Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xing discussed the Exorcising the Dragon Gang’s principles, its negotiations for grain, and whether it would establish a court if it took power. After Wang Huaiji questioned him about kingship and the supernatural, news arrived that Cao Lin had left the Eastern Capital for the Western Pass.

• Zhang Xing and the gang chiefs debated Du Pozhen’s plan to take Shouchun, the risks of gambling with scarce grain, and the need to make those bearing the risks willing participants.
• Zhang Xing met Yuan Baocun to arrange grain and cloth from the Liyang Granary, and Yuan asked how the gang would govern if it won the realm.
• Zhang Xing explained that the gang would expel those who monopolized common interests, retain workable institutions, and establish a court if circumstances required him to become king or emperor.
• Wang Huaiji asked whether ghosts and gods were baseless talk, and Zhang Xing inferred that even supernatural powers followed traceable rules.
• Wang Xiongdan reported that Cao Lin had left the Eastern Capital with Duan Wei and over a hundred riders, likely heading for the Western Pass.

After Zhang Bofeng arranged a seven-day ceasefire and a Red Mountain Gathering, Zhang Xing’s chiefs prepared to withdraw and debated whether to attend. Wang Huaiji arrived with news that the Duke of Ying would stay away and offered to guarantee their safety, leaving Zhang Xing to put the decision to a vote.

• Cao Lin ordered his army to hold position, arrange for Li Shierlang to cross the river, and bring Minister Duan to his tent as he worried that his forces might fall apart.
• Zhang Bofeng visited Zhang Xing in Hanling and proposed a Red Mountain Gathering on the twenty-fifth, with Cao Lin halting his advance and Zhang Bofeng guaranteeing attendees’ safety.
• Zhang Xing’s chiefs accepted the ceasefire to move supplies and revise their withdrawal plans, while Zhang Xing ordered military preparations and said the gang would attend only if it remained safe.
• Anxious news spread through the Eastern Capital, Henan, and Hebei as Cao Lin advanced into Hebei, the Duke of Ying raised troops in Jin, and Zhang Bofeng invited Li Ding to the gathering.
• Wang Huaiji told Zhang Xing that the Duke of Ying would send Wang Huaitong instead and promised to bring Zhang Xing and his people safely back from Red Mountain.
• Zhang Xing asked Wang Huaiji about his identity, his connection to Lord White Emperor, and the author of The Tale of the Beautiful Moon, then said he would put attendance to a vote among the gang’s chiefs.

Han Erlang and Qin Bao both recognized signs that the Exorcising the Dragon Army was preparing to march, but its forces struck before the defenders could respond. The army crossed Wuyang Commandery, captured Neihuang City, and prepared to use soldiers’ families to pressure Bowang Mountain Camp into surrendering.

• Han Erlang warned Settlement Chief Huang that troops might march soon, and Wang County Lord’s eldest son disappeared from the settlement after the warning reached his family.
• Qin Bao warned Qutu Da that the Exorcising the Dragon Army might attack, while voicing his anger over the Court’s treatment and its refusal to transfer his family to Liyang.
• The Exorcising the Dragon Army entered Wuyang Commandery with seventeen or eighteen battalions, received supplies from its cities, and sent five vanguard battalions rapidly toward Ji Commandery.
• Qutu Da learned that the enemy had split its forces, but he hesitated to confront Niu Da’s battalion as it passed Bowang Mountain toward Chanyuan.
• Xu Shiying captured Neihuang City with inside help, then told Xu Shiren that they would approach Bowang Mountain Camp at night and urge the soldiers to surrender through their families.

Zhang Xing debated Zhang Bofeng over the Exorcising the Dragon Gang’s principles, defending reform, centralized government, and practical measures to improve people’s lives. After Cao Lin attacked him, Zhang Bofeng stopped the clash, praised Zhang Xing’s willingness to put his ideals into practice, and acknowledged the hope the gang represented.

• Zhang Xing argued that the gang’s reformist principles differed from Zhang Bofeng’s conservative and decentralizing views, and said the gang trusted people to build a better future.
• Zhang Xing argued that decentralization could bring its own abuses and proposed examinations, equal-field policies, unification, and using cultivators to improve public life.
• Zhang Xing said the gang’s goal was to give people dignity, choices, and food, then contrasted its practical work with Zhang Bofeng’s untested ideas.
• Zhang Xing accused hereditary clans of favoring their own interests and argued that examinations and new channels could continually replace entrenched elites.
• Cao Lin suddenly attacked Zhang Xing, prompting the assembled Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters to unleash a huge True Qi vortex; Zhang Bofeng broke it apart and warned Cao Lin against further violence.
• Zhang Bofeng acknowledged that Zhang Xing’s principles were not disproved by debate, praised his courage and practical action, and said the Exorcising the Dragon Gang gave him hope.

After their first battle with Zhou Xingfan’s coalition ended in a stalemate, Li Ding and the Exorcising the Dragon Army’s commanders debated whether to flee or defend their camp. Li Ding chose to stay, while Zhou Xingfan planned to surround them and cut off their supplies, leaving both sides preparing for a prolonged struggle.

• Xu Shiying took over Niu Da’s camp, and Ma Wei sent Wang Xiongdan and Zhou Xingfan to retake the riverside ground from Bai Liben’s troops.
• Wu Jingfeng argued that the army should escape before it was surrounded, while Jia Lanlu and others warned that fleeing could cost them their troops and prospective generals.
• The commanders weighed the risks of holding their position, including their limited provisions, the possibility of outside forces breaking apart, and the danger of being pursued if they withdrew.
• Li Ding decided that the Exorcising the Dragon Army would defend its camp, and the commanders returned to their posts.
• At the Taiyuan-Wuan camp, Zhou Xingfan discussed tightening the encirclement and cutting off the rebels’ supplies, while Jia Lan proposed ordering Yuan Baocun to transport grain.

Li Ding proposed a surprise attack on the Imperial Guard, but Zhang Xing’s gathering of the frontline chiefs rejected the plan under the gang’s rules. The chapter ended with Wang Zhuo offering Duke Niu a vote to decide whether their people would return to the Eastern Capital or go north.

• Li Ding urged Zhang Xing to attack the Imperial Guard on the lower Huan River, while Zhang Xing explained that heavy casualties and surrendered troops could damage the Exorcising the Dragon Gang’s wider growth.
• Zhang Xing summoned the frontline chiefs to Mount Mangdang, where Liu Heihuang campaigned for war and Dan Tonghai argued that the smaller gathering could not easily overturn the gang’s earlier decision.
• Li Ding described the attack plan and Zhang Xing revealed that he had arranged for Know-the-World and the Palace Eunuchs Army to act as insiders against the Imperial Guard.
• The chiefs voted that two-thirds would be needed to amend the larger assembly’s decision, then rejected the attack plan with twenty-two votes in favor; Zhang Xing ordered the troops to follow their previous orders.
• Zhang Shizhao reassured Yu Changnan and Bai Youbin that the gang’s restraint gave him reason to trust its leadership, while Wang Zhuo proposed a vote to Duke Niu on whether their people should go north or return to the Eastern Capital.