Chapter Summaries

At the Laji Festival, Zi Shou turned the harvest sacrifice into a public challenge to the gods, revealing that the supposed divine figures were ordinary farmers. He argued that farmers themselves deserved credit for the bumper harvest, and the chapter ended as the terrified Zhang San and Li Si began confessing.

• Zi Shou used a chime bell as a makeshift megaphone and led the people through the Laji Festival offerings.
• After the gods and spirit lords were presented in burlap sacks, Zi Shou heated a sheep bone and questioned whether they had caused the bumper harvest.
• The sacks wriggled, and Zi Shou revealed Zhang San, Li Si, and several other farmers instead of divine statues.
• Zi Shou declared that farmers’ labor had produced the harvest and that they deserved the year’s finest meal and sacrifices.
• Zhang San and Li Si recovered from their terror and repeatedly cried that they confessed.

Zi Shou exposed the Palace Fields’ manure fertilizer as the source of the abundant harvest and credited human effort rather than divine intervention. He then held a public deliberation and declared that court dignitaries, feudal lords, and nobles would help farmers during next year’s spring plowing, after promising they would bring seed grain.

• Zhang San and Li Si confessed that they had stolen manure fertilizer from Shanglin Garden, and the commoners learned that it had produced the abundant harvest.
• Bo Yi told the crowd that Zi Shou had spread manure fertilizer to help enrich the soil and that the harvest came from human effort.
• Zi Shou began a public deliberation on whether court dignitaries, feudal lords, and nobles should help farmers during spring plowing.
• An old woman and other commoners opposed sending inexperienced nobles into the fields, while ministers expected the proposal to fail.
• Zi Shou promised the nobles would bring their own seed grain, and then declared the proposal approved by a six-to-four majority.

Zi Shou welcomed the new year with a favorable Foolishness Value settlement and planned to avoid stirring up trouble. At the Ministry of Punishments, Bi An explained that collecting land tax from nobles could expose how the well-field system sustained slavery, leaving officials to consider the broader reforms implied by the tax.

• Zi Shou checked his Foolishness Value, welcomed the settlement, and decided to spend the year quietly while nobles and Xin Huan’s men contributed points.
• Li Jing summoned Ouyang Tianlu, Bi An, and Jie Zhi to discuss the Ministry of Punishments taking over the failed effort to collect land tax from nobles.
• Bi An explained that nobles’ lands lacked the public fields used to calculate taxes under the well-field system, allowing them to pay only token amounts.
• Bi An argued that the tax measure was meant to replace the well-field system, prompting Ouyang Tianlu to protest that Yu the Great had established it.
• Bi An linked the well-field system to slavery, explaining how nobles used private estates and coerced labor to sustain their wealth and armies.
• Ouyang Tianlu recognized the force of Bi An’s explanation, though he privately wondered how Bi An knew so much.

Li Jing investigated the Fu household’s resistance to land taxes and its use of dirty wool in sweaters, then confronted Fu Wen over his connection to the criminal Wang Wu. The inquiry ended with Ouyang Tianlu producing Wang Wu’s severed head.

• Li Jing argued that refusing land reform would prolong suffering and asked Bi'an, Xiezhi, and Ouyang Tianlu to help him carry out King Zhou’s trust.
• Fu Yu welcomed Li Jing, who explained that he had come to ask questions rather than collect the Fu household’s land tax.
• Li Jing revealed the Fu household had 682 servants and 3,366 households of slaves, then questioned Fu Wen about using dirty wool in sweaters.
• Fu Wen defended selling the itchy sweaters at the same price as ordinary ones, while Li Jing noted the law lacked rules to regulate merchants.
• Li Jing connected Fu Wen to Wang Wu, a criminal who had preyed on villagers, and ordered Ouyang Tianlu to bring him out.
• Ouyang Tianlu produced Wang Wu’s severed head before the stunned Fu household.

Li Jing used criminal investigations to force Chaoge’s noble households to register their populations and pay land tax by headcount, while Zi Shou approved the reform. Zi Shou grew suspicious of the unusually detailed case files, then learned the evidence was conclusive and Li Jing had imprisoned himself after visiting every noble residence.

• Li Jing confronted the Fu family with criminal case files, arrested Fu Wen, and forced Fu Yu to register the household’s servants and slaves for a population-based land tax.
• Li Jing rejected Fu Wen’s offer to help collect taxes from other nobles, assessed the Fu family’s ninety-three members at a higher rate, and ordered Fu Wen beaten.
• Ao Bing told Zi Shou that Li Jing had used similar investigations and arrests to audit the populations of other noble households.
• Zi Shou supported Li Jing’s land-tax reform but questioned the exhaustive detail in the case files.
• Ao Bing said the cases had conclusive evidence, were publicly available for challenge, and revealed that Li Jing had placed himself in Yuan Prison.

