Chapter Summaries

Jia Xu sent Embroidered-Clothes Envoys to summon Mohist School Juzi Meng Yang to Ye City, where Liu Xie tested his composure and learned that Meng was willing to serve the Han with Mohist expertise. Meng Yang reflected on why the Mohist School had declined and resolved that its practical skills could help the Imperial Court, leaving the court’s plans for the school still to come.

• Jia Xu dispatched Embroidered-Clothes Envoys to find Meng Yang and convey Liu Xie's summons.
• The envoys found Meng Yang helping villagers clear snow and invited him to the palace, where he agreed to go in hopes of reviving the Mohist School.
• Meng Yang respectfully answered Liu Xie's questions, explaining that Mohists followed rules and that he believed the emperor wanted their technology.
• Meng Yang offered the Mohist School's service to Liu Xie, judging that a unified realm and a benevolent sovereign could put its skills to peaceful use.
• Meng Yang considered the Mohist School's decline and concluded that its technologies could serve the Imperial Court even if few people embraced its ideals.

Liu Xie recruited Meng Yang and the Mohist disciples into an independent Foundry Bureau, promising rewards and noble titles for useful inventions. Meanwhile, Fa Zheng arrived in Wuji County to audit the Zhen Clan’s accounts, and Zhen Yi feared the audit could end the clan’s control of finances.

• Liu Xie offered Meng Yang authority over the Foundry Bureau and promised Mohist inventors rewards, even marquis titles.
• Meng Yang agreed to join the Foundry Bureau, and Liu Xie assigned him Mohist disciples and skilled artisans to research and train in Ye City.
• Fa Zheng arrived in Wuji County to audit the Zhen Clan’s accounts and declined Zhen Yi’s invitation to visit the clan residence.
• Zhen Yi told the Zhen Clan elders that the audit followed their withholding of disaster relief supplies and might threaten their control of finances.
• The Zhen Clan elders argued over who was responsible, while Zhen Yi urged them to admit their fault and asked where the supplies were.

Zhen Yi learned that the Zhen Clan had resold the disaster relief supplies it withheld, leaving it unable to satisfy the imperial audit. He asked pregnant Zhen Mi to intervene with the imperial envoy, but she refused to help the clan evade responsibility.

• Zhen Yi discovered that clan elders had pocketed and resold the disaster relief supplies, and he fainted after learning they could not be recovered.
• Zhen Yi visited Zhen Mi, told her Liu Xie was pleased about her pregnancy, and explained that the clan had withheld relief supplies to pressure the Son of Heaven over her becoming empress.
• Zhen Mi condemned the clan for defying Liu Xie and urged Zhen Yi to hand over the supplies before disaster victims suffered further.
• Zhen Yi revealed that an imperial envoy had arrived to audit the accounts and asked Zhen Mi to plead for more time to replace the supplies.
• Zhen Mi refused to ask the imperial envoy for leniency.

Zhen Mi refused to shield the Zhen Clan and urged Zhen Yi to confess its crimes, while the clan elders resisted his decision to surrender. The elders then proposed burning the account books and the Imperial Envoy, risking the Son of Heaven’s wrath to protect their hold on Fiscal Authority.

• Zhen Mi rejected Zhen Yi’s request to intervene and advised him to confess the Zhen Clan’s crimes to Liu Xie.
• Zhen Yi left Zhen Mi’s courtyard, then decided to confess voluntarily to Liu Xie after recognizing her advice was sound.
• Zhen Yi told the Zhen Clan elders he would confess, but they opposed him and argued that the audit threatened their Fiscal Authority.
• The Second Branch elder proposed delivering the account books to Fa Xiaozhi and burning the Post Station with the Imperial Envoy inside.

The Zhen Clan elders voted to burn the Post Station and kill Fa Zheng to destroy evidence, while the Second Branch elder instead brought Fa Zheng the clan’s genuine account books. Fa Zheng began examining the ledgers, which exposed the Zhen Clan’s embezzlement, and was left wondering why they had handed them over so readily.

