Chapter Summaries

Liu Shi traveled to Yanqi to prevent King Long An and King White Mountain of Kucha from going to war after a banquet insult. He secured Long An’s agreement to hold off and set out to confront White Mountain, while Deng Zhong remained in Jiaohe City to organize the new commandery.

• Deng Zhong and Liu Shi arrived in Jiaohe City, where Li Commandant explained that Long An and White Mountain were preparing to fight after White Mountain humiliated Long An at a banquet.
• Liu Shi learned that the two kings had comparable forces and borrowed two hundred cavalrymen from Deng Zhong before riding toward Yanqi.
• After a long journey through desolate country, Liu Shi reached Yanqi and found that Long An had not yet fought White Mountain, though he accused him of plotting against Great Wei.
• Liu Shi ate with Long An, then warned him that fighting would amount to rebellion against the newly established Sha Province.
• Liu Shi promised to visit White Mountain and stop him by force if necessary, while urging Long An and the other local leaders to help govern Sha Province.

Liu Shi secured Bai Shan’s promise to stop mobilizing against Karasahr and promote Sha Province’s restored trade, while Cao Mao’s court debated policies for the new province. The chapter ended with Cao Mao considering folding the poll tax into the land tax, despite Zhong Hui’s warning that abolishing it could strain the treasury.

• Liu Shi reached Kucha City and confronted Bai Shan over reports that he was forming a coalition against Karasahr.
• Bai Shan described Kucha’s decline and blamed Long An, while Liu Shi explained that disrupted trade after Later Han’s collapse had harmed the Western Regions.
• Liu Shi secured Bai Shan’s pledge to avoid war and support Sha Province, then returned to Loulan and sent officials to announce the court’s plans.
• The Shu great clans arrived in Liangzhou under armed escort and were forced onward toward Sha Province, where some died by suicide during the harsh journey.
• Cao Mao and his officials approved plans to appoint academic officials in Sha Province and restore the old trade routes.
• Zhong Hui proposed adjusting taxes to account for differences in agricultural yields, and Cao Mao considered incorporating the poll tax into the land tax.

Cao Mao discussed abolishing the poll tax and distributing its fixed amount across land taxes with Zhong Hui, who became convinced the policy could benefit the people and weaken great clans. Zhong Hui then gathered Zhang Hua and Lu Kang to examine the proposal, and Lu Kang questioned how to prevent the tax burden from falling back on the poor.

• Cao Mao asked Zhong Hui about abolishing the poll tax, and Zhong Hui warned that the treasury would lose much of its revenue.
• Cao Mao explained his plan to freeze the poll-tax amount and redistribute it through land taxes, and Zhong Hui urged him to begin soon.
• Cao Mao cautioned that the plan required careful study to prevent great clans from evading their share or shifting it onto others.
• Zhang Hua hosted Lu Kang, Zhang Zai, Zhang Zai’s younger brother, and Ruan Ji to discuss government policies before Zhong Hui barged in.
• Zhong Hui explained the proposed tax reform to Zhang Hua and Lu Kang after Ruan Ji left, and Zhang Hua supported it.
• Lu Kang questioned how the tax would be apportioned without burdening impoverished commoners.

Cao Mao summoned Liu Yi after the scholar submitted a scathing memorial criticizing his policies, then questioned him about his accusations and proposals. Cao Mao appointed Liu Yi Director of Palace Attendants, and learned that Zhong Hui had been meeting with Zhang Hua, Lu Kang, and others to discuss state affairs.

• Zou Gui read Liu Yi’s memorial condemning Cao Mao’s policies and warning that they failed to address the root of the realm’s problems.
• Cao Mao ordered Man Changwu to bring Liu Yi from the Imperial Academy, and Man Changwu returned with the scholar bound.
• Cao Mao dismissed the ministers and challenged Liu Yi, who defended his criticism and argued that education was controlled by great clans while humble families were excluded.
• Liu Yi proposed reforming local schools, while Cao Mao argued that poverty was the deeper obstacle and that the realm first needed to grow prosperous and strong.
• Cao Mao appointed Liu Yi Director of Palace Attendants and directed him to identify injustices and submit memorials on behalf of those wronged.
• Cao Mao asked where Zhong Hui had been, and Yang Zong told him that Zhong Hui had been meeting with Zhang Hua, Lu Kang, and others to discuss state affairs.