Zi Shou visited Li Jing in Yuan Prison and learned that Li Jing had imprisoned himself to absorb blame for the New Law and protect the reforms. Zi Shou released him anyway, gave him an Imperial Sword to use against resisting nobles, and left knowing the public would condemn the unlawful favor.

• Zi Shou learned that Li Jing had arranged his own imprisonment after beating nobles and overseeing thousands of cases under the New Law.
• Zi Shou went to Yuan Prison with Ao Lie and Li Lie, where he found Li Jing working in a clean cell and questioned him about taking responsibility for the reforms.
• Li Jing explained that he had acted to shield the court and Zi Shou from backlash, and that population registration would also protect people harmed by noble households.
• Zi Shou told Li Jing that the reforms were the court's responsibility and insisted that he should not bear the blame alone.
• Li Jing refused to leave, but Zi Shou gave him an Imperial Sword and ordered him to come out of Yuan Prison.
• Zi Shou's illicit release of Li Jing was poised to provoke public complaints about unequal enforcement of the New Law.

As rumors spread that King Zhou planned to release Li Jing from Yuan Prison, nobles and commoners alike argued over whether the New Law was being applied fairly. Zi Shou’s royal guards countered the outrage by explaining Li Jing’s actions and the reforms’ purpose, but public opinion remained divided.

• Shu Qi rushed to Bo Yi with news that King Zhou had gone to Yuan Prison and might release Li Jing, and Bo Yi sent him to seek the senior ministers’ help keeping Li imprisoned.
• Shu Qi found Wan Nian at the Qi River construction site and persuaded him to go to Yuan Prison, while overheard rumors spread that King Zhou intended to free Li Jing.
• Nobles’ servants stirred public anger by portraying Li Jing’s unauthorized beatings as a violation of the New Law and demanding that he be punished.
• Yin Pobai and the Three Hundred Royal Guards gathered at the Law Steles and explained that Li Jing had acted to collect land taxes from nobles and reform the land system.
• Some listeners continued calling for Li Jing to be sentenced harshly, while many others were shaken by the guards’ account of the New Law and its protections.

The people of Chaoge mistook the commotion around Yuan Prison for a chance to speak openly about the nobles’ abuses, and thousands gathered to recount their grievances. Jin Cheng and the Dark Phoenix Guard struggled to keep order as the complaints grew increasingly far-fetched, while Zi Shou left the prison after drinking with Li Jing.

• The reforms and law steles inspired the people to gather at Yuan Prison and speak about injustices they had suffered under the nobles.
• Jin Cheng arrived with the Dark Phoenix Guard and tried to reassure the crowd that the court and law could be trusted.
• People stepped forward with accounts of being beaten, exploited, or losing family members to the nobles, surprising Jin Cheng and the guards.
• The crowd swelled into the thousands, and some people began inventing absurd accusations while Jin Cheng’s men struggled to maintain order.
• Zi Shou finished his wine with Li Jing and walked out of Yuan Prison.

Zi Shou and Li Jing emerged from Yuan Prison to find thousands of commoners petitioning for Li Jing’s release and praising the New Law. The crowd split when disgruntled refugees arrived to insist that Li Jing be punished, leaving Jin Cheng and the Dark Phoenix Guard to keep the dispute from escalating.

• Zi Shou and Li Jing left Yuan Prison and found a crowd of more than ten thousand people gathered outside.
• Jin Cheng explained that commoners had come to defend Li Jing, saying the nobles he had beaten deserved punishment and that the New Law protected ordinary people.
• Several commoners praised Zi Shou and Li Jing, while Zi Shou and Li Jing tried to persuade them to leave and acknowledged Li Jing’s offense.
• Wan Nian and Shu Qi warned Zi Shou that dissatisfied refugees from outside the city might turn the gathering into a dangerous confrontation.
• Newly arrived refugees reached the crowd and argued that Li Jing was guilty and should be punished, while other commoners defended him and the New Law.
• Zi Shou ordered Jin Cheng and the Dark Phoenix Guard to mediate as the two groups argued.

Li Jing faced accusations that he had broken the law by executing nobles without authorization, and he responded by shaving his head as punishment instead of taking his own life. His public gesture won the commoners over and strengthened support for the New Law.

