Chapter Summaries

Liu Xie revealed to Yuan Shao that he had orchestrated the Ye City upheaval and was the true Son of Heaven, while the emperor in Xu County was his double. Yuan Shao accepted that he had been deceived and asked why Liu Xie had told him everything, suspecting he wanted him to surrender.

• Yuan Shao regretted ignoring Ju Shou’s warnings and asked Liu Xie whether he and Jia Xu had arranged the Ye City Incident.
• Liu Xie explained how he had used Yuan Xi, Jia Xu, and Gongsun Zan to escape Yuan Shao’s control and secure time to seize Ji Province.
• Yuan Shao challenged Liu Xie’s claim to the throne, but Liu Xie revealed that he was the true Son of Heaven and that the emperor in Xu County was his double.
• Liu Xie confirmed that Xu You had betrayed Yuan Shao on his orders and explained that Yang Biao, Fu Wan, Dong Cheng, and Empress Fu had supported him.
• Yuan Shao acknowledged Liu Xie’s deception and asked whether he had revealed the truth to persuade him to surrender.

Liu Xie pressed Yuan Shao to help secure the surrender of the remaining forces in You and Bing Provinces, promising to protect the Yuan Clan while insisting that Yuan Shao would still be executed. Yuan Shao hesitated over the bargain, while Liu Xie revealed his plan to bring the realm’s warlords under his control; the story then shifted to a banquet in Yi Province honoring Liu Bei and his brothers.

• Liu Xie offered Yuan Shao protection for the Yuan Clan and an important post for Yuan Xi if Yuan Shao persuaded his remaining troops to surrender.
• Yuan Shao recoiled at the thought of Yuan Xi benefiting, then asked Liu Xie about his plans for the realm.
• Liu Xie described how a trainer subdued cranes to explain his strategy of conquering weaker warlords before the strong ones, and Yuan Shao understood his ambition.
• Yuan Shao asked for time to consider helping Liu Xie, who ordered Zhang He to guard him and kill him if he tried to escape.
• At a feast in Shu Commandery, Liu Zhang praised Liu Bei for helping put down the Nanman rebellion, and Liu Bei credited Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Liu Bei gained the post of Administrator of Ba Commandery after Liu Zhang approved the appointment, despite Huang Quan's objections. Huang Quan, Liu Ba, and Wang Lian then warned Liu Zhang that Liu Bei's influence and twenty-thousand-strong army had made him a power in Yi Province, leaving Liu Zhang frightened and unsure how to respond.

• Zhang Song proposed that Liu Bei concurrently serve as Administrator of Ba Commandery, but Huang Quan, Liu Ba, and Wang Lian objected.
• Liu Bei modestly said he could continue managing Ba Commandery on Yan Yan's behalf, and Liu Zhang appointed Yan Yan Administrator of Baxi Commandery while granting Liu Bei the Ba Commandery post.
• Liu Bei accepted the appointment, and Huang Quan realized that Liu Bei had used a retreating stance to secure what he wanted.
• After the banquet, Liu Zhang praised Liu Bei until Huang Quan, Liu Ba, and Wang Lian warned him that Liu Bei had won the people's support and maintained twenty thousand troops.
• Liu Zhang panicked and proposed rescinding Liu Bei's appointment, but Huang Quan warned that it was too late and that challenging Liu Bei could provoke his sworn brothers.

Liu Bei secured the post of Administrator of Ba Commandery and planned to establish his power in Yi Province, while Liu Zhang's advisers proposed making peace with Zhang Lu and Gao Gan to force him out. After Yuan Shao was captured, Cao Cao feared the Son of Heaven's advance and decided to arrange a meeting with Sun Quan.

• Huang Quan urged Liu Zhang to seek peace with Zhang Lu and Gao Gan so Liu Bei would lose his reason to remain in Yi Province, and Liu Zhang agreed to try.
• Zhang Fei and Guan Yu celebrated Liu Bei's appointment as Administrator of Ba Commandery and spoke of conquering Yi and Jing Provinces.
• Liu Bei set out to go to Ba Commandery with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, saying Pang Tong and Xu Shu needed help there.
• Cao Cao learned that Lü Bu had defeated and captured Yuan Shao in Hejian Commandery, leaving the north poised to fall under the Son of Heaven.
• Cao Cao decided to seek peace with Sun Quan and ordered a meeting arranged at the Huainan Commandery border.

