Chapter Summaries

Zhang Jue abandoned his plan to seize territory broadly and led the Taiping Army toward the Great River, intending to attack Luoyang and isolate it from other regions. The Han Court recalled Huangfu Song and other commanders to Hebei, where Huangfu Song encountered the Taiping Army as Zhang Jue began preparing for a major undertaking.

• After speaking with Luo Xiao, Zhang Jue cast aside his worries, while Luo Xiao felt a new burden and Ji Zhao foresaw that Luo Xiao would accomplish something unprecedented.
• Zhang Jue redirected the Taiping Army toward Henei and Luoyang, planning to cross the Great River and besiege nearby commanderies to cut off the capital.
• Zhang Jue performed a sacrificial ceremony and rallied the Taiping soldiers with a speech calling them to cross the river and overthrow the Han Court.
• Alarmed by Zhang Jue's advance, the emperor and Dukes and Ministers recalled Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to Hebei; Huangfu Song warned that the redeployment would delay the rebellion's suppression, but the court ordered him to annihilate the rebels.
• Huangfu Song marched into Jizhou with his army and supplies, then encountered the Taiping Army's banners and recognized how close its forces were to Luoyang.
• Zhang Jue began observing the stars at night as he prepared to do something momentous.

Zhang Jue resolved to lead the Taiping Army across the Great River after reading the heavens, despite Luo Xiao’s doubts and the army’s worsening position. A failed crossing and a song meant to demoralize the rebels instead stirred them to fight, leaving the Han Army with only a minor victory.

• Zhang Jue studied the stars and concluded that the auspicious time had come to cross the river.
• Taiping Army chieftains urged Zhang Jue to retreat or seek another route, but he insisted that the army must cross the Great River.
• The Taiping Army’s first crossing failed, and its soldiers’ bodies drifted in the river.
• A woman’s song, “Lord, Don’t Cross the River,” spread through the camp and inspired the Taiping soldiers to fight to live.
• Zhang Jue led one hundred thousand Taiping soldiers against thirty thousand royal troops, and the Han Army won only a minor victory.

Zhang Jue awakened Luo Xiao’s heart through the suffering of the people and persuaded him to break Great Han’s Mandate of Heaven. After sacrificing his life and the Luo Clan Sacred Mark, Zhang Jue became the identity the world remembered, while Luo Xiao prepared to face Great Han’s heroes.

• Luo Xiao felt his heart begin to beat as he witnessed the Taiping Army’s cries to live, while Zhang Jue returned from battle gravely wounded.
• Zhang Jue explained that he had realized Luo Xiao could bring down Great Han and urged him to follow his heart despite his identity as a Luo Clan Scion.
• Zhang Jue sacrificed himself and the Luo Clan Sacred Mark, lending his power to Luo Xiao as Luo Xiao shattered Great Han’s Mandate of Heaven with the hearts of the people.
• The Three States Expansion Pack unlocked, and Ji Zhao learned that the Luo Clan gained forty years of Imperial Fortune as the Qin-Han Fortune Agreement ended.
• Luo Xiao survived without his Sacred Mark, while the world believed Zhang Jue lived; at dawn, Luo Xiao ordered the Taiping commanders to form ranks and prepared to meet Great Han’s heroes.

Luo Xiao lured Huangfu Song’s Han Army into a feigned retreat, then encircled it and destroyed the Royal Yulin Guards and Three Rivers Cavalry. Huangfu Song escaped as Luo Xiao declared that he would march on Luoyang and kill the emperor and his ministers.

• Huangfu Song dismissed the Taiping Army’s improved formation and ordered the Han forces to attack.
• The Taiping Army feigned a rout, and Huangfu Song sent the Royal Yulin Guards and Three Rivers Cavalry in pursuit.
• Luo Xiao explained the plan to lure the Han Army deep and ordered the Taiping forces to encircle and annihilate it.
• The Taiping Army used its numbers to trap the pursuing Han cavalry in the rain and inflict devastating losses.
• Huangfu Song realized he had been deceived and prepared to withdraw as Luo Xiao vowed to kill the emperor and his ministers in Luoyang.

