Chapter Summaries

Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi feared their divination foretold Zhou’s rise, but Zhao Gongming interpreted the Kan Trigram as a warning that Great Shang could overcome danger. Fuxi reached a similar reading, while Zi Shou searched for unsuitable officials to undermine reforms and was interrupted by Lord Bo Yi’s request for an audience.

• Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi told Zhao Gongming that Three Turtles Devour Zhou foretold the Marquis of the West and his sons bringing down Zhou.
• Zhao Gongming confirmed that Shang would fall and Zhou would rise, then urged his disciples to read the omen as danger that could be overcome and ordered them to cultivate for three days.
• Fuxi divined the Kan Trigram and reflected that Great Shang’s dangers could bring out the strength of the human way.
• Zi Shou read Zhang Da’s records of candidates in the Hall of Worthies, hoping to appoint incompetent officials who would hinder the Six Ministries reforms.
• A eunuch reported that Lord Bo Yi had requested an audience with Zi Shou.

Zi Shou mistook Bo Yi’s arrival for a chance to discuss government affairs, but Bo Yi used an allegory to persuade him to spare the Si family from execution. Zi Shou agreed to spare those who had not conspired with the Si Family Head while ordering the family’s property confiscated, and Bo Yi volunteered to carry out the order.

• Zi Shou showed Bo Yi records of candidates from the Hall of Worthies, and Bo Yi inferred that selecting officials would address the shortage of government workers.
• Zi Shou gave Bo Yi an additional ten days of leave, and Bo Yi reported that he had killed a household servant and the servant’s family.
• Bo Yi explained the servant’s case as an indirect remonstrance against Zi Shou’s order to kill the Si Family Head’s entire family.
• Zi Shou agreed to spare the Si family members who had not conspired with its head, but ordered their property seized and their noble status revoked.
• Bo Yi volunteered to confiscate the Si family’s property, and Zi Shou entrusted him with the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant.
• Zi Shou resumed reading memorials and added a rule against candidates who spoke in roundabout riddles, then noticed a memorial that caught his attention.

Zi Shou summoned Gao San after reading her argument for women’s equality and considered appointing her to the Hall of Worthies. Gao San began explaining the childhood experience that shaped her beliefs, but her story remained unfinished.

• Zi Shou read the memorial recording Gao San’s conversation with Zhang Da and decided to summon her to the palace.
• Zhang Da worried that Zi Shou might blame him for appointing officials who had embezzled from the Armory, then praised Gao San’s views and urged her appointment.
• Gao San entered the hall and described her ideals, while Zhang Da repeatedly approved of her arguments.
• Zi Shou asked Gao San why she believed women should be treated as men’s equals.
• Gao San said her father had wanted her drowned after her younger brother was born, so her mother set her adrift in a wooden basin.
• Gao San said she returned to her village as a teenager to investigate what had happened.

Gao San told Zi Shou how her father tried to drown her and beat her mother to death, and explained that she sought office to improve women's lives. Zi Shou pledged his support and enlisted Daji to help her, then asked Gao San to propose practical measures.

• Gao San recounted her childhood and said Zi Shou's policies had inspired her to seek office and change women's status.
• Zi Shou agreed to support Gao San, then asked Zhang Da what office she should hold; Zhang Da could not answer.
• Zi Shou dismissed Zhang Da and summoned Daji, intending to link her support for Gao San's cause to his own influence.
• Daji agreed with Gao San's aims and described the abuse suffered by palace maids, including Yu'er.
• Zi Shou said appointing individual women would not be enough and urged Gao San to propose practical ways to change women's status, promising Daji's support.

Zi Shou established the Women's Federation under Daji's authority, with Gao San appointed to lead its work, while secretly hoping the campaign would provoke opposition and bring him infamy. Meanwhile, Lei Kai raided the Si residence, but Bo Yi arrived with an order to spare the uninvolved family members and confiscate their property.

• Gao San proposed involving more women and creating an office for women seeking justice, and Zi Shou appointed her to lead the Women's Federation under Daji's authority.
• Zi Shou ordered the nobles to fund the Women's Federation and called for recruiting notable women and publicizing their deeds; Gao San accepted the appointment after deciding that forceful change was necessary.
• After Gao San left, Zi Shou instructed Daji and worried that Long Ji had not been heard from for several months.
• Bo Yi presented the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant to Lei Kai and coordinated the confiscation of the Si family's household.
• Lei Kai led soldiers in a violent raid on the Si residence, binding its members and declaring the whole family guilty of rebellion.
• Bo Yi arrived and announced that Zi Shou had ordered the uninvolved members of the Si household pardoned and reduced to commoners, while their property would be confiscated.