Zhong Hui, Zhang Hua, and Lu Kang worked out a plan to abolish the head tax while limiting risks to the treasury and common people. Cao Mao approved the policy and ordered Zhong Hui to implement it as soon as possible.

• Zhong Hui spent several days refining his proposal to abolish the head tax with Zhang Hua and Lu Kang, who challenged its weaknesses and warned about treasury costs and great-clan evasion.
• Cao Mao arrived at Zhang Hua's residence, joined the discussion, and listened as the three men debated the policy's effects on taxation, work-relief spending, and population growth.
• Zhong Hui concluded that the policy was ready, and Zhang Hua supported proceeding while Lu Kang remained hesitant.
• Cao Mao ordered Zhong Hui to carry out the abolition as soon as possible and hold him responsible for any problems.

Cao Mao enacted the abolition of the head tax by distributing its fixed revenue across land taxes, then defended his reforms to Sima Yan as a way to protect ordinary farmers from powerful clans. After hearing that Sima Yan had registered for the imperial examination, Cao Mao urged him to study and prove himself without special treatment.

• Cao Wei abolished the head tax and spread its assessment across cultivated land, provoking debate throughout the realm and at the Imperial Academy.
• Cao Mao told Sima Yan that the state could fund itself through land taxes and, if necessary, confiscate estates, and argued that farmers needed land of their own to escape the great clans' control.
• Sima Yan reported that critics called Cao Mao a tyrant and compared him to the First Emperor, while Censorate officers had arrested the speakers at a wine shop.
• After losing their board game, Sima Yan revealed that he had registered for the imperial examination and wanted to become an official through his own efforts.
• Cao Mao urged Sima Yan to study, accept the risk of failure, and take the examination without favoritism; Sima Yan resolved to make something of himself.

Cao Mao’s abolition of the poll tax won the enthusiastic support of the common people, and he went incognito to hear their reactions in Luoyang. As he left the Gao Family Restaurant, Liu Lu warned him that a secret agent had reported a plan to assassinate him.

• The ward head announced that Cao Mao had abolished the poll tax, and the common people in Cheng'an Ward celebrated with cheers and tears of relief.
• News of the tax abolition spread throughout the realm, earning Cao Mao widespread support among commoners, soldiers, merchants, and artisans.
• Zhong Hui took charge of implementing the policy while emphasizing to ministers that he had proposed it.
• Cao Mao went incognito to the Gao Family Restaurant and heard people praise the tax relief and describe how it helped their families.
• Liu Lu stopped Cao Mao as he left the restaurant and warned him that villains in Henei intended to murder him.

Cao Mao learned of a possible assassination plot and ordered Liu Lu to investigate quietly so he could catch more conspirators. After enjoying a rare spell of leisure with Zheng Xian, he visited Empress Dowager Guo and urged her to live as his mother rather than act as empress dowager.

• Liu Lu reported that letters from Henei had reached Wu migrants in Ping Province and that the messages might be connected to an assassination plot.
• Cao Mao told Liu Lu to investigate carefully without alerting the conspirators and to wait until he could catch more prominent figures.
• With his official work finished, Cao Mao went to Changqiu Hall, relaxed in the sun with Zheng Xian, and discussed Sima Yue's pregnancy and the Empress Dowager.
• Zheng Xian reminded Cao Mao to visit Empress Dowager Guo, so he went to Zhaoyang Hall after basking in the sun.
• Empress Dowager Guo welcomed Cao Mao anxiously, and he told her to remain in the palace as his mother instead of acting as empress dowager.