After defeating Huangfu Song at the Battle of the Ferry Crossing, Luo Xiao rejected an immediate march on Luoyang and set out plans to reform the Taiping Army and expand its strength. Huangfu Song urged the Han Court to lift the Partisan Prohibition and allow local forces to organize, but the court blamed him, leaving the Taiping Army poised to grow while the Han Court shifted to defense.

• The Canal Commanders told Luo Xiao that the Taiping Army had nearly annihilated the Han Army's Yulin Guards and asked whether they should march on Luoyang.
• Luo Xiao decided against an attack on Luoyang and dictated plans for reorganizing the Taiping Army and coordinating its forces across the provinces and commanderies.
• Huangfu Song rallied his defeated officers and prepared to explain that Zhang Jue's strength, rather than his own incompetence, had caused the defeat.
• Han court officials and eunuchs accused Huangfu Song of treachery but refrained from demanding his execution because the Taiping Army threatened Luoyang.
• Huangfu Song memorialized the emperor, urging the court to lift the Partisan Prohibition and permit prominent families to raise local volunteers, but the court accused him of keeping the rebels alive to increase his own importance.

After the court lifted the partisan prohibition and authorized local recruitment, Luo Xiao anticipated a struggle against the warlords rising across the realm. The decree empowered commandery governors and clans such as the Lü Clan, while Luo Xiao’s illness left the Taiping Army’s future uncertain.

• The Luoyang court issued a decree allowing scholars to enter government and local leaders to recruit troops against the Taiping Army.
• Luo Xiao considered the coming conflict with the warlords and, coughing blood, wondered whether the Taiping Army would become the foundation of their rise.
• The Taiping Army’s uprisings devastated gentry families in Qingzhou and Yan-Yu, including the powerful Lü Clan in Linzi and Jiaodong.
• After receiving the decree, provincial inspectors and commandery governors began recruiting openly, while scholars largely stayed in the provinces and joined commandery staffs.
• Commandery governors gained military authority and became less willing to heed their supervising inspectors.

The chapter explained the power and decline of Great Han’s leading aristocratic houses, contrasting the local Five Surnames and Seven Houses with the Luoyang Classical Studies Clans that dominated court networks. It ended by noting that the Luoyang Great Houses were eager to prevent another Partisan Prohibition.

• The chapter described how the Five Surnames and Seven Houses differed in strength, tracing the decline of the Lanling Xiao Clan and Huaiyin Han Clan and the renewed prominence of the Luo Clan through Luo Chuan.
• The chapter contrasted the local great houses with the Luoyang Classical Studies Clans, whose court offices, connections, and marriage alliances helped them monopolize influence.
• The Luo Clan included a debate between a humble-born scholar and a great-house scion in Stories of the Later Han, illustrating how elite networks framed advancement.
• The chapter explained that patronage and benefits built political loyalty, while the Luo Clan claimed its own nepotism differed because it could ensure its people’s competence and character.
• The Luoyang Great Houses, including the Jimo Lü Clan and Anyang Han Clan, recalled the damage caused by the Partisan Prohibition and resolved that it must not happen again.

Dong Zhuo returned to Liangzhou after the Taiping Army uprising disrupted his planned campaign in the Western Regions, hoping to build his power amid the Central Plains turmoil. He met his adviser Li Ru, who told him their great undertaking was already half accomplished.

• Dong Zhuo led his cavalry back through Liangzhou after recalling his army from its planned campaign beyond Yumen Pass.
• Dong Zhuo considered the uprising an opportunity to strengthen his forces and eventually march east to Luoyang.
• Dong Zhuo met Li Ru and asked whether his return had delayed their undertaking.
• Li Ru told Dong Zhuo that their great undertaking was already half accomplished.