Sun Quan and Zhou Yu met Cao Cao to negotiate peace and an alliance after learning that the Son of Heaven of Ye City had captured Yuan Shao. The talks stalled over Cao Cao’s refusal to return the Three Commanderies North of the Yangtze, leaving Zhou Yu to press their advantage.

• Zhou Yu told Sun Quan that the Son of Heaven of Ye City had defeated and captured Yuan Shao, prompting Cao Cao to seek peace and an alliance.
• Sun Quan decided to meet Cao Cao, and Zhou Yu agreed to accompany him to protect him.
• Cao Cao welcomed Sun Quan and Zhou Yu at a riverside pavilion and proposed peace and an alliance against the Son of Heaven.
• Sun Quan drank Cao Cao’s wine and demanded the return of the Three Commanderies North of the Yangtze as a condition for an alliance.
• Cao Cao rejected Sun Quan’s demand, and Zhou Yu argued that Cao Cao needed Jiangdong’s support more urgently than Jiangdong needed his.

Cao Cao negotiated an alliance with Sun Quan and Zhou Yu against the Son of Heaven, agreeing that Sun Quan could take Xu Province if Cao Cao led the alliance. Afterward, Cao Cao asked Zhou Yu to name the realm’s heroes.

• Cao Cao argued that he could submit to the Son of Heaven, while Sun Quan and Zhou Yu could not escape the consequences of the Sun family’s past actions.
• Cao Cao proposed abandoning Yan Province and joining Sun Quan to capture Xu Province as a defensive line against the Son of Heaven’s forces.
• Sun Quan demanded that all of Xu Province belong to Jiangdong, and he and Cao Cao nearly came to blows over the terms.
• Cao Cao yielded Xu Province to Sun Quan on the condition that Jiangdong conquer it without his troops and that Cao Cao lead the alliance.
• Cao Cao asked Zhou Yu how many men in the realm could be called heroes.

Cao Cao secured an alliance with Sun Quan while trying to sow distrust between him and Zhou Yu, prompting Sun Quan to plan a secret alliance with Liu Biao as a safeguard. In Hejian, Liu Xie accepted three counties from the Dong Family, used Dong Cheng’s legacy to bolster his claim, and threatened the captured Yuan Shao, who refused to surrender.

• Cao Cao rejected Zhou Yu’s candidates for heroes, then named the Son of Heaven, Zhou Yu, and himself as the only heroes under heaven before leaving after settling the alliance.
• Zhou Yu warned Sun Quan that Cao Cao’s praise was meant to sow discord, and Sun Quan proposed secretly allying with Liu Biao in case Cao Cao submitted to the Son of Heaven.
• Dong Zhong offered Liu Xie the seals of Wusui, Houjing, and Gonggao after the Dong Family and local clans killed their magistrates.
• Liu Xie honored Dong Cheng’s supposed service and promised rewards to the Dong Family, then privately recognized the clans’ power and decided to use Dong Cheng’s story to strengthen his identity.
• Liu Xie summoned Yuan Shao and asked him to persuade Guo Yuan and Gao Gan to surrender, but Yuan Shao refused and challenged Liu Xie to risk condemning the Yuan Clan.

Liu Xie ordered Yuan Shao taken to Ye City as a prisoner, while Guo Yuan learned that Yuan Shao’s youngest son, Yuan Mai, had arrived in Bing Province and pledged to protect him. As Liu Xie’s army slowly escorted Yuan Shao through the heavy snow, Tian Feng began planning how to keep Bing Province from being attacked on two fronts.