• A voice in the crowd accused Li Jing of violating the law and warned Zi Shou against releasing him.
• Zi Shou defended Li Jing and threatened the accuser, but Li Jing admitted his guilt and insisted that he must be punished.
• Li Jing explained that he needed to continue serving the realm through reform, then drew the sword Zi Shou had given him.
• When the accuser urged Li Jing to die for the law, Zi Shou ordered his men to find and seize the speaker.
• Li Jing used his sword to shave off all his hair and declared that he accepted head-shaving in place of execution.
• The commoners praised Li Jing’s fairness and the New Law, while Zi Shou realized the gesture had turned Li Jing into a symbol of impartial justice.

Zi Shou ordered the ministers to help with spring plowing after learning that the Ministry of Punishments had resolved every noble-related case without a wrongful verdict. Zhang San and Li Si, convinced that officials would harm the harvest, decided to take action.

• Li Jing attended court bald after sacrificing his hair to secure his release from Yuan Prison, and the ministers praised his recovery and the new law.
• Zi Shou learned that the Ministry of Punishments had verified the nobles’ population and land figures and ruled correctly in every case, then granted the officials a month of leave and ordered them to receive cupping.
• Zi Shou assigned each minister villages to visit and insisted they help farmers with spring plowing, despite Shang Rong’s attempt to object.
• Zhang San and Li Si met the old woman who sold their Heartless Vegetables and heard her complain that meat-eaters were narrow-minded.
• Zhang San and Li Si agreed that officials such as Yang Ren and Lu Xiong could not farm and decided they had to do something to protect the harvest.

Zhang San and Li Si tried to stop Ji Chang and Chong Houhu from going to the fields, but Ji Chang turned the confrontation into a public wager about their farming abilities. The two farmers accepted Chong Houhu’s jade pendant as the stake and followed the nobles toward the fields, where other farmers waited with resentment.

• After drinking, Zhang San and Li Si rushed to block Ji Chang and Chong Houhu’s carriages at the South Gate, but the coachmen pinned them down.
• Ji Chang stepped out before the gathered crowd, challenged the farmers’ claim that he could not farm, and persuaded Chong Houhu to let the matter go.
• Ji Chang helped Zhang San and Li Si to their feet and proposed a wager: the nobles would lose if they ruined spring plowing, while the farmers would lose if the nobles helped them.
• Chong Houhu offered his jade pendant as the stake, and Zhang San and Li Si agreed to spread the news if they lost.
• Zhang San and Li Si followed the carriages to the fields and saw farmers waiting resentfully for the nobles to arrive.

Chong Houhu realized King Zhou’s countryside assignment could expose problems left by the well-field reform, while Xin Jia saw how little nobles and officials could help farmers through manual labor. The chapter left Xin Jia with an idea for a water-drawing mechanism.

• Chong Houhu watched farmers work and understood that King Zhou wanted officials and nobles to experience common people’s hardships.
• Chong Houhu learned that eight households shared a well after the well-field system was abolished, and he suspected officials could resolve disputes over its use.
• Chong Houhu decided to wait and observe rather than interfere, then fell asleep beneath a tree.
• Xin Jia and the Cao Family Head struggled to help an old farmer, and Xin Jia refused the water the old man offered so it could be used on the fields.
• Xin Jia watched the old man labor to draw water and thought of carving a wooden mechanism to make the task faster.

Xin Jia introduced the counterweighted well sweep to the Cao Family Head and demonstrated how it made drawing water easier. As officials and nobles across the countryside began improving farming tools, the new implements left farmers as unfamiliar with them as their elite inventors.

• Xin Jia explained the counterweighted well sweep to the Cao Family Head, who eagerly asked how to build one.
• Xin Jia and the Cao Family Head assembled a well sweep beside a well.
• Xin Jia used the device to raise a full water jar, then poured the water out to demonstrate it to an old farmer.
• The old farmer tried the well sweep, saw how little effort it took, and carried the water to irrigate his fields.
• High officials and nobles throughout the countryside began inventing and improving farming tools, leaving farmers unfamiliar with the new implements.

Ji Chang demonstrated a waterwheel that could irrigate fields, while Chong Houhu interpreted King Zhou’s decision to let Ji Chang invent for the people as proof of the king’s benevolence. The chapter ended with Ji Chang planning a more efficient way to till the land.

• Ji Chang showed Chong Houhu a waterwheel that lifted river water into nearby fields, and Zhang San and Li Si tested it successfully.
• Chong Houhu named the device the Dragon-Bone Waterwheel and learned that it was affordable to build and could lift water about seven meters.
• Chong Houhu concluded that King Zhou had allowed Ji Chang to benefit the people despite the political advantage Ji Chang would gain.
• Chong Houhu resolved to watch Ji Chang closely and ensure he shared every useful invention.
• Ji Chang accepted the scrutiny and began considering a faster, more efficient way to till the land.