Bo Yi and Lei Kai staged a pardon at the Si Residence, using the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant to spare the Si family while letting Lei Kai bear the blame. At Wan Nian's Residence, Wan Nian told Du Yuanxian he wanted to write a book, and Du Yuanxian explained that officials planned to write books to answer the feudal lords' claims about the interaction between heaven and humanity.

• Bo Yi used the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant to stop Lei Kai from killing the Si family and announced that their property would be confiscated instead.
• The Si family thanked King Zhou, while Lei Kai left Bo Yi in command and reflected on his role in easing tensions with the nobles and honoring Zi Qi's dying wish.
• Wan Nian struggled to organize his observations into a book and went to ask his teacher Du Yuanxian for advice.
• Du Yuanxian told Wan Nian that several officials and military men also planned to write books now that paper and recess days made it easier.
• Du Yuanxian explained that Daoist Yun Zhongzi's claims about the interaction between heaven and humanity had been used to criticize King Zhou, and Wan Nian began to offer his own thoughts.

Zi Shou staged increasingly elaborate contests to choose his companions in the Imperial Harem, hoping to stir rumors and cause trouble. Queen Jiang objected to his public debauchery, but Zi Shou carried her off to his chambers and announced that three beauties would attend him that night.

• Zi Shou sent a lamb-drawn carriage through the Imperial Harem, and it stopped at Queen Jiang's quarters.
• Zi Shou released butterflies to choose another companion, and one landed on Noble Consort Huang.
• Zi Shou introduced a musk-scented Romantic Arrow as a third way to select a bedmate, with Noble Consort Huang and Deng Chanyu secretly arranged to win.
• Queen Jiang remonstrated with Zi Shou about making his harem indulgence a public spectacle before the feudal lords arrived.
• Zi Shou said Queen Jiang, Noble Consort Huang, and Deng Chanyu would attend him together, then carried Queen Jiang toward his chambers.

Ji Gao directed his younger brother Ji Shuang to stage a public sale of minister Zeng Bing’s daughter, using the old ministers’ reduced salaries to turn the crowd against King Zhou. Gao San tried to stop the transaction and promised to report it to the king, while Zeng Bing remained committed to defecting to Xiqi.

• Ji Gao planned to exploit resentment among old ministers while senior officials were away from Chaoge.
• Ji Shuang offered Zeng Bing increasing sums for his daughter in a crowded marketplace, and Zeng Bing pretended that salary cuts had forced him to sell her.
• Zeng Bing denounced King Zhou as a muddleheaded tyrant, and onlookers blamed the old ministers’ reduced pay for his predicament.
• Gao San arrived and challenged the sale, but Ji Shuang argued that it was a legitimate transaction between willing parties.
• Ji Shuang offered a passerby one thousand strings for his daughter, and the man fell silent when faced with the money.
• Gao San said she would report the matter to King Zhou, while Zeng Bing inwardly remained resolved to defect to Xiqi.

Zi Shou used Zeng Bing’s staged daughter-selling scandal to expose discontent among officials, then ordered the castration of people who sold their children. As the court realized Zeng Bing might face the same punishment, he challenged Zi Shou’s decree.

• Queen Jiang read memorials reporting that the Si family accepted their confiscation and that Zeng Bing had sold his daughter after his stipend was reduced.
• Zi Shou rejected Queen Jiang’s suggestion to reassure Zeng Bing and let the scandal spread for three days.
• At court, Zi Shou revealed that the people selling their daughters in the streets had been arrested by the Dark Phoenix Guard.
• Zi Shou ordered Yu Hua to castrate the arrested sellers and decreed that anyone who sold a child was unworthy to be a parent.
• Zeng Bing stepped forward and argued that the poor should not have to let their daughters starve, while the ministers wondered whether Zi Shou would punish him too.

Zi Shou executed Zeng Bing after Gao San exposed his abuse of women and past human sacrifices, then decreed harsh punishments for selling children and mistreating wives or concubines. He assigned the High Minister, the Women's Federation, and the Dark Phoenix Guard to investigate offenders, beginning in Chaoge.

