Recaps

The Young Chieftain questioned Liu Cheng about Wang Yang, then claimed Wang Yang had come as an envoy and refused to ransom him. Liu Cheng chose to keep defending Wang Yang, and the chapter ended with the Young Chieftain revealing that Liu Cheng would live or die alongside Wang Yang depending on their negotiations.

• The Young Chieftain questioned Liu Cheng about Wang Yang’s character and official post, while Liu Cheng praised him and insisted he knew nothing about his office.
• The Young Chieftain told Liu Cheng that Wang Yang had arrived, refused to pay brocade for his ransom, and ordered the barbarians to do as they pleased with him.
• Liu Cheng suspected the Young Chieftain was testing him, but decided to keep defending Wang Yang and asked that his remains be taken to his father if he died.
• The Young Chieftain claimed Wang Yang was an impostor under guard, and Liu Cheng laughed and defended the Langya Wang clan’s standing.
• The Young Chieftain feigned a saber strike, then told Liu Cheng that he and Wang Yang would live or die depending on the negotiations and warned him not to sow discord.

Wang Yang visited Liu Cheng, who had been living among the barbarians, and persuaded him to share what he knew about the tribe. Their conversation revealed Liu Cheng’s ties to Lema and left him stunned when Wang Yang hinted he might take responsibility for resolving their situation as an elder brother.

• Wang Yang sent the barbarian guards away and entered Liu Cheng’s hut, where Liu Cheng tried to maintain a calm, scholarly air.
• Liu Cheng threatened to expose Wang Yang as a false imperial envoy, but Wang Yang mocked him and threatened to tell his family that he had died, prompting Liu Cheng to beg not to be left behind.
• Liu Cheng briefed Wang Yang on the tribe’s leadership, explaining that Leluoluo shared power with the left and right haye and that negotiations would require gifts.
• Wang Yang questioned Liu Cheng about Lema, and Liu Cheng admitted he had been involved with her and eight other women while living among the barbarians.
• Liu Cheng said he wanted to return but could not marry Lema as a wife or take her as a concubine; Wang Yang suggested the problem might be solvable and hinted he would help as an elder brother.
• Liu Cheng misunderstood Wang Yang’s hint and exclaimed that Wang Yang wanted to be his elder brother too.

Wang Yang convinced Liu Cheng that the court had approved a trial trade route with the Wenyang Tribe, though Liu Cheng feared the conditions would keep him captive. Wang Yang reassured him and proposed that they build the Ten Thousand Mountains Freight Depot together, asking Liu Cheng to invest ten million.

• Wang Yang persuaded Liu Cheng to call him Elder Brother by threatening to leave him to handle his captivity and tangled relationships alone.
• Wang Yang explained that the court had approved a trial Barbarian Route after he submitted a policy essay through Liu Cheng's father.
• Liu Cheng learned that the tribes had to release him and request trade before the court would permit commerce, and he feared he would never return home.
• Wang Yang promised to use his own methods to secure Liu Cheng's release and reassured him that he would do everything he could.
• Wang Yang proposed that he and Liu Cheng establish the Ten Thousand Mountains Freight Depot, with Liu Cheng investing ten million and the two sharing the remaining profits.

Liu Cheng reconsidered Wang Yang’s criticism of his disdain for trade and agreed to join him in establishing a freight depot for the Barbarian Route. Their argument over funding ended with Wang Yang offering three million of his own, leaving Liu Cheng to wonder why he had initially been asked for ten million.

• Liu Cheng recalled his hunger and suffering in captivity and realized Wang Yang’s arguments about money and profit were right.
• Wang Yang persuaded Liu Cheng to help fund a freight depot, presenting it as a private partnership that could benefit both the Han lands and the Barbarian Tribes.
• Liu Cheng agreed to join but said he could raise only three million, refusing to sell his books or involve his family without need.
• Wang Yang admitted he had hoped Liu Cheng would provide ten million while he contributed expertise for half the profits, angering Liu Cheng.
• Wang Yang offered to invest three million himself, saying their combined six million would be enough to start with a smaller shipment.

Xie Xinghan arranged slips depicting people and places, ending with a warning of a lethal ambush. Meanwhile, Wang Yang talked Lema into going to Jiankang with Liu Cheng, leaving the couple reconciled and grateful to him.