Du Yu reassured Yan Wen that laborers leaving Ji Commandery’s public works could be allowed to go, then reported the benefits of Cao Mao’s poll-tax exemption. After Liu Yi impeached Guo Ze over his conduct in Yongliang, Cao Mao set out on a restrained imperial tour to investigate the allegations and local conditions.

• Yan Wen told Du Yu that more than six thousand commoners had requested permission to leave the work-relief projects, and Du Yu ordered him to approve voluntary departures.
• Du Yu wrote Cao Mao a memorial praising the poll-tax exemption and inspected the construction sites, where many laborers had already left.
• Liu Yi impeached Guo Ze, accusing him of interfering in Yongliang’s government, favoring the Hu, and confiscating merchants’ property.
• Cao Mao announced that he would travel to the Chang’an Temporary Palace to inspect local conditions and ordered that the tour not disrupt agriculture or sericulture.
• Cao Mao left Luoyang with a small procession, entrusting affairs in his absence to Wang Chang.

Cao Mao toured Yong Province, heard complaints of corruption and abuse, and issued edicts punishing checkpoint officials and inspectors, including Zhuge Xu. Guo Ze then described officials abusing the submitted Qiang people, leaving Cao Mao to question whether he could create a true golden age.

• Zhuge Xu prepared for Cao Mao’s visit by cracking down on crime and urging troublesome officials, especially Guo Ze, to avoid complaints.
• At Tong Pass, merchant Wang Ji told Cao Mao that checkpoint officials had extorted and threatened him, prompting Cao Mao to arrest more than twenty officials and clerks and over a hundred and seventy armored guards.
• Cao Mao issued an edict condemning abuses at checkpoints and warning officials across the land that similar misconduct would be punished severely.
• At a county town, Cao Mao heard complaints of land seizures, theft, murder, and arson, then stripped Zhuge Xu of his offices and noble rank and ordered inspectors throughout the land to forfeit a year’s salary.
• Guo Ze told Cao Mao that officials had given submitted Qiang people barren land, extorted them, tried to kill them, and forcibly taken their livestock and farmland, leaving Cao Mao to wonder whether he could create a golden age.

Cao Mao listened as Guo Ze argued that the realm’s moral climate had improved enough to count as a golden age, then visited Qiang-Hu households in Zheng County to inspect cultural instruction. He met the Di family of Li Hu and recognized the young Li Te, leaving encouraged by the community’s assimilation and the policy’s progress.

• Guo Ze told Cao Mao that virtuous officials now dominated local society and that the realm’s prevailing ethos had changed for the better.
• Cao Mao decided to inspect cultural instruction in Zheng County, where Qiang households had been resettled separately from their tribes.
• Cao Mao met Li Hu’s family and learned that the elderly man had once followed Zhang Lu and that his grandson Li Te had passed the local imperial examination.
• Cao Mao questioned Li Te and the other boys, praised their abilities, and predicted that Li Te would achieve merit and renown.
• Cao Mao learned that Li Te would later lead refugees in rebellion after famine and official persecution, but concluded that punishing him preemptively would be unjust.
• Cao Mao visited more households, found that the resettled people had adopted local names and customs and intermarried, and felt reassured that cultural instruction was succeeding.

Gu Rong visited his clan with Wang Yuan of the Office of Affairs after learning that the Gu elders might be implicated in a plot to assassinate the emperor. He discovered that Gu Ji had received a suspicious letter about an assassination and urged him to report it rather than retaliate.

• Gu Rong traveled to the Gu residence with Wang Yuan, who warned him not to reveal the Office of Affairs’ involvement.
• Gu Rong arrived and found Gu Ji waiting for him, frightened and eager to speak privately.
• Gu Ji said an anonymous letter described plans to shoot a frequent traveler with a crossbow, and he feared someone was framing the clan.
• Gu Ji suspected the officials and threatened rebellion, so Gu Rong apologized and warned him that acting against Great Wei would play into the plotters’ hands.
• Gu Rong proposed writing down the letter’s contents from memory and informing the local officials, while telling Gu Ji to remain calm.

