Chapter Summaries

Zi Shou received news of an uncharted river that could lead toward E City, but stalled the campaign while his officers mistook his delay for a careful surprise-attack plan. Meanwhile, Zhang Youren arrived in Yue Territory as Shang’s envoy and endured a degrading entry into the city without protest.

• Chao Lei reported that scouts had found an uncharted river leading downstream toward E City, and Zi Shou insisted the army wait for reinforcements before using it.
• Fang Xiang and Fang Bi concluded that Zi Shou planned to use reinforcements to conceal the main army’s movement, while Zi Shou privately resolved to keep delaying the campaign.
• Zhang Youren reached Yue Territory and presented the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant and the Edict at the city gate.
• The Defending General forced Zhang Youren’s attendants through a dog hole and made Zhang crawl between a thug’s legs to enter the city.
• Zhang Youren endured the humiliation without changing his expression, leaving the Defending General uncertain about the King of Yue’s plans.

Zhang Youren endured weeks of abuse and a brutal beating in Yue Territory while carrying out King Zhou’s mission. After the King of Yue read the insulting edict, he ordered Zhang imprisoned rather than killed.

• The Shang attendants protested their humiliation, but Zhang Youren stayed silent and endured the King of Yue’s neglect and the people’s mockery.
• After half a month of filthy food and water, insults, and denied medical care for a sick attendant, Zhang Youren was summoned to the King of Yue.
• The King of Yue ordered Zhang Youren to kneel and then have forty strokes for appearing filthy and disrespectful.
• The Defending General continued beating Zhang Youren until his Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant and King Zhou’s edict fell from his clothes.
• Zhang Youren crawled to the pendant and protected it, while the King of Yue read the edict and flew into a rage at its insults.
• The King of Yue ordered Zhang Youren locked up, and an official continued to call him a dog.

Zhang Youren endured imprisonment and beatings in Yue Territory without speaking as the King of Yue realized his defeat had left him with no choice but to submit to King Zhou. The chapter ended with Zhang Youren rejecting the King of Yue’s royal seal and revealing the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant as the Shang envoy.

• Zhang Youren cut rotting flesh from his thigh with a stone shard, then endured another beating in silence.
• The King of Yue learned that the King of Wu had defeated his army and occupied the Marquis of Yue’s lands.
• The King of Yue and his ministers humiliated themselves to show Zhang Youren they would submit to King Zhou, but Zhang Youren remained silent.
• The King of Yue offered Zhang Youren his royal seal and declared his submission to King Zhou.
• Zhang Youren threw down the seal and revealed the blood-stained Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant.

Zhang Youren’s silence forced the King of Yue to recognize King Zhou’s hidden plan and commit his army to a surprise attack on E City. Zhang Youren then carried the King of Yue’s blood-sealed declaration of submission to the Shang Army’s camp at Mawei Slope.

• The King of Yue offered tribute, a hostage, and even his personal submission, but Zhang Youren remained silent as instructed by King Zhou.
• A civil official pointed out that King Zhou’s slow advance toward E Shun and his openly revealed surprise-attack strategy were meant to pressure the King of Yue.
• The King of Yue realized King Zhou had designed the strategy for Yue’s army and ordered his troops to assemble for a surprise attack on E City.
• Zhang Youren recovered at a mansion and understood that King Zhou’s schemes had set the feudal lords against one another.
• Three days later, the King of Yue led his army south and sent Zhang Youren to the Shang Army’s main camp with a blood-sealed memorial declaring his submission.

Zhang Youren returned from Yue after enduring severe humiliation and reported that the King of Yue had submitted and attacked E City. Zi Shou rejected the surrender, declared war on the King of Yue, and insisted that Shang’s envoy could not be humiliated.

• Zhang Youren reached Zi Shou’s camp carrying the Dark Phoenix Jade Pendant, while the soldiers admired his endurance and assumed he had completed his mission.
• Zi Shou crowned Fang Bi the winner of the Chaoge Golden Glove during a football match, then summoned Zhang Youren to hear his report.
• Zhang Youren told Zi Shou that the King of Yue had submitted and led an army to attack E City.
• After reading the King of Yue’s flattering memorial, Zi Shou recognized that the King of Yue had switched sides after losing to the King of Wu.
• Zi Shou saw Zhang Youren’s scars, tore up the surrender memorial, and ordered the army to attack the King of Yue’s forces.
• Zhang Youren urged Zi Shou to reconsider, but Zi Shou returned his pendant and declared that the people of Shang would not be humiliated.