• The Second Branch, Third Branch, and Fifth Branch elders agreed to secretly set fire to the Post Station and silence Fa Zheng, while the Fourth Branch elder refused to take part or alert the Clan Head.
• Fa Zheng stayed at the Post Station to inspect the Zhen Clan’s accounts, with Qingzhu secretly guarding him.
• Zhen Hua arrived with chests of the Zhen Clan’s ledgers and told Fa Zheng the clan would cooperate with his inspection.
• Fa Zheng verified that the ledgers were genuine and promised to report the Zhen Clan’s cooperation to the Son of Heaven.
• Fa Zheng examined the ledgers and discovered detailed records of the Zhen Clan’s wealth and embezzlement, but could not understand why they had surrendered such damaging evidence.

Fa Zheng discovered the Zhen Clan had secretly arranged to burn down the post station and kill him, but Qingzhu rescued him from the fire. Fa Zheng regained consciousness in an abandoned temple while the Zhen Clan searched the ruins for his body.

• The Second Branch's Clan Elder, the Third Branch's Clan Elder, and the Fifth Branch's Clan Elder arranged to set the post station on fire and make Fa Zheng's death look accidental.
• Fa Zheng woke to the blaze, dragged the account-book chests toward the door, and found the doors and windows chained shut.
• Qingzhu broke into Fa Zheng's room, carried him out, and escaped into the darkness after Fa Zheng told him to hide.
• The Second Branch's Clan Elder claimed Fa Zheng had likely died, while Zhen Yi demanded that the clansmen search the ruins for him.
• Qingzhu sheltered Fa Zheng in an abandoned temple, cared for him, and waited for him to regain consciousness.

After surviving an attempt to burn him alive, Fa Zheng realized the Zhen Clan wanted him dead and sought Zhen Mi’s help to return to Ye City. The Zhen elders decided to conceal the imperial envoy’s supposed death, while Zhen Mi learned that her clansmen had attacked him.

• Fa Zheng woke in an abandoned temple outside Wuji County and told Qingzhu that the Zhen Clan had set fire to the post station to kill him.
• Qingzhu warned that the Zhen Clan was searching for them and that they had no money or carriage to travel to Ye City.
• Zhen Yi accused the clan elders of burning the post station and condemned their plan to kill an imperial envoy.
• The Second Branch elder argued that the clan must cover up Fa Zheng’s supposed death to preserve its fiscal authority, and the elders expected Zhen Yi to cooperate.
• Fa Zheng secretly met Zhen Mi, explained the Zhen Clan’s attack, and asked her to help him reach Ye City.

After Chang'an was recaptured, Liu Xie decided to move the capital there instead of Luoyang, and his ministers supported the change despite concerns about criticism. The chapter left the court preparing to restore Chang'an as the imperial capital.

• Zhen Mi agreed to help Fa Zheng return to Ye City in her convoy and refused to shield the Zhen Clan, though Fa Zheng said he would report everything to Liu Xie.
• Liu Xie inspected the newly established Foundry Bureau, where Mohist School artisans demonstrated improved sabers and received suggestions for standardized production and veteran testing.
• A guard reported that Zhang and Duke Wen had captured Chang'an after defeating Ma Chao, and Liu Xie ordered the victory announced throughout Ye City.
• Liu Xie summoned Zhuge Liang and the others and declared that he would move the capital to Chang'an now that the city had been recovered.
• Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang supported moving the capital, and Yang Xiu declared that his Yang Clan also approved.

After Fa Zheng died in a fire at the Wuji County post station, Liu Xie ordered Lü Bu to halt his return and take the Zhen Clan into custody. Jia Xu warned Guo Jia against remonstrating with the furious emperor, but Guo Jia still hoped to challenge the order later.