• Liu Xie rejected Yuan Shao’s demand for death and ordered him escorted to Ye City for public humiliation in three days.
• Guo Yuan, blaming himself for Yuan Shao’s capture, nearly killed himself before his deputy general told him that Tian Feng had brought Yuan Mai to Jinyang.
• Guo Yuan pledged loyalty to Yuan Mai, and Tian Feng warned him not to launch a rescue that might endanger Yuan Shao and the remaining troops.
• Tian Feng told Guo Yuan to recall Gao Gan from Yi Province and said he had a plan to break Bing Province’s deadlock.
• Liu Xie left three thousand troops to garrison Lecheng County and slowly escorted Yuan Shao toward Ye City through heavy snow.

Liu Xie returned to Ye City victorious with Yuan Shao as his prisoner, after inspiring his followers with a grand poem during the journey. The court and commoners welcomed him, and Yuan Shao was escorted to the palace for a public trial.

• Gao Lan freed the carriage wheel from the snow, and Liu Xie ordered the army to rest while the weather cleared.
• Liu Xie recited a poem about the snowy landscape, impressing his companions and prompting Guo Jia to vow to abandon women, wine, and Five-Stone Powder.
• Liu Xie and his army reached Ye City, where Kong Rong, Yang Biao, and the court officials welcomed them outside the city.
• Liu Xie announced that he had captured Yuan Shao and ordered the officials to escort the prisoner to the palace for a public trial.
• Yuan Xi drove Yuan Shao's prison cart through the crowds as the commoners mocked Yuan Shao and praised Yuan Xi's loyalty.

Yuan Shao refused to confess or help Liu Xie secure the surrender of You and Bing Provinces, provoking the emperor to threaten the extermination of his clan. The ministers pleaded against the mass executions, and Yuan Shao revealed that their ties to his family reflected the power of the great aristocratic clans.

• Yuan Xi drove Yuan Shao through the streets as commoners praised him and mocked his father.
• At court, Yuan Shao denied his guilt, insulted Liu Xie and the ministers, and blamed his defeat on his subordinates’ betrayals.
• Yuan Shao refused to persuade You and Bing Provinces to surrender, and Liu Xie threatened to exterminate his ten clans.
• Kong Rong, Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Yang Biao, and other ministers warned Liu Xie that exterminating the clans would kill many innocents and damage his reputation.
• Liu Xie ordered the Yuan Clan’s nine clans exterminated, but the ministers continued pleading for mercy.
• Yuan Shao laughed at the kneeling ministers and said they had to defend him because they were connected to the Yuan Clan and the great aristocratic families.

Liu Xie rejected the ministers’ pleas to spare Yuan Shao’s family and ordered the Yuan Clan exterminated, sparing only Yuan Xi. The order left Yuan Shao and Yuan Xi stunned, while Lü Bu prepared to enforce it.

• Yuan Shao openly defied Liu Xie and claimed the Yuan Clan’s ties to the great houses made its extermination impossible.
• Lü Bu condemned the ministers for defending Yuan Shao, then ordered Zhang He and Gao Lan to break Yuan Shao’s legs and force him to kneel.
• Liu Xie dismissed the idea of exterminating Yuan Shao’s nine degrees of kin, then ordered every member of the Yuan Clan killed except Yuan Xi.
• Yuan Shao protested the decree, while Yuan Xi disowned his rebellion and begged Liu Xie to spare the clan.
• Liu Xie ordered Lü Bu to execute anyone else who pleaded for mercy, and Yuan Xi fell silent under Lü Bu’s threat.

Liu Xie used Yuan Shao’s trial to expose and crush anyone who challenged his authority, executing Xun Chen when he pleaded for the Yuan Clan and ordering the clan’s extermination. He spared Yuan Xi and appointed him Minister of Works, while Guo Jia and Jia Xu left court together and Jia Xu invited him to dinner.

• Yang Xiu stopped Yang Biao from pleading for the Yuan Clan, warning that Liu Xie was testing the court and would kill those who spoke up.
• Xun Chen pleaded with Liu Xie to spare innocent members of the Yuan Clan, and Lü Bu beheaded him with the Son of Heaven Sword.
• Liu Xie ordered Lü Bu to arrest the Yuan Clan and have its members executed in ten days, while keeping Yuan Shao alive to witness it.
• Yuan Xi blamed Yuan Shao for bringing ruin on the clan, and Liu Xie appointed Yuan Xi Minister of Works as the start of a new Yuan Clan.
• Guo Jia said Yuan Shao had brought the extermination upon himself, and Jia Xu invited Guo Jia to his home for hot pot and wine.