Li Ru explained to Dong Zhuo how the Han court’s crisis and the scholarly clans’ interests could help expand Western Liang’s power. Dong Zhuo prepared to enter Luoyang after making thorough arrangements, while Li Ru pointed to Liangzhou’s scholars as potential allies.

• Dong Zhuo asked Li Ru about the situation east of the passes, and Li Ru reported Zhang Jue’s victory over Huangfu Song and the destruction of the Yulin Guards.
• Dong Zhuo denounced the court’s officials and declared that Western Liang’s warriors would prove themselves when they entered Luoyang.
• Li Ru reminded Dong Zhuo of their ambitions, then asked whether he would rush to rescue the emperor or prepare the army first; Dong Zhuo chose thorough preparation rather than risk his forces arriving too late.
• Li Ru argued that the Han dynasty’s survival mattered more than the emperor and explained why scholarly clans would oppose the Taiping Army’s attempt to overthrow the dynasty.
• Li Ru told Dong Zhuo that Liangzhou’s scholarly clans had already approached him and could provide wealth, talent, and manpower, though Dong Zhuo could not become Governor of Liangzhou.

Li Ru urged Dong Zhuo to balance Liangzhou’s aristocratic clans by recruiting men from humble families and recommended Jia Wenhe as a chief strategist. Dong Zhuo summoned Jia Wenhe to Guzang, where Jia began to offer his counsel.

• Li Ru warned Dong Zhuo that Liangzhou’s aristocratic clans would serve their own interests and could undermine his ambitions in the Central Plains.
• Li Ru proposed using men from humble families to counterbalance the clans, and Dong Zhuo questioned whether such men could rival aristocratic scholars.
• Li Ru described the Wuwei Jia Clan’s inherited learning and praised his old friend Xu, courtesy name Wenhe, as a rare talent willing to consider serving Dong Zhuo.
• Dong Zhuo agreed to meet Jia Wenhe and assess his abilities.
• After returning to Guzang, Dong Zhuo summoned Jia Wenhe, who offered to present his plans.

Jia Xu warned Dong Zhuo that marching to Luoyang to aid the emperor would leave Liangzhou exposed and put him under the Marquis of Unshuang’s command. He advised Dong Zhuo to ally with the Qiang, wait for rival forces to move east, and position his army near Luoyang, but Jia Xu declined Dong Zhuo’s offer of service.

• Jia Xu told Dong Zhuo that his planned march to Luoyang was doomed because Liangzhou’s clans and the officials along the route could threaten or block him.
• Jia Xu warned that the Marquis of Unshuang would arrive through Liangzhou with a powerful army, leaving Dong Zhuo no easy choice between submission and fighting another Han army.
• Jia Xu advised Dong Zhuo to coordinate with the Marquis’s arrival, campaign alongside the Qiang, and promise them fertile land in exchange for cavalry.
• Jia Xu urged Dong Zhuo to march east only after the Marquis and Sili officials had gone to Luoyang, then station his army in Hedong rather than enter the capital.
• Dong Zhuo praised Jia Xu and offered him a high-ranking post, but Jia Xu declined because he had another candidate in mind.

The chapter described how Buddhism and Daoism had spread and blended across the Western Regions under the Luo Clan’s rule, while the Marquis of Unshuang weighed the Central Plains’ call for aid. It ended with Luo Kong deciding to visit his mother.

• The chapter explained how Daoism and Buddhism adapted to the Western Regions and established temples throughout the kingdoms.
• The Luo Clan allowed the faiths to flourish, though it viewed Daoism’s ambitions to establish a theocracy with greater concern than Buddhism’s.
• The chapter described the Luo Clan’s two-century rule over Unshuang and the ongoing succession struggles in two Liu Clan kingdoms.
• Luo Kong studied the court’s proclamation calling for aid to the emperor, then said he would go see his mother.