• Gao Lan reported that Fa Zheng had died in a fire at the Wuji County post station, where the Zhen Clan's accounts had also been destroyed.
• Liu Xie ordered Jia Xu to tell Lü Bu to lead his army to Wuji County and bring the entire Zhen Clan under guard to Ye City.
• Jia Xu pulled Guo Jia aside and rebuked him for speaking against Liu Xie's order while the emperor was enraged.
• Guo Jia argued that the Zhen Clan should not be arrested before the fire was thoroughly investigated, while Jia Xu said the clan was almost certainly responsible.
• Guo Jia proposed that the officials remonstrate with Liu Xie the next day, but Jia Xu refused to risk opposing the emperor.

Jia Xu informed Liu Xie that Fa Zheng had survived and that Zhen Mi had helped save him, but Liu Xie still ordered the Zhen Clan arrested for plotting against an Imperial Envoy. On the way back to Ye City after defeating Ma Chao, Sima Yi discovered Zhuge Liang’s brocade pouch held only a message congratulating him, leaving him furious at having been manipulated.

• Jia Xu received an urgent report that Fa Zheng was alive and returning to Ye City with Zhen Mi, then brought the news to Liu Xie.
• Jia Xu explained that an Embroidered-Clothes Envoy had rescued Fa Zheng from the burning post station and hidden him among Zhen Mi’s attendants.
• Liu Xie ordered Duke Wen to arrest the entire Zhen Clan and kill anyone who resisted, despite learning Zhen Mi had saved Fa Zheng.
• Lü Bu and Zhao Yun discussed Ma Chao’s escape into Qiang territory as the Imperial forces returned from their victory at Chang'an.
• Chen Gong suggested Zhuge Liang’s brocade pouch might contain no battle plan, prompting Sima Yi to open it and find only a congratulatory message.
• Sima Yi furiously crushed the pouch and vowed not to let Zhuge Liang’s humiliation go unanswered.

Lü Bu received an imperial order to arrest the Zhen Clan after an envoy investigating their accounts died in a suspicious fire, while Zhen Mi returned to Ye City pregnant and urged Liu Xie to punish her relatives according to law. In court, Fa Zheng described how he escaped the fire but could not confirm who had started it.

• A mounted messenger delivered an edict ordering Lü Bu to lead ten thousand troops to arrest the Zhen Clan and kill anyone who resisted.
• The messenger revealed that Noble Lady Zhen was pregnant, and Chen Gong warned Lü Bu to follow the emperor’s orders without acting rashly.
• Lü Bu left Zhao Yun to escort the prisoners and led the troops toward Wuji County.
• Zhen Mi returned to Ye City, saw her brother Zhen Yi waiting outside the palace, and then reunited with Liu Xie, who comforted her and assured her the clan’s crime was not hers.
• Zhen Mi asked Liu Xie to punish her family according to law, and he said he would handle the matter properly.
• Liu Xie questioned Fa Zheng about the post-station fire, and Fa Zheng explained that he had been trapped inside but could not prove the Zhen Clan caused it.

Liu Xie confronted Zhen Yi over the post-station fire, and Zhen Yi confessed that his clan had embezzled relief supplies and killed the imperial envoy. The court prevented Liu Xie from issuing an immediate sentence, while Zhen Mi fell ill after returning to the palace; Hua Tuo reassured her that her cold would not harm her unborn child.

• Fa Zheng told Liu Xie that an Embroidered-Clothes Envoy had seen suspected Zhen Clan members set the post-station fire.
• Zhen Yi confessed that his clan had embezzled imperial funds and relief supplies, and that his clansmen had burned the post station and killed the imperial envoy.
• Liu Xie denounced Zhen Yi and threatened punishment under the law, but Zhuge Liang, Yang Xiu, and other ministers urged him to consider the clan's service and the consequences of its destruction.
• Liu Xie ordered Zhen Yi taken to the Imperial Prison to await judgment instead of issuing a sentence.
• Zhen Mi fell ill in the palace, and Hua Tuo diagnosed a cold brought on by her weak constitution and journey.
• Hua Tuo assured Zhen Mi that her illness would not affect her unborn child.

