Recaps

After losing a battle to the Fire Tribe, Xueya led the Wolf Tribe home with more than five hundred people seized from small settlements and supplies. He decided to avoid the Fire Tribe for now, rebuild the Wolf Tribe’s strength, and raid the Horse Tribe’s outskirts for ponies.

• Xueya’s group raided five or six small tribes on the way home, taking more than five hundred people and supplies.
• Xueya returned to High Pointed Mountain and told Xueshou and Duzhu that the Fire Tribe had defeated them outside the White Pig Tribe.
• Shichui, Duyan, Yexiao and Tujiu described the Fire Tribe’s armor, weapons, discipline and fighters, especially Jianshi and Yan.
• Xueya said the Wolf Tribe would rest for a month and train the newcomers before moving north to raid or trade for ponies near the Horse Tribe’s territory.
• Xueshou and the other leaders approved the plan, while Xueya vowed to settle the score with the Fire Tribe after rebuilding his strength.

The Fire Tribe received the first hundred thousand jin of rice from the Fish Tribe, easing its food crisis despite paying twice the previous price. Jianshi then ordered a small team to resume trade and exploration in the upper reaches of the Fish River, where the Fire Tribe hoped to build ties and gather information.

• Jianya and Wang Yan completed the grain trade with Canglan and brought one hundred thousand jin of rice back to the Fire Tribe.
• Dali and Dazhuang oversaw unloading and storage as the new members of the Fire Tribe celebrated the arrival of grain.
• Jianya told Jianshi that the Fish Tribe had charged twice the previous price, and Jianshi accepted the cost to secure the tribe's food supply.
• Jianshi discussed the Fire Tribe's five-thousand-jin boat prototype with Wang Yan and planned to trade directly with grain-producing tribes once the boats were ready.
• Jianshi ordered Jianya to assemble a small, alert team to resume upstream trade and exploration, strengthen ties with small tribes, and gather information.

After survivors from the Little Mountain Tribe reported the Wolf Tribe’s latest atrocities, Jianshi welcomed them into the Fire Tribe and vowed to avenge their losses. The Pottery Salt Tribe delivered one hundred ponies, and Biaotou hurried home with warning of the Wolf Tribe’s growing threat.

• Xiaoshitou told Jianshi that the Wolf Tribe had destroyed the Little Mountain Tribe and two nearby tribes, then forced hundreds of people from other settlements to join it.
• Jianshi welcomed Xiaoshitou and the survivors into the Fire Tribe, promised protection, and vowed that the Wolf Tribe would pay for its blood debts.
• Wang Yan warned that the Wolf Tribe had grown stronger despite its recent defeat, and Jianshi urged the Fire Tribe to build its strength before seeking revenge.
• Biaotou arrived from the Pottery Salt Tribe with one hundred ponies, greatly improving the Fire Tribe’s ability to patrol, communicate, and transport supplies.
• After hearing Xiaoshitou’s account, Biaotou hurried back to warn Chief Jia Li, and Jianshi sent him home by river with an escort.
• The Fire Tribe began expanding its stables, assigning caretakers to the ponies, and planning to select and train cavalry.

The Fire Tribe expanded its cavalry training and improved farming, calendrical knowledge, and measurement standards while Wang Yan and the craftsmen completed the tribe’s first great ship. The ship launched successfully and passed its stability test, though the tribe still needed to monitor it for leaks.

• Jianshi selected six hundred warriors for focused cavalry training and promised to expand the ranks when more horses arrived.
• The Fire Tribe continued reclaiming rice paddies and used Wang Yan’s calendar and standard weights and measures to improve farming and management.
• Wang Yan and the shipwrights developed a waterproof paste from slaked lime, hemp fibers, and tung oil to seal the ship’s hull.
• Jianshi ordered the five-thousand-jin ship launched, and Fumu directed the workers as it slid into the water and floated.
• The ship passed a stability test as craftsmen and warriors rocked it without capsizing it, and the construction leader called for several days of leak checks.
• Wang Yan told Jianshi that more ships could weaken the Fish Tribe’s control of the waterway and open trade with the Valley Tribe and others.

