Recaps

Liu Xie’s forces captured Tong Pass and Chang’an after Pang De turned against Ma Chao, while Ma Chao fled west. In Ye City and Wuji County, Liu Xie recruited the Mohists and ordered an audit of the Zhen Clan, whose elders plotted against the imperial envoy even as the clan began cooperating.

• Liu Xie visited Zhaodi and her grandmother, promised to improve the people’s lives, and sent Zhang Liao’s army west to confront Ma Chao.
• Ma Chao demanded the title of King of Liang and an alliance with Cao Cao, while Sima Yi devised a plan to expose Ma Chao’s false claim that Liu Xie was captive.
• Zhen Mi learned that she was pregnant, and Liu Xie allowed her to remain with her clan while he ordered an audit after the Zhen Clan failed to provide disaster relief.
• Pang De revealed Ma Chao’s deception to the Han Army, then opened Tong Pass and helped Zhang Liao’s forces take Chang’an.
• Ma Chao abandoned Chang’an and fled west, but Zhang He’s Mo Dao Army defeated his Western Liang Iron Cavalry as Lü Bu and Zhao Yun pursued him.
• Liu Xie recruited Meng Yang to lead the Foundry Bureau and assigned Mohist disciples and artisans to develop useful technologies.
• Zhen Mi refused to ask Liu Xie for leniency after learning that the Zhen Clan elders had withheld and resold relief supplies, and Zhen Yi decided to confess.
• Several Zhen Clan elders planned to burn the Post Station with Fa Zheng inside, but Zhen Hua delivered the clan’s ledgers to Fa Zheng, who discovered records of its wealth and embezzlement.

Fa Zheng survived the Zhen Clan’s attempt to kill him, prompting arrests and plans to bring its enterprises under imperial supervision while Liu Xie prepared to move the capital to Chang'an. Zhang He’s unauthorized attack devastated the Qiang Royal Court, but Ma Chao gained the tribes’ allegiance and Liu Xie began questioning the circumstances of the victory.

• Qingzhu rescued Fa Zheng from the burning post station, and Zhen Mi helped him return to Ye City to report the Zhen Clan’s attack.
• Liu Xie ordered the Zhen Clan arrested, and Zhen Yi secured blood confessions and suicides from four clan elders in an effort to save the remaining clan.
• Lü Lingqi safely gave birth to a princess after a fall, while Zhang Zhongjing arrived to treat Zhen Mi’s lung disease during her pregnancy.
• Liu Xie planned a Tax Bureau with Fa Zheng in charge, prepared the capital’s relocation to Chang'an, and discussed commercial and technological reforms with Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang.
• Zhang He left Chang'an without authorization, routed the Qiang cavalry, captured the Royal Court’s nobles, and learned that Ma Chao had gone to Shang Commandery.
• Zhang He ordered the Royal Court’s remaining inhabitants killed and devastated the surrounding lands before withdrawing with prisoners, rescued Han civilians, and spoils.
• Ma Chao killed the Xianling Chieftain for seeking surrender and forced the Qiang tribes to pledge allegiance to him.
• Liu Xie diverted his mausoleum funds to Yellow River flood control, then received news of Zhang He’s victory and privately questioned the messenger about the attack.

Liu Xie moved the court to Chang’an, rewarded loyal servants, and prepared the realm for war against Cao Cao. As resistance grew among Cao Cao’s displaced subjects, Liu Xie assembled his armies and began executing captured retainers of Sun Quan.

• Liu Xie honored Zhang He for his victory over the Qiang and canceled his mausoleum plans so the spoils could fund Yellow River works.
• Liu Xie led the court’s return to Chang’an, where he welcomed wounded veterans and publicly thanked them for their service.
• Liu Xie made Guo Nüwang a Beauty, then appointed Zhou Yu to train a navy for the coming campaign against Cao Cao.
• Zhou Yu inspected the disciplined Bing Province Army as Meng Yang demonstrated new weapons, and Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying designed a seven-shot repeating crossbow.
• Liu Xie founded Lingyun Pavilion to honor merit and ordered the Great Han Martyrs’ Mausoleum built to remember every fallen soldier.
• Cao Cao forced the people of Xinye to relocate south, but Liao Hua led them in revolt and guided the uprising toward Guanzhong.
• Liu Xie chose to lead the expedition against Cao Cao, assigned commanders to the provincial armies, and gathered the Han forces outside Chang’an.
• At the army’s oath-taking ceremony, Liu Xie ordered Sun Quan brought forward, and Zhang He oversaw the execution of Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and the other captured retainers.

Liu Xie’s southern campaign captured Xiangyang and routed Cao Cao’s forces in Yi Province, but Ma Chao invaded Yong Province and besieged Chang’an. As the city’s defenders waited for Liu Xie’s relief force, court officials argued over Ma Chao’s demand for Empress Fu as a hostage, until Lü Lingqi rejected the proposal.

• Liu Xie divided his forces and marched south, while Zhang Liao’s army reached Chengdu and joined Liu Bei’s campaign against Cao Cao in Swordland.
• Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu used a flood to destroy Cao Ren’s navy, and Han forces captured Xiangyang through a disguised-ship assault.
• Liu Bei and his generals burned Cao Xiu’s wooded camps and defeated the fleeing army, killing Cao Xiu, Cao Hong, and Lu Xun.
• Ma Chao persuaded the Qiang tribes to invade Chang’an, while Jia Xu organized the city’s defenses and sent Eldest Princess Liu Ying away.
• Ma Chao’s forces besieged Chang’an, and its defenders held off repeated attacks as Jia Xu waited for reinforcements from Liu Xie.
• Liu Xie left the Jing Province campaign in Zhuge Liang’s hands and marched north with thirty thousand troops to relieve Chang’an.
• Ma Chao’s all-out assault battered the western wall, but Gao Lan helped drive the attackers back before Jia Xu was wounded and Ma Chao offered to withdraw in exchange for Empress Fu and supplies.
• Fa Zheng and the ministers debated Ma Chao’s demand, and Lü Lingqi arrived to declare that she would not allow Empress Fu to be sent out as a hostage.