Chapter Summaries

Tang Wen completed a profitable trade with Shen Xihe, then returned to Su Mei Island to supervise construction as supplies and workers ran short. Yang Yun brought hundreds of prisoners who joined Tang Wen’s household, raising his popularity enough to upgrade the Great Landlord Space to 2.0 and unlock another crossing.

• Tang Wen handed Shen Xihe the goods, gave Li Chun’er a silver crown, and hosted them for wine and food at the Thousand-Leaf Workshop.
• Tang Wen returned to Su Mei Island, where slow dam construction, dwindling supplies, and a shortage of recruits threatened to halt his plans.
• Yang Yun brought three or four hundred petty offenders and refugees to the camp, then persuaded them to sell themselves into Tang Wen’s household by promising better lives and warning them of forced service on the battlefield.
• Tang Wen and his helpers showed the newcomers the camp and served them a hearty meal, convincing them to join; several returned to fetch their families.
• The new recruits pushed Tang Wen’s popularity past 350 strands, upgrading the Great Landlord Space to 2.0 and unlocking a second gate for crossing into another world.

Tang Wen dealt with Kang Qingfeng’s pressure on Qiao Xiao and secured Yang Yun’s help gathering information, then entered the upgraded Great Landlord Space. He discovered that its first transmigration gate now allowed him to choose a destination and selected his rented house in Yunhai City.

• Tang Wen learned that Kang Qingfeng had beaten Qiao Xiao again and decided to find a way to bring Kang down rather than surrender military merits.
• Yang Yun agreed to gather information on Kang Qingfeng, and Tang Wen gave him gifts before Yang and his men returned to Yanling.
• Tang Wen considered recruiting sixth-rank martial artists to strengthen his position against Kang Qingfeng.
• At midnight, Tang Wen entered the Great Landlord Space and saw that its system had upgraded to version 2.0, adding a second gate and improving its popularity features.
• Tang Wen chose the first transmigration gate, used its new map to select Yunhai City, and saw the house he had rented there.

Tang Wen bought supplies and recorded training videos before selling medicinal pills to Chen Guozhang and declining an offer to join the War Dragon special forces. He returned to the Chu Kingdom, where the Great Landlord Space set new requirements for his ninth crossing.

• Tang Wen sold 41,300 taels of gold, bought silver and supplies, and recorded instructional videos with seal-script subtitles.
• Luo Jun introduced Tang Wen to Chen Guozhang, who negotiated a discounted purchase of Tang Wen’s medicinal pills.
• Tang Wen and Chen Guozhang sparred, and Tang Wen demonstrated that he could hold his own against the newly promoted Eighth-Rank fighter.
• Chen Guozhang invited Tang Wen to join the War Dragon special forces, but Tang Wen refused and agreed to advise the team on martial arts when available.
• Tang Wen invested twenty million yuan from the pill sale in Hengjiang Trading Company and left Zhao Jiang in charge.
• Tang Wen returned to the Chu Kingdom, and the Great Landlord Space required 400 popularity points and 500 more mu of land for his ninth crossing.

Tang Wen used the luggage cache to unload construction supplies and machinery at the dam, then organized equipment, training, and a new guard force. After returning home, he shared an intimate bath with Zhan Junru while Gu Hanyan objected to their relationship, and he called her over as he rested.

• Tang Wen discovered that the luggage cache held supplies for only half a day and unloaded cement precisely into the dam’s temporary warehouses.
• Tang Wen told Zhan Dongwen and Ge Ziyun to keep the Mountain-Moving Art secret, arranged training for crane and hoist operators, and ordered Zhao Du to select two hundred men for a Personal Guard Army.
• Tang Wen unloaded machinery and teaching equipment, prepared illustrated Seal-Script Textbooks, and planned literacy and technical classes.
• Zhan Junru helped Tang Wen bathe, and Gu Hanyan scolded them for becoming intimate without a ceremony.
• Tang Wen came out refreshed, drank Lotus Seed Soup, and called Gu Hanyan over.

Tang Wen started a Literacy Class to teach his household workers basic reading quickly, recruiting Gu Hanyan and Zhan Shifeng as teachers and using illustrated textbooks. He introduced the class by explaining the value of literacy and demonstrating a glowing, musical whiteboard, leaving the students eager to begin.

• Tang Wen asked Gu Hanyan to help teach a crash course in reading, and she examined his illustrated Language Arts textbook with Zhan Junru.
• Tang Wen told Gu Hanyan and Zhan Shifeng to prepare to teach the first Literacy Class that evening.
• About a hundred students gathered, and Tang Wen explained that knowledge could bring wealth and opportunity while Gu Hanyan challenged his claims about books containing gold and beauties.
• Tang Wen switched on the whiteboard, played music, and displayed a rooster alongside its written characters.
• The students found the rooster entry in their textbooks after Tang Wen directed them to it.

