Chapter Summaries

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.

Xueya brought the Wolf Tribe’s main force to intimidate the Pottery Salt Tribe into surrender, but Jia Li rejected his demands and ordered the defenders to attack. After his psychological assault failed and a frontal assault seemed too costly, Xueya ordered his men to gather timber for a siege as the battle settled into a tense stalemate.

• Xueya advanced on the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp with more than three hundred troops and demanded that Jia Li surrender, offer tribute, and send women.
• Jia Li refused Xueya’s threats, warned that Fish Tribe reinforcements were coming, and declared that the Pottery Salt Tribe would fight to the end.
• Jia Li ordered the defenders to hurl stones and short spears, forcing Xueya to retreat under the cover of his guards.
• Xueya recognized that his attempt to intimidate the defenders had failed and judged a frontal assault too costly.
• Xueya ordered his men to hurry the tree-cutting and search for large logs to batter down the gate or climb the wall.

After his attempts to draw the Pottery Salt Tribe out failed, Xueya devised a plan to burn their homes and destroy their crops to force them into the open. He left the Wolf Tribe ready to attack if Jia Li’s people came out, while the Fish Tribe remained unseen.

• Xueya ordered Duyan to provoke the Pottery Salt Tribe and lure its defenders out, but Jia Li stopped the warriors from opening the gates and arranged for them to answer the insults.
• Duyan’s group lost the shouting match, and Xueya recalled his men to camp as his anxiety grew.
• Tujiu reported that his scouts had seen no sign of the Fish Tribe near the Fish River.
• Xueya spotted the Pottery Salt Tribe’s houses, haystacks, and rice fields and decided to destroy them to break the siege.
• Xueya ordered Shichui to burn the houses and throw flaming straw into the camp, Duyan to uproot the rice seedlings, and Tujiu to watch the Fish River while the remaining Wolf Tribe warriors waited to attack.

After the Wolf Tribe burned homes and destroyed crops, Jia Li led the Pottery Salt, Hundred Crafts, and Beast Taming Tribes into a bloody battle against Xueya’s forces. Both sides withdrew battered, and Jia Li sent a boat to ask the Fish Tribe for reinforcements before the fighting resumed.

• Shichui and Duyan’s warriors burned shelters and ravaged the Pottery Salt Tribe’s rice fields, while the Wolf Tribe hurled burning straw toward the camp.
• Jia Li pledged the Pottery Salt Tribe’s salt and spoils and an alliance to Kaishan and Liequan, then led their combined force out to fight.
• Xueya recalled his raiders and ordered them to meet the charging allies, and the two forces fought for about two hours with heavy casualties on both sides.
• Jia Li ordered a swift boat to carry an urgent appeal for help to Canglan of the Fish Tribe, while Xueya failed to stop it and strengthened his watch near the Fish River.
• Both sides withdrew to their camps to recover, leaving the battlefield strewn with the dead and wounded as they prepared for another clash.

After the Fish Tribe entered the conflict, Xueya withdrew toward Wolf Fang Valley and ambushed Julang’s pursuing force. The Fish Tribe withdrew at night after a costly fight, while Biaotou, Kaishan, and Liequan watched from afar.

• Tujiu warned Xueya that the Fish Tribe’s fleet was approaching, so Xueya ordered the Wolf Tribe to retreat toward Wolf Fang Valley.
• Jia Li refused to pursue the withdrawing Wolf Tribe and sent Biaotou, Kaishan, and Liequan to follow at a distance.
• Julang led 270 Fish Tribe warriors after the Wolf Tribe, while Xueya secretly prepared Yexiao and fifty ambushers in Wolf Fang Valley.
• Yexiao’s ambushers attacked the Fish Tribe with logs and rocks, and Xueya’s warriors turned back to strike Julang’s disordered vanguard.
• Xueya and Julang broke off the fight after dark, and the Fish Tribe withdrew from the valley with considerable losses.
• Biaotou, Kaishan, and Liequan heard the battle and saw the Fish Tribe retreat, guessing what had happened.

After the battle at Wolf Fang Valley, Julang arrived at the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp and demanded a share of the spoils, using the Fish Tribe’s military strength to assert authority. Jia Li defused the confrontation by preserving his promise to the Hundred Crafts and Beast Taming tribes while offering the Fish Tribe grain, pottery, and a meal.

• Julang led his surviving warriors to the Pottery Salt Tribe’s camp, intending to demand justice and make up for his losses.
• Jia Li welcomed Julang with feigned gratitude after learning the Fish Tribe’s force was approaching.
• Julang claimed the Fish Tribe deserved the largest share of the spoils, and Kaishan objected that the spoils belonged to the tribes that had fought for them.
• Julang threatened Kaishan and the other tribes, asserting the Fish Tribe’s authority as his warriors advanced.
• Jia Li intervened and offered the spoils to the Hundred Crafts and Beast Taming tribes as promised, while pledging grain and pottery to the Fish Tribe.
• Julang accepted Jia Li’s offer and entered the camp for a meal.