Chapter Summaries

Hao Ge led a charge out of Jinan but Hu Dawei’s Mongolian cavalry defeated his force and drove him back inside. Lu Xiangsheng’s army kept the Jurchens trapped in the city, then prepared to torment them with the smell of a meal.

• Hao Ge dismissed Yoto’s warning, won Dorgon’s permission to attack, and rode out from Jinan with his men.
• Hu Dawei led the Mongolian cavalry against Hao Ge’s force while Lu Xiangsheng’s army surrounded and broke up its formation.
• Hu Dawei taunted Hao Ge, whose fury made him charge recklessly as his troops were scattered.
• Hao Ge retreated into Jinan under his guards’ protection, and Dorgon realized the Ming army meant to keep them trapped.
• Yoto felt his chest pain spread and decided he needed an army physician to examine him.
• Lu Xiangsheng told Hu Dawei to prepare a meal and send its aroma toward the besieged city.

Zhu Youjian summoned his ministers to Wuying Hall and revealed that Lu Xiangsheng had surrounded Dorgon’s Jurchen army in Jinan, then demanded a plan for dealing with them. Yang Sichang proposed using the trapped army as bargaining leverage in negotiations, while warning that the rebel threat could grow again.

• Yang Sichang and other officials read a dispatch reporting that Lu Xiangsheng had surrounded Dorgon and Yoto’s Jurchen forces inside Jinan.
• Zhu Youjian explained the meaning of Wuying Hall and rebuked his ministers for failing to defend Great Ming from its enemies.
• Sun Chengzong proposed killing the Jurchen forces, and Sun Chuanting suggested taking them prisoner, but Zhu Youjian rejected both plans.
• Yang Sichang realized Zhu Youjian and Lu Xiangsheng had secretly arranged Lu’s release and return, while the court had been led to believe peace negotiations were underway.
• Yang Sichang warned that the war against the Jurchen should not drag on, cited the dangers posed by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and proposed using Dorgon’s surrounded army as leverage in negotiations.

Zhu Youjian planned a genuine peace negotiation with Huang Taiji while using the Jinan siege to trap the Jurchen and ordering Cao Huachun to eliminate rebel leaders. He announced that he would meet Huang Taiji in person, then tasked Sun Chuanting with commanding the armies around Jinan, leaving Sun Chuanting to ask who would defend the capital.

• Sun Chengzong and Sun Chuanting opposed negotiating peace, while Yang Sichang and Cao Huachun argued that it could help Ming recover its strength.
• Zhu Youjian ordered Yang Sichang to provide provisions for the siege without burdening the people, then sent Cao Huachun to kill Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng and return the Brave Guard Battalion to defend the capital.
• Zhu Youjian told Sun Chengzong and Sun Chuanting that he intended to negotiate peace personally with Huang Taiji, prompting both men to warn him not to leave the capital.
• Zhu Youjian explained that Jinan had been emptied of provisions so Dorgon would have to seek reinforcements or attempt a breakout.
• Zhu Youjian ordered Sun Chuanting to take command of Gao Qiqian's troops, surround Jinan, and stop Jurchen reinforcements, authorizing him to execute disobedient officers.
• Sun Chuanting accepted the command but asked who would guard the capital in his absence.

Zhu Youjian appointed Sun Chengzong to defend the capital and assigned Sun Chuanting to keep Dorgon trapped in Jinan while the emperor prepared to travel to the frontier for peace talks. After remembering that Fan Fucui and Huang Daozhou were still imprisoned, Zhu ordered their release, and they immediately asked what had happened to Lu Xiangsheng.

• Zhu Youjian entrusted Sun Chengzong with the capital’s defense and allowed him to promote capable members of the Sun Family.
• Zhu Youjian ordered Sun Chuanting to coordinate with Lu Xiangsheng and prevent Dorgon’s forces from escaping Jinan, even if they surrendered.
• Zhu Youjian said he would take the Brave Guard Battalion to the frontier if Huang Taiji sent peace negotiators, and told Sun Chuanting to take Wu Youguang along.
• Zhu Youjian remembered that Fan Fucui and Huang Daozhou remained imprisoned and sent Luo Yangxing a decree to release them.
• Luo Yangxing told Fan Fucui and Huang Daozhou they could leave, but they hurried through the prison looking for Lu Xiangsheng.
• Luo Yangxing explained that Lu Xiangsheng was alive and leading the Heavenly Hero Army in the siege of Jinan.

After being released from the Imperial Prison, Fan Fucui learned that the emperor had kept the Grand Secretariat in the dark about the campaign against Jinan. Yang Sichang faced the task of procuring grain and military funds, while Fan Fucui wondered whether the emperor was helping Yang or undermining him.