Guo Jia and Jia Xu discussed the emperor’s decision to exterminate the Yuan Clan, and Jia Xu argued that the move would strengthen imperial authority and prevent aristocratic clans from growing beyond control. After warning Guo Jia not to probe the emperor’s thoughts, Jia Xu ordered a servant to watch Cui Yan and his associates; meanwhile, Yuan Xi visited his mother and told her that the Yuan Clan would be exterminated except for him.

• Guo Jia asked Jia Xu about the emperor’s decision to exterminate the Yuan Clan, and Jia Xu explained that it would cow the aristocratic clans and secure imperial power.
• Jia Xu reassured Guo Jia that the emperor had chosen the right moment to act, and the two shared lamb and wine until nightfall.
• Jia Xu warned Guo Jia never to try to fathom the emperor’s thoughts, and Guo Jia promised he understood.
• After Guo Jia left, Jia Xu ordered a servant to keep a close eye on Cui Yan and his associates.
• Yuan Xi sat in the main hall until dark, then knelt before his mother, Madam Liu, and told her that the emperor had ordered the Yuan Clan exterminated except for him.

Yuan Xi prepared to sacrifice himself to save Madam Liu, but Lü Bu delivered an imperial pardon that spared her while the Yuan Clan faced extermination. As arrests spread through Ye City, Cui Yan’s banquet brought together frightened aristocratic families, whose representatives argued over how to respond to Liu Xie.

• Yuan Xi told Madam Liu he would plead with Liu Xie to spare her, and she forgave him and urged him to survive as the Yuan Family’s last bloodline.
• Lü Bu arrived with an imperial edict sparing Madam Liu from execution and confining her to the residence, then ordered a citywide hunt for Yuan clansmen.
• Troops arrested more than five hundred Yuan clansmen in Ye City, while the great aristocratic families grew fearful and cooperative.
• Cui Yan hosted representatives of the great families, but Yang Biao, Fu Wan, Sima Yi, the Dong Family, and the Zhen Clan declined to attend.
• Ju Zong criticized those who stayed away and warned that Liu Xie’s campaign against the Yuan Clan threatened all aristocratic families.
• Cui Yan defended Liu Xie’s execution of Xun Chen, while Shen Rong demanded that the gathered families consider how to protect themselves.

Cui Yan warned Ji Province’s aristocratic clans against challenging Liu Xie, while Jia Xu reported their discussion to the emperor. Liu Xie explained his policy of balancing aristocratic clans against common-born officials, then planned a public execution of the Yuan Clan and inventions that would benefit the people and strengthen his reputation.

• Cui Yan rebuked the aristocratic clan representatives, reminding them that the Yuan Clan had been exterminated and Xun Chen executed for resisting Liu Xie.
• Jia Xu presented Liu Xie with a secret report about Cui Yan’s banquet and the clans’ conversation, and Liu Xie praised the Embroidered-Clothes Envoys’ progress.
• Jia Xu advised Liu Xie to win the people’s support through benevolent acts and tangible benefits, and Liu Xie explained that he intended to balance aristocratic clans and common-born officials.
• Liu Xie told Jia Xu that he valued their loyalty, then ordered him to prepare for the Yuan Clan’s public execution in the Southern Suburbs two days later.
• Liu Xie resolved to develop a curved-shaft plow and an improved loom, naming them after himself or the Jian’an era so the people would associate their benefits with him.

Yuan Shao was taken from prison to the Southern Suburbs execution ground, believing Liu Xie intended to execute him alone. Hearing the crowd say the entire Yuan Clan had been condemned, he demanded that Yuan Xi tell him who was being executed.

