Recaps

Zhu Yunwen summoned Zhu Quan and convinced him that the Prince of Yan might use the Doyan Three Guards to break out of Beiping, then offered Zhu Quan a peaceful future in Shaoxing Prefecture in exchange for his loyalty. After Zhu Quan left, Zhu Yunwen called for Wang Shen, while Su Muzhe reviewed Wang Shen’s recommended candidates.

• Zhu Yunwen showed Zhu Quan Li Jinglong’s secret report and asked what he thought of the Prince of Yan.
• Zhu Quan feared the accusations and asked to leave Daning, but Zhu Yunwen urged him to help assess how the Prince of Yan might act.
• Zhu Yunwen described how the Prince of Yan could secretly prepare for rebellion and use Zhu Quan and the Doyan Three Guards to break the encirclement of Beiping.
• Zhu Yunwen asked Zhu Quan to watch the Prince of Yan and promised him Shaoxing Prefecture; Zhu Quan agreed to obey him.
• After Zhu Quan left, Zhu Yunwen summoned Wang Shen, while Su Muzhe read Wang Shen’s recommendations of Li Zhigang and Guo Lian.

Wang Shen won Zhu Yunwen’s trust by selecting ten promising candidates through unconventional tests, including a python-based test of courage. Zhu Yunwen then charged him with finding the Imperial College’s shortcomings, while a report about Li Zengzhi visiting the Jiaofang Office during the mourning period raised a separate concern at the palace.

• Wang Shen reasoned that talent required learning, ability, and moral character, and he selected candidates by testing their skills and quick thinking.
• Zhu Yunwen approved Wang Shen’s list, assigning Li Zhigang, Guo Lian, and Wang Huai to posts in the Hanlin Academy, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of War.
• Wang Shen explained that he tested Wang Huai’s courage by putting students in a room with a harmless python, and Zhu Yunwen praised his work.
• Zhu Yunwen ordered Wang Shen to identify ten shortcomings of the Imperial College and propose improvements.
• At Chang’an Palace, Zhu Yunwen told Ma Enhui that Li Zengzhi had reportedly visited the Jiaofang Office during the initial mourning period.

Zhu Yunwen saw the princes off, then visited the Jiaofang Office and met Murong Jing'er, whose family had been ruined by the Blue Jade Case. After asking whether she wanted to escape its register, he set fire to her bed and declared that the Jiaofang Office was burning.

• Zhu Yunwen saw Zhu Di and the other princes depart for their fiefs after urging them to defend Great Ming.
• Zhu Yunwen sent Zhu Zhi, Zhu Shangbing, Zhu Jixi, and Zhu Geng away and went in disguise to the Jiaofang Office.
• Zhu Yunwen learned that more than six thousand eight hundred names were on the Jiaofang Office register and asked to meet its most celebrated women.
• Zhu Yunwen spoke with Murong Jing'er and learned that her father, an army clerk, had been executed in the Blue Jade Case.
• Zhu Yunwen asked whether Murong Jing'er wanted to leave the register, then set fire to her bed with her firelighter.

Zhu Yunwen burned part of the Jiaofang Office, then ordered its thousands of residents released from their status and registered according to their chosen livelihoods. He abolished the office, established the Arts Bureau with Murong Jing'er as its keeper, and left Ma Enhui worried about the cost of feeding its 2,600 performers.

• Zhu Yunwen set fire to a room in the Jiaofang Office, evacuated its residents, and had Liu Changge beat back Cheng Fengluan's men when they tried to stop him.
• Zhu Yunwen ordered nearly 7,000 people from the Jiaofang Office brought to the Rites Ministry and told officials to register each person in the household category she chose.
• Murong Jing'er chose to join the palace women's households, and Ma Enhui arranged temporary lodging, hot tea, and warm clothing for those in need.
• Zhu Yunwen abolished the Jiaofang Office and established the Arts Bureau, releasing 4,216 female entertainers and organizing the remaining 2,600 into an Arts Troupe under Murong Jing'er.
• Ma Enhui complained that the Arts Troupe's food would strain palace finances, and Zhu Yunwen jokingly suggested they eat coarse steamed buns.

Zhu Yunwen proposed introducing the single whip law early to reform agricultural taxation, and ordered his ministers to develop a workable plan. As he delayed implementation until the vassal princes were dealt with, Ping An and Sheng Yong began reorganizing the military around Beiping.

