Chapter Summaries

After pirates destroyed the Great Ning Navy and seized the fishing fleet, news of the defeat reached the Yang and Zhao Clans. As Yang Dongyu and Zhao Dezhu struggled to respond to reports of tens of thousands of pirates, a skull-flagged ship arrived off the coast.

• Fishermen reported that pirates had wiped out the Great Ning Navy, captured nearly three hundred fishing boats, and killed thousands of men.
• Yang Dongyu learned that Yang Yulong was among those captured, while Zhao Dezhu worried over the clans’ heavy losses.
• Yang Dongyu questioned a fisherman, who estimated that the pirates had three or four hundred ships and tens of thousands of men.
• Yang Dongyu and Zhao Dezhu abandoned plans to confront the pirates themselves and feared the fleet could threaten the Min River region.
• A guard reported that a ship flying a skull flag had arrived off the coast.

Yang Dongyu received the pirates’ ransom demands after they sent him Yang Yulong’s severed finger, then reported the destruction of the navy to the court. Li Anlan was enraged by the attack, but the pirates’ enormous fleet and tower ships left the court questioning whether Great Ning could defeat them.

• Yang Dongyu and Zhao Dezhu reached the shore and saw the pirates’ formidable warships surrounding the coast.
• Guan Hai gave Yang Dongyu a ransom demand and proof of Yang Yulong’s capture by sending him a pouch containing the young man’s severed finger.
• Yang Dongyu learned the Yang Clan owed twenty million guan and ordered ransom preparations while planning to seek imperial support for a new navy.
• An eight-hundred-li express dispatch reported that the pirates had destroyed more than six thousand naval troops, killed General Zhan Shunyu, and detained the fishing fleet.
• Li Anlan kicked over an incense burner in fury, then learned the pirates commanded tens of thousands of men, hundreds of warships, and tower ships.

Li Anlan learned that a powerful fleet of East Sea pirates had devastated Great Ning’s navy and threatened the coast, forcing him to consider how to destroy them. Tan Cheng suggested the pirates were Li Sanjiang, the Prince of Min’s hidden forces, seeking revenge for his death.

• Zhang Zinong warned Li Anlan that the pirates’ tower ships were beyond ordinary pirates’ ability to build and might signal outside support.
• Qin Li urged Great Ning to strengthen its coastal defenses after the navy suffered heavy losses and its commander fell.
• Li Anlan asked Qin Li how to eliminate the pirates, but Qin Li said an attack would be difficult unless they landed on Great Ning’s territory.
• Li Anlan questioned whether the pirates were colluding with Lin Yi, and Qin Li replied that Lin Yi’s Brocade Sail Navy had remained in port.
• Tan Cheng proposed that the pirates were Li Sanjiang’s hidden forces seeking revenge for the Prince of Min’s death, and Li Anlan recognized this as a likely explanation.

Li Anlan responded to the pirate threat by prioritizing coastal defenses, allocating a small ransom fund, and investing in the navy while suspending offshore fishing. In Xiliang, Lin Yi received the system’s rewards for the naval battle and the submission of several opponents, including Huang Gai, Gu Yong, and new ships and shipbuilding resources.

• Qin Li urged Li Anlan to strengthen security in major coastal towns, and Li Anlan approved the plan.
• Li Anlan allocated five million strings of cash toward ransoming fishermen and commoners, announced greater navy investment, and temporarily banned fishing at sea.
• Lin Yi received system notifications for defeating Zhan Shunyu and forcing Yang Yulong, Zhao Feiyun, and Zhang Fang to submit.
• Lin Yi welcomed Gu Yong’s arrival as a capable minister who could govern Sea Liang Island and help temper Guan Yu’s temperament.
• Lin Yi reviewed the naval rewards, including Huang Gai, six thousand Eastern Wu Navy troops, twenty Great Ning warships, and shipbuilding talents.

Lin Yi reviewed new naval commanders, ships, and a sea chart that strengthened Xiliang’s position against Great Ning, then agreed to meet Western Regions kings seeking his protection. The kings waited anxiously at A Restaurant, believing their small kingdoms were too insignificant for him to accept their allegiance.

• Lin Yi assessed Huang Gai, Guan Hai, the centipede ships, and the Great Ning sea chart, and saw how Xiliang’s island bases could threaten Li Anlan’s coastal plans.
• Wang Yue told Lin Yi that several Western Regions kings had invited him to A Restaurant to discuss the region’s future, and Lin Yi agreed to attend with his military adviser.
• The Western Regions kings waited at the restaurant, hoping to pledge allegiance to Xiliang and obtain its protection.
• Tu Xiu told Meng Chihu and the other kings that Lin Yi had shown little interest in his offer because Xiliang was focused on the northern barbarians and their kingdoms were too small to matter.