• Yuan Shao dismissed the guards’ reports that Liu Xie planned to execute the Yuan Clan and assumed the great clans would force him to relent.
• Zhang He and Gao Lan shackled Yuan Shao and escorted him from the Northern Office prison, where he saw Yuan Xi waiting beside a prisoner cart.
• Yuan Xi drove Yuan Shao toward the execution ground while Zhang He addressed him as Minister of Works and offered condolences, leaving Yuan Shao confused.
• Yuan Shao accused Yuan Xi of rising in rank over his bones, but Yuan Xi remained silent as the crowd condemned Yuan Shao and pitied Yuan Xi.
• Yuan Shao heard the crowd say the whole Yuan Clan was to be exterminated, seized the cage bars, and demanded that Yuan Xi identify who was being executed.

Liu Xie ordered the execution of the Yuan Clan, sparing only Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shao collapsed after watching his clan die. As the officials reeled from the massacre, Taishi Ci reported an army entering Ji Province, and Liu Xie revealed that it was Zhang Yan’s force bringing people from the Taihang Mountains.

• Yuan Xi brought Yuan Shao to the Execution Ground, where Liu Xie ordered Lü Bu to carry out the sentence against the Yuan Clan.
• Lü Bu read the imperial edict, which spared Yuan Xi but ordered the execution of the rest of the Yuan Clan.
• Yuan Shao pleaded for the executions to stop and begged Yuan Xi to intervene, but the soldiers killed the final row of prisoners.
• Yuan Shao laughed, spat blood, and passed out after the Yuan Clan was exterminated.
• Taishi Ci reported that thirty thousand troops and hundreds of thousands of common people were entering Ji Province, and Liu Xie identified them as Zhang Yan’s forces from the Taihang Mountains.

After the Yuan Clan’s extermination, Liu Xie struggled to find support for settling the hundreds of thousands of commoners who had arrived with Zhang Yan’s Black Mountain Army. Yuan Xi asked whether he could employ the Yuan Clan’s former disciples and subordinates, leaving Liu Xie to decide how to handle them.

• Yuan Xi asked Gao Lan to bury the executed members of the Yuan Clan together outside the city, then rode alone toward Ye City.
• Liu Xie asked his ministers for a plan to settle the newcomers and defended his decision to grant amnesty to Zhang Yan’s Black Mountain Army.
• The Zhen Clan offered to settle thirty thousand people, but the other ministers pleaded poverty or stayed silent.
• Liu Xie angrily dismissed the court and, back in the Xuan Room, ordered Zhang He to summon Jia Xu and Guo Jia.
• Yuan Xi asked Liu Xie whether he should accept the Yuan Clan’s former disciples and subordinates into his service.

Liu Xie secured Yuan Xi’s loyalty and his offer to donate the Yuan Clan’s wealth, then devised a public honors scheme to persuade aristocratic families to fund relief for displaced people. Yuan Xi left convinced the Son of Heaven would help restore his family’s reputation, while Liu Xie prepared to put his plan into action.

• Liu Xie told Yuan Xi to gather the Yuan Clan’s scattered followers and allowed him to remain for a private audience with Jia Xu and Guo Jia, deepening Yuan Xi’s trust in him.
• When Liu Xie asked how to make aristocratic families fund resettlement, Yuan Xi offered the Yuan Clan’s properties, grain, and money to the court.
• Liu Xie proposed publicly recording donations and carving a stele at Ye City’s Zhengnan Gate to honor the ten largest contributors, with the top donor named Great Han’s Foremost Benefactor.
• Yuan Xi praised Liu Xie, vowed to serve him, and received Liu Xie’s assurance that the title of Great Han’s Foremost Benefactor belonged to him.

Liu Xie’s court launched a public donation drive to resettle the pardoned Yellow Turban refugees, offering recognition and honors to donors. The campaign quickly inspired commoners to give what they could, and Butcher Fan made a striking donation of cash and pork.

• Liu Xie told Yuan Xi to keep his plan to donate the Yuan Clan’s assets secret until the final day so other clans would continue competing.
• Liu Xie’s officials posted notices inviting donations to resettle hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban refugees and promising donors public recognition and honors.
• An official explained that donations of any size or kind would qualify, prompting Wu Dalang to give three flatbreads for the chance to meet the emperor.
• A fish vendor and other commoners joined in, donating salted fish, cloth, cash, and rice.
• Butcher Fan donated twenty strings of cash and half a pig, saying he wanted to help save lives, and the crowd praised his generosity.