Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi assessed the generous rewards for exploring and conquering Sea Liang Island, then received news that Li Mingzhu had poisoned the emperor’s spies and other threats. The system rewarded her actions and recognized her as Lin Yi’s legal spouse by imperial decree, leaving Lin Yi surprised by the rewards, especially Lü Qiling.

• Lin Yi reviewed the ocean-exploration rewards, including a navy, a shipyard, fishing boats, supplies, and one hundred thousand island residents.
• Lin Yi judged the island-conquest rewards modest but saw the Ocean Plan as a way to steadily gain territory, people, and resources.
• Lin Yi noticed that grain merchant Hong Xi had produced two rewards and considered having Wang Yue investigate him.
• The system announced that Li Mingzhu had poisoned Xiao He, palace threats, and hidden crew members, earning troops, palace maids, antidotes, guards, and a medical compendium.
• Lin Yi challenged the system for calling Li Mingzhu his legal spouse, and it explained that the emperor’s decree counted as law while Lin Yi belonged to the Great Ning faction.
• Lin Yi learned Princess Shenle’s name was Li Mingzhu and marveled that the rewards included Lü Bu’s daughter, Lü Qiling.

Lin Yi assigned Lü Lingqi to protect his future residence, ordered an investigation into the mysterious grain merchant Hong Xi, and received Princess Shenle into the household. Cai Yan asserted her authority over the new arrivals and had Wang Zijin wash Lin Yi’s feet, leaving Wang Zijin awkwardly serving him as a maid.

• Lin Yi decided Lü Lingqi would guard the residence and its women, then ordered the Compendium of Materia Medica sent to the chancellor for study.
• Lin Yi noticed Hong Xi had triggered unusual rewards and ordered the Net to investigate the grain merchant discreetly.
• Cai Yan and Princess Shenle exchanged cautious, polite words after arriving at the rear courtyard, while Wang Zijin realized how far above her the princess stood.
• Cai Yan sent Haitang to attend Princess Shenle’s bath and assigned Wang Zijin to wash Lin Yi’s feet.
• Wang Zijin brought Lin Yi a foot basin and clumsily washed his feet while he watched her technique.

Lin Yi postponed Princess Shenle’s wedding and told Cai Yan to keep watch over her, while Wang Zijin was sent away as he discussed the newspaper with Cai Wenji. Across the Great Ning River, Li Ke and Wang Yunze arranged to use warships for ocean fishing, until Eunuch Ran reminded them that Princess Shenle’s ship was still missing.

• Lin Yi told Cai Yan to announce Princess Shenle’s arrival as a visit, postpone the wedding, and monitor her despite her having poisoned more than thirty people and killed her maid.
• Lin Yi teased Wang Zijin about her inexperience, sent her away after she washed his feet, and stayed with Cai Wenji to discuss the newspaper.
• Li Ke and Wang Yunze watched Lin Yi’s fishing fleet unload its catch, and Wang Yunze complained that Gan Ning had demanded protection money from his boats.
• Li Ke offered his warships as escorts for ocean fishing, and Wang Yunze agreed to give him fifty percent of the profits.
• Eunuch Ran asked why Princess Shenle’s ship had not returned, and Li Ke awkwardly claimed they had been watching for it.

Eunuch Ran and the officials learned that Princess Shenle had poisoned the people accompanying her, while she remained unharmed. Li Ke refused to interfere in the matter, and Wang Yunze discovered the princess had claimed his warship as her dowry.

• A messenger told Li Ke that everyone sent with the princess, including her maid Xiao He, had died, but Princess Shenle was safe.
• The messenger reported that Princess Shenle had poisoned them after they offended her, and Eunuch Ran hurried back to the capital to inform the emperor.
• Li Ke said the matter was beyond their authority and told Wang Yunze to focus on Wuning Commandery and making money.
• Wang Yunze learned that Princess Shenle had kept his warship as part of her dowry.
• After Li Ke left, Wang Yunze rebuked the officials who criticized the governor and explained the importance of Wuning Commandery.