Luo Kong told his mother, Luo Xin, that he would answer the emperor’s call and march east, defending the Han Dynasty’s claim on his family’s loyalty. He planned to leave the Western Regions to its own leaders and, after his mother warned him about the Central Plains and Zhang Jue, assembled an army of thirty thousand.

• Luo Kong visited Luo Xin and declared that he would march east because the Luo Clan’s reputation depended on fulfilling its duty as a subject of Han.
• Luo Kong said he would stop suppressing the Western Regions’ conflicts and let its people and Liu Clan princely kingdoms take responsibility for the region.
• Luo Xin warned Luo Kong that the Western Regions could supply his army only as far as Yumen Pass and urged him to beware of Central Plains adversaries, especially Zhang Jue.
• Luo Xin told Luo Kong that Zhang Jue had defeated Huangfu Song and that she had asked her elder brother in Zhao City to investigate Zhang Jue’s origins.
• Luo Kong levied able-bodied men, summoned the Various States, and marched east with an army of thirty thousand to defend the Han Dynasty.

Jia Xu left Dong Zhuo’s service and sought Luo Kong in Wuwei, explaining that he had deliberately drawn Dong Zhuo away to prevent a costly clash. He warned Luo Kong that treacherous enemies, not the Taiping Army, might destroy his force, then began outlining his deductions.

• Luo Kong entered Wuwei with his elite cavalry and summoned the province’s military commanders to pay their respects.
• Jia Xu told Li Ru that he would not serve Dong Zhuo because he believed Dong Zhuo was destined to fail, and explained why the Luo Clan offered him a safer future.
• Jia Xu left the Liangzhou Inspector’s Residence and went to Luo Kong’s headquarters to enter his service.
• Jia Xu confessed that he had devised the plan to send Dong Zhuo against the Qiang rebellion, preventing a clash between Dong Zhuo’s cavalry and Luo Kong’s army.
• Jia Xu asked how Luo Kong intended to aid the emperor and warned that a careless move could leave his army at the mercy of treacherous villains.
• Luo Kong listened as Jia Xu explained his deductions and became increasingly eager to hear more.

Luo Xiao explained his strategy for breaking the Han Dynasty’s Mandate of Heaven, while Luo Kong traveled east with Jia Xu and Dong Zhuo worked to build influence in Liangzhou. In Pei Commandery, Cao Cao urged his clan to raise an army, suppress the rebellion, and rally to the emperor.

• Luo Xiao told the Canal Commanders that capturing the emperor alone would not break the Han Dynasty’s Mandate of Heaven, and his plan left them prostrating themselves before him.
• Luo Kong kept Jia Xu as a prospective chief strategist after learning about his talent and his capable friend Li Ru.
• Luo Kong’s Western Regions army obtained provisions and horse fodder from Liangzhou’s officials and clans before continuing east, while Dong Zhuo cultivated ties with Qiang tribes and local powers.
• Cao Cao explained to the Pei Commandery Cao Clan that military merit offered their best chance to rise and repay the Han court’s favor.
• Cao Cao called on his clan to rally commandery and county forces, defeat the Taiping Army, and march to Luoyang to support the emperor.

Cao Cao persuaded the Cao Clan to support his campaign to rally to the Han emperor, and the Xiahou Clan joined his cause. He recruited men and powerful families across Pei Commandery, leaving with an army ready to march on Luoyang.

• Cao Cao declared that the Cao Clan should repay the Han's imperial grace by defending the dynasty, and his clan brothers pledged to follow him.
• The Xiahou household head offered the Xiahou Clan's support and promised to send clan members to serve under Cao Cao.
• Cao Cao issued a call across Pei Commandery, drawing thousands of recruits and support from powerful-gentry families.
• Cao Cao used his reputation and ties to prominent figures to persuade counties and landowners to contribute men.
• Cao Cao finished assembling his King-Protecting Army and prepared to set out for Luoyang.

