Recaps

Xu Qingxiao exposed Prince Huaiping’s role in the Pingqiu Prefecture disaster relief case, then used his new authority to punish foreign merchants and secure vast tax revenues for Great Wei. After his waterwheel promised a major harvest increase, opposition threatened the project, and the Female Emperor tasked him with winning support for it.

• Xu Qingxiao used Li Jianquan’s memories and a hidden letter to expose Prince Huaiping’s crimes, then killed him with the Sage’s Sword after rejecting the Female Emperor’s attempt to spare him.
• The Female Emperor punished Xu Qingxiao publicly but later appointed him Vice Director of the Ministry of Revenue and gave him the Imperial Dragon Tally to pursue tax reforms.
• Xu Qingxiao provoked foreign merchants into widespread abuses, then arrested and tried them publicly, executing hundreds and compelling the rest to accept taxes and stricter rules.
• Xu Qingxiao’s measures brought Great Wei hundreds of millions of taels in silver and assets, while the Nation-Guarding Bell tolled once for him.
• Xu Qingxiao learned that his Confucian Dao suppressed his unorthodox cultivation and planned to strengthen himself while the court revived debate over the Northern Expedition.
• After Li Xin reported that Xu Qingxiao’s waterwheel had raised harvests in Southern Yu Prefecture, the Female Emperor apologized to Xu Qingxiao and ordered Li Yanlong to begin building waterwheels.
• Officials and military leaders opposed the waterwheel project, while Prince Huaining’s allies spread rumors against it, and the Female Emperor ordered Xu Qingxiao to win over officials and commoners within a day.

Xu Qingxiao secured approval for the Waterwheel Project, won the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering with prepared poems, and built a court-backed official-merchant system to fund sweeping reforms. As the new revenue began to flow, Prince Huaining and Cheng Lidong launched a public accusation that Xu practiced unorthodox arts, murdered, and plundered.

• Xu Qingxiao persuaded the court and the dukes to approve the Waterwheel Project, then prepared poems that dazzled the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering and drew literary qi to Great Wei.
• Xu Qingxiao helped Li Shouming join Shouren Academy and gathered scholars around the School of the Mind, then proposed forging a Sword of Execution and securing merchant support for the waterwheels.
• Xu Qingxiao met Wu Zhangyi of the White Robe Sect, named Lady White Robe Luo Baiyi, and warned Prince Kong against insulting her or Great Wei’s women.
• Xu Qingxiao persuaded Zhang Ruhui to fund the Waterwheel Project through a new official-merchant path, and the Female Emperor established the system despite fierce ministerial opposition.
• Xu Qingxiao used promised payments to win support from the ministries and military, while Wang Xinzhi withdrew his objection after Xu offered funding and a plan for the foreign envoys’ gifts.
• Xu Qingxiao ordered the Ten Kingdoms’ Great Talents to submit pledges or kowtow at the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering’s closing banquet, while Cheng Lidong filed a complaint accusing him of studying unorthodox arts.
• Xu Qingxiao secured waterwheel supplies and official positions from the Eight Great Merchant Associations, then told the Female Emperor the system would bring in fourteen billion taels for waterwheels, farmland, the military, and agriculture.
• Prince Huaining accepted Cheng Lidong’s request to move against Xu Qingxiao, then struck the grievance drum and publicly accused Xu of unorthodox arts, murder, and plunder.

Xu Qingxiao rose to peerless Grand Confucian, built the Great Wei Gazette and Shouren Academy, and clashed with the Great Wei Literary Palace. After foreign nations and vassal kings demanded his dismissal, he became Regent Minister, declared war, and ordered a crackdown on the Literary Palace as Great Wei rallied behind him.

• Xu Qingxiao cleared Prince Huaining’s accusation at the Great Wei Literary Palace, resonated with Sage Zhu’s intent, and became a peerless Grand Confucian, forcing Sun Jing'an and Yan Lei to renounce their Confucian ranks.
• Xu Qingxiao entered the Immortal Dao, planned the Waterwheel Project, and launched the Great Wei Gazette, whose success prompted Yan Lei and the Literary Palace to publish a rival paper attacking him.
• Xu Qingxiao exposed Yan Lei’s attacks and forced Scholar Peng to restrict and rename the rival newspaper, while many Confucian students left the Literary Palace for Shouren Academy.
• Scholar Peng and Prince Huaining plotted with foreign races and vassal kings against Great Wei, and 121 nations demanded Xu Qingxiao’s dismissal and threatened to secede.
• The Female Emperor appointed Xu Qingxiao Regent Minister and gave him military authority, but the nations rejected his demands, so he declared war on them.
• Xu Qingxiao ordered the Marquis of Xinwu to attack the Fan Kingdom, and after the kingdom surrendered, the Marquis executed its prisoners, officials, and ruling family on Xu’s secret command.
• Xu Qingxiao ordered total war and directed Great Wei’s forces against further enemies, while the Great Wei Literary Palace condemned him and he mobilized troops to arrest its leaders.
• The Great Wei Gazette rallied public support for Xu Qingxiao as commoners confronted protesting Confucian students, and Chen Zhengru, Wang Xinzhi, and Zhang Jing surrounded the Literary Palace and called its leaders traitors.

Xu Qingxiao conquered the three kingdoms and the Chen Kingdom, forced Great Wei’s rivals into submission, and became a Heaven-and-Earth Grand Confucian amid a clash with Sage Zhu’s Lineage. With the Literary Palace threatening to secede and demons gathering, he pursued preparations for Great Wei while Wu Ming offered to train him.

• Xu Qingxiao’s plans helped the Qilin Army conquer Tang, Amuta, and Tuliang, while the Tenth Prince opened Tang’s gates and became its new emperor.
• Xu Qingxiao used poisoned waterways to defeat the Western Frontier tribes, then rallied the vassal kings’ armies to attack the Chen Kingdom.
• The Great Wei Army massacred civilians in captured Chen cities until Tuxie threatened war, and the Female Emperor declared war before Tuxie withdrew from the conflict.
• Xu Qingxiao forced the foreign states to accept harsh surrender terms, concluded peace with Tuxie, and was ennobled as the hereditary Marquis of Pacification.
• Zhang Ning died in prison on the day of Xu Qingxiao’s investiture, and Scholar Peng’s accusations brought scholars into a confrontation that awakened Xu Qingxiao’s Heaven-and-Earth Literary Palace.
• Xu Qingxiao became a Heaven-and-Earth Grand Confucian, beheaded Peng Yuan, and stripped hundreds of thousands of scholars of their Confucian Ranks as the Female Emperor ordered Sage Zhu’s Lineage eradicated.
• The Female Emperor revealed that the Literary Palace’s planned departure threatened Great Wei’s National Fortune, while Xu Qingxiao wrote plans to avert disaster and celebrated the New Year among the people.
• Xu Qingxiao advanced to the Fifth Rank of the Martial Dao, reviewed Great Wei’s bumper grain forecasts, and refused Wu Ming’s offers to become his disciple as demon unrest in the Chen Kingdom intensified.