Chapter Summaries

Gu Zhengchen prepared for the mounted bandits aboard the boat, but Liang Family Jiajun had already understood the danger and urged him to leave others’ troubles to the authorities. Gu Zhengchen reconsidered his confidence in his own judgment, yet by dawn he answered Liang Family Jiajun’s cautious philosophy with a resolve to choose and uphold what was good.

• Gu Zhengchen learned that the canal’s silted channel kept grain boats away from Tuoligou, then bought kitchen cleavers because he could not find short swords.
• Gu Zhengchen warned Liang Family Jiajun about the mounted bandits and gave him cleavers, but Liang Family Jiajun said the bandits were unlikely to rob officials and that protecting other passengers was not their responsibility.
• Gu Zhengchen realized he had underestimated Liang Family Jiajun and questioned his belief that a transmigrator could easily outwit people shaped by years of upheaval.
• At dawn, Liang Family Jiajun quoted the Doctrine of the Mean, and Gu Zhengchen responded that sincerity meant choosing the good and holding fast to it.

Gu Zhengchen watched suspicious travelers leave Taizhuang, then faced a corrupt inspection by Patrol Inspector Ling Yan aboard the boat. After Gu Zhengchen revealed his official document and stopped Ling Yan from arresting him over kitchen cleavers, he privately offered Ling Yan a chance to earn merit.

• Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun went ashore at Taizhuang, and Sun Shiba later reported that the three suspicious men had taken their chest to an inn.
• Ling Yan boarded the boat for an inspection, and his soldiers confiscated coins from a poor family before Ling Yan stopped one soldier from insulting a monk.
• Ling Yan's men found four kitchen cleavers in Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun's cabin and accused them of carrying weapons to commit robbery.
• Gu Zhengchen showed Ling Yan his Ministry of Personnel document, prompting Ling Yan to end the inspection and withdraw.
• Gu Zhengchen followed Ling Yan to a secluded riverbank and asked whether he wanted to earn merit and improve the court's view of him.

Gu Zhengchen learned that bandits had been active around Luoma Lake, then watched armed men reveal themselves aboard the boat and demand the passengers’ valuables. The passengers faced the robbery as the chapter ended.

• Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun discussed the Patrol Office’s influence and limited ability to handle bandits.
• Sun Shiba told Gu Zhengchen that three merchants and six assistants had boarded during the night to avoid questioning by the Patrol Office.
• A scholar confidently told Qiao Niang that Tantai and Mieming were two people, and the monk challenged his understanding.
• As the boat crossed Luoma Lake, the scholar proposed burning the reed beds to eliminate bandits, while Boat Owner Wang objected that this would harm local people.
• The scar-faced man and two companions revealed weapons and ordered the passengers to put their money and valuables into chests.

Bandits attacked the boat and robbed its passengers, but Liang Wujin defeated several of them before an unseen assailant struck him down. Gu Zhengchen warned Liang Wujin too late, and a monk revealed himself as the one who had intervened.

• Scarface and his bandits boarded the boat, threatened the passengers, and bound Boatman Wang and the boatmen.
• The bandits robbed the passengers and merchants, while Gu Zhengchen warned Liang Family Jiajun that the robbers cared nothing for status.
• Liang Wujin attacked Ba Gen and Jiu Gen, then drove Scarface back toward the bow.
• Liang Wujin refused Scarface's request to leave, and Gu Zhengchen shouted a warning as someone struck Liang Wujin in the neck.
• The attacker criticized Scarface and spoke with the voice of a monk.

Gu Zhengchen surrendered the luggage to the Horse Bandits, then revealed Ling Yan and six bowmen hiding aboard the vessel and led a counterattack. After recovering the stolen chests and capturing or killing the bandits, he warned Ling Yan that Old Diamond King’s status as a monk could complicate the authorities’ response, leaving Ling Yan considering whether to kill him.

• Gu Zhengchen ordered Gu Cheng and Sun Shiba to hand over the luggage as Old Diamond King and the Horse Bandits boarded the vessel.
• The bandits took the chests and goods, while Gu Zhengchen secretly summoned Ling Yan and six bowmen from the storage compartment.
• Gu Zhengchen ordered the vessel’s crew to pursue the bandits, and Sun Shiba and Liang Wujin joined the archers in striking their boats.
• The pursuit ended with eight of the fourteen Horse Bandits dead and six captured, and Ling Yan credited Gu Zhengchen with devising the plan.
• Gu Zhengchen warned Ling Yan that Old Diamond King’s involvement as a monk could draw scrutiny from the emperor and the Benevolence and World Academy, prompting Ling Yan to consider killing him.

Gu Zhengchen helped Inspector Ling turn a risky cross-jurisdiction arrest into a joint success for Taizhuang and Suqian, then learned Ling Yan’s cousin Ling Shuo was an investigating censor. After reaching Suqian and discussing local geography and the bandit encounter with Liang Family Jiajun, Gu Zhengchen discovered Zhao Ya’er begging in an alley.

