Recaps

Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang answered questions in the Rebel Army Group, with Liu Bang withdrawing after the first question and Zhang Jiao stopping after the second. Zhu Yuanzhang correctly chose to build a navy and attack the pirates, then brushed off Liu Bang’s teasing as the group began distributing rewards.

• Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang correctly answered the first question about the basis of popular support and were offered a second question.
• Liu Bang withdrew to claim his reward, while Zhang Jiao and Zhu Yuanzhang correctly answered that simply wanting to become emperor was not a reason for a popular uprising.
• Zhang Jiao withdrew before the final question, but Zhu Yuanzhang chose to continue and correctly selected defending the coast, building an Ocean Navy, and attacking the pirates.
• Liu Bang asked Zhu Yuanzhang about the pirates and teased him for choosing a navy strategy after claiming the Maritime Prohibition was enough.
• Liu Bang dismissed Xiao He, Chen Ping, and Lou Jing as the Rebel Army Group began distributing rewards.

Liu Bang watched a later-generation song video about his life, then Zhang Jiao’s video about a modern man who transmigrated into him and used gunpowder against the Han Army. The video ended with the Yellow Turbans routing the Han Army, while Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao eagerly considered gunpowder’s potential and Zhu Yuanzhang recognized a chance to help.

• Liu Bang received and watched the song video “Liu Bang’s Tune,” which depicted his rise, rule, and final song, leaving him to reflect briefly on his mortality.
• Zhang Jiao declined the offer to watch his reward video alone, so Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang watched it with him.
• The video showed a modern man transmigrating into Zhang Jiao shortly before Guangzong was besieged and deciding to use gunpowder against the Han Army.
• Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao wondered how they could use gunpowder, while Zhu Yuanzhang recalled its history and realized he could advise Zhang Jiao.
• The transmigrated Zhang Jiao staged a ritual and detonated buried powder barrels with flaming arrows, causing panic in the Han ranks.
• Zhang Liang led the Yellow Turban charge, and the disordered Han Army was routed.

Zhu Yuanzhang chose to ask how medicine could be developed, prioritizing the lives of Zhu Xiongying, Empress Ma, and Zhu Biao over questions about succession and Ming policy. The administrator outlined a broad medical system for the early Ming, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang asking about modern scientific instruments as the group’s answer period ended.

• Zhang Jiao and Liu Bang recorded the gunpowder recipe revealed in the previous video, while Zhang Jiao worried it might be fictional.
• The administrator offered Zhu Yuanzhang a choice of three questions, and Zhu Yuanzhang chose how medicine could be given due importance and developed.
• The administrator explained that medicine included multiple disciplines and proposed a Medical Academy, specialized branches, medical schools, clinics, and physician registration.
• The administrator said physicians’ social standing must rise to that of scholars and that developing medicine would require major funding and advances in natural sciences.
• Zhu Yuanzhang asked what basic surgical instruments, microscopes, and spectrometers were, but the administrator ended the answer and announced the group would soon close.

Zhu Yuanzhang described the deaths of Zhang Jiao’s brothers and explained gunpowder, cannons, and hand cannons to Zhang Jiao and Liu Bang. Zhang Jiao’s confidence in the Yellow Turban cause faltered after hearing what became of its remnants, but he renewed his resolve to resist the Han dynasty; Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang planned to continue their questions later.

• Zhu Yuanzhang told Zhang Jiao that Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao had both been defeated and killed after Zhang Jiao’s death, and Zhang Jiao explained his concern that Chu Yan was too young to lead.
• Zhang Jiao said he felt a premonition that he would die after his burnout status ended, prompting Zhu Yuanzhang to offer practical help instead of debating the omen.
• Zhu Yuanzhang explained the differing mixtures and uses of stable and explosive gunpowder, then described how cannons and hand cannons fired iron or lead balls.
• Zhu Yuanzhang listed several Yellow Turban leaders who emerged after Zhang Jiao, but said their forces were defeated or surrendered; Zhang Jiao briefly lost confidence before resolving to fight the Flaming Han to the death.
• Liu Bang asked Zhu Yuanzhang about cannons and hand cannons, and later offered to relay Zhu Yuanzhang’s questions to Xiao He and the others when the group chat reopened.

