Recaps

Sun Hao seized the throne and his cruelty drove Wu’s ministers and clans toward conspiracy, while Cao Mao prepared Wei to exploit Wu’s turmoil. The arc leaves Wen Qin planning an attack on Qichun Commandery with help from Guanqiu Jian and Hu Zun.

• Lu Kang warned Sun Xiu that his policies were driving counties to defect, while Zhong Hui’s forged letters deepened the turmoil in Wu.
• Yan Cong seized Puyang Duan and led Wu’s ships to defect to Wei, and the shaken Sun Xiu named Sun Meng crown prince before entrusting him to Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing.
• After Sun Xiu died, Puyang Xing and Zhang Bu installed Sun Hao, who initially halted lake-field construction but soon tortured and executed officials and relatives, including Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing.
• Wang Su died after warning Cao Mao about powerful clans, and Cao Mao later appointed Qiao Zhou to continue Wang Su’s teachings while advancing Wei’s frontier campaigns and navy.
• Cao Mao welcomed his son Cao Wen, while Zhong Hui recruited Wu officials and scholars and tutored Liu Yuan, who refused Zhong Yu’s offer to change teachers.
• Xiong Yi and Wang Weng plotted against Sun Hao, whose move to Wuchang and growing brutality fueled opposition among Wu’s great clans and ministers.
• Shi Dan’s rebellion failed at Jianye, and Sun Hao punished Sun Qian and his family before returning to the capital, where Wei Yao’s remonstrance and the ministers’ despair exposed Wu’s instability.
• Yang Hu pursued relations with Goguryeo and publicized the punishment of Yang Xiu, while Wen Qin accepted Cao Mao’s order to capture Qichun Commandery and sought support from Guanqiu Jian and Hu Zun.

Guanqiu Jian’s invasion shattered Wu’s armies and ended with Sun Hao’s capture and the kingdom’s surrender. Cao Mao pardoned Sun Hao, unified the realm, and rewarded the commanders, while Wei began consolidating control over the south.

• Hu Zun, Guanqiu Jian, and Wen Qin launched a multi-front invasion, and Sun Hao fled as Guanqiu Jian rapidly captured Wuchang and pursued him across Wu.
• Guanqiu Jian defeated Sun Hao’s forces, captured the emperor, and secured Jianye’s surrender, while Wu’s armies began to disband or submit.
• Hu Zun defeated Ding Feng after Shi Ji surrendered and killed himself, leaving Lu Kang as the last major Wu commander resisting.
• Guanqiu Jian persuaded Lu Kang’s dwindling army to surrender and sent him to Jianye, while Hu Zun and Wang Ji brought the remaining regions and forces under Wei control.
• Wang Ji persuaded Tao Huang, Xue Xu, and Zhongli Mu to surrender in Jiaozhou, ending Wu’s remaining resistance.
• Cao Mao accepted Sun Hao’s surrender, pardoned him and the Wu imperial clan, and proclaimed the realm unified under the Sweet Dew era name.
• Cao Mao appointed Hu Zun Grand General and Guanqiu Jian Grand Marshal, then rewarded Wang Ji and his subordinates at a banquet where Sun Hao complained about breaches of ritual.

Cao Mao pursued administrative, educational, and land reforms while consolidating control over former Shu and Wu territories. As Guanqiu Jian prepared campaigns against Goguryeo and the Tuoba, Kuxian secretly planned to defect to Wei.

• Cao Mao appointed former Wu officials, welcomed Lu Kang, and tasked Zhang Hua with easing tensions between regional and central officials.
• Pei Xiu proposed requiring aspiring officials to serve as local academic clerks, while Cao Mao also considered new schools and broader land reforms.
• Du Yu and Lu Zhi consulted Zhong Hui about farmland concentration, and Cao Mao weighed limits on great clans and protections for farming households.
• Chen Tai and Wang Jing clashed over forcibly relocating Wu’s great clans, while Deng Ai ordered Ba-Shu’s abandoned waterworks repaired.
• Cao Mao advanced the study of Xunzi and promulgated a Land Reward Edict, then confronted ministers’ resistance when Deng Dun objected to its land limits.
• Guanqiu Jian assembled troops and allies for campaigns against Goguryeo and the Tuoba, while preparing to exploit divisions among the Tuoba chieftains.
• Kuxian learned that Tuoba Liwei planned to arrest the chieftains at a feast and secretly prepared to flee into Wei territory.

Wei defeated the Tuoba and captured Tuoba Liwei while Cao Mao pursued policies to register tenant farmers, reclaim land, and curb powerful clans. After uncovering a plot to undermine those policies, Cao Mao arrested its leaders and began relocating Wu’s great clans, leaving the campaign against the Central Plains clans still underway.

• Guanqiu Jian and Wen Yang defeated the Tuoba, captured Shengle, and took Tuoba Liwei alive, while Tuoba Chuo fled with his cavalry into Goguryeo.
• Cao Mao ordered officials to register hidden tenant farmers and reclaim land, then approved Lu Kang’s plan for state-funded construction and farming work.
• Du Yu began resettling refugees and organizing construction in Ji Commandery as Lu Zhi helped calculate the costs and resources.
• Xun Yi joined Cai Mu and other clan leaders in opposing Cao Mao’s policies, but Cao Mao arrested the gathered scholars and exposed their plan to hoard grain and provoke famine.
• Cao Mao dismissed Xun Yi and ordered officials to pursue other conspirators, while expanding disaster preparedness and planning further action against the great clans.
• Wang Jing and Zhongli Mu began relocating Wu’s great clans, and Commandant Wang’s troops seized Gu Ji’s household for transport north.