Chapter Summaries

Ma Chao and the others learned that Zhuo Feifan had plotted with the Northern Region's barbarians, while Wang Yue revealed that the Net had captured Zhuo Feifan's family. After Lin Yi's forces swept Xiliang Commandery, Yi Yun decided to reveal his identity and seek an audience with the heir.

• Ma Chao ordered his men to find a survivor and learn what Zhuo Feifan had planned with the barbarians.
• Wang Yue brought back the Zhuo Clan members the Net had captured while they tried to escape.
• Wang Chengfei realized the heir might have known about Zhuo Feifan's scheme and feared Lin Yi was playing a grand game.
• Lin Yi's forces destroyed Carefree Mountain Manor and eliminated the factions that threatened Xiliang Commandery.
• Yi Yun and Zhao Sifang discussed whether the heir needed their protection, and Yi Yun decided to ask Senior Bai to introduce them to Lin Yi.

At the Bai estate, Old Master Bai rejected the frightened locals who wanted him to oppose the heir, then discussed the heir’s growing power with Yi Yun. Yi Yun learned that the Net had expanded to nearly ten thousand people in Xiliang Commandery, leaving him stunned by the heir’s reach.

• Several people begged Old Master Bai to stop the heir, but he had his guards drag them away for opposing Northern Liang’s successor.
• Yi Yun arrived and praised Old Master Bai’s handling of the petitioners, then asked to discuss matters with him.
• Old Master Bai told Yi Yun that the heir had grown capable enough to protect himself and that the Net was watching the Northern Liang Guard.
• Old Master Bai revealed that he had discovered the Net before the heir arrived in Xiliang Commandery and had allowed it to operate after learning it belonged to the heir.
• Old Master Bai said the Net had grown from a few dozen members to nearly ten thousand, astonishing Yi Yun.

White Asura approved of Lin Yi’s purge and ordered the remaining dangerous forces in Xiliang Commandery eliminated, hoping to protect the potato and sweet potato crops. Meanwhile, Lin Yi received system rewards for conquering bandits and tribes and bringing the three great clans to heel.

• White Asura told Yi Yun that he planned to stay in Xiliang Commandery to watch the potatoes and sweet potatoes grow.
• After Yi Yun left, White Asura ordered Bai Yun to wipe out the remaining forces on his Blacklist and give their land and money to Lin Yi.
• Lin Yi received system rewards for conquering the Great Mountain Tribe and destroying the dark forces of Great Peak Mountain, the Black Wind Gang, and the Long Dragon Mountain bandits.
• Lin Yi received additional rewards after the Zhuo Clan was wiped out and the Duan Clan and Wang Clan submitted.

Lin Yi examined his system rewards and inferred that conquering factions could yield talents tied to their skills and trades. He received Chen Qun, Pu Yuan, new troops, and intelligence personnel, then gained Zhang Liao as a bonus for occupying Xiliang Commandery.

• Lin Yi compared his rewards with the factions he had conquered and concluded that their talents and occupations influenced the reward pool.
• Lin Yi asked the system whether he could target specific talents by conquering suitable people, but the system said rewards were random.
• Lin Yi considered Chen Qun an ideal minister to establish laws and govern Xiliang Commandery.
• Lin Yi reviewed his thirty thousand Yellow Turban soldiers, nine thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, one thousand intelligence personnel, and the bladesmith Pu Yuan.
• The system rewarded Lin Yi for occupying Xiliang Commandery with ten thousand Xu Province Army troops and the fierce general Zhang Liao.

Lin Yi received Zhang Liao as a system reward but learned that Xiliang Commandery was still classified as incomplete, so he resolved to expand it into an upper-grade commandery. He appointed Chen Qun to stabilize and govern the territory, then went to meet the supplies captured by Ma Chao and his men.

• Lin Yi saw that the incomplete Xiliang Commandery had earned him Zhang Liao and learned that commanderies needed at least five counties to qualify for greater rewards.
• Lin Yi decided to consolidate his territory and expand Xiliang Commandery toward upper-grade status, aiming for elite troops and a top-tier general.
• Lin Yi summoned Chen Qun and appointed him commandery deputy, entrusting him with Xiliang Commandery's affairs.
• A guard reported that the supplies captured by General Ma Chao and his men had arrived, and Lin Yi hurried into the courtyard.

Lin Yi discovered that the confiscated wealth in Xiliang Commandery exceeded five million strings of cash and learned it had come from the great clans’ trafficking and smuggling. He assigned Chen Qun as commandery deputy, promoted Jia Xu to military adviser, and decided to send two million strings of cash and some grain to his father in Northern Liang.