Zhu Yuanzhang explained how the Uprising of the Five Barbarians followed the collapse of Later Han and Western Jin, leaving Zhang Jiao to wonder whether his Yellow Turban rebellion had caused the catastrophe. Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang reassured him that rebellion had been driven by oppressive rulers, and Zhu shared how hunger and persecution had forced him to join the Red Turban Army.

• Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Bang to pass his questions about medicine and Great Ming's revenue to Xiao He and Zhang Liang, but Liu Bang warned that they might not be able to help.
• Liu Bang explained how Chen Ping used a portrait and the khatun's jealousy to persuade her to help end the Siege of Baideng.
• Liu Bang asked about the Uprising of the Five Barbarians, and Zhu Yuanzhang described how Western Jin's infighting and reliance on barbarian forces led to invasions and massacres in the Central Plains.
• Zhang Jiao feared that his Yellow Turban rebellion had set the disasters in motion, but Liu Bang argued that Later Han's oppression and Jin's incompetence were to blame.
• Zhu Yuanzhang told Zhang Jiao that rebellion had been his only path to survival after his family died of hunger and sickness and he was threatened for associating with the Red Turban Army.

Liu Bang suggested recruiting Liu Bei into Zhang Jiao’s Yellow Turban Army, but Zhu Yuanzhang explained that Liu Bei was committed to restoring the Han and had fought against the rebels. After the group chat ended, Zhu Yuanzhang tested the new letter feature and summoned the crown prince and the Duke of Han to discuss the Administrator’s papers on medicine.

• Liu Bang proposed that Liu Bei join the Yellow Turbans and help preserve Zhang Jiao’s forces if Zhang Jiao died.
• Zhu Yuanzhang explained that Liu Bei valued his Han lineage, had fought the Yellow Turbans, and was likely with Lu Zhi’s army outside Guangzong.
• Liu Bang dismissed the idea after learning that Liu Bei was unlikely to abandon his ambition to restore the Han.
• The Administrator ended the group chat and gave each member a letter sheet limited to one matter and two thousand characters.
• Zhu Yuanzhang tested the letter sheet, then summoned the crown prince and the Duke of Han to review papers on developing medicine.

Zhu Yuanzhang considered proposals to expand medical services and raise revenue, while Zhu Biao and Li Shanchang argued that increased grain production could make lifting the alcohol ban viable. Meanwhile, Liu Bang ordered Xiao He to find artisans to make gunpowder, and Xiao He agreed to try.

• Zhu Biao reviewed the medical proposals and recommended lowering physicians’ official ranks and starting medical schools and clinics in fewer cities.
• Li Shanchang supported Zhu Biao’s adjustments and suggested lifting the alcohol ban and monopolizing alcohol and vinegar to raise revenue.
• Zhu Biao argued that growing tax receipts and well-stocked granaries showed Great Ming had enough grain to consider lifting the ban, and Li Shanchang noted that commoners already brewed alcohol.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Chen Zhong to investigate harvests, household brewing, and sales of brewing starter in Yingtian Prefecture, and planned further inspections before deciding on the ban.
• Liu Bang gave Xiao He instructions about gunpowder and ordered him to find alchemists and artisans to test whether it could be made.
• Xiao He warned Liu Bang against wasting resources on alchemical claims, but agreed to find people to try making gunpowder.

Zhang Jiao prepared for a night raid and began seeking materials for gunpowder, while Liu Bei's militia held its camp during the Yellow Turban attack. Dong Zhuo withdrew from Guangzong to regroup, leaving Western Liang cavalry to watch the city as Zhang Jiao worried he could not aid Xiaquyang.

• Liu Bang decided to summon renowned physicians to Chang'an and appoint them as medical officials despite lacking funds for a Medical Academy or Medicine Schools.
• Zhang Jiao sent Chu Yan to search Guangzong for frost salt, sulfur, and charcoal, then reviewed the night raid plans with Zhang Liang.
• Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei organized their Volunteer Militia and held their camp as routed soldiers fled past during the Yellow Turban night raid.
• Liu Bei learned that Dong Zhuo had executed several Volunteer Militia leaders and planned to withdraw from Guangzong after the Han Army suffered heavy losses.
• Dong Zhuo led nearly twenty thousand troops away toward Xiaquyang, leaving Hu Zhen, Li Que, Guo Si, and Western Liang cavalry to watch Guangzong.
• Zhang Jiao and Zhang Liang concluded that the Western Liang cavalry made it difficult to send aid to Xiaquyang, while their lack of cavalry and armor made an open battle too dangerous.

