Recaps

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.

Liu Xie explained how technological progress, including higher-yield crops and railways, could strengthen Great Han, then proposed policies to develop commerce while protecting agriculture. Zhuge Liang warned that powerful clans could capture the benefits of those policies, leaving Liu Xie and Sima Yi without an easy answer.

• Liu Xie told Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang that new agricultural techniques and overseas crops could raise grain production, and he stressed that developing technology was essential to Great Han’s strength.
• Liu Xie showed them a railway route map and drawings of rail freight wagons, explaining how tracks could improve transport of supplies, troops, and goods.
• Sima Yi asked how agriculture and commerce could advance together, and Liu Xie proposed promoting trade, collecting commercial taxes, investing in foreign trade, subsidizing farmers, and regulating grain prices.
• Sima Yi praised Liu Xie’s policies, but Zhuge Liang warned that great clans could seize their benefits, as they had with the Land Reclamation Policy.

Zhang He discovered that Ma Chao might be hiding at the Qiang Royal Court and defied orders to pursue him with the Mo Dao Army. At the Royal Court, a Han father sacrificed himself rather than kill his son, and the boy died after trying to attack the Qiang arena master.

• Zhang He, frustrated by his failure to capture Ma Chao, learned that the Qiang might be sheltering him.
• Zhang He received a scout report placing Ma Chao's rebel army near the Qiang Royal Court and ordered the Mo Dao Army to assemble.
• Pang De warned Zhang He that leaving Chang'an without authorization would violate his orders, but Zhang He left Pang De to defend the city and rode out.
• At the Qiang Royal Court, a Han father and son were forced into an arena and told that one of them had to die for the other to go free.
• The father stabbed himself to save his son, and the boy attacked the Qiang arena master before being kicked to death.

The Zhongqiang Tribe’s eldest prince and the Qiang nobles tormented a captive Han family while mocking Ma Chao and the Han army. When scouts reported five thousand Han infantry approaching the Royal Court, the eldest prince chose to fight them, while Zhang He led the Mo Dao Army toward the Qiang capital.

• The eldest prince dismissed Ma Chao as overrated and agreed to A Saihei’s proposal to force a Han woman and her relatives into a degrading choice under threat of death.
• The eldest prince killed the woman’s husband when the family refused to comply, then prepared to kill her child as a guard reported that Han troops were approaching.
• The eldest prince learned that the approaching force numbered about five thousand infantry and ordered the Royal Court’s twenty thousand warriors to engage them.
• Zhang He led five thousand Mo Dao Army soldiers deep into Qiang territory, following intelligence that Ma Chao’s troops might be stationed at the Royal Court.

Zhang He led the Mo Dao Army to defeat the Qiang cavalry and seize the Qiang Royal Court, where he discovered the abuse suffered by captive Han women. After the women killed themselves, he nearly executed the captured Qiang nobles in rage, but his deputy stopped him so they could be questioned about Ma Chao and the rebels.

• Zhang He led the Mo Dao Army into battle and routed ten thousand Qiang cavalry with superior armor and weapons.
• The Mo Dao Army advanced to the Qiang Royal Court, captured the eldest prince and other nobles, and freed the Han women held in the Han Women's House.
• The Han women took their own lives, and one woman explained that the Qiang had threatened their families to keep them imprisoned.
• Zhang He tried to kill the captured nobles, but his deputy stopped him to preserve them for questioning about the rebels.
• Zhang He mutilated the eldest prince and ordered his men to castrate all the captured Qiang nobles.

Zhang He captured the Qiang nobles and learned that Ma Chao had gone to Shang Commandery, but he refused to risk pursuing him deep into Qiang territory. Instead, he ordered the Qiang Royal Court’s inhabitants slaughtered and planned to ruin the land and water before withdrawing.

• Zhang He had the Mo Dao Army castrate the Qiang nobles, then questioned the eldest prince and learned that Ma Chao had gone to Shang Commandery.
• Zhang He abandoned the pursuit because of the distance and danger, ordered the nobles taken prisoner, and commanded the Royal Court’s inhabitants killed.
• When his deputy general reported that women and children remained, Zhang He insisted they be killed, and the soldiers carried out his order.
• Zhang He ordered the Mo Dao Army to burn the land, seize or slaughter the livestock, and contaminate the water sources before withdrawing.

Zhang He’s Mo Dao Army burned and poisoned the Qiang Royal Court before withdrawing, while Ma Chao tried to recruit Qiang tribes to counterattack the Han State. The chapter ends as Ma Chao learns that the Han Army has attacked the Royal Court and orders the messenger brought in.

