Chapter Summaries

Su Qin returned to Gulltown after the funeral at Runestone Castle, having earned a fearsome nickname and established his name in the archives. Delia Royce gave him a newly sewn Yellow Dragon banner and gold, then kissed him as they began a relationship that was expected to lead to an engagement.

• Su Qin accepted the barracks' challenge and won every bout, earning the unofficial nickname “Su Qin the Lion.”
• Su Qin gave Yaron his coat of arms, Yellow Dragon flag, and noble seal, which Maester Denwen copied and sent to the archives.
• Delia Royce rejected the poorly stitched Yellow Dragon banner and had her seamstresses remake it.
• The earl's eldest son was buried at sea, deepening the blood feud between House Royce and House Wickenden.
• House Runestone sent the Crystal Shark amethyst to Castle Black, and Su Qin prepared to return to Gulltown.
• Delia gave Su Qin a finely made Yellow Dragon banner and one thousand gold coins, confessed her feelings, and kissed him; Yaron and the countess approved of the match.

Su Qin returned to Gulltown, oversaw training and Gery’s wall experiments, and held a council meeting to address refugees, food, employment, and intelligence. He ended by ordering new militia recruitment and a plan to pair refugees for marriage in exchange for housing and three years of work.

• Su Qin heeded the silver knight’s warning to prepare carefully before dealing with the Mountain Clans, then returned safely to Gulltown.
• Su Qin inspected the training grounds and suggested that Gery add river sand to the lime and earth mortar mixture.
• Su Qin appointed Kerry to record the council meeting, where Telang reported Gulltown had about 500 commoner households and 600 refugee households.
• Su Qin ordered that orphans under ten be brought to Gull Manor, announced plans to hire workers and buy grain after the harvest, and warned nobles not to stockpile it.
• Kelun reported that his intelligence organization had more than fifty informants, and Su Qin approved fifty gold coins in monthly funding.
• Su Qin ordered Telang to recruit a hundred militia members and arrange refugee marriages for adults, offering temporary housing in return for three years of work; Aila was tasked with maintaining order.

Su Qin assigned new intelligence and smithy tasks, increased salaries, and planned to rebrand his faith as the Qilin Faith. He mapped out Gull Territory’s future farmland and approved a smithy budget, while considering a meaningful gift for the earl’s daughter.

• Su Qin ordered Kelun to investigate people on his list and told Gery to calculate the cost and construction time for a large smithy.
• Su Qin doubled the pay of soldiers and ordinary administrators and set the four ministers’ monthly pay at ten gold coins.
• Su Qin told Yira to publicly call the Dragon God Faith the Qilin Faith and postpone spreading it until more loyal followers had gathered.
• Su Qin planned farmland east of the Gull River, estimating that about four hundred square kilometers could support eight thousand level 2 farms and thirty thousand households.
• Gery reported that a large smithy would cost fifty gold coins and take a hundred workers one week to build, and Su Qin raised his salary to twenty gold coins a month.
• Su Qin reviewed the smithy expenses and began thinking about a carefully chosen gift for the earl’s daughter.

Su Qin reviewed Gull Territory’s finances, inspected a matchmaking gathering, and planned the manor’s expansion and preparations for the rainy season. Yira finally took his plans away and forced him to go to bed.

• Su Qin set aside 500 gold coins for wages and planned to recruit three hundred militia, then visited the matchmaking gathering at Gull Square.
• Su Qin watched refugees choose partners, checked the loyalty of people who greeted him, and decided that Telang needed more administrative subordinates.
• Su Qin inspected the harbor, caught petty thieves where he could, and returned to see orphans helping the maids wash soldiers’ clothes.
• Su Qin chose a site inside Gull Manor for a large smithy and sketched plans for housing, roads, latrines, and drainage.
• Su Qin stayed up considering rainy-season preparations until Yira took his parchment and quill and ordered him to sleep.

Su Qin launched a work-relief plan for refugees, offering pay during construction and homes after three years of labor. He suppressed an assassination plot, expanded construction and religious screening, and ended the chapter preparing to shelter Gull Territory’s growing population through the rainy season as food supplies dwindled.

• Su Qin gathered refugees at Gull Square, where Tron Augustus explained the work-relief plan and promised housing to those who worked on the farms for three years.
• Kelun brought three captured assassins to the square, and Su Qin refused to spare them; they were executed after the crowd attacked them.
• Su Qin housed refugee families in the manor, screened residents for loyalty, and sent refugees to learn construction from twelve craftsmen.
• Su Qin’s smithy was completed with a bathing room and dry toilets, while residents were screened on whether they would follow the Qilin Faith.
• As the rainy season began, Su Qin monitored the Gull River and reviewed a census showing over 5,000 residents in Gull Territory, while his food supply fell to 7,000 units.