Gao Lanying introduced the Treading Pestle, a foot-powered tool that made hulling rice easier, while Ji Chang prepared to demonstrate a new ox-plowing method. The chapter ended with farmers watching skeptically as Ji Chang presented an ox harnessed to an unfamiliar contraption.

• Gao Lanying demonstrated how her Treading Pestle used a foot-operated pole and stone hammer to hull rice with less effort.
• Gao Lanying credited King Zhou’s order to farm, along with Xin Jia’s well sweep and the Female Physicians’ experience, for inspiring the tool.
• Ji Chang, seeking greater renown, performed a divination and then led an ox into the fields several days later.
• Ji Chang summoned Zhang San and nearby farmers to witness his plan to promote tilling with oxen.
• Ji Chang showed the farmers an ox harnessed to a strange contraption, while Chong Houhu watched and the farmers wondered whether it would work.

Ji Chang demonstrated the Curved-Shank Plow, impressing farmers with how quickly it could cultivate land. Watching him, Chong Houhu concluded that King Zhou’s agricultural policies were designed both to benefit the people and to compensate nobles for the burdens placed on them, and he began planning to spread that understanding.

• Ji Chang used the Curved-Shank Plow to turn the soil, and farmers were astonished by its speed and effectiveness.
• The farmers tried the plow, finished cultivating a mu of land in less than an hour, and praised its ability to greatly increase their output.
• Ji Chang urged that the Curved-Shank Plow be introduced to farmers throughout the realm.
• Chong Houhu connected the farming tools, land tax, and countryside labor decrees, concluding that King Zhou was using them to benefit farmers while giving nobles new business and increased yields.
• Chong Houhu resolved to help other nobles understand King Zhou’s intentions so they would not foolishly oppose him.

Ji Chang read Fu Yu’s newspaper praising King Zhou’s land-tax policies and interpreted it as a calculated reconciliation between the ruler and the nobles. He recognized that King Zhou had stabilized Chaoge, but remained committed to rebelling and doubted human strength against heaven’s decree; the chapter ended as King Zhou’s carriage arrived at the fields.

• Ji Chang bought three newspapers and saw the erotic pamphlet titled “King Wen Pushes the Cart Eight Hundred Times” tucked inside one of them.
• Ji Chang read Fu Yu’s defense of King Zhou’s land tax and farming reforms, which argued that nobles benefited from the new tools and increased harvests.
• Ji Chang concluded that the nobles were using Fu Yu’s newspaper to placate King Zhou while they profited from trade and agricultural changes.
• Ji Chang realized that King Zhou’s policies had helped stabilize Chaoge and bring the nobles into temporary harmony, while Ji Chang’s own inventions had helped that effort.
• Ji Chang reaffirmed his intention to overthrow Shang despite admiring King Zhou’s political skill, and considered humanity’s weakness before fate and immortals.
• King Zhou’s carriage arrived at the fields, interrupting Ji Chang’s thoughts.

Zi Shou read a newspaper praising him as a benevolent ruler and decided to undermine the nobles by changing land ownership, though he first looked for a way to tamper with the new farming tools. The chapter left him asking Ji Chang whether the Curved-Shank Plow required an ox.

• Ji Chang presented Zi Shou with a newspaper celebrating the nobles’ praise of him as a benevolent and righteous ruler.
• Zi Shou rejected the idea of exploiting the farmers and decided to challenge the nobles’ private ownership of land.
• Ji Chang praised Zi Shou before the farmers, who credited him for bringing officials and new farming tools to the countryside.
• Zi Shou refused Ji Chang’s offer to lead his horse and asked whether the Curved-Shank Plow could be used without an ox.

Zi Shou rejected immediate ox-plowing reforms because Great Shang lacked pastureland and needed to raise horses and sheep, then suggested trying horse plowing instead. Ji Chang secretly welcomed the plan, believing Xiqi and the Western Rong would eventually adopt the more effective ox plowing while Great Shang remained unable to do so.

• Ji Chang explained that the Curved-Shank Plow worked best when pulled by an ox, but Zi Shou argued Great Shang lacked pastures for raising enough cattle.
• Chong Houhu supported prioritizing horses for the military and sheep for Wool Sweaters, and Ji Chang urged Zi Shou to promote the plow despite the objections.
• Zi Shou suggested using horses to pull the Curved-Shank Plow, redirecting the farmers' attention and addressing the cavalry problem caused by the Chaoge Racecourse.
• Ji Chang concealed that horse plowing was less effective than ox plowing and privately expected Xiqi and the Western Rong to discover the advantage of using oxen.