The six kings of the Western Regions agreed to pledge allegiance to Xiliang, hoping to escape the Frostwest Empire’s neglect and gain the protection and prosperity they had seen there. At a banquet, Tu Xiu told Lin Yi of their decision, and Lin Yi asked whether they understood that this would offend the Frostwest Empire.

• Xue Qianren proposed that several small Western Regions countries pledge allegiance together so they could offer more to Xiliang.
• Meng Chihu and the kings of the other countries agreed to submit to Xiliang, drawn by its strength and its people’s prosperity.
• After hearing that Lin Yi had arrived, the six kings went downstairs to welcome him, and the commoners gathered to greet him too.
• Lin Yi joined the kings for a banquet, where they praised his benevolence and Tu Xiu prepared to make their request.
• Tu Xiu told Lin Yi that the six countries wished to submit to Xiliang, and Lin Yi asked whether they were prepared to offend the Frostwest Empire.

Tu Xiu and the other Western Regions kings pledged their kingdoms to Lin Yi, hoping to survive Xiliang’s eventual expansion. Lin Yi accepted their submission but declared that Xiliang had no vassal states, leaving the kings shocked by the prospect of complete annexation.

• Tu Xiu knelt before Lin Yi, offered the Green Leaf Kingdom’s scepter, and pledged his kingdom as Xiliang’s vanguard.
• Tu Xiu explained that he expected Xiliang to destroy the Northern Region Barbarians and eventually conquer the Western Regions, and asked Lin Yi to spare his people and himself.
• Xue Qianren and the other Western Regions kings followed Tu Xiu’s example, offering their symbols of authority and declaring loyalty to Lin Yi.
• Jia Xu advised Lin Yi to give the kings a chance because their personal attendance showed sincerity, and Lin Yi accepted their submission.
• Lin Yi told the kings that Xiliang had no vassal states, and Jia Xu clarified that their lands and people would belong to Xiliang, leaving them stunned.

Lin Yi secured the submission of the Western Regions kingdoms by establishing the Grand Commandery of the Western Regions and appointing Jia Xu to oversee it. He then received a grand gift pack containing troops, the general Xu Chu, and cold-forged armor.

• Tu Xiu submitted the Green Leaf Kingdom to Xiliang and asked Lin Yi to let his son serve the Xiliang heir.
• Lin Yi accepted the submission, and Meng Chihu and the other kings bowed to him as well.
• Lin Yi established the Grand Commandery of the Western Regions, placed Jia Xu in temporary command, and appointed the kings as commandery governors.
• Lin Yi received one hundred thousand Qing Province Troops, Xu Chu, and cold-forged armor as rewards for securing the kingdoms' submission.
• Lin Yi returned to the Xiliang residence to examine the rewards and discovered the armor was several times stronger than ordinary chain mail.

Lin Yi summoned Xu Chu to command his personal guard and tasked Ma Jun with studying cold-forged armor for mass production. After informing his officers that the Western Regions had been organized as a grand commandery, he announced that Guan Yu had defeated the Great Ning Navy and captured hundreds of fishing boats.

• Lin Yi summoned Xu Chu, appointed him commander of the personal guard, and considered placing him in command of the Modao Battalion.
• Lin Yi showed Ma Jun information about cold-forged armor and asked him to test and improve it for mass production.
• Ma Jun agreed to study the armor and explore whether cold-forging techniques could also improve the modao.
• Lin Yi introduced Xu Chu to Xun Yu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun, then told them he had established the Grand Commandery of the Western Regions.
• Zhang Liao and Gongsun Zan urged harsh action against the Western Regions, but Lin Yi said the region was settled for now under Pang De and Jia Xu.
• Lin Yi announced that Guan Yu had defeated six thousand Great Ning Navy troops, killed commander Zhan Shunyu, and captured more than three hundred fishing boats.

Lin Yi’s disguised pirate force under Guan Yu had destroyed Great Ning’s newly formed navy, leaving Li Anlan to defend its coastline. Lin Yi then worried that Tuoba Wanli might exploit the winter snow to retake Ziwu Road and decided to keep pressure on Great Ning by holding Yang Yulong for ransom.

• Lin Yi’s officials praised Guan Yu’s defeat of the Great Ning Navy and recognized that Sea Liang Island gave Xiliang a way to threaten Great Ning’s coast.
• Lin Yi asked Wang Yue about Tuoba Wanli’s movements and ordered Ma Chao to watch for an attack on Ziwu Road.
• Xun Yu warned that Tuoba Wanli might try to seize the route during the heavy snowfall, and Gongsun Zan promised to rush to Ma Chao’s aid if needed.
• Lin Yi ordered that Yang Yulong not be released without a sufficient ransom, and Wang Yue reported that Li Anlan had offered only five million taels and planned to make the great clans pay the rest.