• Zhang He sent the surviving civilians and Qiang prisoners toward Ye City, then ordered his troops to burn supplies and contaminate water sources across the Qiang Lands.
• Zhang He had the Qiang Royal Court set ablaze and led the Mo Dao Army away as a Qiang rider galloped toward Shang Commandery with news.
• Ma Chao urged the Qiang tribal chiefs to join his planned counterattack, threatening them and promising a month of plunder if they helped retake Yong Province and Chang'an.
• A guard reported that the Han Army had attacked the Qiang Royal Court, and Ma Chao ordered the arriving Qiang rider brought to him.

The Qiang tribal chiefs and Ma Chao learned that Zhang He’s Mo Dao Army had attacked and destroyed the Qiang Royal Court. They arrived to find the grasslands burned, their people and livestock slaughtered, and Zhang He’s blood-written message atop a tower of heads.

• A Qiang cavalryman reported that five thousand Han infantry had crushed the Royal Court’s garrison, and Ma Chao recognized them as the Mo Dao Army.
• The Zhongqiang Tribe’s chief killed the messenger, then urged Ma Chao to march back and offered an alliance against the Imperial Court.
• Ma Chao agreed to join the chiefs’ return to the Royal Court, while Pang De learned that Zhang He had ordered mass slaughter, burned the grasslands, and poisoned water sources with corpses.
• The Qiang chiefs and Ma Chao rushed back in three days and found the Royal Court reduced to ruins amid burned land and scattered corpses.
• The chiefs saw a towering Jingguan crowned with the Qiang Royal Banner bearing Zhang He’s message, and the Zhongqiang Tribe’s chief fell to his knees in despair.

Ma Chao found the Qiang Royal Court destroyed by Zhang He and tried to use the disaster to draw the tribes under his control. As the surviving chiefs split over surrendering to the Han State or seeking revenge, the Zhongqiang chief secretly called on Ma Chao to stop the defectors.

• Ma Chao saw the ruined Royal Court and pretended to pursue Zhang He while considering how to control the Qiang tribes.
• After two days unconscious, the Zhongqiang chief awoke and learned that the Han Army had slaughtered the livestock, contaminated the water, burned the pastures, and taken the tribes’ families captive.
• The Dangjian chief urged the tribes to surrender to the Han State, while the Zhongqiang chief demanded revenge and the Xianling chief warned that aiding Ma Chao had provoked the Han attack.
• The Xianling chief left with several tribes to seek surrender, despite the Zhongqiang chief’s curses.
• The Zhongqiang chief learned that Ma Chao was camped nearby and ordered a messenger to warn him that the Xianling Tribe planned to defect and request reinforcements.

Ma Chao killed the Xianling Chieftain and forced the Qiang tribes to follow him, while Zhang He returned to Chang'an with enormous spoils and learned that the court had ordered him to halt the pursuit. In Ye City, Liu Xie’s court turned to preparations for moving the capital and repairing the Yellow River embankments, but officials warned that the treasury could not afford the work.

• The Xianling Chieftain tried to leave Ma Chao’s camp, but Ma Chao killed him and accused him of planning to surrender to the Han Army.
• Ma Chao offered the Qiang warriors a choice between fighting him and obeying him, and the Zhongqiang, Dangjian, Shaohe, and Xianling tribes pledged allegiance.
• Zhang He returned to Chang'an with captured livestock, valuables, and rescued Han civilians, then learned Ma Chao had returned to the Qiang Royal Court.
• Zhang He wanted to attack Ma Chao, but Pang De reminded him that Liu Xie had ordered the pursuit suspended and the capital move prepared.
• Liu Xie convened court in Ye City to address the relocation and Yellow River flood preparations, while an official warned that the treasury could not afford repairs to the embankments.

Liu Xie redirected the funds for his mausoleum to Yellow River flood control, then received news that Zhang He had destroyed the Qiang Royal Court with a five-thousand-man force. Liu Xie left the court to question the messenger about how the unexpected victory had occurred.

• Fa Zheng proposed cutting military and Foundry Bureau spending to fund Yellow River flood control, but Liu Xie refused.
• Liu Xie postponed construction of his mausoleum and ordered its funds used to control the Yellow River floods.
• A messenger reported that Zhang He had routed the Qiang Royal Court’s garrison, captured nobles, rescued Han civilians, seized vast spoils, and burned the court.
• The court officials celebrated Zhang He’s victory, while Lü Bu and Zhang Liao wondered how Zhang He had launched the attack.
• Liu Xie dismissed the court and questioned the messenger in the Xuan Room about Zhang He’s reasons for attacking.