Chapter Summaries

Chen Caozhi arrived in Gushu, helped Huan Wen plan the Beifu Army, and advised him against taking Five-Stone Powder. After Li Jingshu visited him, Chen Caozhi confronted her about her past and she prepared to reveal her innermost thoughts.

• Chen Caozhi and his companions arrived in Gushu, where Huan Wen appointed Liu Laozhi and Sun Wuzhong Military Advisers of the Northern Headquarters.
• Huan Shixiu reported on the fighting between Qin and Yan and the rebellions of the four Fus, and Chen Caozhi predicted that the turmoil had weakened Former Qin.
• Chen Caozhi examined Huan Wen and advised him to seek acupuncture and moxibustion treatment and avoid Five-Stone Powder.
• Huan Wen outlined plans to establish the Beifu Army and prepare a Northern Expedition, assigning Huan Xi three thousand elite cavalry to train.
• Li Jingshu visited Chen Caozhi to congratulate him on his marriage, and Chen Caozhi confronted her about her lingering loyalty to the fallen Cheng Han.
• Li Jingshu acknowledged that Chen Caozhi understood her and began to share what she had kept inside.

Li Jingshu tried to seduce Chen Caozhi and was rejected, then left after learning Huan Xi was visiting. Chen Caozhi traveled toward Jingkou with Huan Xi and others, where he heard that Li Jingshu was pregnant with Huan Wen’s child.

• Li Jingshu told Chen Caozhi about her resentment over Cheng Han’s fall, then leaned in to kiss him, and Chen Caozhi slapped her and ordered her to leave.
• Li Jingshu wished Chen Caozhi success in the Northern Expedition and hinted that he might bring the Xianbei Princess Qinghe back as a concubine before Huan Xi arrived.
• Chen Caozhi declined Huan Xi’s banquet invitation and later hosted Huan Xi, Huan Shixiu, and others at a tavern, where Huan Xi drunkenly declared he would claim Princess Qinghe after the expedition.
• Chen Caozhi and Huan Xi boarded a warship for Jingkou with their companions, and Chen Caozhi heard that Li Jingshu was pregnant with Huan Wen’s child.

Huan Xi began rebuilding the Beifu Army in Jingkou while He Qian investigated Yu Xi’s theft of military supplies. After Yu Xi escaped to Hailing and defeated the troops sent to capture him, he agreed to launch a night raid on Jingkou and seize Huan Xi.

• Huan Xi arrived in Jingkou, welcomed Su Qi and Shen Chiqian, appointed Shen Chiqian Household Troops Commander, and promised supplies for his five hundred recruits.
• He Qian reported evidence that Yu Xi had stolen military supplies worth about ten million cash, and Huan Xi sent He Qian and Zuo Lang to Jiankang to seek an arrest edict.
• Huan Xi organized Shen Chiqian’s recruits and dispatched Chen Caozhi, Liu Laozhi, and Su Qi north to recruit more soldiers.
• Yu Xi fled across the river to Hailing with more than a thousand followers before He Qian and Zuo Lang returned with news from Jiankang.
• Yu Xi’s ambush routed Zhou Shaosun and Liu Shi’s two thousand soldiers, and Wu Zun persuaded Yu Xi to raid Jingkou and use Huan Xi as a hostage.

Huan Xi brooded over Chen Caozhi and Li Jingshu, then entertained himself by teaching a courtesan to sing a dirge. Yu Xi’s night attack on Jingkou interrupted him, and after Shen Chiqian’s troops fought the rebels, Huan Xi and his allies withdrew from the city.

• Huan Xi watched Jingkou’s wrestling contests while thinking resentfully about Chen Caozhi’s success and his closeness to Li Jingshu.
• Huan Xi summoned two courtesans, taught one to sing “Hao Li,” and tried to make love to her.
• Bian Dan reported that Yu Xi’s rebels had taken the north gate, so Huan Xi, Bian Dan, Xie Yan, and Shen Chiqian fled toward the southern camp.
• Shen Chiqian led his five hundred Wuxing warriors back toward Jingkou and used their formation to push back Wu Zun’s soldiers.
• Wu Zun shot Huan Xi in the face, but Xie Yan confirmed he had survived; after Yu Xi arrived with reinforcements, Bian Dan ordered a retreat to Qu’a.

Chen Caozhi returned to Jingkou after Yu Xi’s rebellion and helped coordinate the effort to suppress it while guarding against Yuan Zhen’s involvement. After Su Qi intercepted Yu Xi’s son and a secret letter to Yuan Zhen, Xi Yizhi feared Huan Wen would use the evidence to attack Yuan Zhen.