Jianshi and Wang Yan sent Fire Tribe teams to explore the upper Fish River while the Fish Tribe focused on grain deliveries. The teams found tributary settlements eager for Fire Tribe goods, opening the prospect of a major trade network and a future outpost upstream.

• Jianshi kept twenty large canoes near the Fire Tribe’s stronghold and sent the other thirty upstream in ten exploration and trading teams.
• The teams mapped four tributaries on the Fire Tribe’s side of the Fish River and found scattered, impoverished tribes that relied on outside traders for salt.
• Fire Tribe teams traded cured food, tools, and weapons for animal sinews, hides, herbs, and seeds, while gathering intelligence about local tribes.
• An exploration leader estimated that more than ten thousand people lived within five sunsets’ travel along the four tributaries.
• The teams returned downstream in less than four days, and Wang Yan and Jianshi proposed expanding trade and eventually establishing an outpost at a suitable tributary.

The Fish Tribe delivered another 50,000 jin of grain, while the Fire Tribe strengthened its outpost, cavalry, mines, and production capacity. The chapter ended with shipbuilding accelerating after the Fire Tribe successfully launched its third 5,000-jin boat.

• The Fish Tribe delivered 50,000 jin of unhusked rice at Fire Creek Mouth, and the Fire Tribe exchanged goods and paid a deposit for the next shipment.
• The Fire Tribe named its stream the Fire Creek River and restricted the Fish Tribe’s boats to the outpost at its mouth.
• Jianshi and Wang Yan expanded cavalry training and assigned Yingmu and thirty elite cavalrymen to guard the Deer Tribe mine and patrol the northern pasture.
• Wang Yan urged the leadership to prioritize bronze production tools for shipbuilding, farming, and machinery, and Jianshi and the others agreed.
• The Fire Tribe successfully launched its third 5,000-jin boat, while seven more large boats neared completion.

Xueya led the Wolf Tribe north to raid herding tribes, first using recruits to massacre a small camp and then launching a surprise attack on the Horse Horn Tribe. Xiao Matou escaped with a few followers to seek refuge with the Horse Tribe, while Xueya seized livestock, supplies, captives, and horses.

• Xueya took four hundred Wolf Tribe fighters north, raided a small herding tribe, and forced the new recruits to kill and plunder.
• Xueya chose the Horse Horn Tribe as his next target because it had many livestock and more than a hundred horses.
• Xueya’s force approached the Horse Horn Tribe by night and attacked its camp before dawn, overwhelming its unprepared warriors.
• Xiao Matou escaped with about twenty followers and rode north to seek refuge with his sworn elder brother, the chief of the Horse Tribe.
• Xueya’s fighters looted the Horse Horn Tribe’s camp, gathered its livestock and captives, and seized its horses.

After destroying the Horse Horn Tribe, Xueya used the Wolf Tribe’s growing force and newly captured horses to extort grain and livestock from the Niujiao and Sheep Horn tribes. He returned to High Pointed Mountain with a larger cavalry force and planned future raids on tribes under the Fish Tribe’s protection.

• Xueya celebrated capturing more than seventy short-legged horses from the Horse Horn Tribe and led three hundred warriors toward the Niujiao Tribe.
• Xueya threatened the Niujiao Tribe with the Horse Horn Tribe’s fate, and Niuyan agreed to surrender a third of the tribe’s grain and some cattle and sheep.
• Xueya’s warriors took the demanded supplies from the Niujiao Tribe and left without attacking.
• Xueya intimidated the Sheep Horn Tribe into surrendering grain, livestock, and ten short-legged horses.
• Xueya returned to High Pointed Mountain with more than eighty usable horses and planned to train cavalry before raiding small tribes under the Fish Tribe.

Wang Yan led a Fire Tribe trading fleet up the four tributaries of the Fish River, exchanging clothing, sandals, pottery, and other goods for local resources. In the farthest Valley River, he secured the voluntary submission of three tribes and sent word to Jianshi to prepare for their migration to the Fire Tribe.