• Zhu Yunwen decided to introduce the single whip law, combining land taxes, corvée, and miscellaneous levies into a silver assessment based on acreage.
• Huang Zicheng warned that the law could burden poorer northern regions, leave farmers dependent on merchants to obtain silver, and risk insufficient revenue.
• Xie Jin and Yu Xin supported adopting the law, citing reduced household burdens and transport costs, while warning that local officials might resist or abuse it.
• Zhu Yunwen ordered the Grand Secretariat and Revenue Ministry to prepare a workable reform plan within a month, with Imperial College students invited to assist if needed.
• Zhu Di left the Capital for Beiping, while Sheng Yong reassigned thirty-two military officers and Ping An took over Beiping's defenses.
• Qu Neng drilled troops at Shanhai Pass, and Ping An began implementing the New Army policy around Beiping Prefecture.

Ping An and Sheng Yong introduced the New Army policy in Beiping, winning the soldiers’ support for Zhu Yunwen and the court. As Dao Yan was taken to the Capital, the policy reached the Prince of Yan’s Three Guards, where Zhou Duo led a group of soldiers to demand the promised benefits.

• Ping An and Sheng Yong announced that Zhu Yunwen had approved the New Army policy for Beiping, and the soldiers pledged their loyalty to the emperor and Great Ming.
• Ping An and Sheng Yong spread the policy through Beiping Prefecture and nearby guard stations, winning over veteran soldiers of the Prince of Yan.
• Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng sought Dao Yan’s advice, but an imperial envoy and the Bureau of Buddhist Registers took him toward the Capital.
• Dao Yan entrusted Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng with a letter for Zhu Di before continuing toward the Capital.
• The Prince of Yan’s Three Guards welcomed the policy, but grew angry when their noon meal contained no meat.
• Zhou Duo gathered about a hundred men and led them to the Regional Military Commission offices to demand the promised benefits.

Ping An revealed that Zhu Di had refused to let the Prince of Yan's Three Guards receive the New Army policy, turning the soldiers' anger against their prince. The Regional Military Command Office punished the men who had caused a disturbance, and four commanders died from their strokes.

• Sheng Yong announced that the Prince of Yan's Three Guards were excluded from the New Army policy, and Ping An ordered Zhou Duo and his men arrested after they protested.
• Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng rushed to the Regional Military Command Office as more than five hundred soldiers demanded the release of Zhou Duo.
• Yu Qiong arrived with men from the Left Guard, ordered them to lay down their weapons, and was arrested along with nearby commanders.
• Zhu Neng urged Zhang Yu to redirect the soldiers' anger toward the court, but Ping An publicly explained that Zhu Di himself had refused the policy for the Three Guards.
• Zhang Yu told Sheng Yong to punish the soldiers according to law, and Sheng Yong ordered fifty strokes for each offender.
• Four of the punished men died, including two Hundred Households Commanders and two Thousand Households Commanders.

The Prince of Yan's Three Guards turned against Zhu Di after learning he had rejected the New Army policy, while Zhu Yunwen’s policies reshaped Beiping’s military supplies and commerce. Zhu Di returned to a city and army in disarray, then decided to summon the strategist Jin Zhong.

• Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng reported the Three Guards’ unrest, and Princess Consort Xu Yihua ordered a lockdown with severe punishments for disobedience and unauthorized discussion.
• Zhu Neng rode south to meet Zhu Di as Zhang Bing funded military provisions through local summer taxes, encouraged livestock farming, and loosened restrictions on merchants.
• Zhu Di returned to Beiping on the fourteenth day of the ninth month and realized Zhu Yunwen had used the New Army policy to turn the Three Guards against him.
• Zhu Gaochi rejected Yuan Rong’s proposal to offer the Three Guards a rival policy, explaining that the Prince of Yan’s Palace lacked the authority and wealth to sustain it.
• Zhu Di named Jin Zhong as the man recommended by Dao Yan and secretly sent Zhu Gaoxu to invite the fortune-teller from Quiet Alley to the palace.

Zhu Gaoxu sought Jin Zhong’s help, and Jin Zhong advised Zhu Di that the new army policy would eventually fail because its generous benefits could not be sustained. Zhu Di then addressed the three guards, denouncing the policy as unworkable and explaining that he had kept his soldiers out of it to protect them.