Zi Shou realized the King of Yue’s army could serve as the unexpected force against E Shun, so he set out to strike while the Yue troops were still moving. The King of Yue’s fleet was suddenly attacked on the Han River, leaving him convinced that Zi Shou’s real target might be Yue instead.

• Zi Shou recognized that the King of Yue’s army could surprise E Shun and ordered his consort to help him into his armor so he could act before Wen Zhong arrived.
• The King of Yue and Yue Min discussed the march toward E City and agreed that Yue Min would hold the River-Mouth Settlement to preserve their retreat.
• Arrows suddenly flew at the Yue fleet from the north, and the King of Yue realized that Great Shang ships were attacking.
• The King of Yue suspected Zi Shou had targeted Yue rather than E Shun and ordered his troops to meet the enemy.

Zi Shou led the Shang Army into a disastrous naval assault on the Yue fleet, hoping to lose the battle without losing too many soldiers. As the Shang forces retreated, Zi Shou stayed behind to cover them, and his men rallied to protect him.

• Chao Lei advised Zi Shou to flank the Yue army, but Zi Shou insisted on a frontal attack to avenge Zhang Youren’s humiliation.
• The Shang Oilships suffered damage in the first clash, and the larger Yue ships overwhelmed them with arrows, ramming attacks, and boarding troops.
• Yue Min ordered his vessels to ram the Oilships, while Fang Xiang struggled to rally Shang soldiers aboard the unstable boats.
• Zi Shou called a retreat, tore off his armor to reveal his Imperial Robe, and drew the Yue archers’ fire toward himself.
• Zi Shou used an oar to steady his drifting Oilship and declared that he would cover the retreat, spurring Shang soldiers to fight and row harder around him.

Fang Xiang, Fang Bi, and other Shang Army soldiers defied Zi Shou’s retreat order and boarded Yue Army ships, while the King of Yue killed Yue Min and ordered a retreat. The Yue Army abandoned its large ships, leaving the Shang Army poised to seize them.

• Fang Xiang, Fang Bi, and a young officer led Shang Army soldiers in linking oilships and charging toward the Yue Army’s large ships despite Zi Shou’s retreat order.
• A laborer and Chao Lei’s soldiers rowed Zi Shou’s boat toward the rear as Shang Army fighters climbed aboard the Yue Army ships.
• Fang Xiang swept Yue Army soldiers aside with a wooden oar while both sides suffered casualties, and the Shang Army began taking control of the vessels.
• The King of Yue asked Yue Min about the battle and his family, then stabbed him and told him he would provide for his wife and children.
• The King of Yue announced Yue Min’s death and ordered the Yue Army to abandon its large ships, transfer to smaller boats, and retreat.

The King of Yue deliberately surrendered his ships and general to King Zhou, while Zi Shou mistook the retreat for an inexplicable victory and planned to continue the campaign. The Shang Army reached E City and camped beside a river despite repeated warnings.

• The King of Yue concluded that losing his ships and leading general would earn King Zhou's trust and help preserve Yue from the King of Wu.
• Chao Lei could not pursue the Yue Army because the Shang soldiers were seasick, while Zi Shou struggled to understand why the enemy had fled.
• Chao Lei reported few casualties and suggested using the captured ships to invade Yue, but Zi Shou rejected the plan and chose to attack E City.
• After marching overland, Zi Shou ordered the Shang Army to camp with the river at their backs, ignoring Chao Lei, Fang Xiang, and Fang Bi's warnings.

Zi Shou established his camp beside the E City River, renamed it the Gaoliang River, and deliberately prepared for a drawn-out defeat inspired by Zhao Guangyi’s famous donkey-cart retreat. Three days later, his army made a token attack on E City before withdrawing, while E Shun mocked them from the walls.

• Zi Shou chose a dangerous riverside campsite, found a donkey cart, and renamed the E City River the Gaoliang River.
• Zi Shou recalled Zhao Guangyi’s defeat and donkey-cart escape at the Gaoliang River, then planned to let a prolonged siege wear down his army’s morale.
• Zi Shou led the Shang Army to E City in his slow donkey cart, and E Shun prepared to defend the city with most of its troops already under control.
• Zi Shou called for E City to surrender from beyond arrow range, and E Shun answered by shooting an arrow that fell short.
• Zi Shou ordered his soldiers to fire three volleys; Li Lie came closest to hitting the defenders, and E Shun mocked Zi Shou for delivering arrows.
• Zi Shou withdrew the army to camp after the volleys, leaving Chao Lei, Fang Xiang, and Fang Bi bewildered by his strategy.

E Shun resisted the Shang Army’s strange siege tactics, suspecting a trap when they left catapults outside the city. When Zi Shou finally tested the weapons, they fell far short of expectations and one collapsed under its boulder.