Wang Yunze warned Wuning Commandery’s leaders not to provoke Lin Yi and promised to handle Liu Ziyi’s attack on the Net. In the capital, Liu Ziyi reported his success to Li Anlan and revealed the Net’s carrier pigeons, leaving the emperor astonished by Lin Yi’s methods.

• Wang Yunze reassured Wuning Commandery’s leaders that Lin Yi would leave them alone if they did not provoke him.
• A young guard told the group that Liu Ziyi had raided the Net’s strongholds in Wuning Commandery, alarming them.
• Wang Yunze ordered everyone to stay out of the matter and said he would handle Liu Ziyi’s actions.
• Liu Ziyi told Li Anlan that he had crippled the Net in Great Ning and discovered its use of birds to send messages.
• Li Anlan wondered if Lin Yi was a god descended to earth, while Liu Ziyi explained that the birds were domesticated carrier pigeons.

Li Anlan focused on obtaining homing pigeons and questioned whether Princess Shenle had betrayed him after hearing she poisoned her companions. The next morning, Lin Yi learned that Liu Ziyi had destroyed several of his outposts, disrupting the Net’s intelligence network.

• Li Anlan realized Lin Yi’s Net might have relied on homing pigeons and ordered Liu Ziyi to find some for imperial intelligence.
• Li Anlan rewarded Liu Ziyi’s mother with a fourth-rank title, and Liu Ziyi pledged his loyalty.
• Li Anlan ordered captured Net members kept in jail and told Liu Ziyi to question them about homing pigeons.
• A guard reported that Princess Shenle had poisoned her companions, including Xiao He and the crew, and Li Anlan summoned Eunuch Ran to explain what had happened.
• Eunuch Ran recounted his observations, leaving Li Anlan uncertain whether Shenle remained loyal to him.
• The next morning, Wang Yue told Lin Yi that Liu Ziyi had wiped out several outposts, forcing the rest of the Net into hiding and interrupting the flow of information.

Lin Yi learned that Liu Ziyi’s searches had exposed members of the Net and ordered a rescue while introducing coded messages to protect their communications. An unsigned letter revealed Liu Ziyi’s identity and supplied a prison map, leading Lin Yi to suspect Wuning’s chief administrator, Wang Yunze, was seeking cooperation over ocean fishing.

• Wang Yue told Lin Yi that Liu Ziyi had sealed off two commanderies and arrested strangers, exposing members of the Net and costing them carrier pigeons.
• Lin Yi ordered Liu Ziyi killed and the Net’s arrested people rescued, then suggested hiding messages in books to prevent intercepted communications from being read.
• Gan Ning brought Lin Yi an unsigned letter that identified Liu Ziyi as an illegitimate son of the Liu Clan and included a map of Wuning Commandery’s prison.
• Lin Yi told Wang Yue to investigate the letter and concluded that its writer was offering goodwill rather than setting a trap.
• Gan Ning revealed that a man identifying himself as a member of the Wang Clan had earlier tried to take advantage of their unloading, and Wang Yue identified him as chief administrator Wang Yunze.
• Lin Yi explained that Wang Yunze had refused promotion to commandery governor because remaining second-in-command kept him safer.

Lin Yi explained why Li Ke used greed to protect himself from suspicion, while Wang Yue went to finish off Liu Ziyi. Reports of the Brocade Sail Navy’s ocean-fishing profits stirred Ningchuan Commandery, and the Song Clan began considering joining the venture.

• Wang Yue told Lin Yi and Gan Ning that Li Ke openly extorted money and had forced out Zhang Ci’s cousin to install his own registrar, Cheng Yiming.
• Lin Yi explained that Li Ke’s greed made him seem less threatening to Li Anlan, and Gan Ning said he had learned to sully his own reputation.
• Wang Yue left for the Great Ning River to finish off Liu Ziyi.
• Newspaper reports of the Brocade Sail Navy’s valuable catch and the profits from ocean fishing excited Ningchuan’s merchants and great clans.
• Song Huizu asked Song Yuming to let him abandon the Western Regions trade routes and fish at sea, citing a man in his employ who had caught at least two thousand jin on a medium-sized boat.