• Xie Xinghan arranged slips around a willow and the Eastern Palace, then placed a slip marked “lethal ambush!” between Luling and Badong.
• Lema confronted Wang Yang and Liu Cheng with her saber, but Wang Yang pretended to mistake her pronunciation and claimed Liu Cheng was his younger brother.
• Wang Yang praised Lema as his sister-in-law, and Liu Cheng reluctantly played along until Lema accepted the family relationship.
• Wang Yang described Jiankang’s jewelry, scenery, and amusements to tempt Lema into visiting with Liu Cheng.
• Liu Cheng promised to make wherever Lema lived better, and Lema agreed to go to Jiankang with him.

Wang Yang pressed Le Luoluo to accept Great Qi’s nominal suzerainty in exchange for trade, while promising the Wenyang Tribe broad autonomy and generous rewards. Le Luoluo resisted but began to see the deal’s benefits, and Wang Yang ended by revealing he could help free him from Zuo Youhaye’s control.

• Wang Yang proposed that the Wenyang Tribe submit to Great Qi and offer tribute before the court opened the Barbarian Route to trade, and Le Luoluo furiously rejected the demand.
• Wang Yang outlined six conditions that left the Wenyang Tribe free of garrisons, officials, taxes, forced labor, and interference in its affairs.
• Wang Yang argued that the tribe was in a weak bargaining position because Great Qi was its only available buyer, and Le Luoluo defended his tribe’s independence.
• Wang Yang explained that submission and limited tribute would give the Peace Party political leverage while bringing the tribe greater rewards than it paid, and Le Luoluo began to consider the benefits.
• When Le Luoluo asked why he should persuade the others, Wang Yang said the deal would help the whole tribe and that he could help Le Luoluo escape Zuo Youhaye’s control, leaving Le Luoluo visibly shaken.

Wang Yang deduced that Le Luoluo wanted freedom from the left and right hayas’ control and offered court recognition as a way to strengthen his claim to succeed as Chief. Le Luoluo agreed to help secure submission in exchange for political guarantees, but the two clashed over a trade tax before Wang Yang offered to cover half of it through his freight depot.

• Le Luoluo denied wanting to escape the left and right hayas’ control, but Wang Yang explained how he had inferred Le Luoluo’s hidden intentions.
• Wang Yang proposed that court investiture would bolster Le Luoluo’s legitimacy and protect his position as future Chief.
• Le Luoluo agreed to persuade the tribe to submit if the court recognized his succession, rejected rebels, upheld the Six No-Tax Pledges, and carved the covenant on a stele.
• Wang Yang and Le Luoluo struck a three-palm oath, each threatening a divine offering if the other broke it.
• Le Luoluo refused Wang Yang’s proposed four-percent transaction tax, so Wang Yang offered to pay half through the Ten Thousand Mountains Freight Depot and called himself the money man.

Wang Yang persuaded Le Luoluo to accept a two-percent transaction tax by offering strategies to weaken the Left and Right Haye factions and secure his position. After Le Luoluo agreed, Wang Yang began to reveal a third move and asked for one guard to enter, claiming he was worried she would not sleep well.

• Le Luoluo rejected Wang Yang's offer to cover the tax in exchange for exclusive trade with the Wenyang Tribe.
• Wang Yang proposed using court investitures and preferential trade with the Left Haye faction to sow discord between the Left and Right Haye factions.
• Le Luoluo realized both strategies required Wang Yang's cooperation and agreed to pay the two-percent tax.
• Le Luoluo asked about the third move, and Wang Yang said it was a gift if one of his guards could enter the gorge.
• Le Luoluo refused to admit Wang Yang's guards, but Wang Yang insisted on letting in one guard and said he was worried she would not sleep well.

Wang Yang explained how inviting Left Haye to dinner would deepen Right Haye’s suspicions, while Le Luoluo sought his guidance. Elsewhere, Xie Xinghan prepared for possible unrest in Jingzhou, and Wang Tai identified a corpse as Wu Qian and decided to return to Jiankang.

