Recaps

Liu Xie personally led the campaign that captured Lecheng County and Yuan Shao, then revealed how he had built his power and offered Yuan Shao a chance to secure the Yuan Clan’s future. Meanwhile, Liu Bei gained authority in Ba Commandery, and Cao Cao sought an alliance with Sun Quan against Liu Xie.

• Liu Xie marched to Hejian, witnessed the suffering of displaced people, and ordered improved catapults and a determined assault on Lecheng County.
• Huang Zhong defeated Yan Liang and held off Qu Yi, while Liu Xie’s army battered Lecheng’s defenses through days of brutal fighting.
• Liu Xie ordered a final assault in the snow, and Lü Bu broke Lecheng’s gate as Yuan Shao fled toward Yi City.
• Zhao Yun pursued Yuan Shao and killed Yan Liang, while Qu Yi killed Lü Xiang and Jiang Qi before pretending to surrender Yuan Shao to Liu Xie’s forces.
• Liu Xie pardoned Qu Yi and promoted him, then confronted Yuan Shao and explained how his alliances, imperial claim, and treatment of talent had secured his rise.
• Liu Xie offered to protect the Yuan Clan if Yuan Shao persuaded his remaining troops to surrender, while Tian Feng urged Yuan Shao’s followers to withdraw to Bing Province.
• Liu Bei secured appointment as Administrator of Ba Commandery, alarming Liu Zhang’s advisers, while Cao Cao and Sun Quan began negotiating an alliance against Liu Xie.

Liu Xie destroyed the Yuan Clan’s power, then turned the clans’ rivalry over public honors into support for resettling the Yellow Turban refugees. As winter approached, he prepared to conquer Bing Province and honored both powerful donors and a poor blacksmith, while Tian Feng’s contacts with Ma Chao and the Wuhuan remained a threat.

• Cao Cao struck an alliance with Sun Quan to take Xu Province, then told Zhou Yu that the Son of Heaven, Zhou Yu, and he himself were the realm’s only heroes.
• Liu Xie rejected Yuan Shao’s defiance, ordered the Yuan Clan executed except for Yuan Xi, and had Xun Chen beheaded when he pleaded for mercy.
• Liu Xie’s forces executed the Yuan Clan, while Yuan Xi survived and became Minister of Works, and the purge frightened the great aristocratic families into cooperation.
• Liu Xie enlisted Yuan Xi to gather the Yuan Clan’s followers and proposed honoring donors who helped resettle the Yellow Turban refugees, prompting commoners and rival clans to contribute.
• Yuan Xi donated all the Yuan Clan’s assets and won the title of Great Han’s Foremost Benefactor, while Liu Xie secretly promised to return the Zhen Clan’s contribution.
• Liu Xie accepted Zhang Yan’s surrender of military authority and planned to settle the Black Mountain Army’s people, but he also ordered preparations to seize Bing Province before spring.
• Liu Xie revealed warm winter garments and assigned Lü Bu the Black Mountain Army, while Lü Bu struggled to find weapons and equipment for his new troops.
• At the Good Deeds Stele ceremony, Liu Xie honored Yuan Xi and the leading clan donors, then gave Shi Delu a special plaque for donating his savings.

Liu Xie’s forces consolidated their hold over the north as Ma Chao seized Han Sui’s army and Lü Bu captured Jinyang. Meanwhile, Cao Cao resisted surrender, and Liu Biao sought new advisers as tensions over Jing Province’s alliances grew.

• Liu Xie won popular support by aiding displaced people, while Tian Feng urged Ma Chao to kill Han Sui and take command of his troops.
• Ma Chao killed Han Sui and his followers, then forced Tian Feng to take his own life when Tian Feng refused to serve him.
• Liu Xie learned of the killings, ordered the campaign against Bing Province to proceed, and dispatched Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, and Sima Yi with fifty thousand troops.
• Sima Yi weakened Jinyang’s defenders with a New Year’s Eve morale ploy before Lü Bu’s forces captured the city, and Gao Gan fled north.
• Lü Bu returned to his home village in Jiuyuan, then confronted Qubei, who presented Gao Gan’s head and promised the Xiongnu would return captives and plunder.
• Cui Lin told Sima Yi that Ma Chao had likely conspired with Tian Feng, while Liu Xie ordered aid sent to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang sought in Jing Province.
• Cao Cao rejected Xu You’s advice to surrender and resolved to watch Xun Yu, while Liu Biao halted preparations to attack Liu Bei and canceled his alliance with Liu Zhang.
• Liu Biao went to Mount Lumen to recruit Pang De Gong and Sima Hui, but Pang De Gong declined, leaving Liu Biao to ask Sima Hui for help.

Liu Xie summoned Zhuge Liang, strengthened his court, and launched a campaign against Cao Cao and Sun Quan after the fall of Liu Biao and Yuan Shao. As Lü Bu pursued Cao Cao through Yan Province, Cao Ren drew him into the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation.

• Pang Degong recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Biao, while Liu Xie received the Xiongnu delegation and demanded the heads of those responsible for the Guanzhong raid.
• Liu Qi failed to recruit Zhuge Liang, and Qingzhu burned Zhuge Liang’s cottage to force him to accompany the imperial envoys to Ye City.
• Cai Mao and his allies poisoned Liu Biao and Liu Qi, forced Emperor Xian of Han to appoint Liu Cong governor of Jing Province, and massacred the household servants.
• Liu Xie welcomed Zhuge Liang to court and approved his plan to reclaim farmland by lending displaced people tools, oxen, and seeds in exchange for a share of the land.
• Liu Xie learned that Cao Cao and Sun Quan planned to ally against the court, ordered armies south, and prepared for Yuan Shao’s execution after Yuan Shao rejected Madam Liu and confessed his crimes.
• At the army’s oath-taking ceremony, Yuan Xi executed Yuan Shao, while Ma Chao burned Ma Teng’s letter and resolved to build his own power.
• Cao Cao’s men killed Wutong after he tried to bring Xu You back to Ye City, and Lü Bu crossed the Yellow River and advanced through Yan Province as Cao Cao evacuated its people and supplies.
• Lü Bu pursued Cao Cao toward Guandu despite Sima Yi’s warnings, and Cao Ren revealed the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation as Lü Bu charged into it.