Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi explained how the Northern Daily could help establish Xiliang’s influence across the north, then welcomed Ma Chao and the others with plans for a hotpot feast. Bai Zizai formally submitted to Lin Yi as heir and Prince of Xiliang, and Yi Yun quickly followed his example.

• Xun Yu, Zhang Liao, and He Jin praised Lin Yi’s plan to use newspapers to influence public opinion, while Lin Yi said the Northern Daily would focus on Northern Liang and Xiliang.
• Lin Yi ordered He Jin to improve the imperial guards’ fighting ability and learned that Mi Zhu, Jia Xu, and Chen Qun would arrive later by carriage.
• Lin Yi promised Ma Chao and the others an unusual delicacy, and most of them chose super-spicy hotpot while Xun Yu chose medium and Lin Yi chose mild.
• Bai Zizai bowed to Lin Yi on behalf of the Asura Army and declared his submission as Yi Yun watched in surprise.
• Yi Yun knelt and paid his respects to Lin Yi as heir and Prince of Xiliang, prompting Bai Zizai to roll his eyes at his haste.

After Bai Zizai and Yi Yun pledged their loyalty to Lin Yi, the system rewarded him with forty thousand Tiger Warriors Imperial Guards and naval general Gan Xingba with twenty thousand Eastern Wu Navy troops. Lin Yi welcomed the new forces and considered using Gan Xingba to open the Great Ning River shipping route, while Yi Yun remained in service to Lin Yi’s father.

• Lin Yi helped Bai Zizai and Yi Yun rise and accepted their praise and allegiance.
• The system granted Lin Yi forty thousand Tiger Warriors Imperial Guards for Bai Zizai’s allegiance and Gan Xingba with twenty thousand Eastern Wu Navy troops for Yi Yun’s.
• Lin Yi examined the Tiger Warriors’ strength and versatility, then recognized Gan Xingba as a fierce general who could give Xiliang a capable navy.
• Lin Yi considered using Gan Xingba’s naval forces to open the Great Ning River shipping route.
• Yi Yun worried that Lin Yi had taken his words as a request to leave his post, but Lin Yi reassured him that serving Lin Yi’s father was equivalent to serving him.

Lin Yi welcomed Jia Xu, Chen Qun, Mi Zhu, and Gan Ning to his residence and treated them to hotpot. The guests discovered how fiery and delicious it was, and eagerly continued eating despite their tears.

• Lin Yi summoned Gan Ning, who introduced himself as the newly appointed naval general and joked with Chen Qun and Jia Xu.
• Jia Xu, Chen Qun, Mi Zhu, and Gan Ning saluted Lin Yi in the reception hall, where Jia Xu complained about a week of eating dry rations and roast meat.
• Lin Yi announced that he would treat everyone to hotpot, and the maids and guards brought in individual stoves and pots.
• Gongsun Zan tried the extra-spicy hotpot and began crying, while Zhang Liao tasted it and confirmed its intense heat.
• The guests, including Gan Ning, eagerly ate the hotpot despite the tears and numbing spice.

Lin Yi accepted Bai Zizai’s fifty thousand Asura Army soldiers and revealed his plan to attack the Northern Barbarians. Bai Zizai eagerly agreed to join the campaign, leaving Lin Yi with an elite force and a veteran commander for the coming war.

• Bai Zizai and Yi Yun praised Lin Yi for building Xiliang, which he had established without Northern Liang’s soldiers.
• Bai Zizai handed Lin Yi the token to command all fifty thousand Asura Army soldiers.
• Lin Yi accepted the army and asked Bai Zizai to help him with one final task.
• Lin Yi showed Bai Zizai a map marking Northern Barbarian settlements and confirmed he intended to attack them.
• Bai Zizai knelt and volunteered to serve as Lin Yi’s vanguard, and Lin Yi agreed to bring the Asura Army into the campaign.

At an imperial garden meeting, Li Anlan discussed Lu Yafu tutoring the crown prince, but Lu refused to join court politics. A report from Xiliang said Ran Zijin had been killed, and Li Anlan suspected Lin Yi of defying the throne as he questioned the strength of Lin Yi’s forces.

• Li Anlan urged Li Qiankun to learn from Lu Yafu, while the empress proposed appointing Lu as the crown prince’s grand tutor.
• Lu Yafu declined the appointment, citing his poor health and the crown prince’s existing teachers.
• A guard reported that Ran Zijin and his guards had been killed at an inn in Xiliang on the day they arrived.
• Li Anlan summoned Tan Cheng and demanded to know whether Lin Yi had arranged the assassination and whether Wei Tong had also been killed.
• Tan Cheng said Wei Tong had returned to Xiliang to investigate and admitted there was no proof linking Lin Yi to the killings.
• Li Anlan sneered at Lin Yi and asked how strong his forces were, including whether he truly commanded an army of one hundred and fifty thousand.