• Jianshi approved Wang Yan's request to lead the expedition with Dali and urged him to prioritize safety.
• Wang Yan traded the Fire Tribe's goods with four tribes on the First Water River and four on the Second Forest River, collecting furs, herbs, seeds, and other goods.
• Wang Yan traded with three tribes on the Third Stone River and found local mineral samples and tough stone that interested him.
• Fengmao told Wang Yan that the Valley River tribes suffered from scarce food and costly salt, then asked to join the Fire Tribe; Wang Yan accepted the Valley Abundance Tribe.
• Wang Yan brought Fengmao to meet Yuman and Denggao, who agreed to join with their tribes, and sent a messenger to Jianshi requesting transport and supplies for the migration.

Wang Yan and Jianshi organized a massive fleet to bring the Valley River tribes into the Fire Tribe after learning that more people wanted to join than expected. The first thousand newcomers reached Fire Creek Mouth and were settled, while Jianya and Wang Yan set out again to retrieve the next group.

• Wang Yan returned from the trading expedition and told Jianshi and Jianya that three Valley River tribes wanted to join the Fire Tribe; Jianshi reported the expanded fleet and arranged boats and supplies for the resettlement.
• Jianya, Dali, Dazhuang, Wang Yan, and three hundred warriors sailed upstream with the fleet and reached the Valley River after eight days.
• Jianya and Wang Yan counted more than three thousand people from the three major tribes and nearby settlements, then agreed with Gufeng, Guyu, and Gudeng to transport them in batches.
• Jianya and Wang Yan brought the first thousand people downstream to Fire Creek Mouth, where Jianshi’s staff assigned them housing, clothing, supplies, and food.
• A day later, Jianya and Wang Yan led boats upstream again to bring back the second batch.

Jianshi secured another large rice deal with the Fish Tribe as the Valley River migration brought the Fire Tribe close to ten thousand people. After resettling the newcomers and counting its population and forces, the tribe waited on the coming harvest to secure its future.

• Jianshi asked Julang to tell Chief Canglan that the Fire Tribe wanted to buy another two hundred thousand jin of rice, and Julang promised the Fish Tribe would supply it.
• Jianya and Wang Yan returned with a second group of about a thousand Valley River tribespeople, and another group later arrived with Gufeng, Guyu, and Gudeng.
• Jianshi assigned Dali to transport the remaining supplies from upstream, while the Fish Tribe returned with the first fifty thousand jin of rice for the new deal.
• The Fire Tribe completed a census and found its population nearing ten thousand, with two thousand warriors in the Hunting Team and Defense Team and nearly a thousand members in the Youth Team.
• Jianshi said the tribe needed the summer and autumn harvests to reach its granaries so its people could eat and the Fire Tribe could establish itself securely.

The Fire Tribe grew more prosperous as Valley River newcomers settled in, its fleets and livestock expanded, and a major rice harvest promised a large surplus. With grain secured and its naval strength rising, the leaders planned to send a fleet to trade with the Fish Tribe on more equal terms.

• The Valley River newcomers adapted to Fire Tribe life, gaining food, shelter, and training while helping strengthen the tribe.
• The Fire Tribe launched five large boats, expanded its dugout fleet, trained six hundred cavalry candidates, and increased its livestock.
• The Fire Tribe harvested rice from three thousand mu of paddy fields, with Wang Yan and the Farming Group estimating a yield of six hundred thousand jin.
• Wang Yan calculated that the year's harvest would leave a surplus after feeding the nearly ten thousand people in the tribe.
• Jianshi, Wang Yan, and Jianya agreed to send a fleet to collect grain from the Fish Tribe and demonstrate the Fire Tribe's growing influence.

Jianya and Wang Yan visited the Pottery Salt Tribe, where their fleet and the Fire Tribe’s size and boat-building skills impressed Jia Li and strengthened ties between the tribes. They returned to the fleet confident that the Fire Tribe’s growing strength would win it more allies as it prepared to collect grain from the Fish Tribe.