Cao Mao exposed Shangjun governor Shi Jian for falsifying achievements, concealing disaster victims, and overtaxing the people, then ordered his execution. He appointed Guo Ze inspector of Yong Province and planned to inspect Liangzhou before returning to Luoyang, where Zhong Hui’s proposed noble-rank reduction system had sparked a clash with Wang Chang.

• Cao Mao confronted Shi Jian over fabricated reports of reclaimed land, resettled households, and tax revenue, as well as his false account of relief after a snow disaster.
• Cao Mao kicked Shi Jian down and ordered the Yellow Gate attendants to take him to Shangjun, publicly read out his crimes, and execute him.
• Guo Ze told Cao Mao that provincial officials had opposed his tour because their misconduct would be exposed, and Cao Mao said he would deal with Zhuge Xu after returning.
• Cao Mao appointed Guo Ze inspector of Yong Province, praising his uprightness and directing him to continue local reforms and oversee officials.
• Cao Mao asked Guo Ze to notify the inspector of Liangzhou that he would visit Wuwei and other places, then explained that Zhong Hui had clashed with Wang Chang over a plan to lower inherited noble ranks by one grade.

Zhong Hui’s proposal to reduce hereditary noble ranks drove Wang Chang to reject his arguments and end their friendship, while Pei Xiu worried that the dispute would alarm the Imperial Clan. Zhong Hui visited his ailing elder brother Zhong Yu, who warned that he might not live through the year and worried about what would become of Zhong Hui.

• Wang Chang refused Zhong Yu’s plea to forgive Zhong Hui and condemned the timing and manner of Zhong Hui’s proposed reforms.
• Pei Xiu urged Zhong Hui to postpone discussing noble rank reform until the emperor returned, but Zhong Hui defended raising the issue with the ministers.
• Zhong Yong told Zhong Hui that Zhong Yu had fallen ill after visiting Wang Chang, but Zhong Hui initially assumed his brother was pretending.
• Zhong Hui eventually went to Zhong Yu’s residence and discovered the imperial physician attending him.
• Zhong Yu told Zhong Hui that his health had weakened and that he feared he would not survive the year, while Zhong Hui insisted he was still strong.

Zhong Yu warned Zhong Hui to act cautiously, stopping him from pursuing the reduction of noble ranks, while Cao Mao traveled back toward Luoyang and faced an assassination attempt. The attempt failed when Man Changwu exposed the disguised assassin, leaving Cao Mao's enemies' larger plot unresolved.

• Zhong Yu cautioned Zhong Hui against acting without the emperor's approval, and Zhong Hui abandoned his discussion of reducing noble ranks.
• Cao Mao turned back toward Luoyang after alarming officials in Liangzhou, while Office of Affairs reports described suspected assassination schemes.
• A group of conspirators planned to attack Cao Mao on his return journey and swore an oath to kill him.
• A woman claiming she needed to present a grievance blocked Cao Mao's procession, but Man Changwu recognized her as an assassin and struck her down.

After surviving an assassination attempt, Cao Mao returned to Luoyang, exposed officials’ corruption and favoritism, and ordered the clans of everyone implicated in the plot exterminated. Zhong Hui suspected that the Yanzhou Great Clans had arranged the attack to misdirect the court, but the real culprits remained unidentified.

• The poisoned hairpin killed the female assassin, and Cao Mao told Man Changwu that Gao Rou’s grandson was among those involved in the plot.
• Wang Chang and the other ministers welcomed Cao Mao back to Luoyang, where Zhong Hui suggested the assassination was connected to opposition to noble-rank reform.
• Cao Mao confronted Zhuge Dan over advising Zhuge Xu, and Zhuge Dan collapsed after spitting blood.
• Cao Mao listed eight problems in Yong Province, then ordered the extermination of the three clans of everyone implicated in the assassination.
• Zhong Hui told Cao Mao that the Yanzhou Great Clans were likely behind the plot and had tried to frame the Wu people and Henei clans.

