This chapter opens on the sixth month anniversary of the storming of the Ming palace in Luoyang. The king refuses to believe the prime minister, who has been trying to overthrow him for ten years. He refuses to accept the key to the palace, and the general fumbles with it. The prime minister begs the king to accept it, but the king refuses, saying that he is acting in a "fit of anger." The general tells the king that he has seen the true colors of the king, and that the king is bent on opposing them. The general asks the king if he is trying to rebel, and he says that he too is trying. On the eighteenth day after the six-month anniversary, the king's troops attack him and kill him and his family.