• Zi Shou ordered Zeng Bing seized and threatened with castration after Zeng Bing threatened to dash himself to death.
• Gao San accused Zeng Bing of using human sacrifices to build his residence, keeping shamanesses as concubines, and causing several concubines' deaths.
• Zi Shou ordered Fang Xiang and Fang Bi to smash Zeng Bing's head against a pillar, killing him.
• Zi Shou decreed castration for anyone who sold a son or daughter and death for anyone whose mistreatment caused a wife or concubine to die.
• Zi Shou tasked the High Minister, the Women's Federation, and the Dark Phoenix Guard with investigating offenders, starting in Chaoge, then turned to other matters for the officials to discuss.

Zi Shou used a court session to advance women’s rights, free meritorious slaves, and impose commercial taxes, provoking the officials’ objections while seeking to gain foolishness value. As the session ended, he discovered that Zhao Qi, Xia Zhao, and Sun Yin had attended while on leave and ordered them fined and given extra time off.

• Zi Shou assigned the Dark Phoenix Guard to help the Women's Federation find women who had suffered injustice.
• Zi Shou ordered meritorious slaves who built the Great Wall freed, with those who had rendered great service enlisted under General Shi Bufan, while excluding orphans from the army.
• Zi Shou proposed a commercial tax, then settled on thirty percent at checkpoints and thirty percent on minerals after Zhao Qi warned that excessive taxes could halt trade.
• Zi Shou adjourned court, pleased that his measures had angered nobles and feudal lords and could earn him foolishness value.
• Zi Shou checked his booklet and ordered Zhao Qi, Xia Zhao, and Sun Yin fined one month's salary and given ten extra days off for attending court while on leave.

Zi Shou learned that officials on leave were writing books and arranged for them to contribute travelogues so they would have less time to cause trouble. He then ordered Chong Yingbiao to collect shamans’ books as he prepared to press ahead with policies against sacrifices and shamanic influence.

• Zi Shou learned from Deng Chanyu that Qian Bao and other officials on leave had begun writing books, and he hurried to investigate.
• At Du Yuanxian’s residence, Zi Shou discovered that Wan Nian was writing a travelogue and told officials with free time to contribute accounts of their observations.
• Zi Shou returned to the palace and ordered Chong Yingbiao to have the Dark Phoenix Guard collect shamans’ books around Chaoge and, if possible, in the feudal lords’ territories.
• Zi Shou resolved to pursue measures against human sacrifices and shamanic influence, which had earned him foolishness value before.

Luo Xuan discovered that coked stone coal could fuel iron smelting and led new officials in producing their first pig iron. He presented an iron dagger to Zi Shou, who mistook the weapon for a sign of an assassination attempt.

• Luo Xuan found that stone carbon residue burned with intense heat and developed a way to produce coked stone coal for smelting iron.
• Luo Xuan taught new officials to smelt iron, and despite failed furnaces and an explosion that cost one craftsman an arm, they produced inferior pig iron.
• Luo Xuan reflected that humanity's progress came from people's efforts, then had the pig iron refined and cast into weapons.
• Luo Xuan brought an iron dagger to Zi Shou and announced that iron weapons could now be made from ore.
• Zi Shou saw the dagger and suspected that Luo Xuan intended to assassinate him.

Zi Shou ordered Luo Xuan to publish iron-smelting methods for a price, and Luo Xuan came to believe that sharing iron could benefit ordinary people. Meanwhile, Zhang San and Li Si stole the foul-smelling fertilizer from the Dark Phoenix Guard’s fields, believing it would produce eighteen thousand per mu.

• Zi Shou rejected Luo Xuan’s proposal to conceal ironmaking and ordered him to document iron-smelting and coked-stone-coal methods for sale to the feudal lords.
• Luo Xuan reconsidered the value of iron, concluded that wider access could improve farming and protect commoners, and agreed to obey Zi Shou.
• Zi Shou watched Luo Xuan leave and planned to keep him occupied by having him write travelogues.
• Li Si told Zhang San that a farming treasure made by Daoist Lü and the Seven Colonels of the West Garden could yield eighteen thousand per mu, then persuaded him to steal it.
• Zhang San and Li Si entered the Dark Phoenix Guard’s fields at night, filled their jars from a foul-smelling pit, and slipped away with the fertilizer.

Mei De discovered that someone was stealing West Garden fertilizer, while Chong Yingbiao sought Chong Houhu’s advice on the Dark Phoenix Guard’s duties. Chong Houhu concluded that the fertilizer theft was part of His Majesty’s plan and warned Chong Yingbiao not to report it, as the investigation into shamans remained the priority.