• Jianya and Wang Yan left the fleet with gifts and traveled by small boats to the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp.
• Jia Li greeted Jianya and Wang Yan warmly after learning that the Fire Tribe had brought ten giant boats.
• Jianya and Wang Yan revealed that the Fire Tribe had built the boats itself and now had close to ten thousand people, startling Jia Li and his senior members.
• Jianya and Jia Li agreed to expand trade, while Jia Li explained that Wolf Tribe scouts had delayed the promised horse trade.
• Jianya offered pottery and preserved goods on credit and advised Jia Li to strengthen defenses and ties with neighboring tribes.
• Jianya and Wang Yan returned to the fleet, and Jianya said Jia Li understood the Fire Tribe’s message.

The Fire Tribe arrived at the Fish Tribe with ten giant ships, shocking Julang and undermining the Fish Tribe’s naval advantage. After the fleet docked, Jianya and Wang Yan planned to visit their old friends the next day.

• Jianya and Wang Yan led the Fire Tribe’s fleet downstream toward the Fish Tribe.
• Fish Tribe lookouts spotted ten giant ships among the arriving vessels and raised the alarm.
• Julang learned that the Fire Tribe had ten ships as large as the Fish Tribe’s and hurried to see the fleet for himself.
• Julang ordered an urgent report to Chief Canglan and told his warriors to welcome the Fire Tribe’s fleet with the highest honors.
• The Fire Tribe moored its ships and set up camp, while Jianya and Wang Yan agreed to visit the Fish Tribe the next day.

After Julang reported that the Fire Tribe had brought a powerful fleet, Chief Canglan convened the Fish Tribe’s leaders to decide how to respond. Canglan ordered them to honor the grain deal while strengthening their forces, and postponed any decision on war or peace until Jianya and Yan arrived.

• Julang told Canglan and the Fish Tribe’s leaders that the Fire Tribe had ten large boats and scores of canoes, possibly giving it greater naval strength than the Fish Tribe.
• Canglan silenced the leaders’ uproar and warned that the Fire Tribe’s new fleet had undermined the Fish Tribe’s river blockade.
• The leaders argued over whether to fight the Fire Tribe, sell it grain at a higher price, or refuse the deal.
• Canglan decided the Fish Tribe would sell the grain, use the proceeds to acquire boats and weapons, and wait to hear Jianya and Yan before deciding its long-term policy.
• Canglan ordered the tribe to reinforce its watch at the docks and around the settlement, while forbidding anyone from acting without his orders.

Jianya and Wang Yan negotiated with Canglan to collect the Fire Tribe’s remaining grain while using its new ships to establish its strength and claim equal standing with the Fish Tribe. The meeting ended with the original grain deal intact and the Fish Tribe choosing cautious cooperation as the Fire Tribe prepared to explore downstream.

• Jianya and Wang Yan visited Canglan with gifts and found the Fish Tribe’s guards more alert and wary than before.
• Canglan exchanged return gifts with the visitors, signaling a shift toward treating the Fire Tribe as an equal partner.
• Jianya asked to transport the remaining 150,000 jin of grain, and Wang Yan revealed that the Fire Tribe had built large ships and planned to build thirty more.
• Canglan abandoned thoughts of raising the grain price after hearing about the Fire Tribe’s ships, and Jianya promised to honor the original terms while proposing fair future trade.
• Wang Yan asked about the Valley Tribe and said the Fire Tribe planned to explore downstream after autumn, but Canglan withheld most details.
• Canglan hosted a banquet, and Jianya and Wang Yan left with the Fire Tribe established on more equal footing with the Fish Tribe.

Jianya and Wang Yan returned from the Fish Tribe with 150,000 jin of rice in the husk and other traded goods, reporting that the Pottery Salt Tribe and Fish Tribe now treated the Fire Tribe with greater respect. As the grain was unloaded into storage, the new tribespeople saw the Fire Tribe’s abundance and felt secure about their future.