• E Shun declared himself King of E and endured seven days of the Shang Army’s routine arrow attacks.
• E Shun saw the Shang Army build catapults beyond bowshot and refused to seize them, fearing they were bait for an ambush.
• Zi Shou delayed returning to the siege through several days of rain and found the catapults untouched when he came back.
• Zi Shou ordered the soldiers to load boulders into the catapults while E Shun prepared cavalry to destroy them if they proved dangerous.
• A catapult’s stone fell short of the city, and Fang Xiang’s attempt to launch a larger boulder caused the catapult to collapse without hitting the wall.

Zi Shou’s army tried to provoke E Shun into a battle, and Chao Lei reframed Zi Shou’s blunders as a plan to lure the defenders out and raise morale. Zi Shou ordered the soldiers to carry buckets of water on their backs to prevent a successful last stand, while E Shun weighed whether to attack before Shang reinforcements arrived and received word that a visitor wanted to see him.

• Zi Shou ordered arrows fired and tunnels dug, and Chao Lei, Fang Xiang, and Fang Bi interpreted his actions as a scheme to lure E Shun out of E City.
• Chao Lei claimed that the failed attacks would exhaust E Shun’s troops and that the Gaoliang River at the Shang Army’s backs would inspire them to fight.
• Zi Shou ordered the soldiers to fell trees, make buckets, and carry water on their backs so their raised morale would not let them win too easily.
• E Shun worried that his soldiers would resent his refusal to fight and that incoming Shang reinforcements would soon besiege E City.
• A messenger told E Shun that someone wished to see him.

E Shun and the King of Yue joined forces to raid the Shang camp, but Zi Shou ordered his army to abandon it and flee rather than risk a desperate battle. As Yue troops pursued the retreating Shang soldiers with torches, Chao Lei and the Fang brothers tried to rally their men by using the water they had been ordered to carry.

• The King of Yue greeted E Shun and agreed to join his night attack on the Shang camp.
• E Shun used a vanguard to draw Fang Xiang and Fang Bi to the West Gate while his main force broke through the North Gate.
• After learning that the camp was surrounded, Zi Shou ordered the army to flee south without removing their water buckets.
• The King of Yue’s soldiers pursued the retreating Shang army with torches, throwing the panicked soldiers into confusion.
• Chao Lei recognized the pursuit as a bluff, and Fang Xiang and Fang Bi ordered the soldiers to use their bucket water to extinguish the torches.

E Shun pursued Zi Shou’s Shang Army in the dark, believing the Yue Army would help him surround the king, but the Yue force attacked the E Army instead. As E Shun’s troops fled, Zi Shou decided to pursue and find out what had happened.

• The Shang Army extinguished the E Army’s torches with buckets of water, leaving both sides to fight in darkness and fear an ambush.
• E Shun sent Li Lie to fight Fang Xiang and Fang Bi, then battled Li Lie himself while waiting for the King of Yue’s troops.
• A torch-bearing force arrived, and E Shun’s deputy general mistook it for the Yue Army before its general killed him and ordered an attack on the E Army.
• The Yue general identified anyone without a water bucket as an E soldier and ordered his troops to capture E Shun, revealing that the King of Yue was absent.
• E Shun ordered a retreat as the Yue Army attacked from behind and the Shang Army blocked their way.
• Zi Shou hesitated over pursuing the routed E Army, then decided to follow them a little.

Zi Shou’s army captured E City with the King of Yue’s help, though Zi Shou had not knowingly planned the betrayal. E Shun escaped the slaughter, while the King of Yue realized he would remain dependent on King Zhou.

• The King of Yue revealed that he had taken E City, and Zi Shou asked Chao Lei whether they had a general named Hong Qian at court.
• E Shun accused King Zhou and the King of Yue of conspiring to sacrifice Yue soldiers and seize E City, while Zi Shou privately denied knowing anything about the plan.
• The King of Yue opened E City’s gates and ambushed E Shun’s retreating forces, inflicting heavy losses before E Shun escaped the encirclement.
• Zi Shou held his forces back from killing E Shun and led the Shang Army into E City, where the King of Yue welcomed him as a subject.
• Fang Xiang and Fang Bi recalled Zi Shou’s earlier claim that the King of Yue had been his undercover advisor, and the King of Yue recognized that he would need King Zhou’s protection to return to Yue Territory.

After Zi Shou took E City, Wen Zhong arrived with reinforcements and proposed strategies for dealing with E Shun and the Feudal Lords. Zhang Youren objected to Wen Zhong’s first two plans as too risky, leaving the army’s next move unresolved.