Princess Shenle explained that Li Anlan’s purges had left him a lonely sovereign, while Lin Yi prepared to leave Xiliang and pursue his plans. In Yulong City, Tuoba Wanli warned that Xiliang’s rise and its control of Tuoba Yu’s former territory threatened the Northern Barbarians, especially if Northern Liang joined an attack.

• Cai Yan asked Princess Shenle what she thought of Li Anlan’s seizure of power and his coming move against Lin Yi, and Shenle said he had alienated the imperial clan and risked empowering Great Ning’s great clans.
• Lin Yi praised Princess Shenle’s insight, joked about her becoming empress, and announced that he and his companions would prepare to leave Xiliang Commandery the next day.
• Lin Yi considered expanding his maritime territory while the Northern Barbarians’ mountain passes were closed by snow, and planned to meet the Little Human Butcher.
• In Yulong City, Tuoba Wanli summoned his sons and the lesser titled kings and told them that Lin Yi’s hundred thousand troops guarded Ziwu Road and Xiliang controlled Tuoba Yu’s former territory.
• The assembled Northern Barbarian leaders warned that Xiliang and Northern Liang could threaten them together, noting Lin Yi’s military strength and the danger of their central gateway being exposed.

Tuoba Wanli’s court debated how to face the threat of Lin Rusong and Lin Yi’s combined forces, and he ordered preparations at Wind and Snow City while secretly planning for a possible retreat. He left his sons with instructions to fight if they could win but withdraw if the war turned against them.

• Tuoba Wanli and his court judged that the Northern Barbarians could not risk fighting Lin Rusong and Lin Yi alone, so he ordered an envoy to pressure Li Anlan into joining them.
• Tuoba Wanli appointed Yelü Dafeng to raise a hundred thousand troops and defend Wind and Snow City, with his three sons assigned to support the front.
• After the court dispersed, Tuoba Qingshan questioned why all three brothers had been assigned away from their father, and Tuoba Wanli explained that they were to preserve supplies and keep a path to retreat open.
• Tuoba Wanli told his sons that they should fight if victory remained possible but withdraw immediately if the situation turned against them.

On Great Wilderness Island, Guan Yu grew tired of Great Ning's delays in paying the hostages' ransom and ordered an attack to make the coastal authorities fear him. His six-thousand-man force reached Hanhai County as its residents faced a ban on fishing, and the chapter ended with stones crashing through the town's barricade and warships launching a barrage.

• Guan Yu and Guan Hai inspected Great Wilderness Island and discussed the expense of feeding and supplying their prisoners.
• After learning that Great Ning was still raising ransom money, Guan Yu ordered preparations to attack a city and chose a small county near the Min River as his target.
• Guan Yu selected six thousand men, small warships, and siege crossbows for the raid on Hanhai County.
• County Commandant Zhou Dayou defended the fishing ban to angry residents and told them to complain to the emperor.
• A huge stone smashed through the barricade, revealing Guan Yu's warships outside as a barrage of stones flew toward Hanhai County.

Guan Yu and Guan Hai’s forces overwhelmed Hanhai County’s defenders, seized the county office, and began confiscating wealth while sparing the common people. The chapter ended with the county magistrate captured carrying gold and silver, as Guan Hai accused him of exploiting the people.

• Zhou Dayou fled to the county magistrate’s defensive line, where the magistrate ordered him to hold position and rode off to seek reinforcements.
• Guan Yu’s archers routed the defenders, and Zhou Dayou and his men fled as Guan Hai led the assault into the county office.
• Guan Yu told civilians to surrender and promised not to harm the poor, then took control of the county office without civilian casualties.
• Guan Yu ordered his men to seal the town, arrest wealthy merchants and landlords from a list, and open the county granary while taking only half.
• Scouts captured the county magistrate as he tried to escape with gold and silver, and Guan Hai accused him of preying on the people.

Guan Yu killed the corrupt county magistrate, gave local commoners grain and permission to fish under the East Sea flag, and declared that his men would not harm ordinary people. After capturing the county commandant Zhou Dayou, Guan Yu stopped Guan Hai from killing him and arranged to give him a chance to survive.

• Guan Yu killed the county magistrate for abandoning the people and ordered his men to hurry back with their spoils.
• Commoners asked to join the pirates, but Guan Yu refused and instead offered them grain and a chance to fish under the East Sea flag.
• Guan Yu told the crowd that his men would not attack ordinary people and explained that they targeted corrupt officials and oppressors.
• Eastern Wu soldiers brought back the captured county commandant Zhou Dayou, who begged for his life after Guan Hai confronted him.
• Guan Yu whispered instructions to Guan Hai, who told Zhou Dayou that he would be given a chance to survive.