Su Qin reviewed newly available religious items and the cultural conversion requirements, then inspected the smithy's first weapons and armor. Pleased with their quality, he ordered the craftsmen to keep their methods secret and funded construction of another large smithy.

• The system shop offered religious buildings, books, and magical items, but Su Qin could not afford the basic divine court.
• The system said cultural conversion required 90% of Gulltown's population to accept the Dragon God Faith and 90% to accept Han characters.
• Su Qin bought three items, reducing his private funds to 350 gold coins, then visited the smithy with Aila to inspect its first weapons and armor.
• Aila praised the spears, and his loyalty rose to 90 after Su Qin complimented his martial skill.
• Su Qin examined the swords, flail, pick-axe, crossbow, bow, and armor, praised the craftsmen, and ordered them to protect their manufacturing secrets.
• After learning that the workers could make thirty redwood spears a day, Su Qin gave Gery fifty gold coins to build another large smithy.

Su Qin traveled from Gulltown toward Runestone and encountered bandits attacking a merchant caravan. He led his personal guards in a decisive victory and continued on with the surviving bandits dead or scattered.

• Su Qin ordered Telang to station attendants at Gulltown's entrances for refugees and mobilize 100 militia to keep order.
• Su Qin rode northeast with ten personal guards, stopping near Augustus Castle after traveling along the road toward Runestone.
• Su Qin spotted bandits attacking a merchant caravan and sent Rick and Ayr with five guards each to flank them.
• After the bandits formed up, Su Qin shot a surrendering bandit and repeatedly charged their formation with Duanhong, killing several men and breaking their ranks.
• The bandits scattered, and Su Qin's personal guards pursued them; more than twenty bandits died, the guards suffered no casualties, and a few fugitives escaped into the Redwood Forest.

Su Qin learned about salt production and bandit companies in Runestone Territory before continuing toward Runestone for his betrothal ceremony. At Runestone, Delia received intelligence that Jon Arryn would soon be named heir to the Vale, then went to welcome Su Qin.

• Ker gave Su Qin fifty gold coins in gratitude, and Su Qin asked him about salt production and local bandit companies.
• Ker mapped the White Tooth Company and the Greenstone Company, identifying the latter’s base at abandoned Seagull Port.
• A masked messenger delivered Delia a letter reporting that Geda Arryn would name Jon Arryn heir to the Vale in one month.
• Delia burned the letter, considered the shifting political alliances, and resolved to warn Crown Prince Rhaegar about Tywin’s moves.
• A messenger told Delia that Su Qin was approaching Runestone, and she prepared herself and left the castle to welcome him.

Su Qin reunited with Delia Royce, accepted her marriage alliance, and gave her a magical golden dragon necklace before their secret tryst was interrupted by her mother. The Earl of Runestone then explained the coming political oath to Jon Arryn and revealed that Delia herself had chosen Su Qin and influenced House Royce’s policies.

• Su Qin met Delia outside the city gates, embraced her, and gave her a golden dragon necklace that warned of hostile intent and could block an attack.
• Delia brought Su Qin to Runestone’s castle, where they secretly kissed beneath a weirwood until the Earl’s wife caught them and scolded them.
• The Earl’s wife announced that Su Qin and Delia’s betrothal ceremony would take place in four days and warned them to restrain themselves until marriage.
• The next morning, Yaron told Su Qin that House Royce would swear allegiance to Jon Arryn in seven days and explained the political alliances behind the decision.
• Yaron revealed that Delia had requested Su Qin’s title and marriage alliance herself, and said that she guided many of his political measures.
• Yaron praised Su Qin’s concern for the people, spoke of his late eldest son, and shared drinks and stories with him.

Delia Royce told Su Qin how Jon Arryn had driven her aunt to her death and explained her family’s plans to seek political change. Su Qin and Delia were formally betrothed at Runestone Castle, leaving them allied before the nobles of Runestone Territory.

• Delia recounted how Jon Arryn had accused her aunt of adultery, leading her aunt to leap through the Moon Door, and described her family’s grief and political ambitions.
• Su Qin comforted Delia and promised he had ideas that could help her family, while Delia reflected on the dreams that had led her to pursue a marriage alliance with him.
• Robar Royce and Waymar Royce sneaked into Su Qin’s room to inspect his weapons, and Su Qin caught them and promised Waymar a sword when he turned ten.
• Su Qin went hare hunting with the boys, then returned to Runestone Castle after Boris told him the betrothal ceremony was about to begin.
• Su Qin and Delia exchanged flower wreaths and betrothal rings before the nobles of Runestone Territory, then celebrated at a feast.

Su Qin held Gulltown’s summer council, rewarded officials and guards, and arranged autumn preparations as his authority over the territory grew. The chapter ended by explaining how the sale of antibiotics financed his spending and enriched House Royce, while the merchants who sold the medicine were assassinated.