• Jianya and Wang Yan returned to the Fire Creek River dock after six days, where Jianshi and the tribe’s leaders welcomed them.
• Jianya and Wang Yan told Jianshi that Jia Li had agreed to expand trade and that Canglan had been rattled by the Fire Tribe’s fleet and shipbuilding plans.
• Jianya presented Canglan’s return gifts, and Jianshi and the others celebrated the Fish Tribe’s acknowledgment of the Fire Tribe’s standing.
• Jianshi ordered Dazhuang to unload the grain and store it carefully, and workers carried the rice to the granaries.
• The new tribespeople watched the seemingly endless grain procession and felt reassured that they would not go hungry.

Jianshi and the Fire Tribe leaders planned to expand their fleet and strengthen the tribe’s population after learning that the Valley Tribe was large and had access to bronze. They brought more than fifteen hundred people from the Valley River to join the Fire Tribe, where Jianshi promised them food and equal treatment as they settled into their new home.

• Jianya proposed building fifty five-thousand-jin boats by the end of the year, and Jianshi approved the shipyard’s plan.
• Wang Yan warned that the Valley Tribe had nearly twenty thousand people and could obtain bronze, so the Fire Tribe needed to grow stronger and increase its population.
• Wang Yan reported that about fifteen hundred people had gathered near the former Valley River tribes, and Jianshi ordered a fleet to bring them back.
• Jianya, Wang Yan, and Dali led the fleet upstream and brought the gathered people downstream to the Fire Tribe.
• Jianshi showed the newcomers the full granaries, promised that everyone who followed the rules and worked would be fed and treated equally, and arranged their supplies and lodging.

Xueya led 450 Wolf Tribe warriors, including horsemen, toward the Pottery Salt Tribe to avenge past losses and seize its wealth. Jia Li learned of the invasion in time, prepared the tribe’s defenses, and called on its allies for reinforcements as the battle approached.

• Xueya rallied the Wolf Tribe warriors and led them south from High Pointed Mountain toward the Pottery Salt Tribe.
• Jia Li’s mounted scouts spotted the Wolf Tribe’s advance and raced back to warn the tribe.
• Jia Li ordered scouts to withdraw, messengers to seek aid from the Hundred Crafts Tribe, Beast Taming Tribe, and Fish Tribe, and the Pottery Salt Tribe to prepare for battle.
• The Pottery Salt Tribe’s warriors took up positions while women, children, and artisans moved supplies and readied defenses.
• Jia Li watched the approaching force from the reinforced watchtower and prepared to defend the tribe while awaiting reinforcements.

The Hundred Crafts Tribe and the Beast Taming Tribe learned that more than four hundred Wolf Tribe warriors were attacking the Pottery Salt Tribe. Wu Xiong and Muye each agreed to send reinforcements, leaving Kaishan and Liequan marching to aid Jia Li.

• A messenger told Wu Xiong that the Wolf Tribe was advancing on the Pottery Salt Tribe with more than four hundred people and that Jia Li had requested aid.
• After weighing the danger and potential rewards, Wu Xiong ordered Kaishan to lead a hundred elite Hundred Crafts Tribe warriors to the Pottery Salt Tribe.
• A messenger urged Muye to help, warning that the Wolf Tribe might target the Beast Taming Tribe next and promising that the Pottery Salt Tribe would return the favor.
• Liequan and other leaders urged Muye to act, and Muye ordered Liequan to muster eighty warriors for the rescue.
• Liequan set out with the Beast Taming Tribe's warriors while the messenger went ahead to report their aid to Jia Li.

Canglan received the Pottery Salt Tribe’s plea for help against the invading Wolf Tribe and decided to use the crisis to reassert the Fish Tribe’s authority over its neighbors. He ordered Julang to delay intervention until both sides were weakened, then rescue the survivors and claim the credit.

• A messenger told Canglan that more than four hundred Wolf Tribe fighters threatened the Pottery Salt Tribe, which had requested aid from Hundred Crafts and the Beast Taming Tribe.
• Canglan promised the messenger that the Fish Tribe would send reinforcements, while privately planning to punish neighboring tribes for growing less deferential.
• Fish Tribe leaders debated whether to let the Pottery Salt Tribe and its allies suffer heavy losses before intervening.
• Canglan ordered Julang to take three hundred elite warriors by boat and wait until the fighting had exhausted both sides before attacking the Wolf Tribe.
• Julang began mustering the force at a deliberately unhurried pace as the Fish Tribe prepared to use the battle to strengthen its influence.