As Yan State evacuated a hundred thousand people from Youzhou, a young Murong officer urged its general to exploit Han’s internal turmoil and attack. The general refused, explaining that Yan needed time to consolidate before confronting Han, but then prepared to meet an approaching enemy force.

• Yan State moved south through Youzhou, emptying counties and escorting their inhabitants toward its territory.
• A young officer of the Xuanmen Murong Clan questioned General about withdrawing while Han was weakened by internal disorder.
• General explained that Han remained more powerful than Yan and that Yan needed to register the arriving people, resolve internal divisions, and develop before attempting to reclaim its ancestral lands.
• General pointed out approaching dust, and the young officer identified an enemy force of several thousand cavalry.
• General ordered the men of Great Yan to meet the enemy, promising rank and rewards for those who killed.

Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei fought the Yan Army as it raided Han territory, but the Yan force proved too strong to defeat. After Liu Bei saved Gongsun Zan from an ambush, the two pledged brotherhood and split up to gather forces and rally south.

• Gongsun Zan led the White Horse Volunteer Cavalry against the Yan Army, whose commander taunted him and urged him to join Great Yan.
• Gongsun Zan charged at the Yan commander, but Liu Bei knocked him aside and saved him from a volley of arrows.
• Gongsun Zan thanked Liu Bei, and they declared themselves brothers despite their different surnames.
• Gongsun Zan ordered his cavalry to recover as many abducted civilians as possible, while the Yan commander released thirty thousand civilians and retreated north with the rest.
• Gongsun Zan gave Liu Bei three hundred cavalrymen to recruit volunteers in Zhuo Commandery, while he led his troops south to rally to the emperor.

Luo Zhang performed a ritual to ask Ji Zhao about Zhang Jue and learned that Zhang Jue was Luo Xiao, who had helped shatter Great Han’s Mandate of Heaven. Ji Zhao declared that the age had no Mandate of Heaven and urged the Luo Clan to send its scions into the world, while Luo Zhang worried about the looming clash between Luo Xiao and the imperial forces.

• Luo Zhang entered the Luo Clan ancestral shrine and asked the shamanesses to help him commune with Ji Zhao.
• Ji Zhao revealed that the original Zhang Jue was dead and that the current Zhang Jue was Luo Xiao, who had joined Zhang Jue in shattering Great Han’s Mandate of Heaven.
• Ji Zhao told Luo Zhang that no new Mandate of Heaven existed and that he would choose the final victor as Son of Heaven, but the Luo Clan itself could not claim the throne.
• Ji Zhao warned Luo Zhang that the age was full of formidable ministers and generals, making unification exceptionally difficult, and ordered the Luo Clan’s sons to make their mark.
• After the ritual ended, Luo Zhang considered how Luo Xiao’s identity would affect Marquis Ying, the Marquis of Unshuang, and the King-Protecting Army.

Luo Xiao strengthened the Taiping Army at Xingyang by building an orderly Daoist state and rallying its followers, then prepared to face the King-Protecting armies converging on the stronghold. As rival forces encircled Xingyang, he studied their weaknesses and resolved to defeat them one by one.

• Luo Xiao consolidated the Taiping Army around Xingyang, organized its soldiers and families, and won their loyalty through fair provisions and governance.
• Luo Xiao told the Canal Commanders that armies from across the land were coming and urged them to welcome the challenge and destroy the Han Dynasty.
• Luo Xiao ordered scouts to find which feudal lord arrived first, declaring that the Taiping Army would use his head to warn the rest.
• Luo Kong crossed the Great River with Western Regions cavalry but was delayed by local forces, while Huangfu Song assembled a new army and guarded west of Xingyang's passes.
• Feudal lords and private armies converged on Xingyang, while Huangfu Song welcomed the coalition and the emperor worried about its consequences.
• Luo Xiao studied the feudal lords' weaknesses on a map and planned to defeat them one by one.