• The lords and their escorts gathered at the Eyrie to swear loyalty to Jon Arryn, while Su Qin’s factions competed for influence in Gulltown.
• Su Qin opened the summer council by praising the census workers and awarding Telang and his staff thirty gold coins; Telang publicly swore loyalty to Su Qin.
• Su Qin awarded Captain Aila and the guards and militia their pay and bonuses, then urged the nobles to secure the harvest and sell surplus grain to him.
• Su Qin’s antibiotic sales brought in three thousand gold coins, helping fund his officials, smithies, and military while leaving two thousand two hundred gold in his treasury.
• House Royce helped transport and sell the antibiotics, taking two thousand gold from the proceeds, while Su Qin received three thousand and the merchants were assassinated.
• Delia Royce kept the merchants’ remaining gold for House Royce, whose total gain from the dealings reached seven thousand gold coins.

Su Qin devised a canal system to irrigate farmland away from the Gull River, and the craftsmen approved a revised construction plan. He ordered detailed surveys and engineering designs for the first farming town.

• Maester Denwen delivered Su Qin's letter to Delia, who then sent orders to tailors in the Reach and Featherwood to spread word that Gulltown accepted refugees.
• Su Qin and the craftsmen debated where to build farming towns and how to irrigate the Gull Territory without risking floods or sacrificing grazing land.
• Su Qin proposed a square-ring canal system that would carry water across the plains and return it to the Gull River, with reservoirs and smaller canals added later.
• Su Qin described reinforcing the canals with iron spikes, stone bricks, and lime mortar, and the craftsmen discussed and revised his design.
• Gery and Downton told Su Qin that the revised plan would solve irrigation problems in Gulltown and could later be adapted for Runestone.
• Su Qin ordered detailed engineering plans and surveys, setting road widths for the grazing area and farming town.

In early June 275 AC, Su Qin used Gull Manor’s harvest and grain purchases to feed local farmers and refugees while expanding workshops and planning agricultural settlements. He completed plans for three agricultural towns and spent nearly all his remaining gold on sheltered corn seeds.

• Su Qin bought grain from farmers at five copper coins per jin, protected them from exploitative nobles, and used the manor’s stores and fishing to support local people and refugees.
• Su Qin expanded the four smithies, which produced weapons, armor, farming tools, and bows for his forces and settlements.
• Su Qin planned three agricultural towns inside the square-ring canal, each designed to house 4,000 farming households across 800 farms.
• The system offered corn and chili seeds that could only grow within its protected territory, and Su Qin bought a set of corn seeds.
• After the purchase and other expenses, Su Qin had only 200 gold left to build five-household farms.

Su Qin secured funds, announced a new agricultural town for refugees, and began building farms while earning money by selling spears. By the end of July, the first hundred farms were complete, and his growing settlement had gained a new source of income and potential military strength.

• Su Qin arranged to borrow two thousand gold from his wife's family to fund refugee housing and town construction.
• Su Qin announced that refugee households could settle in Lower Gull Agricultural Town, where five households would share a farm and work for him for three years in exchange for housing and an annual subsidy.
• Hundreds of newly arrived refugee households registered as Su Qin planned farms and a defensible town center for them.
• Su Qin established Smithy No. 5 and sold a thousand spears to merchants from Pentos, earning nine hundred gold in net income.
• Eighty craftsmen and twenty-four hundred workers dug wells and built a hundred farms in Lower Gulltown during July.
• By the end of July, Su Qin had fourteen hundred gold after construction and salary costs, and the first phase of the town's construction was complete.

Su Qin planned Lower Gulltown’s construction while strengthening its economy, public order, and political independence as the system remained silent. As nobles arrived for Prince Rhaegar’s betrothal tournament, Gulltown’s orderly development and loyal population reflected Su Qin’s growing authority.

• Su Qin chose a riverside site for brick kilns, planned flood-resistant foundations, and settled for a wooden palisade around the central area until bricks could be fired.
• Lower Gulltown’s residents planted corn, Su Qin repaid his wife’s family, and the system failed to answer him for two months.
• Nobles traveling to Prince Rhaegar’s betrothal tournament admired Gulltown’s layout, while Su Qin rejected Jon Arryn’s overture and publicly remained aligned with the dragon faction through the Earl of Runestone.
• Su Qin’s informants exposed foreign nobles who tampered with his cornfields or tried to abduct craftsmen, and he punished their interference.
• Su Qin enforced the Qilin Faith, generous official salaries, strict land rules, and harsh penalties for oppression, theft, and banditry.
• Gulltown and the nearby keeps and castle came to support Su Qin’s rule as public order improved.

Su Qin faced mounting costs from refugee housing and food aid while expanding Gulltown’s workforce and military. He recruited Leike to lead military affairs and inspected newly made bows, leaving their production and potential use as a military advantage under careful restraint.