• Wang Yang had Chen Qing Shan’s spear and sword returned, arranged snacks for her, and then explained his third move to Le Luoluo.
• Wang Yang told Le Luoluo to invite Left Haye to dinner so Right Haye would suspect a secret agreement between them.
• Xie Xinghan sent a messenger to watch the Jingzhou-Yingzhou border and decided to take Xiao Ning to their estate in Yongan as a precaution.
• A cloaked man paid the old clerk at the Jiangling County Office to provide a coffin and keep quiet about the corpse.
• Wang Tai told the man with the eye patch that the corpse was probably Wu Qian and that they would soon return to Jiankang.

Wang Yang enjoyed his comfortable stay among the Wenyang Tribe while Chen Qing Shan protected him from admirers, and he later explained his reading of an ancient poem to her. He persuaded Chen Qing Shan to invest in his planned freight depot with Liu Cheng, giving her a share of its future profits as security for her livelihood.

• Barbarian women repeatedly tried to enter Wang Yang's tent, but Chen Qing Shan drove them off with her spear, inspiring a song about her guarding him.
• After Wang Yang refined the song's lyrics, barbarian men came to challenge Chen Qing Shan until Le Luoluo ordered them to stop.
• Wang Yang traded four gold beads for two old Chinese books and read them while Chen Qing Shan studied the Book of Songs.
• Chen Qing Shan questioned Wang Yang's interpretation of “worthy lady,” and he argued that the phrase meant a lady of the gentry, leaving her disappointed.
• Wang Yang asked Chen Qing Shan to invest three hundred thousand in his planned freight depot with Liu Cheng, and she agreed despite refusing to take profits or repayment.

Wang Yang negotiated with the Wenyang Tribe’s leaders, refusing their customary wine and using the Southern Qi army’s movements to make them consider submission. He left them with a promise that his terms would be honored and a hint that he carried the emperor’s Oral Edict.

• Wang Yang refused to drink the village’s wine before negotiations, invoking Han rites and rebuffing challenges from Wuerke and Dadamu.
• Wang Yang suggested that the army’s movements were preparation to encircle and destroy the Wenyang Tribe, alarming the leaders.
• Le Luoluo staged a furious outburst and drew a blade, while Dadamu restrained him and Tuo Shan gave Wang Yang an opening to continue negotiating.
• Wang Yang explained why he had no Imperial Edict or Credential Tally and argued that such documents did not necessarily convey the emperor’s personal wishes.
• Wang Yang implied that he bore an Oral Edict and assured the leaders that his terms would be honored.

Wang Yang reassured the Wenyang leaders that he would honor their agreement and outlined plans for profitable trade, then proposed marriage alliances to secure their cooperation. When the two Hayes proposed marrying him themselves, he declined by citing the risks to the freight depot, but a cold voice accused him of plotting to destroy their lineages.

• Wang Yang promised to bring Liu Cheng back and argued that his family’s honor and the shared profits of trade gave him no reason to break his word.
• Dadamu questioned the freight depot’s prices and supply plans, and Wang Yang promised fair market rates and explained the advantages of opening the first Barbarian Route.
• Wang Yang offered to arrange marriages between Liu Cheng and the leaders’ female relatives, promising Lema an honored-concubine position and support from his family.
• Tuo Shan and Dadamu surprised Wang Yang by proposing that their daughter and niece marry him instead, and they praised the women’s beauty and offered generous dowries.
• Wang Yang said official scrutiny could endanger trade and the freight depot if he married, so Tuo Shan and Dadamu abandoned the proposals with regret.
• An unidentified speaker accused Wang Yang of concealing evil intentions and offering the tribes a plan that would extinguish their lineages.

Guo Shao challenged Wang Yang’s timber trade proposal, arguing that felling forests and surveying the mountains would strip the Wenyang Tribe of its defenses. Wang Yang turned the argument toward Guo Shao’s Han origins and prepared to refute his claims, leaving the council on the brink of a debate.

• The chapter explained how Le Gu had created a permanent military adviser post for Guo Shao, though Guo Shao had since been largely excluded from tribal affairs.
• Guo Shao condemned Wang Yang’s marriage alliance and timber trade proposal, warning that timber cutting and Han surveys would expose the Wenyang Tribe’s terrain and weaken its defenses.
• Wang Yang remained calm as the tribesmen turned their suspicion toward him, then asked Guo Shao about his Han origins and former identity.
• Guo Shao grew angry at Wang Yang’s questions but restrained himself and accused him of diverting attention from the timber trade’s dangers.
• Wang Yang called Guo Shao’s objections alarmist and announced that he would refute them point by point.