• Zi Shou had his donkey slaughtered for the soldiers, while rumors celebrated him as the Donkey Cart War God of Gaoliang River.
• Wen Zhong, Zhang Youren, and Zhang Guifang arrived with reinforcements and praised Zi Shou for taking E City.
• Zi Shou credited Zhang Youren with the victory and promised to make him a marquis and chancellor after the war.
• Wen Zhong warned that E Shun could ally with the Feudal Lords and proposed drawing several groups of them into Chu Territory to divide them.
• Zhang Youren objected that the Feudal Lords would not come unless Great Shang offered them benefits, so Wen Zhong suggested that he and Zi Shou leave E City.
• Wen Zhong proposed having Chief Commander Deng support the forces left in Chu Territory, but Zhang Youren warned that the Feudal Lords could unite and seize it.

Zi Shou rejected Wen Zhong’s plans for defending E City and instead ordered an immediate campaign against the Baiyue Tribes. Wen Zhong believed he understood the king’s intentions, though Zi Shou privately admitted he mainly wanted to keep the army and Wen Zhong occupied in the south while buying time for reforms.

• Wen Zhong proposed using General Zhang Shan to exploit the feudal lords’ conflicts, reinforcing E City, and recruiting the Baiyue Tribes, but Zi Shou rejected fighting alongside the Baiyue.
• Zi Shou ordered the army to leave E City and granted it to the King of Yue, then announced that Great Shang would attack the Baiyue instead.
• Zhang Guifang asked when the campaign would begin, and Zi Shou declared that it would start immediately and that the Baiyue would submit within a year.
• Wen Zhong said he was beginning to understand Zi Shou’s intentions, while Zi Shou privately reflected that he wanted to keep the army and Wen Zhong in the south as his reforms continued.

Zi Shou set out to conquer Baiyue, while Wen Zhong explained how a winter campaign could overcome the region’s terrain and hazards. After Baiyue captives were discovered near Three Mountains Pass, Zi Shou released them, and his commanders condemned the decision.

• Wen Zhong explained that marching in autumn and winter would blunt Baiyue’s advantages by driving its people from shelter while cold weather subdued dangerous animals and insects.
• Wen Zhong praised Zi Shou’s decision to name the King of Yue the King of Chu, but worried that Western Teachings agents might be active in the south.
• At Three Mountains Pass, Deng Jiugong told Zi Shou that his troops had captured Baiyue people after spotting outsiders entering Baiyue from the west, and Wen Zhong suspected Xiqi had incited them.
• Zi Shou questioned the captives, then ordered the guards to release them when they refused to give information.
• The next morning, Wen Zhong and the other commanders confronted Zi Shou, and Deng Jiugong explained that many captives were likely from Yu Yue and would not become Shang agents.

The King of Yu Yue defended his scouts after the other Baiyue kings accused them of being Shang agents, but the dispute turned into a political attempt to undermine his leadership. He withdrew to his tent with his allies lost and the united tribes' future uncertain.

• Baiyue’s tribal kings celebrated their rebellion against Shang and discussed proclaiming themselves kings.
• Yu Yue scouts returned from Shang captivity, saying they had been tortured and then released, but the other kings suspected they had become agents.
• The King of Yu Yue defended the scouts and refused to accept accusations that they or he had colluded with Shang.
• The Kings of Nanyue and Yangyue called for the scouts to be seized, while the Kings of Wuyue and Ouyue tried to calm the dispute.
• The King of Yu Yue left the bitterly ended banquet and considered his isolation, as the remaining tribal chiefs stayed neutral.

The King of Yu Yue fled to Great Shang after other Baiyue leaders turned against him, but Zi Shou refused to accept him as a mere refugee and demanded a humiliating formal surrender. Zi Shou also ordered taxes doubled at Three Mountains Pass as preparations for the southern campaign continued.

• The King of Yu Yue decided to leave his territory and seek refuge with Great Shang after his clansmen and the other Baiyue leaders came under suspicion.
• A messenger told Zi Shou that the King of Yu Yue had arrived near Three Mountains Pass with three hundred men, and Deng Jiugong explained how the other tribal leaders had forced him to flee.
• Zi Shou sent Zhang Youren to demand the King of Yu Yue submit alone and present a Surrender Letter, threatening to reject him if he only sought refuge.
• Tai Luan and Deng Xiu urged Zi Shou to welcome the King of Yu Yue, but Zi Shou demanded that he kneel and kowtow before the fallen soldiers’ Clothing Tombs or leave.
• Zi Shou ordered the land tax at Three Mountains Pass doubled to supply the approaching southern campaign, and Zhang Youren agreed to deliver his demands.