• Lin Yi introduced Chen Qun and made him commandery deputy, while appointing Jia Xu military adviser to the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.
• Jia Xu reported that the confiscated wealth totaled over five million three hundred thousand strings of cash and included enough grain to feed Xiliang Commandery for more than half a year.
• Jia Xu explained that Zhuo Feifan’s household and other wealthy families had profited from human trafficking and smuggling.
• Lin Yi refused Haitang’s suggestion to seize the Duan and Wang families’ wealth because they had submitted and were paying for the new governor’s residence.
• Lin Yi ordered two million strings of cash and some grain sent to his father in Northern Liang.

Lin Yi assigned Chen Qun to use some of the seized wealth for work relief and ordered the money and supplies transferred to the treasury. Ma Chao then reported that Zhuo Feifan had threatened revenge by the Northern Region barbarians, but Lin Yi revealed that he had anticipated the threat and intended to use an invasion to force Great Ning to support Northern Liang.

• Lin Yi agreed to Chen Qun's proposal to fund work relief and rebuild Xiliang Commandery, then assigned Chen Qun and Jia Xu to sort and store the seized wealth and supplies.
• A guard told Lin Yi that Ma Chao had returned with important intelligence, and Ma Chao warned him that Zhuo Feifan had claimed the Northern Region barbarians would avenge him.
• Lin Yi told Ma Chao that the Net had monitored Zhuo Feifan and that he already knew about the threat.
• Jia Xu explained that Lin Yi intended to let the barbarians strike first, drawing Great Ning into supporting Northern Liang against them.
• Ma Chao understood that the plan would make it difficult for Great Ning or the Prince of Beining Commandery to openly oppose Lin Yi.

Lin Yi dismissed the threat of Zhuo Feifan’s schemes and ordered Ma Chao to train a hundred thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry for a future campaign against the Northern Region barbarians. Meanwhile, Tuoba Yu learned that potatoes could yield three thousand jin per mu in barbarian territory and ordered an investigation into Zhuo Feifan and Xiliang Commandery.

• Jia Xu suggested that Zhuo Feifan was backed by the Great Ning Dynasty and explained why Emperor Li Anlan might see Northern Liang as a greater threat than the barbarians.
• Lin Yi said his father had reinforced the eastern camp, deterring Tuoba Yu from attacking Xiliang Commandery, and declared that the grasslands would become the Xiliang Iron Cavalry’s hunting ground.
• Lin Yi appointed Ma Chao commandant of Xiliang Commandery and ordered him to train a hundred thousand cavalry by combining the strengths of the White Horse Volunteers, Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and Xiliang Iron Cavalry.
• Tuoba Yu gave Evil Bodhisattva a letter claiming that potatoes could grow in barbarian territory and yield three thousand jin per mu, prompting disbelief among the assembled generals.
• Tuoba Yu ordered his men to investigate Zhuo Feifan’s motives and uncover what was happening in Xiliang Commandery.

Tuoba Yu considered Lin Yi a dangerous threat and ordered an investigation, while Lin Rusong worried about food shortages on the frontier. The chapter ended with Lin Rusong receiving grain and two million strings of cash from his son, enough to support the army for about a month.

• Evil Bodhisattva warned Tuoba Yu that Lin Yi had been slaughtering people in Xiliang Commandery and might seek to unify it.
• Tuoba Yu dismissed calls to attack Xiliang Commandery and ordered Evil Bodhisattva to investigate Lin Yi and the Great Ning Dynasty’s movements.
• Lin Rusong angrily questioned why Bai Zizai was planting potatoes and Yi Yun claimed Lin Yi was securely protected, then accepted his officers’ guess that Bai Zizai wanted to match his granddaughter with Lin Yi.
• Lin Rusong worried that the frontier army lacked grain as the weather turned cooler and the Northern Region Barbarians prepared to harass the border.
• A messenger told Lin Rusong that Lin Yi had sent a large supply of grain and two million strings of cash, prompting Lin Rusong and his officers to celebrate.

Lin Rusong learned that Lin Yi had built a vast intelligence network and purged Xiliang Commandery, then received a letter whose final request troubled him. Meanwhile, He Zudao arrived at Lin Yi’s residence on behalf of the Prince of Beining Commandery, and Lin Yi prepared to hear what he wanted.

• Lin Rusong read Yi Yun’s letter and learned that the Net had over ten thousand members and that Bai Zizai had helped Lin Yi purge Xiliang Commandery.
• Lin Rusong told his companions about Lin Yi’s achievements, alarming them with the Net’s reach and the scale of the purge.
• Lin Rusong opened a second letter from Lin Yi, agreed to help him, then frowned at its final point.
• He Zudao and his armed men arrived at the prefect’s residence and demanded to see Lin Yi on behalf of the Prince of Beining Commandery.
• Lin Yi rejected Jia Xu’s suggestion to drive the visitors away and invited He Zudao in to explain his purpose.