Zhou Dayou was forced to carry a letter and pirate flag to the Min River to seek reinforcements, while Yang Dongyu and his allies debated the Skull Pirates’ raid on Hanhai County. Yang concluded the attack was a warning over their unpaid ransom, leaving his region under threat from pirates who controlled the sea.

• Guan Yu cut Zhou Dayou’s finger to write a letter and ordered him to carry it with a pirate flag to the Min River for reinforcements.
• Guan Yu ordered Guan Hai to send someone after Zhou Dayou and kill him if he discarded the flag.
• Yang Dongyu told Zhao Dezhu that Hanhai County had probably already fallen and that rushing to its aid would be futile.
• Ling Feihu called for a way to destroy the pirates, but Zhao Dezhu pointed out that their forces lacked warships and could not catch them.
• Yang Dongyu concluded that the Skull Pirates had attacked Hanhai County to warn them because their ransom had not arrived.

Yang Dongyu and Zhao Dezhu agreed to pay the ransom for Yang Yulong and Zhao Feiyun, while Zhou Dayou reported that Hanhai County had fallen to the pirates. After receiving Guan Yu’s blood-written letter, Yang Dongyu prepared the ransom, and Guan Yu demanded that the exchange take place at sea.

• Yang Dongyu and Zhao Dezhu agreed to arrange the ransom and contact the pirates, while Ling Feihu reluctantly went along.
• Ling Feihu mistook Zhou Dayou, who was carrying a pirate flag, for a pirate and shot at him until Zhou identified himself as Hanhai County’s commandant.
• Zhou Dayou told Yang Dongyu that Hanhai County had fallen, its magistrate had been killed, and the pirates had spared him before handing over Guan Yu’s blood-written letter.
• Yang Dongyu read the letter and sent word that the ransom was ready, asking how to exchange it while ensuring the captives’ safety.
• Guan Hai suggested doubling Yang Yulong’s ransom, but Guan Yu refused and instead ordered that Yang Yulong be charged more for his meals.
• Guan Yu instructed Yang Dongyu to load the supplies onto fishing boats and make the exchange at sea, or there would be no exchange.

Guan Yu’s force returned from raiding Hanhai County without casualties, and he welcomed Gu Yong and Huang Gai as new administrators and naval trainers for Sea Liang Island. After quickly recognizing Gu Yong’s ability, Guan Yu handed him financial and administrative responsibilities, leaving the island better prepared for future operations.

• Guan Yu ordered Guan Hai to load the captured supplies and return to Great Wilderness Island before nightfall, while local commoners came to see the force off.
• Guan Yu and Guan Hai returned safely with their spoils, and Eastern Wu generals told them their lord was sending a capable chief administrator.
• Guan Yu welcomed Gu Yong, who introduced Huang Gai as a naval general sent to train their forces.
• Guan Hai eagerly handed the task of naval training to Huang Gai so he could return to fighting alongside Guan Yu.
• Guan Yu and Gu Yong agreed to speak plainly and work together, and Gu Yong praised the successful raid on Hanhai County.
• Guan Yu entrusted Gu Yong with the finances and some administrative duties after recognizing his ability.

Yang Yulong and Zhao Feiyun learned that their captors planned a large operation and that their families could ransom them, while Gu Yong offered Yang Yulong a chance to serve his lord. At the Min River, Yang Dongyu agreed to pay for the captured clan heirs using supplies, leaving thousands of fishermen out of the ransom.

• Yang Yulong saw hundreds of warships gathered around Great Wilderness Island and feared the pirates were preparing a major operation, while Zhao Feiyun hoped his father would rescue him.
• Gu Yong and Guan Hai visited the prisoners, and Gu Yong offered Yang Yulong a chance to serve his lord after the ransom exchange.
• Gu Yong warned Yang Yulong and Zhao Feiyun that being ransomed might not keep them safe; Yang Yulong rejected Zhao Feiyun's suggestion that he become a pirate strategist.
• Yang Dongyu learned that the ransom exchange would take place at sea and worried that Guan Yu had left him no way to protect Yang Yulong.
• Zhao Dezhu reported that the merchant families had provided the money for their own people, but the fishermen would be left behind; Yang Dongyu accepted the arrangement because the pirates demanded supplies instead of Great Ning copper coins.

After moving into the new Prince of Xiliang's residence, Lin Yi received Princess Qingfeng and Ning Kun’s visiting card and invited them to a banquet. Wang Yue then arrived with news from two urgent carrier-pigeon messages.

• Lin Yi showed Cai Yan and Princess Shenle the glass windows and other features of his new residence.
• Princess Shenle gave Lin Yi Princess Qingfeng’s visiting card and said Ning Kun would come with her.
• Lin Yi invited Princess Qingfeng and Ning Kun to a banquet so he could meet the Little Human Butcher.
• After Cai Yan and Princess Shenle left, Wang Yue reported that two urgent carrier-pigeon messages had brought major news.