Wang Yang turned Guo Shao’s certainty that Lema could never become Liu Cheng’s principal wife into an argument about how little Guo Shao could predict, weakening the tribesmen’s trust in him before the timber trade debate. Guo Shao recognized that Wang Yang had seized the initiative and feared that one person might still resist his persuasion.

• Wang Yang challenged Guo Shao’s claim about Lema by comparing it to events that once seemed impossible, including the court opening the Barbarian Route and the Wenyang Tribe submitting.
• Wang Yang argued that Guo Shao’s flight from Han territory made him a fugitive who should fear the tribe’s submission, prompting the tribesmen to scrutinize Guo Shao.
• After Guo Shao tried to discredit Wang Yang’s claim about the Old-Text Book of Documents, Wang Yang said he had proved it was a forgery and used Guo Shao’s disbelief to illustrate his narrow experience.
• Wang Yang declared that Lema’s future could not be predicted and asked whether Guo Shao dared insist she would never have a chance to become Liu Cheng’s principal wife.
• Tuo Shan, Wuerke, and Dadamu accepted Wang Yang’s argument, while Tuo Shan said the tribesmen wanted only to trade.
• Guo Shao regretted raising Lema’s marriage and realized Wang Yang had isolated him before the debate over the timber trade began.

Wang Yang turned Guo Shao’s warnings about timber harvesting into evidence that he was deliberately sowing discord, forcing Guo Shao to admit he knew little about the trade and apologize. He then reassured the Wenyang leaders that trade would include many goods and proposed rules for sustainable timber harvesting, leaving them excited by the profits while Guo Shao feared the trade would bring them under outside control.

• Wang Yang accused Guo Shao of knowingly misrepresenting the timber trade, and Guo Shao struggled to answer as the Wenyang leaders grew suspicious.
• Wang Yang rebuked Guo Shao, while Wuerke and Dadamu tried to calm the exchange and Tuo Shan pressed Guo Shao to explain himself.
• Guo Shao admitted he knew little about the timber trade and apologized to Wang Yang, who accepted the apology at the chieftains’ urging.
• Guo Shao tried to raise further concerns, but Wang Yang explained that the Ten Thousand Mountains Freight Depot would buy many kinds of goods, not just timber.
• Wang Yang proposed training Wenyang people to identify timber and regulating harvests through seasonal limits, divided forest areas, and replanting.
• The Wenyang leaders welcomed the proposal, while Guo Shao feared that opening trade would leave the tribes under outside control.

Wang Yang won over the Wenyang tribesmen by advising them on cultivation and trade, then met privately with their ailing Chief. Their discussion of poetry, money, and vows ended with the Chief confronting Wang Yang about whether the supposed Han army and tribal factions were a deception.

• Wang Yang explained how the tribesmen could cultivate produce and trade goods throughout the year, then charmed them by joking that he had saved further advice for the evening drinking session.
• Dadamu and the other tribesmen treated submission as settled and left to seek the Chief’s approval, inviting Wang Yang to a bonfire feast that evening.
• Wang Yang entered the Chief’s room, greeted the ailing old man, and discussed the Book of Songs and the reasons a noble family needed money.
• The Chief questioned Wang Yang about his interest in business and the trustworthiness of vows, and Wang Yang described unity of heart and unity of interests.
• As Wang Yang helped the Chief sit up, the Chief whispered that there was no War Party or Peace Party and no great Han army coming to crush the tribe.

Wang Yang and the old Chief tested each other’s honesty as they discussed the Wenyang Tribe’s submission and the possibility of war. Wang Yang maintained that a great army would come if his mission failed, while the old Chief remained unconvinced and later told Le Luoluo that he could not bluff the truth out of Wang Yang.

• Wang Yang told the old Chief that his peace mission depended on military force and claimed a great army stood behind him.
• The old Chief argued that the Han Court would not send troops and accused Wang Yang of using a bluff to secure the tribe’s surrender.
• Wang Yang said war preparations had begun before Liu Cheng was abducted and explained that his goal was to make the Wenyang Tribe petition to surrender before the War Party prevailed.
• The old Chief revealed that his maids were spies for the Left Haye and Right Haye, then asked Wang Yang for one truthful statement; Wang Yang insisted he had spoken truthfully and warned that people at court might obstruct the submission.
• Wang Yang left, and the old Chief’s apparent disappointment gave way to exhaustion.
• Le Luoluo asked his father how the conversation went, and the old Chief said he had not been able to bluff the truth out of Wang Yang.