Li Anlan learned that Lin Yi commanded five powerful legions and nearly 150,000 troops, making him a serious threat to Great Ning. The empress proposed sending Princess Shenle to marry Lin Yi and serve as a safeguard, while Lu Yafu privately noted that Lin Yi was still a child.

• Li Anlan demanded reliable intelligence about Lin Yi's military strength, and urgent news from Wei Tong revealed that Lin Yi commanded five great legions.
• Tan Cheng reported what he had learned about Lin Yi's forces, including that Lin Yi had borrowed Gongsun Zan's White Horse Volunteers and stationed them at Little Pine Mountain.
• Li Anlan concluded that Great Ning needed someone inside Lin Yi's territory and considered recruiting Tan Cheng or Lu Yafu for the role.
• The empress proposed Princess Shenle as a candidate to marry Lin Yi, and Li Anlan approved the plan, believing it would make Lin Yi less likely to act against Great Ning.
• Lu Yafu privately thought the plan was excessive because Lin Yi was still a child.

Li Anlan chose to betroth Princess Shenle to Lin Yi and offer lavish gifts, while considering how to curb the vassal lords. In Xiliang Commandery, Wang Zijin and Wang Zitao arrived to assess Lin Yi and were astonished by the territory’s rapid development.

• Li Anlan dismissed the need to accuse Lin Yi of Ran Zijin’s death without evidence and asked Lu Yafu about the Prince of Shu’s unrest.
• Lu Yafu suggested outside influence, and Tan Cheng backed curbing the vassal domains when Li Anlan pressed him for an opinion.
• Li Anlan ordered Tan Cheng to draft an edict betrothing Princess Shenle to Lin Yi and granting him palace maids, gold, and other treasures.
• Wang Zijin and Wang Zitao entered Xiliang Commandery and found its prosperous streets and towering walls unlike the impoverished place they had expected.
• Zhang Jinyi explained that Xiliang had been destitute when he last visited two years earlier, but had since transformed dramatically.

Wang Zitao and Wang Zijin arrived in Xiliang Commandery and saw how much Lin Yi had improved it, but the locals pelted Wang Zitao with food when he claimed he had visited a brothel with their prince. Turned away from the prefect's residence and told Lin Yi was in Ningchuan Commandery building a royal city, Wang Zijin decided to go there and confront him.

• Wang Zijin and Wang Zitao heard locals praise Lin Yi for defeating bandits and transforming Xiliang Commandery.
• Wang Zitao claimed he was Lin Yi's friend and had visited the Wafting Fragrance Pavilion with him, so the locals pelted him with eggs and vegetables.
• Wang Zitao and Wang Zijin went to the prefect's residence, where a guard refused to let them in and dismissed the Wang Clan's status.
• Wang Zijin claimed she was the future princess consort chosen by the Prince of Northern Liang, but the captain said Lin Yi had to approve of her himself and was in Ningchuan Commandery.
• Wang Zijin decided to travel to Ningchuan Commandery to find out what Lin Yi was doing.

Lin Yi convened Xiliang’s first assembly and rewarded his officers with appointments after declaring the state’s growing population and military strength. He appointed Xun Yu chancellor, assigned key administrative and military posts, and began naming governors for the three commanderies.

• Lin Yi thanked his officers for helping Xiliang become a vassal state with three commanderies, more than five million people, and 450,000 troops.
• Lin Yi promised that merit would be rewarded and wrongdoing punished, then announced that his appointments would take effect under his seal.
• Lin Yi appointed Xun Yu chancellor of Xiliang, and Gongsun Zan and Chen Qun acknowledged Xun Yu’s abilities.
• Lin Yi appointed Chen Qun internal administrator, Jia Xu military adviser, and Mi Zhu finance minister.
• Lin Yi appointed Zhang Liao governor of Xiliang Commandery and Gao Shun its chief administrator, tasking them with developing the rear base and training troops.

Lin Yi assigned commanderies and organized Xiliang into seven main armies, planning a force of more than five hundred thousand troops. He left his followers puzzled by predicting that the Northern Barbarians would soon deliver warhorses to Xiliang.

• Lin Yi appointed Ma Chao governor of South Mountain Commandery and Gongsun Zan governor of Ningchuan Commandery, where Xiliang's future royal capital would stand.
• Lin Yi established seven main armies and assigned Ma Chao, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Gongsun Zan to command the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Formation-Breaking Camp, and White Horse Volunteers.
• Lin Yi appointed Chen Dao to organize the White Feather Soldiers, Qu Yi to command the Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors, and Gan Ning to train the Brocade Sail Navy.
• Chen Qun warned that Xiliang lacked enough warhorses for its planned military expansion, and Ma Chao offered to raid the Northern Barbarians for them.
• Lin Yi said the armies could train gradually and predicted that the Northern Barbarians would soon deliver warhorses, leaving everyone confused.