Song Huizu secured fishing boats from Song Yuming, while Wang Yunze quietly began recruiting investors and fishermen for ocean fishing. That night, the Net breached Wuning Commandery’s prison with a thunderous blast, and Wang Yunze saw the prison wall reduced to rubble.

• Song Yuming agreed to provide Song Huizu with ten fishing boats and another fifty on behalf of the clan.
• Wang Yunze gathered investors, supplies, and fishermen while keeping his ocean-fishing plans discreet.
• Wang Yunze’s steward reported that one or two thousand plainclothes men had come ashore, so Wang ordered the clan gates closed and its guards to patrol.
• A thunderous blast struck Wuning Commandery’s prison, and the fighting there ended within minutes as the Net freed the prisoners.
• Li Ke summoned Wang Yunze to the prison, where Wang and his steward saw that the wall had been blasted away.

Li Ke investigated the prison’s destruction and the escape of its prisoners while Li Anlan learned of Lin Yi’s enormous ocean catch and considered using the navy to enter the fishing business. Zhan Shunyu refused to accept being sent to catch fish and asked to retire.

• Li Ke learned that the prison had been destroyed, its guards killed, and its prisoners freed, while the injured Li Songshan described attackers who claimed to act on behalf of justice.
• Li Ke suspected the Net and ordered Wang Yunze to recover the escaped prisoners as he prepared to report the incident to the emperor.
• Liu Ziyi and Eunuch Ran confirmed to Li Anlan that Lin Yi’s fleet had caught more than a hundred thousand jin of fish in one haul.
• Li Anlan decided the imperial family should share in ocean-fishing profits and summoned Zhan Shunyu and Zhang Zinong.
• Li Anlan asked whether the navy could undertake ocean fishing, and Zhan Shunyu removed his helmet, refused the assignment, and asked to retire.

Li Anlan agreed to let Zhan Shunyu take the navy ocean fishing after hearing about Lin Yi’s enormous catch, but the navy lacked seaworthy ships and the Privy Treasury was occupied with the northern war. Zhang Zinong proposed involving the aristocratic families, and Li Anlan decided they should contribute.

• Zhan Shunyu initially refused to fish, but changed his mind after Liu Ziyi described Lin Yi’s hundred-thousand-jin catch.
• Zhan Shunyu asked Li Anlan for large ships because the navy’s warships were too old for ocean voyages.
• Zhang Zinong told Li Anlan that the Privy Treasury could not build ships while supplying the northern war.
• Li Anlan ordered Liu Ziyi to investigate where Lin Yi had obtained his warships and warned that Lin Yi’s growing strength threatened Great Ning.
• Zhang Zinong proposed that the aristocratic families fund or undertake the fishing venture, and Li Anlan agreed they should contribute.

Emperor Li Anlan tried to draw the great clans into ocean fishing and pressure the Prince of Min into rushing to Great Wasteland Commandery, while the escape of the Net’s prisoners enraged him. Liu Ziyi set out for Wuning Commandery with authority to mobilize its troops, as a band of Net assassins waited on the road to ambush him.

• Li Anlan told Zhang Zinong to invite the great clans into ocean fishing, hoping to divert their attention from court affairs and Lin Yi.
• Li Anlan learned the Prince of Min would take two more days to reach Great Wasteland Commandery and ordered Zhang Zinong to pressure him publicly in the name of the realm.
• A report arrived that the Net’s prisoners had been rescued after Wuning Commandery’s prison was destroyed, and Li Anlan blamed the commandery’s lax defenses.
• Li Anlan gave Liu Ziyi a command arrow and sent him to investigate the prison break and mobilize Wuning Commandery’s troops.
• A band of Net assassins disguised as brigands waited on the road from Wuning Commandery to the capital for Liu Ziyi to arrive.