Jia Li welcomed reinforcements from the Hundred Crafts Tribe and the Beast Taming Tribe, then prepared the Pottery Salt Tribe to defend against the approaching Wolf Tribe. With the Fish Tribe and its chief, Canglan, still absent and a messenger missing, Jia Li watched the empty river as his fear grew.

• Kaishan arrived with a hundred Hundred Crafts warriors, and Liequan followed with eighty Beast Taming warriors, lifting the Pottery Salt Tribe’s numbers and morale.
• Jia Li told Kaishan and Liequan that the Wolf Tribe’s cavalry could arrive within two days and proposed arming able members of his tribe to defend the fortified camp until the Fish Tribe arrived.
• Jia Li secretly sent a trusted confidant by boat to learn when Canglan would send the Fish Tribe’s warriors.
• The Pottery Salt Tribe reinforced its defenses and organized its newly armed members while Wolf Tribe scouts appeared around the camp.
• Jia Li sent Biaotou and mounted warriors to drive off the enemy scouts, and the two sides fought several brief clashes.
• The Fish Tribe’s boats never appeared, and Jia Li worried as the missing messenger and the approaching Wolf Tribe deepened his suspicions about Canglan.

Xueya led the Wolf Tribe’s enlarged raiding force swiftly to the Pottery Salt Tribe, where he found the Hundred Crafts Tribe and Beast Taming Tribe but no sign of the Fish Tribe. He prepared to attack as Jia Li learned the Wolf Tribe had arrived and still waited for reinforcements.

• Xueya hurried his army toward the Pottery Salt Tribe, sending Tujiu ahead to search Wolf Fang Valley for ambushers.
• Xueya told Shichui and Duyan that the allied tribes might not risk their lives for Jia Li and planned to exploit their divisions.
• Tujiu reported that Wolf Fang Valley was clear, and Xueya led the army through it toward the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp.
• A scouting cavalry leader reported that the Hundred Crafts Tribe and Beast Taming Tribe were at the camp, but there were no signs of the Fish Tribe.
• Xueya rallied his warriors and prepared to surround and attack the camp as Jia Li received word that the Wolf Tribe had arrived without the Fish Tribe’s reinforcements.

Jia Li learned that the Fish Tribe was delaying its reinforcements to exploit the conflict, so he prepared the Pottery Salt Tribe and its allies to defend the camp alone. As the Wolf Tribe approached, Jia Li watched from the tallest watchtower, knowing the battle was about to begin.

• Jia Li's wounded aide reported that Chief Julang and the Fish Tribe had not set out and would wait to intervene until the battle's outcome became clearer.
• Jia Li comforted his aide and decided the Pottery Salt Tribe could rely only on itself, the Hundred Crafts Tribe, and the Beast Taming Tribe.
• Jia Li rallied the tribes by warning them of the Wolf Tribe's cruelty and promising food, rewards, and favorable trade terms to his allies.
• Kaishan and Liequan pledged to fight alongside the Pottery Salt Tribe, while Jia Li inspected defenses, distributed weapons and supplies, and moved vulnerable people to safety.
• Jia Li watched the Wolf Tribe approach from the tallest watchtower as the camp prepared for battle.

Xueya responded to a failed messenger interception by scouting for Fish Tribe support and testing the Pottery Salt Tribe’s defenses. After Duyan’s probe suffered casualties against the camp’s determined defenders, Xueya delayed a full attack and ordered his forces to rest and fortify their own camp.

• A patrol leader told Xueya that a messenger had slipped through toward the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp, so Xueya sent Tujiu and twenty riders to scout the Fish River.
• Xueya ordered Duyan to probe the camp with a hundred men and Shichui to gather timber for shelter and possible siege equipment.
• Duyan returned with wounded men and reported that Jia Li had rallied the camp’s residents and allied fighters to repel repeated charges.
• Xueya recognized that the defenders were organized and determined, then ordered his men to eat, rest, strengthen their camp, and wait while he reconsidered the attack.