Liu Xie learned that Zhen Mi’s serious lung disease could not be treated safely while she was pregnant, so he sent Zhang Liao to find the famed physician Zhang Zhongjing. On Mount Zhongnan, Zhang Zhongjing discussed his medical book and news from Chang’an with his apprentice before armed soldiers arrived at his home.

• Hua Tuo diagnosed Zhen Mi with an inherited lung disease and warned that strong medicine could harm her unborn child or cause a dangerous miscarriage.
• Liu Xie promised Hua Tuo he would not blame him for the outcome and asked Jia Xu to send Zhang Liao to Mount Zhongnan to find Zhang Zhongjing.
• Zhang Zhongjing continued writing his Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases and explained to his apprentice why he worked so cautiously.
• Zhang Zhongjing’s apprentice reported that the Imperial Court had driven Ma Chao away and retaken Chang’an, then invited Zhang Zhongjing to move there with his family.
• Armed soldiers emerged from the mountain woods, and Zhang Zhongjing shielded his apprentice and demanded to know who they were.

Zhang Liao found Zhang Zhongjing and invited him to Ye City on the Emperor’s orders to treat Zhen Mi, while Lü Lingqi went into labor after falling in Qingli Palace. Liu Xie and Lü Bu rushed to the palace, where they waited anxiously as the birth began.

• Zhang Liao located Zhang Zhongjing in the mountains and asked him to come to Ye City to treat the gravely ill Zhen Mi.
• Zhen Mi and Lü Lingqi discussed her illness and the Zhen Clan’s arrest, and Zhen Mi warned Lü Lingqi not to ask Lü Bu to intercede for her family.
• Lü Lingqi fell while trying to help Zhen Mi, and the palace maids discovered that her waters had broken and she was bleeding.
• Liu Xie heard that Lü Bu had arrested the Zhen Clan and offered him the position of Grand General, but Lü Bu declined the honor.
• A palace maid reported Lü Lingqi’s labor, so Liu Xie and Lü Bu hurried to Qingli Palace, where Zhen Mi explained how the fall had happened.

Lü Lingqi gave birth to a princess after a dangerous labor, and both mother and child survived. As Zhen Mi worried that her own illness would make childbirth perilous, Liu Xie promised to bring Zhang Zhongjing to cure her and vowed not to let her die.

• Lü Lingqi went into labor after a fall, and Liu Xie, Lü Bu, and Zhen Mi anxiously waited outside while Hua Tuo could offer no certainty about her safety.
• Lü Lingqi gave birth to a princess, fainted from exhaustion, and was treated with ginseng soup and Hua Tuo's medicine; a maid announced that mother and daughter were safe.
• Liu Xie visited Lü Lingqi and their newborn daughter, comforted Zhen Mi when she blamed herself for the fall, and left Lü Bu to see his daughter and granddaughter.
• Liu Xie arranged for Lü Lingqi to remain at Qingli Palace while Zhen Mi stayed in his bedchamber, and he told Zhen Mi that he had summoned Zhang Zhongjing to Ye City.
• Zhen Mi asked Liu Xie not to forget her if she died, and Liu Xie promised that he would not let her die.

Lü Bu visited Lü Lingqi after she gave birth to a daughter and accepted the child fondly. In the Northern Office dungeon, Zhen Yi revealed that Fa Zheng had survived and proposed a way to spare the Zhen Clan from execution, though it would require blood.

• Lü Bu held Lü Lingqi’s newborn daughter and reassured Lü Lingqi that he cherished her regardless of whether she had borne a son.
• Zhen Yi’s imprisoned clan elders blamed him for the Zhen Clan’s ruin, while he accused them of attacking the imperial envoy and refusing to confess.
• Zhen Yi told the elders that Fa Zheng was alive in Ye City, revealing that their plot had failed and their actions had turned corruption into treason.
• The Second Branch’s clan elder urged Zhen Yi to have Zhen Mi plead with the Son of Heaven, but Zhen Yi refused to endanger his sister.
• Zhen Yi said he had devised a way to spare the clan from death, but warned that the crimes required an accounting involving blood.