Zhang Jiao ordered the Guangzong Yellow Turbans to abandon the city and retreat into the Taihang Mountains, despite his grave illness. The chapter then shifted to Great Ming, where Zhu Yuanzhang’s military victory and new imperial decrees spread across Zhili.

• Zhang Jiao decided the Yellow Turbans could not defeat the Han Army in the open and resolved to withdraw into the Taihang Mountains while Dong Zhuo attacked Xiaquyang.
• Zhang Jiao ordered Zhang Liang to prepare the Guangzong forces to leave and said they would send word for Zhang Bao to break out of Xiaquyang.
• Zhang Jiao suddenly fell gravely ill, but when the Western Liang Cavalry moved north, he insisted that the Yellow Turbans abandon Guangzong at once.
• Zhang Liang obeyed, and around 120,000 to 130,000 Yellow Turbans left Guangzong and headed west toward the Taihang Mountains.
• In Great Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang’s forces defeated the Xifan troops, and he issued decrees ending restrictions on glutinous rice cultivation and alcohol while elevating the Imperial Medical Academy and establishing a Medical Academy.
• By the Dragon Boat Festival, news of Zhu Yuanzhang’s decrees had reached every prefecture, subprefecture, and county in Zhili.

The lifting of the alcohol ban prompted public interest in wine sales, while Imperial College scholars debated the court’s new Medical Academy. Nie Xuan reported the scholars’ reactions to an agent serving the emperor, but worried that Zhang Meihe might suffer for their exchange.

• Commoners learned that the alcohol ban had been lifted and that government wine houses would sell wine and starter, while private merchants could bid for licenses.
• Two scholars discussed the new wine laws, including limits on private brewing and penalties for exceeding them, as an unnoticed customer listened.
• Zhang Meihe, Bei Qiong, and Nie Xuan debated the Medical Academy’s status and purpose, and Zhang angrily accused Nie Xuan of currying favor before leaving.
• Nie Xuan told Bei Qiong that medicine could not replace scholars, then returned home and began writing a report on reactions at the Imperial College.
• An ordinary-looking agent collected Nie Xuan’s report for the emperor, and Nie Xuan privately hoped Zhang Jiushao would come through unharmed.

Zhu Yuanzhang reviewed public reactions to the alcohol ban and Medical Academy, then discussed finding a microscope with Zhu Biao. When the Rebel Army Group reopened, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang worried that Zhang Jiao had died, but Zhang Jiao eventually replied that he was there.

• Zhu Yuanzhang approved of Nie Xuan's defense of the Medical Academy and ordered Mao Xiang to spread revised arguments throughout Yingtian Prefecture and Zhili.
• Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang that a crystal magnifier might be related to the microscope, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered craftsmen to attempt to make a more powerful one.
• Zhu Biao reported that twenty-seven renowned physicians had joined the Medical Academy, and Zhu Yuanzhang called for more county-level physicians to be summoned.
• Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed Zhu Biao, ordered Yunqi to guard the entrance, and entered the newly reopened Rebel Army Group.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang waited for Zhang Jiao to appear and feared something had happened to him before Zhang Jiao finally messaged that he was there.

Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang urged the gravely ill Zhang Jiao not to accept death as fate, and Zhu Yuanzhang arranged for Ming physicians to devise a treatment and promised to send it by Spacetime Letter. Zhang Jiao described the Yellow Turban Army’s retreat toward the Taihang Mountains before the group’s Q&A segment began.

• Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang worried that Zhang Jiao’s illness meant their own historical fates could not be changed.
• Zhu Yuanzhang rejected the idea that Zhang Jiao’s death was fated and asked him to report his symptoms and available medicines.
• Zhang Jiao described his symptoms, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Biao to gather physicians at the Medical Academy to develop a treatment.
• Zhu Yuanzhang promised to send the treatment to Zhang Jiao by Spacetime Letter, and Zhang Jiao recounted the Yellow Turban Army’s recent movements after seven days had passed.
• Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang advised Zhang Jiao to build strength in the Taihang Mountains and wait for Later Han’s warlords to fight before seizing Bingzhou.
• The Administrator announced that the Rebel Army Q&A segment was about to begin, and the three men prepared to answer.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Bang, and Zhang Jiao each guessed which city Japanese pirates failed to reach, but all chose incorrectly. A video revealed that the pirates reached Nanjing’s outskirts before being destroyed near Suzhou, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang furious and questioning the future of his military and maritime policies.