• Gu Zhengchen advised Ling Yan to go to Suqian and let its officials share in pursuing the mounted bandits, preserving Taizhuang’s credit while avoiding conflict with Huai'an Prefecture.
• Ling Yan persuaded the Suqian magistrate to raid the bandits’ hideout, where officials captured twenty mounted bandits and thirty-four horses.
• Ling Yan told Gu Zhengchen that his cousin Ling Shuo was an investigating censor, and Gu Zhengchen recognized him as one of Zhu Yuanzhang’s secret inspectors.
• Liang Family Jiajun taught Gu Zhengchen to study local mountains and rivers, then questioned why he had waited to confront the bandits until they took the passengers’ loot.
• Gu Cheng reported seeing a woman who might be Zhang Shiping’s wife, Zhao Ya’er, and Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun followed her into an alley.
• Zhao Ya’er recognized Gu Zhengchen and called his name through tears.

After Zhao Ya'er told Gu Zhengchen how Zhang Shiping died and she was left stranded by Salt Rebels, the story shifted to Jinling, where Hu Weiyong plotted to use Liu Bowen’s petitions and the Tanyang Patrol Office to provoke Zhu Yuanzhang into killing him. Hu also instructed Chen Ning to monitor newly recommended officials and bring talented men under his control.

• Zhao Ya'er told Gu Zhengchen that Zhang Shiping drowned at Taoyuan, later died during intercourse, and was buried by the roadside after Salt Rebels robbed her and killed her servants.
• Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun heard Zhao Ya'er's story and lamented the dangers and disorder throughout the realm.
• Hu Weiyong summoned officials to discuss suppressing the Mingyang soldiers' rebellion and accused Liu Bowen of bypassing the Central Secretariat to petition Zhu Yuanzhang.
• Hu Weiyong, Wu Yun, and Chen Ning devised a plan to connect Liu Bowen's Tanyang Patrol Office to a suspected search for a burial site with the aura of kingship, giving Zhu Yuanzhang cause to act against him.
• Hu Weiyong hosted military officers from the Dadu Commander's Office at the Gathered Worthies Tower, but they showed little interest in his deliberations.
• Hu Weiyong told Chen Ning to watch officials arriving through the Recommendation System, recruit useful talent, and transfer those who refused to serve him out of Jinling.

After Zhao Ya'er died by suicide, Gu Zhengchen rejected the idea that her death and the servants' deaths were simply fate and began planning a dangerous effort against the Salt Rebels. He feigned a complicated illness during the journey to Shanyang, where he arrived with Liang Family Jiajun and asked about a gentleman surnamed Zhou who had once lived near the grain transport office.

• Zhang-she leaped into the river, and Gu Zhengchen identified her body as Zhao Ya'er.
• Liang Family Jiajun gave Gu Zhengchen Zhang's letter requesting that the Zhang Family retrieve Zhang Shiping's remains, and Gu Zhengchen asked whether the court would pursue the Salt Rebels.
• Gu Zhengchen ordered Gu Cheng to find out whether the county yamen held any Salt Rebels awaiting execution, then recruited Sun Shiba for a dangerous plan to wipe them out.
• Gu Zhengchen developed a string of strange illnesses and delayed the river journey, eventually reaching Shanyang County after twelve days with Liang Family Jiajun.
• Gu Zhengchen asked Liang Family Jiajun who had once lived in the homes near the grain transport office, then said a gentleman surnamed Zhou had devoted his life to the land.

Gu Zhengchen visited Zhang He’s residence in Shanyang, wrote a poem inspired by Zhou Enlai, and resolved to become a minister who supported the Great Ming. Before leaving for Jinling, he secretly arranged explosions at the prefectural yamen and Grain Transport Office, where officials discovered threats demanding the release of Zhang Sanxiu.

• Gu Zhengchen wrote a poem on the wall of Zhang He’s residence, and Zhang Xiwan secretly had Xiao He copy it.
• Ren Guangzu and Zhang He praised the poem and tried to find its author, but no one could identify Gu Zhengchen.
• Gu Zhengchen learned that Zhang Sanxiu had been arrested and ordered Sun Shiba to plant explosives at the prefectural yamen and Grain Transport Office.
• Gu Zhengchen and his companions departed Shanyang by boat before dawn, while Sun Shiba and Gu Cheng waited to see whether their plan had worked.
• Explosions damaged both offices, and officials found messages threatening Huai'an unless Zhang Sanxiu was released and warning that grain transport would be cut off.

Gu Zhengchen recognized the Salt Rebels’ attacks in Huai’an as a chance to force the court to confront unrest among salt-producing households. Hu Weiyong used the rebellion to urge an investigation of Suzhou, but Zhu Yuanzhang rejected the suggestion and saw through his attempt to target Wei Guan.

• As Gu Zhengchen traveled along the Han Canal, he identified the passing couriers as carriers of reports about the Salt Rebels and considered how the crisis might prompt action by the court.
• In Jinling, Hu Weiyong concluded that Zhu Yuanzhang might forgive the Earl of Sincerity, Liu Bowen, despite the Tanyang Royal Aura affair.
• Chen Ning reported that the Salt Rebels had attacked Huai’an’s prefectural yamen and Grain Transport Office with firearms and threatened north-south grain transport unless Zhang Sanxiu was released.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Huai’an Prefect Ren Guangzu and the Great River Guard commander to crush the Salt Rebels and interrogate Zhang Sanxiu for his accomplices.
• Hu Weiyong proposed investigating Suzhou as well, but Zhu Yuanzhang refused and recognized that Hu Weiyong was trying to strike at Suzhou Prefect Wei Guan.