The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

The year 24 of Yonghe, the beginning of autumn.

The leaves of the old locust tree outside the side hall window were beginning to turn yellow, and a few had already swirled down onto the windowsill, rustling in the autumn wind.

Chunlan tiptoed and raised the window frame a little higher, letting the afternoon sunlight shine in at an angle, landing directly on the table in front of Zhou Xing.

He put down his vermilion pen, carefully folded the secret letters he had read one by one, then lit them over the candle flame, watching them turn to ashes in the bronze dish.

It has been almost five years since he transmigrated to this world.

He grew from a six-year-old child into a ten-year-old boy.

He's grown taller, and his features have matured, losing some of his childishness and gaining a more refined and handsome appearance.

But even in the depths of the palace, he remained the timid, taciturn, and unremarkable Ninth Prince.

No one knows what he did during those five years.

No one knew that the net covering the entire capital was tightening inch by inch.

He unfolded the self-made relationship diagram, his gaze sweeping down from "Zhao Gao" at the top.

Next to each name, the latest position and cultivation level were noted in tiny print.

Dense and numerous, like the roots of a large tree, deeply embedded in the soil of the Great Zhou.

Zhao Gao, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, was a fourth-rank official and an eighth-rank military officer.

He rose from a menial servant in the Imperial Household Department to a chief scribe in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs in less than five years.

Wang Zheng has now formally recommended Zhou Qian to take over as the Grand Eunuch.

Once Wang Zheng retires, he will become the youngest Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

He is the sharpest knife in the Zhou Dynasty's palace, and also the highest-ranking piece among all the chess pieces.

Wei Zhongxian, the deputy chief steward of the Imperial Household Department, was a sixth-rank military officer and concurrently managed the Personnel Department.

He knew all the personnel files of the twelve supervisory commissions, four departments, and eight bureaus by heart. He knew who was whose godson, who was whose fellow townsman, and who was backing whom up.

With over a dozen adoptive fathers scattered throughout the inner court, each favor was an invisible thread that tightly bound him to the power network of the inner court.

Xu Chu, the Left Battalion Commander of the Tiger Guard of the Imperial Guard, is a fifth-rank, peak seventh-rank martial artist.

Dian Wei, deputy commander of the Imperial Guard Battalion, is a sixth-rank, seventh-rank military officer.

Zhan Zhao, a sixth-rank military officer and captain of the Tiger Guard Light Cavalry Battalion of the Imperial Guards.

Li Yuanfang, the commander of the Imperial Guard's secret sentries, is a sixth-rank martial artist.

Four nails were planted from the Imperial Guard Camp into the Tiger Guard, and from the visible sentry post into the hidden one.

They first distinguished themselves in the Imperial Guard competition, made numerous meritorious contributions in the northern border war, and accumulated solid military achievements and popularity through day-to-day patrols and guard duty.

Lu Changfeng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect branch in the capital, is a fifth-rank martial artist.

The core group has more than 200 members, and its network of informants exceeds 2,000, covering the nine gates and thirty-six wards of the capital and the surrounding major prefectures and counties.

The Yellow-Rank martial arts technique "Capturing Dragon and Subduing Tiger" has transformed the combat power of the core members of the Beggars' Sect, with nearly half now at the third rank or above.

They wove an all-pervasive intelligence network at the grassroots level of the city.

Which official took which concubine, which business was hoarding what goods, and which government office was about to undergo personnel changes.

These seemingly insignificant messages were continuously collected and delivered to Lu Changfeng every day, and then sent into the side hall by the gray sparrow.

Shangguan Jin Hong, the leader of the Tongzhou Wharf Workers' Association, is nominally a fifth-rank martial artist, but in reality, he is a peak seventh-rank martial artist.

The workers' association has grown from a hundred or so porters to a massive organization capable of mobilizing three thousand people a day, and the control over the scheduling of deep-water berths has largely fallen into the hands of the workers' association.

With the support of the Third Prince's Imperial Horse Administration, the Workers' Association rightfully secured the exclusive contract for transporting military equipment.

He also reached a profit-sharing agreement with Qiu Wu of the Hai Sha Gang, and even the Cao Gang's hidden agents at the dock were all eliminated by Lun Hui.

The owner of Heshengyuan Trading Company was Yidun, the head manager was Lei Lutai, the second manager was Mao Honghui, and the accountant was Li Hongling.

Starting from an inconspicuous little grocery store in a corner of the West Market, it developed into the leading business in the Great Zhou Dynasty in just three years.

The bank's business covered more than 30 prefectures in the north and south, and its total assets exceeded five million taels of silver.

The shareholder list of Heshengyuan includes military forces such as the Marquis of Anxi's mansion.