• Zhu Gaoxu visited Jin Zhong for a character reading, then revealed his identity and invited him to the Prince of Yan’s Palace.
• Jin Zhong told Zhu Di that the new army policy would strain military supplies and finances, and predicted that its weaknesses would emerge within two years.
• Zhu Di asked Jin Zhong how to resolve the immediate crisis, and Jin Zhong said the plan would require the Prince of Yan’s cooperation.
• Zhu Di assembled the three guards, challenged the soldiers to confront him, and argued that the new army policy’s promised benefits could not be delivered or sustained.
• Zhu Di told the soldiers that he had kept them out of the policy because he feared they would suffer when it failed.

Zhu Di secured the loyalty of the Three Guards and secretly began forging weapons beneath a poultry farm, while Zhu Yunwen prepared the New Army and tightened pressure on Beiping. The chapter ended with Zhu Yunwen confronting Dao Yan about his double life, causing the monk’s prayer beads to snap and scatter.

• Zhu Di convinced the Three Guards that he had kept the New Army policy from them for their own good, and the soldiers pledged their loyalty to him.
• Jin Zhong examined intelligence about the New Army’s provisions and pay, then advised Zhu Di to prepare for trouble; Zhu Di decided to build a secret weapons workshop inside his palace.
• Zhu Di established a large poultry farm at the Prince of Yan’s Palace while secretly forging weapons underground and assembling soldiers.
• Zhu Yunwen imposed a deadline on Zhu Di to accept the New Army policy, sent security agents to Beiping, and ordered military preparations across the northern regions.
• Zhu Yunwen reorganized the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories into the Science and Technology Bureau, established a secret armaments base, and punished officials who criticized his military preparations.
• Zhu Yunwen confronted Dao Yan over his supposed devotion to Buddhism and his suspected schemes, and Dao Yan’s prayer-bead cord snapped.

Zhu Yunwen confronted Dao Yan about his role in Zhu Di’s rebellion and challenged him to predict the Prince of Yan’s next move, wagering whether he would return to Beiping or stay to govern. After struggling to advance the single whip law, Zhu Yunwen reflected that officials had been taught to serve the emperor rather than the people, leaving him to question how Great Ming’s education had gone wrong.

• Zhu Yunwen accused Dao Yan of steering Zhu Di toward rebellion and challenged him to predict the Prince of Yan’s next move, with Dao Yan’s future depending on the result.
• Zhu Yunwen explained that court officials had obstructed the single whip law, using local corruption, grain shortages, and an earthquake to argue against it.
• Zhu Yunwen transferred thirty-five officials who resisted reform, then the court agreed to postpone implementing the single whip law until the First Year of Jianwen and prepare student overseers.
• Zhu Yunwen judged that the new army policy could be sustained in selected regions while the government pursued agricultural and commercial reforms.
• At Chang'an Palace, Zhu Yunwen told Ma Enhui that officials served him instead of the people and the Great Ming, and concluded that the country’s education had gone wrong.

Zhu Yunwen planned to turn cotton into wound-care gauze, with the Inner Palace producing it and the Prince of Liao handling sales through a new Central Bank. He also used the venture to give the Prince of Liao, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Min a role in commerce rather than sending them to their fiefs, then summoned them.

• Ma Enhui sewed a cotton-lined winter robe, and Zhu Yunwen realized cotton could be used to make gauze for treating soldiers' wounds.
• Zhu Yunwen proposed that the Inner Palace produce gauze, the Prince of Liao sell it, and the Ministry of War purchase it.
• Zhu Yunwen explained to Ma Enhui that a Central Bank would manage the rear palace's commercial proceeds separately from the Imperial Treasury.
• Ma Enhui inferred that Zhu Yunwen planned to keep the Prince of Liao, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Min from taking up their fiefs by giving them commercial ventures.
• Zhu Yunwen summoned the Prince of Liao, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Min.

Ni Qiong led more than five hundred men from the Prince of Yan’s Three Guards to join Ping An, leaving Zhu Di’s forces shaken and their loyalty in doubt. After the defectors exposed Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng’s alleged rebellion plot, Ping An decided to arrest them himself and take responsibility.