• Liu Bang copied the detailed map, while Zhang Jiao struggled to sit up and could not record it.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang chose Nanjing, while Zhang Jiao chose She County as the city the pirates had failed to reach.
• The answer was Suzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang wondered how the pirates could have reached Nanjing.
• The explanation video described how fewer than a hundred pirates raided towns across Zhejiang and Huizhou, attacked Nanjing, plundered its outskirts, and were finally wiped out near Suzhou.
• Zhu Yuanzhang grew enraged at the Jiajing-era emperor, corrupt officials, and the collapse of Great Ming’s military garrisons.
• Zhu Yuanzhang questioned whether the maritime prohibition had enabled officials and gentry to monopolize trade and corrupt coastal defenses.

Zhu Yuanzhang answered two quick-response questions correctly, learning that Western Han had the highest average quality of emperors and that the late Yuan rebel armies had the highest average quality. The next question listed nicknames for Ming emperors, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang stunned by how many strange rulers his dynasty would have.

• Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao reacted to the Ming Dynasty’s decline under the Jiajing Emperor and agreed to leave the quick-response questions to Zhu Yuanzhang.
• Zhu Yuanzhang chose Western Han as the dynasty with the highest average quality of emperors and answered correctly.
• Liu Bang celebrated Western Han’s result before the group asked which dynasty’s late rebel armies had the highest average quality.
• Zhu Yuanzhang selected the late Yuan rebel armies, citing the strength of rivals such as Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, and Ming Yuzhen, and answered correctly.
• The group asked which terms later generations had not used for Ming emperors, and Zhu Yuanzhang was left stunned by the list of nicknames.

Zhu Yuanzhang misidentified one of the Great Ming emperors’ nicknames, then learned that his punishment would make him obsessed with cricket fighting for three months. He received a future technology mini pack, while Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao were assigned their own month-long negative statuses.

• Zhu Yuanzhang chose D, E, and I for the nickname question, but the correct answers were D, G, and I; he realized E did not describe a Great Ming emperor.
• Liu Bang asked how many emperors Great Ming had, and Zhu Yuanzhang grew hopeful when Liu Bang suggested the dynasty must have lasted a long time.
• Zhu Yuanzhang chose to accept both his reward and punishment after answering two quick-answer questions correctly and the third incorrectly.
• Liu Bang received the negative status “sharing a bed” for one month and welcomed it as a way to build loyalty with trusted ministers.
• Zhang Jiao received the negative status “sleep bug” for one month, while Zhu Yuanzhang received “cricket fighting” for three months.
• Zhu Yuanzhang received the “Future Technology Mini Pack,” containing two minor technologies from future generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang received later-generation instructions for making allicin and a microscope, then shared both with Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao. He sought Liu Bang’s advice about Great Ming’s maritime prohibition and was left considering how future rulers and ministers might exploit it.

• Zhu Yuanzhang read the allicin instructions and microscope plans, then chose to share both rewards with Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao.
• Zhu Yuanzhang told Zhang Jiao to try garlic for his illness, and Liu Bang recorded the shared information while Zhang Jiao tried to memorize it.
• Zhu Yuanzhang explained how Liu Bang’s treatment of rival kings led Lu Wan to flee to the Xiongnu, then discussed the dangers of granting kings military and financial power.
• Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Bang to advise him on Great Ming’s maritime prohibition and explained why he had avoided funding an ocean navy.
• Liu Bang questioned how the prohibition could lead to Wokou raids and private profiteering, and Zhu Yuanzhang blamed future foolish rulers and treacherous ministers.
• Liu Bang urged Zhu Yuanzhang to consider how later rulers and ministers might exploit the policies he left behind.

After Liu Bang advised Zhu Yuanzhang to share maritime trade profits so others would defend his policies, Zhu Yuanzhang considered reforms to the maritime prohibition and Guard Posts system while struggling with an urge to fight crickets. Liu Bang arranged to seek foreign garlic and make a microscope, then unsettled Chen Ping by proposing to spend the night at his house.