Lin Yi and his advisers discussed how high-yield sweet potatoes and potatoes could secure food and attract the Northern Barbarians into trading horses. After reviewing Xun Yu’s development plan, Lin Yi decided Xiliang should control commerce itself to keep merchants from threatening the commandery.

• Chen Qun said his test pot of potatoes suggested a yield of three thousand jin per mu, and Xun Yu realized the crops could persuade the Northern Barbarians to trade.
• Lin Yi revealed that Mi Zhu had opened a western route to import warhorses and said Xiliang would focus on training and developing its industries.
• Xun Yu presented plans for agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, commerce, and military manufacturing, with merchants driving development.
• Lin Yi warned that merchants could sell out Xiliang for profit and said their growth needed safeguards.
• Lin Yi declared that Xiliang would become the biggest merchant, using its seven legions to ensure merchants followed its lead.

Lin Yi outlined plans to encourage invention and protect commoners’ interests, assigned Xun Yu and Jia Xu responsibilities for Xiliang’s development and military strategy, and discussed the Northern Daily with Cai Yan. The newspaper went on sale across Xiliang, where its first readers learned about its editor and contents.

• Lin Yi proposed confidential protection for inventions and rewards such as official posts, honors, and money, while urging his advisers to safeguard the common people’s interests.
• Lin Yi assigned Xun Yu to plan Xiliang’s development and Jia Xu to oversee strategy, including training the seven army corps to suppress bandits.
• Jia Xu suggested targeting the Northern Barbarians’ water and pasture, but Lin Yi told him to leave them alone while they fought Great Ning.
• Lin Yi asked Cai Yan about the newspaper, praised her work on the Northern Daily, and offered Wang Yue’s Net to help gather news.
• Newspaper boys began selling the Northern Daily for five copper coins, and a scholar and others asked about the paper and Cai Yan.

Wang Zitao and Wang Zijin read Lin Yi’s newspaper and discovered his ambitious plans for Xiliang and a promised investment of one hundred million strings of cash. The crowd embraced the incentives and tax exemptions, while the Wang siblings were left stunned by Lin Yi’s wealth and influence.

• Merchants bought newspapers after hearing about Xiliang’s preferential policies and tax exemptions.
• Wang Zitao bought ten copies, and Wang Zijin began reading an article describing Lin Yi’s vision for Xiliang.
• Wang Zijin warned that the newspaper could win the people’s loyalty for Lin Yi at the expense of the emperor.
• Wang Zitao dismissed Lin Yi’s promises about prosperity and crop yields as outrageous boasting, while Zhang Jinyi praised the ambition behind them.
• Wang Zijin, Wang Zitao, and Zhang Jinyi were shocked by the report that Lin Yi would invest one hundred million strings of cash in Xiliang.
• The crowd praised Lin Yi’s subsidies and tax exemptions, and one merchant said the Brocade Sail Navy could protect deep-sea fishing vessels from pirates.

Wang Zitao and Wang Zijin reacted to Lin Yi’s ocean-fishing subsidies and newspaper, then went to the Prince of Xiliang’s residence so Wang Zijin could meet Cai Yan. Bai Zizai learned that Wang Zijin claimed to be Lin Yi’s future princess consort and went out to confront her.

• Xiliang’s common people and Wang Zitao grew eager to join the profitable ocean-fishing trade, while Wang Zijin suspected Lin Yi had another motive.
• Wang Zijin studied the newspaper’s pinyin and contents, then asked about Cai Yan, its editor-in-chief, and decided to visit the prince’s residence.
• Wang Zitao told the guards that Wang Zijin was Lin Yi’s future princess consort, but they made the visitors wait while seeking instructions.
• A guard informed Bai Zizai that Wang Zijin had arrived, and Bai recognized her as Wang Yining’s daughter before dismissing her claim and heading outside.

Bai Zizai humiliated Wang Zijin and her brother when they arrived at the Prince of Xiliang’s residence, insisting that Wang Zijin enter through the side gate. Lin Yi then learned that the Prince of Northern Liang had ordered him to decide Wang Zijin’s fate and forbidden the Wang Clan from leaving Northern Liang, but he remained uncertain about the old man’s motives.

• Bai Zizai demanded proof of Wang Zijin’s claim to be the future princess consort, then declared that she was not worthy of Lin Yi unless Lin Yi favored her.
• Bai Zizai insulted the Wang Clan and ordered Wang Zijin to enter the residence through the side gate, while keeping Wang Zitao outside.
• Wang Zijin accepted the side gate after Zhang Jinyi urged her not to provoke the Prince of Xiliang, then asked a maidservant about Lin Yi’s tastes and temper.
• Zhang Long and Zhao Hu reunited with Lin Yi and told him that the Prince of Northern Liang had left Wang Zijin’s fate to him and ordered that no Wang Clan member leave Northern Liang.
• Lin Yi considered why the Prince of Northern Liang was keeping the Wang Clan in Northern Liang, but concluded that the clan seemed too insignificant to affect the larger situation.

