Chapter Summaries

Zhu Yuanzhang recovered after a month of rest while Zhu Biao handled court affairs, and the two discussed difficulties recruiting physicians to compile medical texts and a pharmacopoeia. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to let Zhu Biao try persuading the physicians with fame and rewards, then ordered him to attend court with rank equal to the left chancellor.

• Zhu Yuanzhang delayed morning court so Zhu Biao would not need to rise as early, and Zhu Biao attended court in his stead for nearly a month.
• Zhu Yuanzhang recovered his vigor and returned to the Hall of Heavenly Favor, where Zhu Biao welcomed him and reported on state affairs.
• Zhu Biao told Zhu Yuanzhang that many physicians had refused the summons for varied reasons, including age, illness, patients, and fear of punishment.
• Zhu Yuanzhang proposed forcibly summoning physicians and threatening their families, but Zhu Biao warned that coercion could lead them to falsify their medical knowledge.
• Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to let Zhu Biao first entice physicians with fame and profit, then ordered Zhu Biao to attend court at rank equal to the left chancellor.

Zhu Yuanzhang recalled Zhu Di from Fengyang and questioned what he had learned there, then reconsidered the costs and meaning of Zhu Di’s future Yongle reign. He ordered Zhu Di to return to Fengyang with Xu Shi and spend three years farming before he could return to the capital or take up his princely seat in Beiping.

• Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhu Di from Fengyang after deciding to reconsider the circumstances of Zhu Di’s future usurpation and reign.
• Zhu Di returned to the capital and described his military training in Fengyang, admitting he had paid little attention to farming or the common people.
• Zhu Yuanzhang rebuked Zhu Di for neglecting the farmers and questioned whether the achievements of the Yongle era had come at the people’s expense.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Di to return to Fengyang with Xu Shi and farm five mu of land for three years before he could return to the capital or take up his seat in Beiping.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di to farm in Fengyang for three years before taking up their fiefs, making it a rule for all Great Ming princes. As the three settled into farm life, Zhu Shuang blamed Zhu Di for the punishment, while Zhu Yuanzhang received the Rebel Army Group chat again and saw Liu Bang’s first message.

• Zhu Di failed to escape Zhu Yuanzhang’s order to farm in Fengyang for three years, despite citing Xu Miaoyun’s pregnancy and his wish to lead a northern campaign.
• Zhu Yuanzhang formally ordered Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di to farm in Fengyang, and decreed that future princes must do the same before taking up their fiefs.
• Zhu Di and Zhu Gang worked the fields while Zhu Shuang avoided farm labor and traded his rations for other food and supplies.
• Zhu Shuang accused Zhu Di of causing their punishment, but Zhu Di argued that Zhu Shuang’s own neglect had angered Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Shuang withdrew indoors.
• Zhu Yuanzhang saw the Rebel Army Group chat reactivate after nearly two months and noticed that Liu Bang had sent the first message.

Liu Bang shared his advisers’ proposal for Zhu Yuanzhang to establish a Medical Academy to advance medicine and help protect his family from illness. Zhang Jiao yielded the floor, and Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to answer Liu Bang’s question about Han Xin.

• Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao reported that their group chats had reopened after different intervals, and Zhang Jiao described the Han Army’s failed eleven-day assault on Guangzong.
• Zhu Yuanzhang advised Zhang Jiao to use a nighttime fire as a feint and attack the Han camp if it fell into confusion.
• Liu Bang asked whether Zhu Yuanzhang had killed Han Xin in the original history, but Zhu Yuanzhang reminded him to address Zhang Jiao’s concerns first.
• Liu Bang revealed that Xiao He, Zhang Liang, Lou Jing, and Chen Ping had proposed creating a Medical Academy to gather and reward renowned physicians.
• Zhu Yuanzhang praised the proposal, asked Zhang Jiao to raise any urgent issues, and said he would answer Liu Bang’s question about Han Xin; Zhang Jiao gave Liu Bang the floor.

Zhu Yuanzhang explained how Chen Xi’s rebellion implicated Han Xin, Peng Yue, Ying Bu, and Lu Wan, prompting Liu Bang to question whether he had driven the other-surname kings into rebellion or used the charges to strip their power. The Rebel Army Group then asked which factor mattered most in conquering the realm, and Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang considered the choice between popular support and the mandate of heaven.

• Zhu Yuanzhang told Liu Bang that Chen Xi rebelled after Han Xin urged him to rise and promised support from within Chang’an.
• Zhu Yuanzhang said Chen Xi’s rebellion led to Han Xin and Peng Yue being accused of rebellion, helped drive Ying Bu to revolt, and raised suspicion about Lu Wan.
• Liu Bang challenged the claim that Lu Wan could rebel, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked whether Liu Bang had deliberately weakened the kings of other surnames.
• The Administrator announced a Rebel Army Q&A asking which factor mattered most in conquering the realm, and Liu Bang summoned Xiao He, Chen Ping, and Lou Jing for advice.
• Xiao He and Chen Ping chose the mandate of heaven, while Lou Jing argued that popular support mattered more and cited Liu Bang’s pact with the people of Guanzhong and Xiang Yu’s cruelty.
• Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang weighed the options, and Zhu Yuanzhang ultimately settled on popular support.

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.