• Telang reported that Gulltown expected 2,000 new refugees and still had a large backlog of households needing homes, while Gery estimated that expanded construction could build 120 farms per month.
• Nack warned Su Qin that food supplies would run out before the harvest, so Su Qin ordered 800 gold worth of food despite having to borrow from Delia’s family.
• Su Qin discovered that Leike had been jailed for poaching, appointed him minister of military affairs after recognizing his archery talent, and saw his loyalty and the soldiers’ longbow skills improve.
• At the end of October, Su Qin and Leite inspected twenty redwood longbows and learned their range and strength made them powerful but difficult for ordinary soldiers to use.
• Su Qin showed Leite a lighter redwood horn bow, gave him the first one, and decided to keep large-scale bow production from drawing unwanted attention while considering mounted archers.

Su Qin’s territorial arrangements around Gulltown and the Gull Mountains were described, along with the geography, Wildling clans, and the limits on their raids. The chapter left the clans’ yearly incursions and the nobles’ defenses as the ongoing problem.

• Su Qin reclaimed the lands outside Keir Keep, Aite Keep, and Osgood Keep, while leaving their castle estates in place and granting the families new plots near Crab Bay.
• Telang Osgood served as right Master of Coin, with Hall Keir and Paul Aite as his deputies, and Su Qin planned a noble district east of the Gull River.
• Su Qin relocated residents from most territories to Lower Gulltown to farm, leaving Keir Keep’s residents where they were.
• The Gull Mountains contained Wildling clans descended from Andals and First Men, including the powerful Moon Clan, which had several thousand members and over fifteen hundred warriors.
• The Earl of Runestone periodically led expeditions against the clans, but they withdrew deeper into the mountains when faced with a large army.
• Small Wildling bands raided the fringes of Gulltown each year, while Augustus Castle and Aite Keep served as defensive strongpoints against larger invasions.

Su Qin regained direct control of three manor territories through contracts with their former owners, then considered how to improve roads despite his debts and limited funds. He settled for widening dirt roads while waiting for the harvest and the next steps in Gulltown's development.

• Su Qin agreed to contracts that let Paul Aite, Tron Augustus, and Hall Keir serve as his deputy financial officers for ten years in exchange for handing over their manors and receiving their promised compensation.
• Su Qin signed the contracts with the three family heads, and they surrendered Aite Keep, Augustus Castle, and Keir Keep to him.
• Su Qin chose medicine in the refreshed system shop and exchanged ten gold coins for ten antibiotic pills.
• Su Qin measured a proposed road between Seagull City and Lower Gulltown and calculated that paving it would cost about 3,000 gold dragons.
• Su Qin realized he was 200 gold dragons in debt and ordered workers to widen the main dirt roads to his directly administered territories instead of building the paved road.

King’s Landing celebrated Rhaegar and Elia’s betrothal with a lavish ceremony and month-long tournament while commoners suffered from hunger and high taxes. In Gull Territory, Su Qin inspected the nearly ripe corn and struggled to manage the needs of a rapidly growing population with dwindling grain supplies.

• Aerys II welcomed the nobles to Rhaegar and Elia’s betrothal ceremony, and the couple performed the Dance of Dragons before the feast.
• Rhaegar won the month-long tournament, with Arthur Dayne placing second and Barristan Selmy third.
• High grain prices and heavy taxes drove farmers in Featherwood to flee or join the growing Brotherhood Without Banners, while rumors of tax relief drew families toward Gulltown.
• Su Qin inspected Gull Territory’s cornfields with Nack and estimated that the crop would ripen in a little over ten days.
• Su Qin ordered guards to protect the crop from wild boars and deer, then returned to Gull Manor to handle the territory’s affairs as its grain stores dwindled and its population reached about twelve thousand.

Su Qin arranged plans for brick production while Delia survived an assassination attempt at Runestone Castle when the Golden Dragon Necklace shielded her from the killer. Su Qin rode to Runestone, and House Royce sent letters to King's Landing and the North in response.

• Su Qin asked Gery about brickmaking, ordered him to draw plans for a chamber kiln, and learned that he expected to finish studying the Arrow Tower Fortress by the end of December.
• A silver-masked woman entered Runestone Castle, where Delia was writing to Elys about watching Ninestars and received a report about Jon's operations in Braavos.
• An assassin disguised as Delia's maid attacked Delia; the silver tailor fought her but was stabbed and had her wrist severed.
• Delia recognized the assassin's allegiance to the Many-Faced God, and the Golden Dragon Necklace raised a barrier that blocked the assassin's strike.
• Household guards killed the assassin after losing dozens of their number, while the necklace broke apart and Delia's parents embraced her.
• Su Qin hurried to Runestone, and two ravens carrying letters sealed by House Royce flew to King's Landing and the North.