There were also upright civil officials under the Grand Tutor's mansion, and the Liu family, secretly supported by the Third Prince.

Every single one of them is closely tied to Heshengyuan's interests; to touch Heshengyuan is to touch their own pockets.

Nie Zheng, leader of the Ink Trace Pavilion Reincarnation Assassin Organization, is a seventh-rank martial artist.

Jing Ke, the second-in-command, is a seventh-rank martial artist; Zhuan Zhu is also a seventh-rank martial artist.

The first batch of prospective assassins, Ajiu, Quessan, and Xiaoya, have completed seven missions without a single failure.

The second batch of prospective assassins is currently undergoing training.

They hid in an inconspicuous bookstore deep in Willow Lane, engraving and selling books, never displaying a sign or accepting orders.

But those undercover agents at the docks who wanted to target the workers' association, and those spies in the imperial court who wanted to investigate Shengyuan, were all eliminated one by one without anyone noticing.

Song Yuanqiao, the owner of Runzhou Wudang Boxing School, is a peak sixth-rank martial artist.

The deputy head of the martial arts school, Yu Lianzhou, is a seventh-rank martial artist. Boxing masters Yu Daiyan, Zhang Songxi, and Yin Liting are all fifth to sixth-rank martial artists.

The Wudang Boxing School has regained its footing by setting up a ring in Runzhou, capturing thieves in the water village, and befriending the prefect.

More than 30 branch schools have been restored, spread throughout the prefectures and cities of Jiangnan, forming a martial arts school network along the Grand Canal from Runzhou to the capital.

Song Yuanqiao remained inactive, neither expanding nor confronting the canal gang head-on.

They simply guarded each branch steadily, like nails driven into the heart of Jiangnan.

The Four Sages of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Bian Que, head of the Bian Family Medical Clinic in the East City; Hua Tuo, head of the Yuanhua Hall in the West City; Zhang Zhongjing, head of the Zhongjing Hall in the South City; and Sun Simiao, owner of the Qianjin Pharmacy in the North City.

Their cultivation levels were all between the third and fourth ranks. The four medical clinics were located in the four corners of the capital, providing free medical consultations and medicine, saving countless lives.

Hua Tuo's Five Animal Frolics has been passed down to Zhou Xing, and Sun Simiao's Lesser Yang Nourishing Soup supports the cultivation of the Reincarnation Assassin and the core members of the Beggars' Sect.

They didn't compete or fight, but with a silver needle and a dose of medicine, they wove an invisible web of hearts among the people of the capital.

Huo Qubing, the vanguard captain of the Northern Expeditionary Army, had accumulated merits and risen to the rank of guerrilla general, a fifth-rank military officer.

Li Wenzhong, the cavalry captain of Yunzhou, is a sixth-rank military officer.

Chen Qingzhi, Chief Clerk of the Northern Expeditionary Army, was a fifth-rank civil official.

Huo Qubing led 800 cavalry deep into the grasslands and beheaded thousands.

Li Wenzhong won several ambushes in Yunzhou with fewer troops against larger ones.

Chen Qingzhi, with his strategic planning, re-surveyed the entire northern border map.

Yao Guangxiao, a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites' Department of Receptions, was a fifth-rank scholar.

Wang Anshi, the Chief Clerk of the Censorate, was a sixth-rank official and a sixth-rank civil official.

Su Shi, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy, was a fifth-rank official and a seventh-rank scholar.

The three men passed the imperial examination in the same year and then worked together to advance their careers in the imperial court.

Yao Guangxiao cultivated a low-key presence within the Ministry of Rites, never proactively expressing his political views, yet he always managed to influence the judgments of various factions at crucial moments with the most precise methods.

Wang Anshi rose to fame with his joint trial by the three judicial departments, achieved enlightenment in three days, and was regarded by Pei Du as the successor of the Censorate.

Su Shi was famous throughout the world for his poetry and prose, and he became a student of Grand Tutor Kong Yan.

The daughter of Marquis Cao Jun of Anxi was interested in him, and Cao Jun also wanted to bring them together. If it worked out, he would gain the support of both the civil officials and the military in the northwest.

Zhou Xing put down his pen, turned to the last page of the booklet, picked up his pen, and wrote two lines.

"In the autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Yonghe, all things were peaceful, the saplings had grown into a forest, and we were waiting for the day when they would reach the sky."

He put down his pen, walked to the window, and opened it. A cool breeze carrying the scent of fallen leaves rushed in.

The leaves of the old locust tree rustled in the wind, and a few swirled into the side hall, landing on his desk.

He picked up a piece, examined it for a moment, and then gently placed it on the corner of the table.

The seeds planted five years ago have now grown into saplings.

He was looking forward to seeing what towering trees these saplings would grow into in five years.