Lin Yi welcomed He Zudao, envoy of the Prince of Beining Commandery, and preempted his mission by claiming Xiliang Commandery faced a barbarian conspiracy. He showed He Zudao a letter implicating both Zhuo Feifan and the prince, leaving He Zudao alarmed by the threat it posed.

• Lin Yi warmly greeted He Zudao and introduced Jia Xu, who claimed He Zudao had come to help against the Northern Region barbarians.
• Lin Yi described an alleged barbarian assassination attempt and accused Zhuo Feifan of colluding with the barbarians after finding a letter.
• He Zudao questioned Lin Yi's account and learned that the letter supposedly implicated someone connected to the Prince of Beining Commandery.
• Lin Yi let He Zudao read the letter, which claimed Zhuo Feifan had arranged for a hundred thousand barbarian troops to help the prince annex Xiliang Commandery.
• He Zudao turned pale as he realized the letter could expose the prince's secret plans and bring serious trouble.

Lin Yi and Jia Xu turned He Zudao’s attempt to stir up trouble against Xiliang into a threat against the Prince of Beining Commandery, using forged letters about collusion with the Northern Region tribes. After He Zudao left to report back, Lin Yi planned to offer a joint campaign against the Northern Barbarians as a pretext to obtain supplies and craftsmen.

• Jia Xu argued that the suspicious letter had to be reported to the emperor, and Lin Yi agreed to report it to his father as well.
• He Zudao asked to interrogate Zhuo Feifan, but Lin Yi said Zhuo had been executed, leaving He Zudao to return and warn his prince.
• After He Zudao departed, Jia Xu revealed that he had forged letters in Zhuo Feifan’s handwriting and praised Lin Yi for turning the situation against the Prince of Beining Commandery.
• Lin Yi told Jia Xu to write the prince an offer to campaign jointly against the Northern Barbarians, intending to request supplies and craftsmen instead of troops.

Lin Yi rejected cooperation with the Great Ning Dynasty and focused on strengthening Xiliang Commandery, using high-yield crops to distract his rivals while preparing for war. With the Northern Region barbarians expected to raid soon, he gave Ma Chao one month to train the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and summoned Pu Yuan to improve their weapons.

• Lin Yi told Jia Xu to expand potato and sweet potato cultivation while consolidating Xiliang’s resources and secretly preparing its army.
• Jia Xu noted that the Great Ning emperor and Tuoba Yu were both drawn to the high-yield crops.
• Lin Yi decided to train the hundred thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry within one month and strike into Great Yu Mountain before winter snow blocked the route.
• Jia Xu assured Lin Yi that Ma Chao could complete the cavalry’s training in time, with Zhang Liao’s help.
• Lin Yi summoned Pu Yuan, the divine bladesmith, to help strengthen the army.

Lin Yi appointed Pu Yuan to lead the Heavenly Craft Workshop and tasked Jia Xu with preparing for a campaign against Tuoba Yu. He visited White Garden to seek White Asura’s help and found the old master fiercely supervising potato planting.

• Lin Yi put Pu Yuan in charge of the Heavenly Craft Workshop and gave him plans for a curved-shaft plow, a Zhuge Repeating Crossbow, and cavalry equipment, as well as an order to forge divine sabers.
• Lin Yi assigned Ma Chao to help Pu Yuan recruit workers and warned them to keep the workshop’s work secret.
• Jia Xu told Lin Yi that he had sent Wang Yue’s Net and other agents to gather intelligence on Tuoba Yu, and Lin Yi decided to consult White Asura.
• Lin Yi and Jia Xu arrived at White Garden, where Jia Xu suggested seizing the luxurious estate before Lin Yi asked a guard to announce his visit.
• White Asura supervised the estate’s potato-planting effort and threatened workers who damaged seed potatoes or shirked their duties, while Zhou Cang remained unconvinced.

Zhou Cang clashed with White Asura over whose orders he would follow, and White Asura beat him before the heir arrived. Bai Zizai personally welcomed Lin Yi, then showed him that he had cleared his courtyard to plant the heir’s potatoes and guard the valuable crop.

• Zhou Cang refused to help White Asura plant potatoes, insisting he would only obey the heir, so White Asura ordered his guards to beat him.
• White Asura joined the fight and defeated Zhou Cang with an underhanded blow, leaving Zhou Cang clutching his crotch.
• After his steward announced the heir’s arrival, White Asura took Zhou Cang to welcome Lin Yi at White Garden’s gates.
• Bai Zizai formally welcomed Lin Yi, while the watching commoners remarked on the honor he had shown the heir.
• Lin Yi noticed the uprooted courtyard and potatoes, and Bai Zizai explained that he had planted them there so he could protect the valuable crop.

Lin Yi discussed foreign interest in Northern Liang’s sweet potatoes and potatoes with Bai Zizai, then gave him goji berries as a joke. The conversation turned serious when Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai why so many outsiders had infiltrated Xiliang Commandery.