• Ni Qiong persuaded fellow commanders to join the Beiping Guard before the New Army Strategy deadline, and more than five hundred men left the Three Guards for Ping An’s command.
• Qiu Fu told Zhu Di that the men had defected, and Zhu Di fainted from shock and anger.
• Zhu Gaoxu urged killing the defectors, but Zhu Gaochi and Jin Zhong instead advised sealing the Three Guards’ camp and keeping Ping An from addressing the troops.
• Ni Qiong and the defectors told Ping An and Sheng Yong that Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng had incited the guards against the court and plotted rebellion.
• Zhang Bing warned that arresting Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng without an imperial decree could trigger unrest, but Ping An ordered the arrests and accepted responsibility.

Ping An arrested Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng, and Zhu Di reluctantly agreed to introduce the New Army policy into the Three Guards. After Ping An presented evidence of the alleged plot and imposed martial law, Sheng Yong reported that Zhu Di had gone mad.

• Ping An surrounded the Three Guards’ camps with thirty thousand troops and arrested Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng.
• Zhu Gaochi urged Zhu Di to adopt the New Army policy, and Zhu Di agreed to wait for an opportunity rather than rebel.
• Ping An visited Zhu Di and presented one hundred soldiers’ statements accusing Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng of plotting treason, causing Zhu Di to faint.
• Ping An ordered Beiping Prefecture placed under martial law and told Sheng Yong to watch the Three Guards.
• Sheng Yong arrived at the Regional Military Command Office and announced that Zhu Di had gone mad.

Ping An, Zhang Bing, Sheng Yong, and Zhu Quan learned that Zhu Di was feigning madness, just as Zhu Yunwen had predicted more than a month earlier. In the Capital, Zhu Yunwen and Dao Yan compared their sealed predictions, and Zhu Yunwen’s forecast proved accurate while Dao Yan’s did not.

• Ping An showed Zhang Bing and Sheng Yong Zhu Yunwen’s letter, which had predicted that Zhu Di would feign madness after the plot in Beiping was exposed.
• Zhu Quan received an urgent dispatch reporting Zhu Di’s apparent madness and realized Zhu Yunwen had foreseen his brother’s plan to seize the Doyan Three Guards.
• Zhu Quan sent Mao Zheng and He Yunzhong to deliver a letter to Zhu Di, hoping to prevent the brothers from fighting.
• Zhu Yunwen and Dao Yan opened their sealed predictions in the Hall of Reverent Conduct: Dao Yan had predicted that Zhu Di would accept the new army strategy, while Zhu Yunwen had predicted that Zhu Di would feign madness and wait for an opportunity.
• Zhu Yunwen left laughing as Dao Yan read the dispatch and stared toward the doorway in alarm.

Zhu Yunwen appointed Yao Guangxiao to the Hanlin Academy and defended his choice in the widely circulated “Cat Theory,” which also brought hope to Yang Shiqi. In Beiping, Zhu Di learned that Dao Yan had joined Zhu Yunwen’s court and began to question his plans, just as Zhu Gaoxu announced that Dao Yan had returned.

• Zhu Yunwen restored Yao Guangxiao’s secular name, appointed him Left Virtuous Administrator, and admitted him to the Hanlin Academy as an Expositor-in-waiting.
• Zhu Yunwen wrote “Cat Theory” to argue that talented people should serve regardless of their background, and the essay spread throughout Great Ming.
• Ding Jin brought “Cat Theory” to Yang Shiqi, who praised it and learned that Wang Shuying had recommended him for work in the Capital.
• Zhu Gaochi told Zhu Di that Dao Yan had entered the Hanlin Academy and that Zhu Yunwen’s policies had effectively taken control of the Prince of Yan’s Three Guards.
• Zhu Di refused to accept that Dao Yan had become Zhu Yunwen’s trusted adviser, and Zhu Gaoxu announced that Dao Yan had returned.

Dao Yan returned to Beiping as a Hanlin Academy scholar and persuaded Zhu Di to abandon his plans to rebel against Zhu Yunwen. After reading Zhu Yunwen’s Cat Theory and hearing of his plans for a greater undertaking, Zhu Di pledged his allegiance to the emperor.