Tang Wen set a paid deadline for his students to learn over two thousand characters, then reconciled with Gu Hanyan after she objected to his treatment of her. The next day, he began preparing a hidden cave for his secrets and used a drone to survey Su Mei Island, discovering that it stretched extraordinarily far from north to south.

• Tang Wen taught his students to read and write with the Mechanical Television and offered silver rewards for learning the characters quickly.
• Zhan Junru worried about the cost of the rewards, but Tang Wen encouraged her to study and promised her two hundred taels for finishing within half a month.
• Gu Hanyan returned late after teaching, and Tang Wen ordered her to wash his feet before tearing up her indenture and offering to let her leave.
• Gu Hanyan refused to leave and admitted that powerful enemies kept her from confiding in Tang Wen, who comforted her and gave her and Zhan Junru a copy of Dream of the Red Chamber.
• Tang Wen ordered Zhan Dongwen to prepare a silver-mine cave as a private hideaway, then flew a drone over Su Mei Island and discovered its great north-to-south length.

Tang Wen and Tang Jun discovered a hidden pirate settlement on the far side of Su Mei Island, where pirates were mining silver from the Tang family's mine. They returned to their base to prepare for a preemptive strike, but Li Quan reported that someone had come to see Tang Wen.

• Tang Wen used a drone to find man-eating plants guarding a stretch of jungle, then spotted hidden sentries, paths, and houses beyond them.
• Tang Wen and Tang Jun found pirates guarding workers as they loaded crates onto a ship in a concealed gorge.
• A miniature drone revealed hundreds of workers smelting stolen silver ore in a cave using a smoke-extraction system.
• Tang Wen concluded the pirates would attack again and rejected seeking help from authorities because their network might include spies.
• Tang Wen returned to base with Tang Jun and ordered work halted so their people could train before a preemptive strike.
• Li Quan told Tang Wen that someone wished to see him.

Tang Wen met Li Liao, a disgraced former Hundred-Household Commander recommended by Yang Yun, and invited him and his followers to try serving the Tang household for ten days. After touring Tang Wen’s modern works and equipment, Li Liao’s doubts began to give way to admiration, and Tang Wen brought out a telescope to show him.

• Li Liao arrived with Yang Yun’s letter explaining that he had been framed and dismissed after protecting Song Yuanyuan from Chen Wangde, and Tang Wen questioned him about his family and followers.
• Li Liao introduced his family, Song Yuanyuan, and thirty-six loyal fighters, including Wei Guang and Chen Guang, and Tang Wen offered them rooms and a ten-day trial in his service.
• When Li Liao refused to sell himself into Tang Wen’s service and prepared to leave, Tang Wen invited him to tour the estate before deciding.
• Li Liao’s group marveled at the privies, faucets, Stone and Sand Crusher, construction at Crouching Dragon Lake, Iron Horses, electric lamps, weapons, and small crossbows.
• Li Liao praised Tang Wen’s abilities and recalled seeing a telescope on a western campaign, so Tang Wen asked Li Quan to bring one.

Tang Wen impressed Li Liao and his companions with the Tang family’s modern comforts and weapons, persuading them to stay for ten days and visit the training ground. After Li Liao and Tang Wen’s guards demonstrated the crossbows’ remarkable accuracy and range, Tang Jun challenged Wei Guang to strike his chest with a saber.

• Li Liao and his companions admired Tang Wen’s binoculars, dinner, and electric lights before agreeing to stay for ten days.
• Tang Wen took Li Liao and the others to the Special Operations Training Ground, where they watched his guards train.
• Li Liao demonstrated his skill by hitting the bull’s-eye seven times with a crossbow, then tested its telescopic sight and hit a distant target.
• Tang Jun and Zhan Zhao also struck distant targets, leaving Li Liao and his companions astonished by the crossbow’s range.
• Tang Jun invited Wei Guang to slash his chest, and Tang Wen told Wei Guang to use half his strength.

Tang Wen demonstrated the Western Lands’ bulletproof vests and helmets to Li Liao and his men, impressing them with their protection against blades and firearms. He offered equipment to martial artists who joined his Personal Guard Army and asked Li Liao to oversee training for ten days.

• Wei Guang slashed Tang Jun twice, but Tang Jun remained unharmed because he wore a bulletproof vest.
• Tang Wen explained the vest’s protection, and Li Liao, Wei Guang, Chen Fei, and the others tested it and marveled at its strength.
• Tang Jun used Tang Wen’s Xiuchin Saber to break Wei Guang’s saber, and Tang Wen fired a firearm at Tang Jun’s vest to show it could stop the shot.
• Tang Wen brought out bulletproof helmets and demonstrated that one could protect Tang Jun’s head from a firearm shot.
• Tang Wen told Li Liao’s men that a full equipment set cost around two thousand taels and offered sets to seventh- and eighth-rank martial artists who joined his Personal Guard Army.
• Tang Wen offered Li Liao ten taels of silver a day to oversee the men’s training for ten days.