Wang Yue’s men ambushed Liu Ziyi and his escort, and Liu Ziyi died after being trapped and outnumbered. Back at the Prince of Xiliang’s residence, Mi Zhu warned that the flood of money and applicants for ocean fishing was becoming difficult to manage.

• Wang Yue waited for Liu Ziyi, expecting him to come investigate the destroyed prison and the Net.
• Wang Yue’s forces ambushed Liu Ziyi’s cavalry with a volley of arrows, killing several men and surrounding the survivors.
• Liu Ziyi ordered a breakout, but Wang Yue’s men blocked the road and closed the encirclement.
• Liu Ziyi accused Wang Yunze and Li Ke of ruining his mission, then killed himself; his remaining men followed, and Wang Yue left their bodies behind.
• At the Prince of Xiliang’s residence, Mi Zhu and Chen Qun struggled to register the aristocratic families seeking a share in ocean fishing.
• Mi Zhu told his lord that the growing pile of money and the space needed to store it had become a problem.

Lin Yi ordered Mi Zhu to establish the Xiliang Bank and issue counterfeit-resistant paper currency, while Xun Yu drew people from Youning Commandery and Great Wasteland Commandery into Xiliang’s ocean-fishing venture. Yingge then reported that Jia Xu’s forces had breached the Jushi Kingdom’s defenses and were advancing through its heartland.

• Lin Yi proposed waterproof banknotes and regional banks to make large transactions easier and prevent counterfeiting.
• Lin Yi assigned Mi Zhu to produce the currency and establish the Xiliang Bank through the Ocean Plan.
• Xun Yu explained that he had recruited people from Youning Commandery and Great Wasteland Commandery, and Lin Yi recognized his plan to win their support through profit.
• Yingge reported that Jia Xu, General Bai, and their forces had broken through the Jushi Kingdom’s front line and entered its heartland.
• Lin Yi expected the Shachi Kingdom to send aid and welcomed the chance for his army to gain battle experience.

Lin Rusong arrived after Xiliang’s army had routed the Jushi Kingdom’s forces and learned that it had already reached the capital. As the Jushi king waited for Shachi reinforcements, Lin Rusong’s troops began collecting the captured Great Ning equipment.

• Lin Rusong and Wang Ziwen reached the battlefield after Xiliang’s army had crushed the Jushi Kingdom’s forces, and Wu Di explained that the White Horse Volunteers had broken through using blitzkrieg tactics.
• Wu Di told Lin Rusong that Xiliang’s army had advanced to the Jushi Kingdom’s capital and offered him the captured equipment to collect.
• Wang Ziwen pointed out that the equipment was made by Great Ning, so Lin Rusong ordered his men to gather it despite grumbling about Li Anlan.
• The Jushi king asked General Tu’er whether Shachi reinforcements had arrived, and Tu’er said thirty thousand troops were on the way.
• Tu’er recalled how Xiliang’s army had shattered his twenty thousand soldiers with a swift assault and a barrage of arrows.

The king of the Jushi Kingdom sought peace with Xiliang while appealing to other Western Regions kingdoms for help. Jia Xu placated Bai Zizai by promising him the decisive battle, then secretly ordered Yan Gang to defeat the enemy before the Asura Army could act.

• The king of the Jushi Kingdom learned that the approaching White Horse Volunteers belonged to the Prince of Northern Liang and suspected his kingdom’s mistreatment of merchants had provoked the attack.
• The king ordered envoys to offer Xiliang compensation and ask other Western Regions kingdoms to oppose its advance.
• Bai Zizai complained that Jia Xu had placed the Asura Army at the rear, and Jia Xu convinced him that he was being saved for the decisive battle.
• Yan Gang and the others praised Bai Zizai, who eagerly began preparing the Asura Army to capture the capital and advance on the Shachi Kingdom.
• After Bai Zizai left, Jia Xu secretly told Yan Gang to defeat the enemy before the Asura Army could act, saying Bai Zizai’s pent-up anger would make him more formidable.