• Lin Yi explained that factions from across the region, including the Great Ning Dynasty and the Northern Region barbarians, were investigating the sweet potatoes and potatoes, whose trial fields the Net guarded.
• Bai Zizai defended replacing his daughter’s flower garden with sweet potatoes and potatoes, while Zhou Cang and Bai Yun revealed that Bai Zizai had secretly eaten several.
• Bai Zizai praised the crops’ taste and said they could win the loyalty of Northern Liang’s common people if their yields proved high.
• Lin Yi gave Bai Zizai goji berries and joked that they would make him vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger; Bai Zizai denied needing them but kept the gift.
• Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai why so many people had recently infiltrated Xiliang Commandery, and Bai Zizai became serious.

Lin Yi questioned Bai Zizai about the people seeking the sweet potatoes and potatoes, then weighed whether the old general could be trusted as they discussed threats from Li Anlan and the Northern Region barbarians. Bai Zizai urged him to protect the crops, but Zhang Liao drew his sword after Bai said Li Anlan still viewed Lin Yi as a callow brat.

• Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai why people were interested in the sweet potatoes and potatoes, and Bai said they likely wanted the crops and their seeds.
• Zhou Cang angrily vowed that anyone coveting Lin Yi's crops would be courting death, while Lin Yi suggested a traitor had leaked the news.
• Bai Zizai said Li Anlan and the Northern Region barbarians were the likeliest threats, and Lin Yi privately questioned whether Bai's loyalty could be trusted.
• Bai Zizai recommended stationing heavy forces to guard the crops, but Zhou Cang insisted Lin Yi himself needed protection from the emperor.
• Bai Zizai said Li Anlan likely still saw Lin Yi as a callow brat, prompting Zhang Liao to draw his sword and threaten Bai.

Lin Yi secured Bai Zizai’s support in guarding the potatoes and sweet potatoes, then asked him about the formidable Tuoba Yu. Bai Zizai began recounting Tuoba Yu’s battlefield record, leaving Lin Yi eager to hear how the old general had dealt with him.

• Bai Zizai explained his kinship with Lin Yi’s father, and Lin Yi smoothed over Zhang Liao’s hostility toward him.
• Bai Zizai agreed to protect the potatoes and sweet potatoes from Li Anlan’s designs.
• Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai about Tuoba Yu, and Bai warned that the Divine Eagle General commanded a hundred thousand troops.
• Bai Zizai revealed that Tuoba Yu was Tuoba Wanli’s nephew and had won ten battles in ten attacks against Northern Liang, defeating Prefect Wu Kun.
• Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai what experience he had gained from dealing with Tuoba Yu.

Lin Yi persuaded Bai Zizai to help protect the potatoes and sweet potatoes, while revealing that he had deliberately spread news of them to divert attention from himself. He left with Bai Zizai’s intelligence on Tuoba Yu and vowed to destroy the barbarian general, while Bai Zizai warned his steward that Lin Yi had once considered purging White Garden.

• Bai Zizai said his forces could not catch Tuoba Yu’s cavalry, and Lin Yi recognized that he had chosen not to attack to preserve the balance with Great Ning.
• Lin Yi asked Bai Zizai to lend him the Asura Army, but Bai Zizai explained that only twenty thousand remained under his command and offered intelligence on the barbarians instead.
• Lin Yi secured Bai Zizai’s promise to protect the potatoes and sweet potatoes, then admitted he had spread the news about them to draw attention away from himself.
• Bai Zizai realized Lin Yi had made him responsible for guarding the potatoes amid growing interest from many factions, and warned him about the danger.
• After the banquet, Lin Yi received Bai Zizai’s documents on Tuoba Yu and vowed to kill him; Bai Zizai later told Bai Yun that Lin Yi had once put White Garden on his purge list.

Tuoba Yu assessed Lin Yi’s rapid takeover of Xiliang Commandery and learned that Lin Yi’s potato and sweet potato crops were under heavy guard. The chapter left Tuoba Yu preparing to seek the Northern Barbarian king’s help, just as news arrived that the Prince of Northern Liang’s army had withdrawn.

• Tuoba Yu and Evil Bodhisattva concluded that the Prince of Northern Liang had likely helped Lin Yi build his army and conquer Xiliang Commandery.
• A scout reported that Lin Yi was strengthening Xiliang Commandery’s walls and that attempts to investigate the potatoes and sweet potatoes had cost the Heavenly Eagle Guard more than a dozen men.
• Evil Bodhisattva and a military officer argued that the Asura Army’s protection proved the crops were likely as valuable as rumored.
• Tuoba Yu ordered continued investigations into the crops and told his men to inform the Northern Barbarian king.
• Evil Bodhisattva reported that the Prince of Northern Liang’s army had suddenly withdrawn and no longer seemed prepared to fight.