Old Chief explained to Le Luoluo how trade with Han could gradually transform the Wenyang Tribe, but argued that protecting the tribe meant securing its future rather than preserving its isolation. He urged Le Luoluo to weigh the costs of resistance and let the people enter a wider world unless they truly needed his protection.

• Le Luoluo asked whether Old Chief had uncovered Wang Yang's deception, but Old Chief admitted he could not tell whether Han's military plans were true or false.
• Old Chief warned Le Luoluo that trade could bring Han coins, goods, and customs into the tribe until its people became unwilling to return to their old way of life.
• Le Luoluo angrily called Han's plan a destructive scheme, and Old Chief challenged him to remain composed while pursuing friendly relations with Han.
• Old Chief told Le Luoluo that the Wenyang Tribe's purpose was to improve its people's lives, not to preserve traditions or a name at any cost.
• Old Chief urged Le Luoluo to secure the greatest benefit for the tribe, defend it when necessary, and otherwise avoid confining its people in the name of protection.

The Old Chief advised Le Luoluo that the Wenyang Tribe’s future depended on learning to seize new opportunities, especially by aligning with Wang Yang. He left Le Luoluo with a metaphor about a little insect rising by clinging to a young phoenix’s wings.

• The Old Chief told Le Luoluo that the Han Court’s opening of the Barbarian Route gave the Wenyang Tribe an unprecedented opportunity.
• The Old Chief identified Wang Yang, rather than Liu Cheng, as the tribe’s other great opportunity.
• The Old Chief explained that Wang Yang seemed to treat the Langya Wang name as a tool, not as the source of his confidence.
• The Old Chief said Wang Yang regarded the Wenyang people as equals and was therefore someone worth wagering on.
• The Old Chief compared the tribe to a little insect that could rise by following a young phoenix before it matured.

The Old Chief concluded that Wang Yang had devised the Barbarian Route strategy and urged Le Luoluo to place a serious wager on him, even if that meant lending troops. Le Luoluo embraced his courage as a hunter, and the Old Chief instructed him to build a measured friendship with Wang Yang while treating Little Shan as family.

• The Old Chief reasoned that Wang Yang was the chief architect of the strategy and had been sent to carry it out despite the court's obstacles.
• The Old Chief warned that Wang Yang might later ask for troops, and Le Luoluo resisted until his father challenged him to decide how much he was willing to stake.
• When the Old Chief shouted “Kasa,” Le Luoluo instinctively mimed loosing an arrow and recognized that a hunter's true arrow was his courage.
• The Old Chief praised Le Luoluo's resolve, explained that Wang Yang would make any loan serve his strategy, and asked what Le Luoluo had learned about Little Shan.
• After hearing about Wang Yang and Little Shan, the Old Chief told Le Luoluo to treat Wang Yang as a friend and ensure Little Shan received respectful, family-like treatment and a gift.

Wang Yang refused the slave girls sent by Right Haye, while the barbarian leaders deployed their army to calm unrest and prepare for negotiations. On his way back from a banquet, Wang Yang spotted suspicious guards and escaped an ambush with Chen Qing Shan as fighting erupted across the village.

• Wang Yang declined Right Haye's gift of four slave girls, and Chen Qing Shan threatened the messenger until he left.
• Rumors of a Han army encirclement unsettled Wenyang Man, so Tuo Shan, Le Luoluo, Wuerke, and the other leaders sent troops to frontier strongholds and dispersed suspected troublemakers.
• Wang Yang and Chen Qing Shan returned to his tent after a banquet, and Wang Yang noticed that the guards and torches were out of their usual positions.
• Wang Yang led Chen Qing Shan west toward Lema's residence and told her to kill the tall guard who lunged at them.
• Chen Qing Shan cut the guard's throat, and Wang Yang used his corpse as a shield against three arrows as other attackers emerged.
• Battle cries broke out across the village, revealing that the attack was not limited to Wang Yang's quarters.