• Mei De noticed that the West Garden fertilizer in the pit kept disappearing and reported the theft to Chong Yingbiao.
• Chong Yingbiao went to Chong Houhu for advice about dealing with shamans and protecting women from them.
• Chong Houhu explained that His Majesty had established Palace Fields in Shanglin Garden so ordinary people would discover and steal West Garden fertilizer.
• Chong Houhu advised Chong Yingbiao not to report the theft to His Majesty, so the fertilizer could spread without the court appearing to endorse it.
• Chong Yingbiao left to focus on investigating the shamans as Chief Commander Li arrived in Chaoge.

The shamans of Spirit Mountain debated their failed attempt to revive a man as a spring surged, while Su Quanzhong pursued the fleeing Tu Fang People north toward a great mountain. In Chaoge, a nobleman confronted a family in distress and challenged the Dark Phoenix Guard, leaving the guards ordered to stand still.

• The shamans of Spirit Mountain discussed their past revival of Yayu and feared that Wuzhiqi had escaped after the Nine Cauldrons failed.
• Wu Li led the Tu Fang People north while fleeing Su Quanzhong, but the group stopped and surrendered when a nearby spring began churning.
• Su Quanzhong ordered his forces to pursue the Tu Fang People north toward a great mountain after they began running away again.
• A young nobleman, the son of the Marquis of Yue, stopped a man carrying his wife in difficult labour and demanded compensation for their collision.
• The Dark Phoenix Guard arrived on patrol, and the young nobleman ordered them to stand still and behave.

Yue Sheng, son of the Marquis of Yue, deliberately tested King Zhou’s limits by abusing commoners and the Dark Phoenix Guard. As he faced the furious Li Jing of Chentang Pass, the chapter ended before their confrontation began.

• Yue Sheng kicked a young Dark Phoenix Guard officer and drew his saber, while Jin Cheng ordered his men to retreat and knelt to beg for the officer’s life.
• Yue Sheng confronted a man and his pregnant wife, who had accidentally bumped into his carriage, and dismissed their pleas for mercy.
• Yue Sheng cut open the pregnant woman to deliver her baby himself, then carried the bloodied infant to the unconscious father.
• Li Jing arrived, saw the scene, and identified himself to Yue Sheng as Li Jing of Chentang Pass.

Li Jing used Yue Sheng’s murder of a pregnant woman and her unborn child to challenge the nobles’ belief that the law did not apply to them. He killed Yue Sheng and declared that reform would begin with him, setting himself on a collision course with the gathered feudal lords.

• Yue Sheng questioned Li Jing about whether the Tang Punishments covered his killing of a commoner, and Li Jing admitted they did not.
• Li Jing asked Jin Cheng, the injured man, and the watching crowd whether Yue Sheng’s murder violated the law; the young victim finally answered yes.
• Li Jing killed Yue Sheng and defeated his ten guards after Yue Sheng tried to retreat.
• Li Jing ordered Jin Cheng to tend to the dead mother and child and directed that Yue Sheng’s head be displayed on the Execution Platform.
• Li Jing severed Yue Sheng’s head himself and declared that reform’s bloodshed should begin with him.

Zi Shou introduced the Chaoge Daily to the court and declared that Great Shang would burn books preserving shaman teachings. He left the ministers facing his plan to eradicate those teachings.

• Zi Shou rejoiced at Li Jing’s arrival in Chaoge and resolved to protect him as he pursued reforms.
• Zi Shou distributed the first issue of the Chaoge Daily and explained that ministers could take it home to keep up with affairs across the realm.
• Fei Zhong proposed a law restricting who could publish newspapers, and You Hun and other officials supported him.
• Zi Shou rejected the proposal, saying only shaman teachings threatened the realm and that other beliefs could be discussed freely.
• Zi Shou denounced shamans and announced that he would burn the books preserving their teachings.

Zi Shou announced that he would burn the shamans’ books, provoking fierce protests from his ministers and the feudal lords gathered in Chaoge. As he went to address the growing crowd outside the Palace Gate, Bo Yi suspected that Zi Shou’s promised reassurance might conceal a more troubling move.

• Zi Shou rejected his ministers’ objections and dismissed court after declaring that he would burn books about the shamans.
• The Marquis of Yue and around a hundred feudal lords rallied against the book burning and stirred up protests in Chaoge.
• Fei Zhong reported the unrest to Zi Shou, who was pleased that the feudal lords had made trouble.
• Bo Yi advised Zi Shou to reassure the commoners gathered outside the Palace Gate, and Zi Shou agreed to go there.
• As Zi Shou’s royal conveyance approached the Palace Gate, Bo Yi remembered the story of Cheng Tang being pressured to pray for rain and sensed that something was amiss.