• Liu Bang told Zhu Yuanzhang that sharing maritime trade profits could give powerful groups a stake in preserving Great Ming's policies after his death.
• The Rebel Army Group ended, and Zhu Yuanzhang received two Spacetime Letters and reviewed the allicin and microscope instructions alongside the problems with Great Ming's maritime prohibition and Guard Posts system.
• Zhu Yuanzhang's cricket-fighting urge took hold, so he ordered Mao Xiang to buy four or five crickets discreetly with funds from the Imperial Treasury.
• Zhu Biao brought the Medical Academy's treatment methods and prescriptions, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to obtain descriptions and preparation methods for their ingredients before asking whether he liked cricket fighting.
• Liu Bang decided to ask the Xiongnu about foreign garlic and have craftsmen make a microscope, then invited Chen Ping to stay overnight before proposing to stay at Chen Ping's house instead.

Zhang Jiao received Zhu Yuanzhang’s medical advice and began gathering ingredients for treatment, while Zhu Yuanzhang ordered preparations for an ocean navy but became absorbed in cricket fighting. The chapter ended with Zhu Biao reporting that two physicians might understand the term “anatomy” in a proposal about development medicine.

• Zhang Jiao woke to Zhu Yuanzhang’s letter, then dictated its treatment formulas to Zhang Liang so the Yellow Turban Army could gather the ingredients.
• Zhu Yuanzhang resolved to revise the Maritime Prohibition and prepare to build an ocean navy after recalling Japan’s raids and Great Ming’s future humiliation.
• Mao Xiang presented Zhu Yuanzhang with five crickets called the Five Tiger Young Generals, and Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded him and the accompanying guards.
• Zhu Yuanzhang canceled the noon court and spent the day fighting crickets in the Western Side Hall.
• Zhu Biao interrupted Zhu Yuanzhang’s cricket match to report that two renowned physicians might know what “anatomy” meant in a development medicine proposal.

Zhu Biao explained to Zhu Yuanzhang why physicians Zhao Yizhen and Xia Quan believed anatomy required dissecting human bodies, and the emperor approved Xia Quan’s role in the research. By the sixth month of the tenth year of Hongwu, Great Ming had established the Medical Academy and its medical education system, while Zhu Yuanzhang also ordered the Treasure Shipyard built at Three-Fork River.

• Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang that Zhao Yizhen and Xia Quan considered anatomy the study of dissecting the human body and described their medical backgrounds and skills.
• Zhu Biao proposed using the bodies of executed criminals for anatomical study, and Zhu Yuanzhang approved the plan and agreed Xia Quan should initially be named a professor.
• Zhu Biao warned Zhu Yuanzhang not to become too absorbed in cricket fighting, and Zhu Yuanzhang sent the cricket cages to the Eastern Side Hall before returning to his memorials.
• By the seventh day of the sixth month, thirty-seven renowned physicians had registered with the Medical Academy, which appointed five academicians, fifteen professors, and seventeen doctors.
• The court recruited seventy-two young physicians as graduate students and announced free medicine schools across Zhili and at Provincial Administration Commission seats.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Treasure Shipyard built at Three-Fork River outside Jinling.

Hu Weiyong celebrated his promotion to Left Chancellor and dismissed concerns about Wang Guangyang, while Fang Xiaoru grew furious over the court’s free medical education policies. In August, Zhu Biao visited Zhu Yuanzhang to announce that the Microscope had finally been made.

• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered sealed submissions delivered directly to him, then promoted Hu Weiyong to Left Chancellor and appointed Wang Guangyang as Right Chancellor.
• Hu Weiyong boasted to his faction that feigning illness had persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang of the Central Secretariat’s importance, while Tu Jie warned him not to underestimate Wang Guangyang.
• Zhu Yuanzhang established the Directorate of Communications under Zeng Bingzheng to manage memorials and forward sealed remonstrances directly to the throne.
• Fang Xiaoru became enraged after his attendant told him the court would teach medicine for free, and he drove the attendant from his study.
• Zhu Biao entered while Zhu Yuanzhang was secretly staging cricket fights and announced that the Microscope had finally been made.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao tested Great Ming’s first Microscope, discovering tiny creatures in water and on living things and considering how cleanliness could prevent illness. Liu Bang then received a different instrument made by Mohist-trained craftsmen after they failed to produce a proper Microscope.

• Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang that the completed Microscope had revealed moving creatures in a drop of water, and warned that suitable crystal was scarce.
• Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to Zhu Biao’s proposal to have Imperial Guards quietly search for more crystal instead of burdening local authorities and the people.
• Zhu Biao brought the corrected Microscope to the palace, where Zhu Yuanzhang saw creatures in water and on a cricket; Zhu Biao also found them on his finger and discovered that washing reduced them.
• Zhu Biao connected the discoveries to Xia Quan’s advice about boiling surgical instruments and cleaning hands, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to have Xia Quan investigate with the Microscope.
• After Zhu Yuanzhang wondered whether Liu Bang had built a Microscope and whether Zhang Jiao had recovered, Xiao He showed Liu Bang a copper tube devised by Mohist-trained craftsmen, and Liu Bang went outside to test it on distant scenery.

Liu Bang named Xiao He's new invention the Thousand-Li Telescope and ordered further work on the Microscope. In the Taihang Mountains, Zhang Jiao recovered enough to learn that Zhang Liang had died during a disastrous attempt to rescue Zhang Bao's forces at Xiaquyang, and the chapter ended with Zhang Jiao seeing the Rebel Army Group open again.

• Liu Bang tested Xiao He's bronze-tube telescope, named it the Thousand-Li Telescope, and ordered rewards for its craftsmen and continued work on the Microscope.
• Zhang Jiao's illness improved as the Yellow Turbans established strongholds in the Taihang Mountains and gathered supplies, including sulfur for making gunpowder.
• After learning that Dong Zhuo had failed to take Xiaquyang, Zhang Liang led more than ten thousand Yellow Turban Army soldiers out of the mountains to help Zhang Bao.
• Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao's forces suffered a crushing defeat during their attempt to break out of Xiaquyang, and Zhang Liang died while holding off the Han Army's pursuit.
• Zhang Jiao grieved over Zhang Liang's death, told Zhang Bao not to blame himself, and saw the Rebel Army Group open again.

Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the Treasure Shipyard, then exchanged news with Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao in the Rebel Army Group. After learning of Zhang Liang’s death, the group prepared for the upcoming Rebel Army Q&A.

• Zhu Biao reported that construction at the Treasure Shipyard was underway and expected to finish by next summer or autumn, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to oversee its funds and supplies.
• Zhu Biao left Zhu Yuanzhang and privately considered releasing the crickets kept in the Eastern Side Hall so his father would not become obsessed with cricket fighting again.
• Liu Bang told Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Jiao that Former Han craftsmen had built a Thousand-Li Telescope, and he explained how it was made.
• Zhu Yuanzhang described Great Ming’s microscope and shared what he and Zhu Biao had learned about tiny creatures, boiled water, and hygiene.
• Zhang Jiao reported that Zhang Liang had fallen in battle during a failed attempt to break out of Xiaquyang, and Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang offered their condolences.
• The Administrator announced that the Rebel Army Q&A segment was about to begin.

Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang correctly identified four essentials for a rebel army, then answered a question about crop yields. Zhang Jiao chose sweet potatoes and won the round, while Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang faced punishments.

• Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang each chose A, C, D, and E as what a rebel army needed in its early and middle stages, and all three were correct.
• Zhu Yuanzhang explained that proclaiming a ruler, attacking the capital, and roaming as bandits were optional or unwise at that stage.
• The Administrator asked which of eight crops had the highest yield, and Liu Bang chose corn, Zhang Jiao chose sweet potatoes, and Zhu Yuanzhang chose rice.
• The Administrator revealed sweet potatoes as the correct answer, surprising all three and prompting Zhu Yuanzhang to suspect that potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes had arrived in China later from overseas or the Western Regions.
• The Administrator ended the round, rewarding Zhang Jiao and assigning punishments to Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang received negative statuses after answering incorrectly, while Zhang Jiao earned a choice of questions and selected how sweet potatoes came to China. The answer revealed their extraordinary yields and arrival in Great Ming, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang hopeful that the crop could greatly increase food supplies.

• Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang questioned why the Rebel Army Q&A had ended after two questions, and the Administrator assigned Liu Bang the status "fatherly love and filial piety" and Zhu Yuanzhang "woodworking obsession."
• Zhang Jiao received the reward "Choose One of Two Answers" and publicly chose to learn how sweet potatoes came to China.
• The group explained that Chen Zhenlong smuggled sweet potato vines from Luzon to Fujian, where his family cultivated them and promoted the crop during a famine.
• Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao discussed the reported yields and the different weights of a jin in Great Han and Great Ming.
• Zhu Yuanzhang concluded that sweet potatoes could greatly increase Great Ming's food production and smiled at the prospect of fewer famines.