• Shen Chiqian escorted Huan Xi and the others to Qu'a, where Fan Ning and He Qian later reunited with them, and defended his actions during Huan Xi’s angry reprimand.
• The court mobilized troops after learning Jingkou had fallen, while Yu Xi withdrew there and resisted the forces surrounding the city.
• Chen Caozhi traveled through the Two Huai Regions to recruit support from powerful fortified clans, but returned when he learned of Yu Xi’s revolt.
• Chen Caozhi sent Su Qi to intercept messengers traveling toward Shouzhou, then joined Xi Yizhi and Shen Chiqian outside besieged Jingkou.
• Su Qi returned with Yu Youzhi and a secret letter from Yu Xi to Yuan Zhen, leading Xi Yizhi to fear Huan Wen would turn against Yuan Zhen after the rebellion was crushed.

After suppressing Yu Xi’s rebellion, Huan Wen’s forces captured or killed the rebels and executed Yu Xi and several relatives, while Huan Lian secured pardons for her husband and the Yu You household. Yuan Zhen sent his son to Jiankang to affirm his loyalty, and Huan Wen chose not to provoke him as Chen Caozhi had advised; Chen Caozhi and his companions returned to the Liu Clan’s manor.

• Yu Xi’s men burned Jingkou and fled, but Liu Clan soldiers captured Yu Xi, Yu Miao, and their companions on the north bank, while Wu Zun died resisting pursuit.
• Huan Xi, Xie Yan, and Chen Caozhi helped Jingkou’s inhabitants recover, and Huan Xi accepted Chen Caozhi’s proposal to incorporate most of the surrendered rebels into the North Mansion Army.
• Huan Wen ordered Yu Xi, Yu Miao, Yu Youzhi, and two others executed, but pardoned Huan Lian’s husband and the Yu You household after Huan Lian pleaded with him.
• Yu Yun drank poison after learning his brothers had been executed, while Huan Wen spared Yu Yun’s sons.
• Yuan Zhen sent Yuan Jin to Jiankang to declare loyalty and seek a post, and Huan Wen reassured him and sent him back to Shouzhou.
• Chen Caozhi, Su Qi, Liu Laozhi, and their party returned to the Liu Clan’s fortified manor in Xiaxiang County.

Chen Caozhi traveled to Xiapi to persuade Tian Luo, leader of the powerful Lulong Tian Clan, to join the rebuilding North Mansion Army. Tian Luo rejected the appointment at first, but Chen Caozhi challenged his assumptions about the Qin-Yan war and warned that surrendering to Yan would bring him little; the chapter ended with Chen predicting Murong Ke would soon withdraw.

• Tian Luo welcomed Chen Caozhi and his party at Xiapi with a thousand elite soldiers and heard that Chen had come to recruit him for the North Mansion Army.
• Chen Caozhi presented Tian Luo with an imperial decree appointing him General of the Flying Dragon, but Tian Luo refused the commission and offered his guests hospitality instead.
• Chen Caozhi asked Tian Luo about the Qin-Yan war, and Tian Luo predicted that Yan would conquer Guanzhong because Murong Ke and Murong Chui commanded superior forces.
• Tian Luo said his clan would preserve itself by surrendering to Yan if Jin fell, and Chen Caozhi warned that the Xianbei would grant him no better rank than his Jin appointment.
• Chen Caozhi urged Tian Luo to join the resistance and predicted that Murong Ke would withdraw from the campaign within ten days or a fortnight.

Chen Caozhi persuaded Tian Luo and other refugee leaders to join the effort to rebuild the North Mansion Army by predicting Murong Ke’s withdrawal and promising a chance to reclaim their ancestral lands. By the chapter’s end, nineteen fortified-manor leaders had gathered at the Tian Clan Fortified Manor and were receptive to his terms.

• Tian Luo hosted Chen Caozhi and invited refugee leaders from nearby fortified manors to gather and discuss rebuilding the North Mansion Army.
• Chen Caozhi trained Reaching the Sky and Whirling Upward to track soldiers dressed in Xianbei armor, and Liu Laozhi recognized their value as scouts.
• Scouts brought news that Murong Ke had withdrawn, confirming Chen Caozhi’s prediction; Chen said Murong Ke would die before the year’s end and urged Tian Luo to support a Northern Expedition.
• Dai Xun, Guo Quan, and seventeen other refugee leaders arrived at the Tian Clan Fortified Manor, bringing forces that included over two hundred thousand refugees and nearly forty thousand private soldiers.
• Chen Caozhi offered the leaders military ranks and provisions while letting them retain command of their private soldiers, and they responded favorably to joining the North Mansion Army.