After returning to Luoyang, Cao Mao discussed tax distribution and noble-rank reforms with Zhong Hui, then reunited with his family. Sima Yan visited to assure Cao Mao he had not arranged the assassination, and Cao Mao learned Pei Xiu had sent Sima Yan a message about the ministers’ opposition to reform.

• Zhong Hui reported that tax distribution arrangements were ready and told Cao Mao that Pei Xiu had proposed changing noble ranks to prevent new Great Clans from forming.
• Cao Mao and Zhong Hui decided to have Pei Xiu present the noble-rank proposal when the ministers met, after Zhong Hui threatened to abolish private schools.
• Cao Mao visited Zheng Xian, Sima Yue, and Cao Wen, then received Sima Yan, who anxiously denied sending assassins and mourned Shi Jian.
• Cao Mao told Sima Yan that someone had used the Sima Family’s name and urged him not to judge people by the praise of famous scholars.
• Sima Yan revealed that Pei Xiu had told him to report the ministers’ opposition to noble-rank reform; Cao Mao advised him to focus on preparing for the assessment.

Yang Bao was arrested for helping rebels plan the assassination of Cao Mao, and Cao Mao considered how widely to punish the implicated clans. When Pei Xiu arrived to clear his name, Cao Mao questioned him about what he had conspired to do with Sima Yan.

• The general confronted Yang Bao in his ancestral shrine and arrested him after reminding him of his grandfather Yang Fu's honor.
• Cao Mao reviewed arrest documents and received a health examination and diet plan from Huangfu Mi.
• Cao Mao asked Zhang Hua whether people with physical disabilities could be exempted from taxes, then instructed him to report honestly on conditions in the provinces.
• Cao Mao and Zhang Hua drew up a long list of people and clans to punish for the assassination plot.
• Pei Xiu arrived after Sima Yan had accused him of involvement, and Cao Mao asked what he had conspired with Sima Yan to do.

Pei Xiu agreed to take charge of reforming noble ranks after Cao Mao rebuked him, while Deng Ai used the assassination attempt against Cao Mao to justify a harsher crackdown on Ba-Shu’s great clans. Mouqiu Dian initially planned to report Deng Ai, but after his own relative tried to exploit his role as an examiner, he reconsidered and abandoned the report.

• Pei Xiu confessed his reasons for approaching Sima Yan, and Cao Mao entrusted him with reforming noble ranks while warning him not to disappoint the emperor.
• Deng Ai told Ba-Shu officials that the attempt on Cao Mao’s life was linked to the great clans, and Mouqiu Dian objected to using it to intensify the crackdown.
• Deng Ai defended his authority to govern Ba-Shu and argued that officials who neglected their duties might be accomplices, while Mouqiu Dian insisted he could report the matter to Cao Mao.
• Mouqiu Dian returned to Chengdu and learned that his wife’s nephew wanted to take the commandery assessment, then angrily refused to help him gain an unfair advantage.
• After driving his relative away, Mouqiu Dian thought the great clans’ persistent favoritism made Deng Ai’s harshness seem more understandable and decided not to report him.

Chen Tai and Wang Ji prepared to bring Yizhou and the overseas territories under Great Wei’s rule, while Cao Mao welcomed his second son and showed Zhong Hui Pei Xiu’s world map. Zhong Hui urged Cao Mao to establish a commandery and seize the islands and cities beyond Yizhou.

• Chen Tai told Wang Ji to sail to Yizhou and overseas islands, restore contact, and demand tribute for Great Wei.
• Wang Ji led a fleet headed by the Bandit-Suppression toward Yizhou after seven days of preparation.
• Cao Mao learned that Sima Yue had safely given birth to a son and named the child Liang.
• Sima Yan and Zhong Hui visited the newborn, and Zhong Hui later questioned the plan to establish a commandery on Yizhou.
• Cao Mao showed Zhong Hui the world map Pei Xiu had drawn, prompting Zhong Hui to urge him to claim the overseas islands and cities.