• Zhu Di’s sons warned him that Dao Yan might be a court spy, but Zhu Di agreed to receive him.
• Dao Yan admitted that Zhu Yunwen had appointed him to the Hanlin Academy and met with Zhu Di in private.
• Dao Yan revealed that Zhu Yunwen had foreseen Zhu Di’s deception and urged him to stop pretending to be mad.
• Dao Yan gave Zhu Di a copy of Cat Theory, and Zhu Di recognized Zhu Yunwen’s growing support among soldiers, scholars, commoners, and merchants.
• Dao Yan delivered Zhu Yunwen’s message inviting Zhu Di to join him in opening a road never before seen, and described the emperor’s Map of the World.
• Zhu Di submitted to Zhu Yunwen, acknowledged him as emperor, and vowed to follow him in his great undertaking.

Zhu Yunwen took Ma Enhui on a secret nighttime outing along the Qinhuai River, then explained that he wanted to encourage commerce to strengthen Great Ming's finances. He left Ma Enhui alarmed by his proposal to raise the commercial tax rate from one in thirty to one in ten.

• Zhu Yunwen persuaded Ma Enhui to visit the bustling Qinhuai River, where she worried that someone would recognize the emperor and empress.
• Liu Changge challenged a larger pleasure boat for blocking their channel, and Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng discovered that Zhu Yunwen was aboard.
• Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng cleared the way for Zhu Yunwen's boat, then pretended they had seen nothing and returned to their residences.
• After returning to the palace, Zhu Yunwen told Ma Enhui that freer commerce could raise the tax revenue needed to fund his plans for Great Ming.
• Zhu Yunwen used a jade inkstone to illustrate commercial taxation, and Ma Enhui objected when he proposed raising the tax rate to one in ten.

On the first day of the Jianwen era, Ma Enhui was invested as Empress, and Zhu Yunwen celebrated the new year with court ceremonies and rewards for officials. After granting the capital officials ten days of leave, the Grand Secretariat ministers argued over who had to remain on duty and settled on rock, paper, scissors.

• On New Year's Eve, Ma Enhui proposed selecting more women for the rear palace, but Zhu Yunwen refused a general selection and told her to arrange a few consorts from the Inner Palace as she saw fit.
• Zhu Yunwen watched Ma Enhui leave for her family home before her investiture, then returned to the Hall of Martial Valor and ordered dumplings.
• On New Year's Day, Fang Xiaoru and Xie Jin presented Ma Enhui with the Investiture Edict, Golden Investiture Book, and Golden Seal, and she was formally installed as Empress.
• Zhu Yunwen rejected a general amnesty, announced three extra months of salary for capital officials, and granted them ten days of leave before court resumed.
• Yu Xin, Zhang Zhen, and Xie Jin argued over who would cover the Grand Secretariat during the holiday, then agreed to decide by playing rock, paper, scissors.

Zhu Yunwen gathered Ma Enhui, Consort Xian, and Consort Ning to make dumplings, easing the neglected Consort Ning’s grievances with a warm family meal. The chapter ended with Zhu Yunwen looking ahead to his hopes for Great Ming’s prosperity.

• Consort Ning declined Zhu Yunwen’s invitation to the Directorate of Imperial Meals because she felt neglected and believed meeting him would make no difference.
• Ma Enhui struggled to knead dough, while Consort Xian arrived and taught her how to work it properly.
• After learning Consort Ning was admiring plum blossoms rather than ill, Zhu Yunwen sent Shuangxi to invite her personally.
• Consort Ning joined the others, and Zhu Yunwen helped her roll dough and wrap dumplings when she struggled.
• Ma Enhui and Consort Ning laughed at Zhu Yunwen’s flour-covered face, and the group shared a joyful meal together.
• Zhu Yunwen raised his cup and wished that future generations would consider Great Ming greater than the Han and Tang.

Zhu Yunwen proposed making Great Ming’s founding day a permanent National Day and ordered measures to honor the dynasty’s founders while cautiously addressing past injustices. The chapter ended with him discovering that Great Ming had no national flag, national emblem, or national anthem.