• Fan Fucui and Huang Daozhou left the Imperial Prison, each heading toward the court to learn more about the sudden turn of events.
• Fan Fucui found the grand secretaries gathered at the Wenyuan Pavilion, where Liu Yuliang complained that the emperor had excluded them from his plans.
• Yang Sichang told Fan Fucui that the emperor had ordered him to procure grain for the army surrounding Jinan.
• Liu Yuliang proposed another military levy, and Xue Guoguan suggested asking officials to donate silver, but Yang Sichang rejected both ideas as difficult.
• Fan Fucui reflected on the emperor's changed conduct and wondered whether assigning Yang Sichang the grain task was meant to help him gain merit or cost him the emperor's trust.
• Fan Fucui left the Wenyuan Pavilion to go home, bathe, and rest before attending court the next morning.

Zhu Youjian wandered through the Imperial Garden and encountered his children playing, whose fear of his strict discipline led them to kneel and beg for punishment. He reassured them and helped Empress Zhou up, leaving the family gathered together in the garden.

• Zhu Youjian toured the palace and reached the Imperial Garden, where he saw Princess Kunxing playing.
• Zhu Youjian felt affection for his daughter and approached Princess Kunxing and Crown Prince Zhu Cilang.
• Zhu Cilang and Zhu Meichuo feared punishment and knelt, with Zhu Cilang asking his father to spare his sister.
• Empress Zhou arrived and offered to take responsibility, while Princess Kunyi and Consort Tian followed her.
• Zhu Youjian said he had not intended to punish anyone, helped Empress Zhou up, and told the children to rise.

Zhu Youjian learned that Zhu Meichuo had secretly studied riding and archery with Consort Tian Lifen, but instead of punishing her, he asked what she wanted to do when she grew up. Zhu Meichuo said she wanted to become a general and drive away her father’s enemies.

• Zhu Youjian welcomed Zhu Cilang, Zhu Meichuo, and Princess Kunyi to the pavilion and told the Crown Prince to balance study with exercise.
• Zhu Cilang revealed that Zhu Meichuo was learning riding and archery from Consort Tian Lifen, prompting Consort Tian and Empress Zhou to kneel and accept blame.
• Zhu Youjian asked Zhu Meichuo how she had come to learn the skills, and the family explained that she had secretly begged Consort Tian to teach her.
• Zhu Youjian gently asked Zhu Meichuo what she wanted to do when she grew up, and she declared that she wanted to become a general and drive away his enemies.

Zhu Youjian encouraged Zhu Meichuo to pursue her ambition of becoming a female general and ordered her and Zhu Cilang to begin intensive studies. Later, he selected Li Ruolian for a dangerous intelligence mission in Jurchen territory, but Li Ruolian noticed a problem with the plan.

• Zhu Meichuo declared that she wanted to become a general, and Zhu Youjian promised her riding, archery, and military studies, with a test in six months.
• Zhu Youjian ordered Zhu Cilang to study alongside his sister and report to Wuying Hall daily for instruction.
• Empress Zhou and Consort Tian Lifen left the pavilion after Luo Yangxing requested an audience with Zhu Youjian.
• Luo Yangxing presented regulations and Embroidered Uniform Guards for his assignment, and Zhu Youjian chose Li Ruolian to remain.
• Zhu Youjian approved a plan for Li Ruolian to establish a merchant caravan and infiltrate Jurchen territory to gather intelligence.
• Li Ruolian listened to the plan with excitement, then noticed something amiss, and Zhu Youjian asked him what the problem was.

Zhu Youjian arranged for Li Ruolian to fake a public break with the court so he could later contact the Jurchens as a merchant. He then admired Consort Tian Lifen’s painting and added a love poem, leaving her astonished by his poetic talent.

• Zhu Youjian told Li Ruolian to leave the Embroidered Uniform Guard in disgrace and pretend to hate the court so he could approach the Jurchens safely.
• Luo Yangxing publicly accused Li Ruolian of enraging Zhu Youjian and sent him to the Imperial Prison, while Li Ruolian staged an exaggerated protest.
• Zhu Youjian considered summoning Fang Zhenghua to teach Princess Kunxing riding and archery but decided to wait.
• Pingxi brought Zhu Youjian a lotus painting from Consort Tian Lifen, and Zhu Youjian wrote a poem on its blank space before sending it back with word that he would visit her.
• Consort Tian Lifen read Zhu Youjian’s poem and wondered how he had acquired such a gift for poetry.

Zhu Youjian found that his children with Consort Tian Lifen were eating meager meals and resolved to improve food in the palace. Meanwhile, Dorgon’s forces in besieged Jinan faced dwindling provisions and a new crisis when Yoto fell ill with smallpox, leaving Dorgon determined to break out and seek reinforcements.

• Zhu Youjian visited Consort Tian Lifen and warmly greeted their sons in Chengqian Palace.
• Zhu Youjian saw that the princes’ meal was meager and decided the palace’s food needed improving.
• Dorgon asked his commanders about provisions in Jinan, and they reported finding little food.
• Dorgon ordered men to catch fish in Great Ming Lake, then argued with Hao Ge over the siege.
• Yoto collapsed and the army physician diagnosed him with smallpox.
• Dorgon ordered the illness kept secret and said they had to escape Jinan and call for reinforcements.