted execution as a noble’s sacrifice against King Zhou’s reforms, while Zi Shou hoped for a defiant protest that would earn him Foolishness Value. As the guards dragged Si Lan away, the Peng Family Head stood up and asked Zi Shou to release him.

• The Si Family Head calmly offered his life, believing his death would rally nobles and feudal lords against King Zhou’s reforms.
• Tai Dian and other ministers realized the Chaoge nobles had used the weapons and copper schemes to pressure King Zhou before Li Jing’s reforms began.
• Yin Pobai’s Royal Guards dragged the Si Family Head away, moving the nobles who watched him disappear.
• Zi Shou ordered Yu Hua to follow the guards, and the nobles feared Yu Hua would mutilate the Si Family Head.
• The Peng Family Head stood and asked Zi Shou to release Lord Si.

The Peng Family Head pleaded for the Si Family Head’s life, then used the case to demand that Zi Shou halt his reforms and reverse his policies. Zi Shou defended subjects’ right to condemn a wicked ruler, while the Si Family Head remained in Yin Pobai’s grasp as the court fell silent.

• The Peng Family Head interrupted Yin Pobai and argued that the Si Family Head’s offense did not deserve death, prompting officials and nobles to petition Zi Shou to rescind the execution decree.
• The Si Family Head smiled defiantly at Zi Shou as Fei Zhong and You Hun demanded that Yin Pobai carry out the order.
• Zi Shou rejected Fei Zhong’s claim that subjects must obey a sovereign’s command to die and declared that people could condemn and call to account a wicked, foolish ruler.
• The Peng Family Head urged Zi Shou to halt the reforms and listed policies he wanted reversed, including the Palace Market, private copper mining, and refined-salt production.
• The Si Family Head believed the officials’ intervention had helped save him, while the court fell silent at the Peng Family Head’s demands.

At court, the Peng Family Head turned the nobles against Si Lan by forcing them to choose between legal privilege and the wealth they gained from trade. Zi Shou ordered Si Lan dragged away, leaving him abandoned by the nobles and ministers who had backed him moments earlier.

• The nobles realized that abolishing trade, the Palace Market, and their favored pastimes would destroy the comforts and profits they relied on to maintain their status.
• The Peng Family Head argued that nobles should support an upright ruler and repay Zi Shou’s kindness, revealing that he was defending the nobles’ practical interests rather than rescuing Si Lan.
• Zi Shou recognized that the Peng Family Head had pushed Si Lan into a trap and concluded that the nobles would prioritize profit over prestige.
• Zi Shou ordered Si Lan dragged away, and the nobles denounced him or stayed silent as he lost their support.

Zi Shou spared the Si Family Head after the nobles abandoned him, declaring that he would not punish anyone for their words. He then told Tai Dian about a strange dream involving three turtles eating his horse’s crupper.

• The nobles condemned the Si Family Head, leaving him isolated after he had represented their opposition to the reforms.
• Zi Shou asked whether the Si Family Head acknowledged his guilt, then said he would not punish him for his words.
• Tai Dian interpreted Zi Shou’s leniency as a strategic move that could preserve goodwill and show that nobles could adapt to the new laws.
• Tai Dian became excited and stripped off his outer robe, while Zi Shou dismissed the behavior as one of his peculiar habits.
• Zi Shou told Tai Dian he had dreamed that three turtles fell from the sky and ate his horse’s crupper.

Zi Shou condemned the Si Family Head to death using a deliberately absurd dream interpretation, then watched as returning trade caravans drove down Chaoge’s inflated copper prices. Yao Shaosi and Chen Jiugong saw the market stabilize and discussed the public’s indifference to the execution, while Yao Shaosi began to divine the meaning of the three turtles.

• Zi Shou claimed that three turtles devouring Zhou meant the nobles wanted to devour him, and ordered the Si Family Head beheaded in three days.
• Tai Dian refrained from protesting further, and Zi Shou ended the banquet at the Star-Plucking Tower.
• The Peng family’s convoy returned to Chaoge with copper and stone carbon, and the Peng Family Head ordered the goods sold at once.
• Caravans from other noble families arrived with copper and other goods, driving copper prices down and leaving speculators who had followed the Si Family Head facing losses.
• Yao Shaosi and Chen Jiugong discussed how the returning goods would ease the crisis and how Chaoge’s common people had reacted to the Si Family Head’s execution.
• Yao Shaosi bought tortoise shells and proposed divining the meaning of the three turtles devouring Zhou.