Lin Yi met Wang Zijin after she came to Xiliang to plead for her clan, and made clear that her status and marriage offer meant little to him. He offered to spare the Wang Clan of Central Shu only if it became his pawn.

• Lin Yi learned that Wang Zijin had arrived and went to the reception hall to see her.
• Wang Zijin accused Lin Yi of humiliating her, and he told her that she and her clan held little power against him.
• Wang Zijin begged Lin Yi to spare the Wang Clan and offered to marry him.
• Lin Yi demanded that the Wang Clan of Central Shu become his pawn in exchange for a chance at survival.
• Wang Zijin collapsed into her chair as she realized Lin Yi could decide her clan's fate.

Lin Yi put Wang Zijin under Cai Yan’s authority in the prince’s residence and discussed the Wang Clan’s political value. He then revealed to Bai Zizai that he planned to make a move after the coming battle, leaving the target unstated.

• Lin Yi urged Wang Zijin to ask her father whether the Wang Clan would cooperate with him, and she agreed that she needed to consult him.
• Lin Yi appointed Cai Yan to manage the inner courtyard, with Haitang assisting her, and told her to enforce the rules.
• After Haitang explained Wang Zijin’s situation, Cai Yan declared that Wang Zijin would serve in the inner courtyard and learn its rules.
• Lin Yi told Bai Zizai that Wang Zijin was now a maid under Cai Yan’s supervision, then gave him a map and asked him to return command of the Asura Army after the battle.
• Bai Zizai realized Lin Yi was preparing to act, but did not know who his target would be.

Lin Yi told Bai Zizai that Xiliang and Northern Liang would gather 300,000 troops to destroy the Northern Barbarians next spring, after Great Ning and the barbarians weakened each other. Bai Zizai agreed to keep the plan secret and proposed taking the Jushi Kingdom and Shachi Kingdom to secure hundreds of thousands of warhorses.

• Bai Zizai learned that Lin Yi planned to deploy 300,000 troops along multiple routes to wipe out the Northern Barbarians.
• Lin Yi revealed that he had occupied Tuoba Yu’s home base and made Ziwu Road a troop transport route.
• Lin Yi said the invasion would begin next spring, after Great Ning and the Northern Barbarians had worn each other down and the barbarians’ horses had endured winter.
• Bai Zizai promised to keep the plan secret, feed his warhorses through winter, and coordinate routes with Jia Xu.
• Bai Zizai suggested conquering the Jushi Kingdom and Shachi Kingdom for their warhorses, claiming the Asura Army could defeat their forces of fewer than 50,000 troops.

Lin Yi committed a hundred thousand troops to conquer the Jushi Kingdom and the Shachi Kingdom, securing the Western Regions trade route and striking at Li Anlan’s influence. After Bai Zizai set out to prepare for war, Lin Yi ordered Jia Xu, Gongsun Zan, and Qu Yi to coordinate the attack and went to inspect a fearsome new weapon made by Gong Yuliang.

• Lin Yi assigned Bai Zizai’s Asura Army thirty thousand White Horse Volunteers and twenty thousand Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors to conquer the Jushi Kingdom and the Shachi Kingdom.
• Bai Zizai eagerly accepted the command and left to gather his troops for a swift campaign.
• Wang Yue told Lin Yi that Bai Zizai had handed over the Asura Army on his own initiative and seemed desperate for a major battle.
• Lin Yi ordered Wang Yue to notify Jia Xu and have Gongsun Zan and Qu Yi dispatch troops to attack the two kingdoms.
• Wang Yue reported that Gong Yuliang had created something that frightened Qu Yi, so Lin Yi went to inspect it.

Lin Yi discovered that Gong Yuliang had developed an exceptionally powerful crossbow, which he identified as the Divine Arm Bow and tested himself. The weapon pierced two trees and broke the first, leaving Lin Yi and his generals impressed by its destructive force.

• Lin Yi arrived at the Heavenly Craft Workshop and found Qu Yi and Gao Shun arguing over who would receive the powerful crossbows.
• Qu Yi explained that the crossbow could hit targets over three hundred meters away and pierce armor, prompting Lin Yi to summon Gong Yuliang.
• Gong Yuliang demonstrated the crossbow and explained that it required great strength to draw and could pierce cattle, horses, and trees.
• Lin Yi recognized the weapon as the Divine Arm Bow and named it, while Gong Yuliang accepted the name.
• Lin Yi drew the Divine Arm Bow and shot through one tree into a second, causing the first tree to break apart.