• Zhu Yunwen summoned Xie Jin, Xu Huizu, and Chen Di and proposed celebrating Great Ming’s founding day as National Day throughout the realm.
• Xie Jin and Chen Di supported the proposal, while Xu Huizu urged Zhu Yunwen to publicly honor Taizu and the officials who founded the nation.
• Zhu Yunwen promised Xu Huizu he would resolve the injustices against meritorious families within ten years and ordered exiled relatives brought back and resettled.
• Zhu Yunwen directed the Imperial College to write an accessible, truthful account of Taizu’s life and Great Ming’s founding heroes.
• Zhu Yunwen asked about Great Ming’s national flag, emblem, and anthem, and Xie Jin, Xu Huizu, and Chen Di admitted they did not know what those were.

Zhu Yunwen ordered Great Ming’s national flag, national emblem, and national anthem to be developed, assigning the work to the Rites Ministry with proposals from the Six Ministries, Five Army Commandery, and Grand Secretariat. The Capital celebrated the new National Day, while officials and nobles struggled to devise designs and began recruiting more contributors.

• Zhu Yunwen directed the Six Ministries, Five Army Commandery, and Grand Secretariat to submit proposals for Great Ming’s flag, emblem, and anthem.
• Zhu Yunwen designated the fourth day of the first lunar month as National Day, granted seven days of celebration, moved the court assembly to the sixteenth, and lifted the Capital’s curfew during the holiday.
• Xie Jin drafted the edict, and the people of the Capital cheered when the Office of Transmission announced it.
• Xu Huizu summoned Xu Yingxu to discuss designs, but Xu Yingxu could not produce an idea, so Xu Huizu invited military nobles to a banquet.
• Xie Jin gathered Yu Xin and Zhang Zhen to work on proposals, and they discussed inviting Hanlin scholars and Yao Guangxiao to contribute.
• After their sketches satisfied no one, Xie Jin proposed bringing regional compilers to the Capital ahead of schedule.

After hearing that the court planned to create a national flag, national emblem, and national anthem, Imperial College students Wu Yun and Hu Jun decided to seek Wang Shen’s help in getting their college involved. Hu Jun led a group of students to Wang’s residence and asked him to help make the Imperial College’s name known for generations.

• Hu Jun told Wu Yun that the court had established National Day and planned to create a national flag, national emblem, and national anthem.
• Hu Jun persuaded Wu Yun that the Imperial College should take part and proposed asking Wang Shen to intervene.
• Wu Yun agreed, and Hu Jun gathered more than thirty students to petition Wang Shen.
• The students visited Wang Shen’s residence and asked him to help the Imperial College contribute to the national symbols project.

Zhu Yunwen opened the creation of Great Ming’s national flag, emblem, and anthem to proposals from people throughout the country, including Imperial College students. Later, he debated Song prosperity and merchant restrictions with Ma Enhui, then invited her to inspect the medical gauze.

• Wang Shen asked Zhu Yunwen to let the Imperial College participate in drafting the national flag, emblem, and anthem.
• Shuangxi reported that people across the Capital, including merchants, craftsmen, and girls from the Jade Smoke House, wanted to contribute, and Zhu Yunwen ordered proposals to be solicited nationwide.
• Zhu Yunwen approved Imperial College participation and told Wang Shen to address the college’s problems promptly.
• Ma Enhui warned Zhu Yunwen that Song prosperity had not spared its people from suffering and cautioned him against pursuing wealth at their expense.
• Zhu Yunwen challenged Ma Enhui to reconsider lifting restrictions on merchants if wealth could be gained without harming the people, then invited her to inspect the medical gauze.

Zhu Yunwen visited the Palace of Heavenly Succession to encourage the harem’s efforts to develop medical gauze, which remained difficult to weave. He ordered the workers to rest, expanded the project’s workforce, and then celebrated Great Ming’s first National Day with Ma Enhui in the Capital.

• Ma Enhui supervised Consort Ning, Consort Xian, and palace workers as they struggled to make medical gauze that was breathable, strong, and free of loose fibers.
• Zhu Yunwen explained the benefits of clean medical gauze to Ma Enhui and encouraged her to trust that the project could succeed.
• Consort Xian showed Zhu Yunwen a fragile sample, and he ordered everyone to take two days off before resuming their work.
• Zhu Yunwen suggested recruiting more skilled workers, and Ma Enhui selected thirty-six weavers to join the project on the sixth.
• Zhu Yunwen and Ma Enhui left the palace to celebrate Great Ming’s first National Day with the people of the Capital.