Jia Xu explained the military souls of the Asura Army, White Horse Volunteers, and Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors, then assigned Yan Gang a secret mission. When the Jushi Kingdom offered peace and compensation, Jia Xu rejected it and ordered the envoy sent away as Xiliang prepared to destroy them.

• Jia Xu told Yan Gang that he was keeping Old Master Bai from fighting to rekindle the Asura Army's spirit of vengeance.
• Yan Gang declared that the White Horse Volunteers would follow righteousness through life and death, and Zou Yi said the Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors lived by “Either you die or I do.”
• Jia Xu praised the Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors and gave Yan Gang a brocade pouch containing a difficult mission.
• Jia Xu concluded that challenging the generals had awakened the armies, then heard that the Jushi Kingdom had sent an envoy offering peaceful coexistence.
• Jia Xu rejected the Jushi Kingdom's offer of one million strings of coins and ordered the guard to send its envoy away and tell the kingdom to await destruction.

The Jushi Kingdom’s king and ministers realized Lin Yi intended to conquer their kingdom, and they hoped to hold out seven days for reinforcements. At dawn, Lin Yi’s forces assembled siege equipment outside the city but did not attack, leaving the defenders and Lin Rusong puzzled.

• The Jushi Kingdom’s envoy returned after Lin Yi rejected the million strings of cash, and the king blamed the third prince for provoking the invasion.
• Tu'er warned that Lin Yi wanted the entire kingdom, and the king learned that only thirty thousand Shachi Kingdom troops had arrived while Great Ning and the Frostwest Empire had yet to respond.
• The king urged his ministers to hold out for seven days, trusting that reinforcements might come and Great Ning would not abandon them.
• At dawn, the Jushi Kingdom’s defenders spotted Lin Yi’s army and siege equipment outside the city and prepared for an attack that did not begin.
• Lin Rusong grew impatient that Jia Xu’s forces had assembled but still had not stormed the city, while Wang Ziwen observed his anxiety.

Jia Xu revealed that he had sent Yan Gang and twenty thousand White Horse Volunteers to attack the undermanned Shachi Kingdom while the main force prepared to assault the Jushi Kingdom. Yan Gang launched a predawn cavalry raid, and the chapter ended with the White Horse Volunteers charging toward a major city.

• Lin Rusong and Wang Ziwen realized that Jia Xu had likely sent the missing White Horse Volunteers to invade the Shachi Kingdom and went to seek answers.
• Jia Xu told Bai Zizai that Yan Gang had taken twenty thousand White Horse Volunteers to the Shachi Kingdom and assured him they could conquer it.
• Jia Xu promised Bai Zizai that the Asura Army would join the attack on the Jushi Kingdom after the Vanguard Dare-to-Die Warriors seized its battlements.
• Before dawn, Yan Gang's White Horse Volunteers surprised the Shachi Kingdom's outer guards and slaughtered them.
• Yan Gang ordered his cavalry to charge toward the nearest major city, alerting the Shachi Kingdom to the attack.

Yan Gang led the White Horse Volunteers in a rapid assault that breached the Shachi Kingdom’s defenses and seized its capital in just over two hours. The kingdom surrendered, and Yan Gang ordered its takeover while sending word that the campaign was complete and directing pressure against Jushi.

• Mu Yun ordered his troops to defend the city, but Yan Gang sent armored cavalry to plant explosive charges while the White Horse Volunteers covered them with arrows.
• The charges destroyed much of the city wall and opened the gate, allowing the White Horse Volunteers to storm the city as Mu Yun fled toward the palace.
• The White Horse Volunteers continued their advance and captured all three of the Shachi Kingdom’s main cities before reaching the royal capital in just over two hours.
• The Shachi Kingdom’s king offered to submit to the Prince of Xiliang, but Yan Gang rejected him and ordered the kingdom taken over.
• Yan Gang ordered the king imprisoned, the other royal family members eliminated, and the remaining enemy forces cleared out, then sent for the Net and ordered a cavalry unit to harass Jushi’s rear.