Chen Caozhi traveled toward Runan to organize the North Mansion Army while Su Qi hoped to arrange for his sister Su Hui to become Chen’s concubine. Su Daozhi decided to accept the Cai Clan’s marriage proposal instead, unaware that Su Hui had feelings for Chen.

• Chen Caozhi and the refugee leaders agreed that the leaders would recruit troops and bring them to Guangling at the end of the sixth month.
• Su Qi told Chen Caozhi that Su Family Fort could provide a thousand-man unit and privately hoped Chen would marry Su Hui as a concubine.
• The Cai Clan proposed that Su Hui marry Cai Feng’s son, and Zou Shi rejected the idea of her becoming Chen Caozhi’s concubine.
• Su Daozhi watched Su Hui weave brocade and decided to accept the Cai Clan’s proposal rather than give his daughter to Chen as a concubine.
• Su Hui told her maid Qinghu that one person could decipher her palindrome poems, then changed the subject before the maids understood her feelings.

Su Hui learned that her family was considering a match with Cai Tao rather than making her Chen Caozhi’s concubine, while Chen Caozhi recruited the Cai Clan to support the North Mansion Army. The party left Cai Family Fort after Cai Feng pledged soldiers and Chen Caozhi promised to seek the clan’s restoration to the gentry register, then saw someone pursuing them.

• Su Daozhi learned Chen Caozhi’s party would arrive and worried that Su Qi might have offered Su Hui as a concubine; Zou Shi told Su Hui about the Cai Clan’s proposal and the possibility of becoming Chen Caozhi’s concubine.
• Su Hui reacted strongly to the thought of Chen Caozhi taking her as a concubine, but resolved she would not accept that position and grieved over her unreturned feelings for him.
• Su Qi told Su Daozhi he had not yet raised the matter with Chen Caozhi, and learned that his parents and Su Hui opposed it and that Cai Tao had been proposed as a husband for her.
• Chen Caozhi and Su Qi visited Cai Feng at Cai Family Fort, where Chen Caozhi returned the Keting Flute, played for Cai Feng, and gained permission to browse the Cai Clan library.
• Cai Feng agreed to send Cai Guang and three thousand private soldiers to Guangling, while Chen Caozhi promised to petition for the Cai Clan’s restoration to the gentry register.
• As Chen Caozhi, Su Qi, and their party headed northeast from Cai Family Fort, they saw someone pursuing them.

Chen Caozhi secured gifts from Cai Feng, marriage ties with the Su and Wei clans, and thousands of soldiers for the North Mansion Army. After the army grew to nearly sixty thousand and began training, an imperial edict summoned him to the capital to receive his general’s title before his wedding.

• Cai Feng gave Chen Caozhi a hundred ancestral scrolls and the Jiaowei Qin, and Chen Caozhi later finalized his marriage to Su Qi’s family at Su Family Fort.
• Chen Caozhi persuaded Wei Qian to join the North Mansion Army with two thousand private soldiers, then traveled east with Wei Qian, Liu Laozhi, and other clan forces.
• At Hefei, Yuan Zhen welcomed Chen Caozhi’s force and offered support for Huan Wen’s proposed northern expedition.
• Chen Caozhi arrived in Guangling with clan forces, where Huan Wen praised his success and recommended generalships for Chen Caozhi and the other commanders.
• Huan Xi and Huan Shixiu recruited additional clan retinues, bringing the North Mansion Army to fifty-five thousand infantry, while Huan Wen arranged support for its supplies and equipment.
• The North Mansion Army completed its organization, began training with Chen Caozhi’s Crescent Moon Formation, and received an imperial summons for its commanders to travel to the capital for their seals and ribbons.

Chen Caozhi returned to Jiankang after organizing the North Mansion Army and visited his family before going to see Xie Daoyun. He found her recovered from her illness, and their reunion ended with her warmly receiving his concern.