Zhen Yi forced the Zhen Clan elders implicated in the envoy plot and relief-supply embezzlement to confess and die to save the clan. After learning that Ma Chao had lost Chang'an, Cao Cao considered surrendering to the Son of Heaven and asked the imprisoned Xu You to speak for him.

• Zhen Yi told the implicated Zhen Clan elders to write blood confessions and kill themselves, offering the clan's businesses and wealth to the Imperial Court in return for the clan's survival.
• The Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Branches' clan elders wrote their confessions and killed themselves, leaving Zhen Yi relieved that the clan might be saved.
• Cao Cao learned that Ma Chao had been defeated and Chang'an had fallen, and worried that the Imperial Court would soon move its capital there.
• Cao Cao visited the imprisoned Xu You and asked whether he would speak for him before the Son of Heaven if Cao Cao let him go.
• After hearing of Ma Chao's defeat, Xu You urged Cao Cao to surrender, take the Pretender Emperor to Ye City, and claim he had been deceived.

Cao Cao tricked Xu You into advising him on how to oppose the Imperial Court, while Liu Xie planned a Tax Bureau to oversee the Zhen Clan’s enterprises and welcomed Zhang Liao back with physician Zhang Zhongjing. The chapter ended with Zhang Zhongjing agreeing to examine the pregnant Noble Lady Zhen and do what he could to save her and her unborn child.

• Cao Cao pretended to consider surrender so Xu You would analyze the balance of power, then admitted he had gained the advice he wanted and left Xu You furious.
• Liu Xie learned that Lü Bu was celebrating the birth of Lü Lingqi’s daughter and considered Jia Xu’s advice on pardoning the imprisoned Zhen Clan.
• Liu Xie proposed establishing a Tax Bureau to supervise commerce, salt, and iron while keeping Zhen Clan members involved in running their enterprises.
• Liu Xie decided to keep the Zhen Clan imprisoned for now and planned to put Fa Zheng in charge of the Tax Bureau.
• Zhang Liao returned to Ye City with Zhang Zhongjing, whom Liu Xie welcomed and asked to treat the pregnant Noble Lady Zhen.

Liu Xie learned that Zhang Liao could not locate Ma Chao, then watched Lü Bu warn Zhang Liao against questioning the emperor’s authority over the succession. Zhang Zhongjing promised to cure Zhen Mi within three months, while Liu Xie turned to rewarding officials, reorganizing the army, and preparing to move the capital.

• Zhang Liao reported that Ma Chao had disappeared into Qiang territory, and Liu Xie postponed sending troops after him.
• Lü Bu invited Zhang Liao to drink and showed off his granddaughter, but warned him not to question Liu Xie’s choices for Empress and heir.
• Zhang Zhongjing diagnosed Zhen Mi’s lung disease and said he could treat it, though her pregnancy required a careful prescription.
• Liu Xie promised Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo that the School of Medicine would be included in a future academy.
• Liu Xie began handling rewards, reorganizing the captured Western Liang Army, and planning the capital’s move to Chang'an.

Liu Xie argued to Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang that the Great Han should develop agriculture and commerce together, with technological progress raising productivity. He began explaining the idea through his Jian'an Machine and weaving, and Zhuge Liang asked whether technology could similarly increase grain yields.

• Liu Xie invited Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang to dine with him in the palace and discussed the Great Han's recovery and future reforms.
• Liu Xie proposed supporting commerce, but Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang warned that it could weaken agriculture and threaten the state.
• Liu Xie rejected the choice between concentrating wealth in the state or among the people, writing that the people being rich would make the state strong.
• Liu Xie argued that agriculture and commerce should advance together, and that developing technology could increase productivity.
• Liu Xie used his Jian'an Machine and faster cloth production to explain productivity, and Zhuge Liang asked whether technology could raise grain yields.