Wang Yang and Chen Qing Shan fought off Guo Shao’s assassins until Le Luoluo arrived and saved Wang Yang from an arrow. Guo Shao died while fleeing, and Wang Yang and Le Luoluo went to the Old Chief’s residence, where they found signs of a bloody attack.

• Chen Qing Shan and Wang Yang battled the assassins among the hanging hides, then escaped in different directions when Le Luoluo called to Wang Yang.
• Guo Shao ordered his archer to shoot Wang Yang, but Le Luoluo took the arrow and fought through the attackers while claiming the Nine-Tusk Guard had arrived.
• Le Luoluo’s proclamation scattered Guo Shao’s men, and Guo Shao killed his archer before fleeing; a tribal soldier’s arrow struck Guo Shao despite Chen Qing Shan and Le Luoluo’s calls to spare him.
• Le Luoluo explained that his claims about the Nine-Tusk Guard and Guo Shao’s plans to destroy the tribes had been bluffs, and Wang Yang agreed to accompany him to see the Old Chief.
• Wang Yang and Le Luoluo reached the Old Chief’s bamboo house and found corpses, blood, and signs that it had been attacked.

Wang Yang met the Old Chief, who had ordered that only he be admitted, and recognized the Chief’s apparent submission as part of a larger scheme. Wang Yang explained how the Chief had plotted against the Zuo Youhaye, and the Old Chief eagerly urged him to continue.

• Le Luoluo rushed toward the Bamboo House, but the maids said the Chief would see only Wang Yang, so Le Luoluo left to take charge of the unrest.
• Wang Yang entered and found the Old Chief trying to kowtow to him; he told the maid to help the Chief lie down and waited while the maids treated him.
• The Old Chief admitted that his final move had been meant to draw Wang Yang into a bargain, then asked him to explain the scheme in exchange for revealing Wang Yang’s gains.
• Wang Yang deduced that the Old Chief had spent years preparing to kill the Zuo Youhaye but had waited to avoid splitting the Wenyang Tribe.
• Wang Yang explained that the Chief had spread news of an impending court attack to stir dissent, expose opponents, unite the tribe under himself and Le Luoluo, and draw the Zuo Youhaye’s armies out of the stronghold.
• The Old Chief praised Wang Yang’s deductions and urged him to continue.

Wang Yang explained how the Old Chief had engineered the assassination attempt to rally opposition to submission while clearing suspicion from himself and Le Luoluo. He identified the Old Chief as the mastermind, confirmed Le Luoluo had known nothing, and recognized that the scheme had made him indebted to the Old Chief’s son.

• Wang Yang deduced that the Old Chief had branded himself, Le Luoluo, and Zuo Youhaye as traitors to unite rebels and create an opportunity for them to seize power.
• The Old Chief praised Wang Yang’s insight and lamented that, in another time, he would have followed him beyond the Wenyang Tribe.
• Wang Yang traced Le Luoluo’s timely arrival to the Old Chief’s instructions and explained how the killers’ coordinated retreat exposed the staged rescue.
• Wang Yang ruled out Guo Shao and Zuo Youhaye as the masterminds, then narrowed his suspicions to the Old Chief and Le Luoluo.
• Wang Yang concluded that Le Luoluo had been unaware of the plot and that the Old Chief had arranged matters so Wang Yang would owe his son his life.

Wang Yang saw through Old Chief’s plan and accepted the Wenyang Tribe’s allegiance while remaining wary of what it meant. After refusing to claim credit for Guo Shao’s head, he left with a set of silver jewelry intended for Chen Qing Shan.

• Wang Yang explained that Old Chief had planned to die alongside Zuo Youhaye and said his presence had saved Old Chief from making that final sacrifice.
• Old Chief offered Wang Yang a lavish gift, then declared that the Wenyang Tribe would obey his commands and asked him to treat them as his own people.
• Wang Yang left the bamboo house with Chen Qing Shan and considered the tribe’s pledge uncertain, though he saw it as a potential foundation and fallback.
• Old Chief had offered Guo Shao’s head as a second gift, but Wang Yang refused to claim credit because doing so could threaten his reputation and raise questions about his identity.
• Chen Qing Shan opened the box Old Chief had given her and found an elaborate set of silver jewelry, which Wang Yang said was meant for her.