• Chen Caozhi arrived in Jiankang with Huan Shixiu, Tian Luo, Cai Guang, and more than two hundred people after helping organize the North Mansion Army.
• Chen Caozhi reunited with Chen Xian, Ding Youwei, Run'er, and Xiao Chan, who noticed how much traveling had darkened and thinned him.
• Chen Caozhi brought gifts from the Chenliu Cai Clan, including a Jiaowei Qin for Xie Daoyun, and joked with Run'er about whether he favored one fiancée over the other.
• Chen Caozhi visited Xie An and Xie Wan, reported on persuading the Five Great Displaced People Clan Retinues, and then went to see Xie Daoyun.
• Chen Caozhi found Xie Daoyun healthy again, checked her pulse, and reassured her that Heaven had fulfilled their wishes.

Chen Caozhi reunited with Xie Daoyun and Lu Weiwei, then reported on the Beifu Army to Emperor Sima Yu and handled political and clan affairs in Jiankang. He agreed to return to Jingkou by the end of the ninth month and helped Cai Guang learn that the Chenliu Cai Clan remained listed among the gentry.

• Chen Caozhi gave Xie Daoyun the Jiaowei Qin and discussed their future residence in the Chen Clan's Eastern Garden.
• Chen Caozhi visited Lu Na's household, gave Lu Weiwei five scrolls of Cai Yong's calligraphy, and agreed to leave her the West Tower.
• Chen Caozhi reported that he had recruited and organized sixty thousand Beifu troops, and Emperor Sima Yu planned to reward the Northern Headquarters generals.
• Xi Chao urged Chen Caozhi to return to Jingkou promptly, and Chen Caozhi promised to be back by the end of the ninth month.
• Chen Caozhi invited Huan Shixiu and the Northern Headquarters generals to a banquet, then accompanied Cai Guang to consult Jia Bizhi about the Cai Clan's status.
• Jia Bizhi confirmed that the Chenliu Cai Clan remained in the gentry registers, and Chen Caozhi encouraged Cai Guang to begin its revival through official service.

As preparations gathered for Chen Caozhi’s wedding to the Lu and Xie ladies, guests and envoys from across the Three Kingdoms converged on Jiankang. Chen Caozhi discovered that Murong Chong had come with the Yan delegation to judge the beauty of the Lu Clan bride, leaving him concerned that the young prince might disrupt the ceremony.

• Chen Caozhi hosted the Northern Headquarters commanders after receiving his imperial sword, and Huan Shixiu later secured leave from Huan Xi for them to attend the wedding.
• Xie Daoyun played “Flowing Water” for Chen Caozhi and Run'er, then taught Run'er the qin.
• Chen Caozhi’s relatives and guests from the Chen, Qiantang, Kuaiji, Xie, and Wei clans arrived in Jiankang for the wedding.
• Xi Bao arrived from Di Qin with wedding gifts, and Murong Ling led a Yan delegation to Jiankang to attend the ceremony.
• Chen Caozhi recognized Murong Chong among Murong Ling’s attendants and warned Murong Ling that his wedding must proceed without incident.

Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun married Chen Caozhi in an unprecedented ceremony presided over by Empress Dowager Chu, then rode together through Jiankang in a lavish bridal procession. The procession reached the Lu Residence, where Lu Weiwei’s enormous dowry prompted Lady Xie Liu Dan to worry that Xie Daoyun would rank below her, but Xie An reassured her.

• Empress Dowager Chu summoned Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun to Chongde Palace and granted them patents appointing them Chen Caozhi’s Left and Right Wives.
• Chen Caozhi performed the Shared Prisoner Feast and Héjǐn rites with Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun before Empress Dowager Chu, and the two brides left the palace together in a ceremonial carriage.
• As the bridal procession traveled through Jiankang, Ran Sheng stopped Murong Chong from pressing closer to the brides, and Murong Chong angrily vowed in Xianbei that he would someday raze Jiankang.
• The procession reached Hengtang, where Lu Weiwei’s eighty carts of dowry goods and household staff joined it, impressing the crowds.
• Lady Xie Liu Dan worried that the Lu Clan’s larger dowry would make Xie Daoyun rank below Lu Weiwei, but Xie An said wealth would not determine their positions in Chen Caozhi’s household.

Chen Caozhi celebrated his wedding to Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun at the lavish Chen Residence, then learned that Murong Ke’s illness had worsened. After making his way through the wedding feast, he entered the inner courtyard and faced servants from both brides’ households competing to lead him to their towers.

• Chen Caozhi welcomed Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun into the Chen Residence, where they paid respects to the Chen elders and received their respective eastern and western Double-Corridor Towers.
• The Lu and Xie households presented lavish dowries, and Chen Caozhi toasted guests across the thirty-six banquet tents while Ran Sheng and Shen Chiqian secretly served him honey water.
• Murong Ling told Chen Caozhi that Murong Ke’s wasting-thirst had worsened and asked him for a remedy; Chen Caozhi promised to consider it, then told Ran Sheng that Murong Ke’s survival would obstruct their northern expedition.
• Chen Caozhi’s friends joked that he would have trouble choosing between his two brides, while their servants gathered in the inner courtyard to compete for his visit.
• Chen Caozhi entered the inner courtyard, gave wedding money to the Chen children, and saw the Lu and Xie servants waiting to claim him.

On his wedding night, Chen Caozhi faced the choice of which tower to visit after marrying Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun. Both wives set him difficult puzzles, and when he failed to solve either one, he left for his own bedchamber as Run'er sought Ding Youwei's help.

• Chen Caozhi asked Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun to decide which tower he should visit, but both told him to choose for himself.
• Run'er proposed that the wives set questions for Chen Caozhi, and Lu Weiwei sent him the Nine Linked Rings to disentangle within a quarter of an hour.
• Chen Caozhi admitted he could not solve the Nine Linked Rings, and Xie Daoyun then sent him a counting puzzle requiring a clear solution method.
• Chen Caozhi also failed to answer Xie Daoyun's puzzle and left for his Library Tower to sleep.
• Run'er hurried to tell Ding Youwei that Chen Caozhi's wedding night had gone wrong, and Ding Youwei rushed to mediate.

After Chen Caozhi withdrew to the Library Tower on his wedding night, Ding Youwei reconciled him with Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun and sent them to join him. The three completed the wedding rites together, and Chen Caozhi moved to guide his two shy brides as their wedding night began.

• Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun regretted that Chen Caozhi had gone to the Library Tower after both women had refused to receive him.
• Ding Youwei admonished the two brides and led them to the Library Tower to welcome Chen Caozhi back.
• Ding Youwei left Xiao Chan with a promise to settle her matter with Chen Caozhi after they returned to Chen Family Cove.
• Chen Caozhi, Lu Weiwei, and Xie Daoyun exchanged bows, shared wedding wine, and completed the bridal rites with their maids' help.
• Chen Caozhi drew closer to his two blushing wives and told them to set aside their reserve and let him arrange things.

After their wedding, Chen Caozhi and his two wives completed the family rites and began their journey to Qiantang, while Chen Caozhi also cultivated ties with Murong Ling over the Prince of Taiyuan’s illness. Murong Ke died recommending Murong Chui to rule Yan, but the court denied Murong Chui the Grand Marshal post, leaving the Murong clan facing a crisis.

• At dawn, Xie Daoyun and Lu Weiwei woke beside Chen Caozhi, then joined him in paying respects to the Chen elders and Ding Youwei.
• Chen Caozhi, Lu Weiwei, and Xie Daoyun visited the Lu and Xie residences before returning to the Chen Residence that night.
• Three days after the wedding, Chen Caozhi departed for Qiantang with Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun to perform the ancestral rites.
• Chen Caozhi advised Murong Ling to stop Murong Ke’s Five-Stone Powder and cultivated a relationship with him before their journeys north.
• Murong Ke died after urging Murong Wei to entrust Yan’s government to Murong Chui, but the empress dowager and Murong Ping appointed Murong Zang Grand Marshal instead.
• Murong Chui returned disappointed with a lesser appointment, as the Xianbei Murong Clan’s crisis began.

Chen Caozhi returned to Chen Family Cove with Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun, honored his parents, and welcomed his wives into the Chen Clan. With their approval and Ding Youwei’s arrangements, he took Xiao Chan as his concubine before leaving for Jingkou with military affairs awaiting him.

• Chen Caozhi and his family traveled through Wu Commandery, where he visited Lu Shi and continued to Qiantang by way of the newly acquired Xitang Manor.
• Chen Caozhi discussed crop yields and plans to investigate land reclamation with Xie An and Lu Na before returning to Chen Family Cove on the fifth day of the ninth month.
• Chen Caozhi, Lu Weiwei, and Xie Daoyun paid respects at Chen Su and Lady Li’s graves, and Lu and Xie were entered into the Chen Clan genealogy.
• Ding Youwei arranged for Xiao Chan to become Chen Caozhi’s concubine, and Xiao Chan paid respects to the Chen elders and the two wives before spending the night with him.
• Chen Caozhi departed for Jingkou on the tenth day of the ninth month, while Lu Weiwei and Xie Daoyun saw him off and planned to return to Jiankang after the New Year.