Episode 68
Tree Kingdoms
Elder Brother.
I was out on patrol when I heard about your arrival, so I hurried back right away.
Younger Brother!
Your brother's doom is at hand!
The lives of all 38 people in my household are hanging by a thread!
Elder Brother, please don't panic. What is this misfortune?
My lord suddenly sent my entire family to jail,
and forced me to come here and demand Jing's return.
He also said, if I failed in my mission,
he would find me guilty of treason, and execute my entire family!
I see.
I've brought this upon you.
Brother, save me.
Hurry and save me!
Elder Brother, you and I are born of the same womb.
We've been through thick and thin together. Your problem is my problem.
Worry not, Elder Brother.
I'll go with you at once to see my lord,
and help you get Jing back.
Good! Good!
Who came to ask for Jing?
Zhuge Jin!
Does your lord know no shame, to keep asking for Jing?
He married his sister to my elder brother,
but secretly took her back when my brother was away.
And he almost stole the heir-apparent too!
How do you suppose we should settle that?
Yide, don't be disrespectful.
Let me tell you. My elder brother is just about to field an army towards the Southland,
and take Sun Quan's state from him in order to repay the insult of having his wife taken away!
My lord, if you are to field an army, please kill me first.
My lord,
Sun Quan arrested my brother's household of 38, and forced him to come demand Jing.
If my lord doesn't return it,
Sun Quan will charge my brother with treason and exterminate his family.
And if that comes to be, I cannot bear to remain alone in the land of the living.
Ziyu is innocent.
How can he suffer this fate?
Kongming, please get up.
I'll do whatever you.say.
Get up.
My lord.
May I make bold to ask you to honor your promise.
and return Jing to the Marquis of Wu?
We won't return it! Never!
Zhuge Jin!
If Sun Quan exterminates your family,
I'll lead an army straight to the Southland and exterminate his family too.
in order to avenge you!
Leave us. Leave us now.
We won't return it! It's impossible!
Ziyu, how about this?
Go back and tell the Marquis
that we've just annexed the Riverlands and are not secure here yet,
and that we still rely on Jing for troops and provisions.
We'll first return the commanderies* of Changsha, Lingling, and Cuiyang to the Marquis.
Once we've conquered Hanzhong,
we'll return all remaining commanderies.
What do you think?
Thank you, my lord, for your mercy.
Thank you, Imperial Uncle.
Sir, with these three commanderies,
my family should be saved.
However,
may I request that you write up a military order
to command General Guan to transfer the three commanderies over?
Very well.
I shall write it at once.
and give it to you to bring to Jingzhou.
Thank you, Imperial Uncle.
Every inch of land in the Province of Jing
was wrested from Cao Cao by our men.
How could I just hand it over?
Here is the Imperial Uncle's military order.
How could you disobey him?
A commander on the field is not subject to his lord's commands.
Perhaps my elder brother is easy-going. But I'm not!
General Guan.
The Marquis arrested my entire household of 38 people.
If you, sir, are unwilling to cede the three commanderies,
old and young alike in my family will be executed
That's just Sun Quan's ploy. How could he fool me with that?
General, how could you be this merciless?
The sword in this sheath here is the merciless one.
If it weren't for the sake of Kongming,
you'd never return to the Southland alive.
See the guest out!
Sir, this way.
Guan Ping, heed my orders!
Sir!
Immediately send out the navy to lay a formation along the river,
and prevent the Southland from raiding the three commanderies.
Also, if any Southland official goes to Changsha to take up office,
send them packing at once.
Yes, sir!
Sir Feng, what happened to you?
Sir, upon Lord Sun's orders, I went to Lingling to take up office.
was intercepted by Guan Yu's men.
But as soon as I crossed the river,
I tried to reason with them, but they beat me "up instead!
Sir Feng, I'm sorry this happened to you.
Help Sir Feng back to his residence to rest.
Yes!
I'm.going to Jingzhou at once to see Guan Yu.
Sir! You mustn't go!
Don't worry.
Have all camps be ready for battle!
Yes, sir!
Sir, please let me come with you.
My greetings, General Guan.
Who are you?
I am the Vice-Commander of the Southland Navy, Lu Meng.
You're "that bumpkin Meng from Wu," aren't you?
You!
General Guan, you are right.
When I first took up command, I was unlettered.
Indeed, they did call me "that bumpkin Meng from Wu.
What's your business here?
To discuss with you. General,
of Changsha, Lingling, and Cuiyang.
regarding the transfer of the commanderies
You are not worthy enough to speak to me.
Hurry and go home.
If the Southland truly wants to negotiate,
have them send Lu Su here.
The Crand^Commander is gravely ill.
He is unable to take on such a journey.
Fine then.
Since Lu Su is that ill,
for the sake of our old friendship I shall meet him halfway.
I shal be awaiting him by the river at Lukou.
That should be satisfactory to you.
Grand Commander.
Careful.
Grand Commander.
Grand Commander. Grand Commander.
I am here at Guan Yu's invitation
to negotiate the return of the commanderies of Changsha, Lingling, and Cuiyang.
At any rate, I'm here to negotiate peace and not to speak of war.
Lu Meng.
Grand Commander, what is your command?
The naval formation on the river
will pull back twenty miles at once.
Grand Commander,
but that would in essence be opening the gates to the Southland before the Jing army!
Oh, Ziming.
Let me tell you.
The troops on both sides of the river
are all ready to spring^into action.
In such circumstances.
who would be willing to sit down and negotiate calmly?
How Guan Yu insults us!
Ziming, you must remember this.
The Southland will never bully and insult another,
but neither will we suffer to be insulted.
To him who insults another, vengeance will surely come.
Is that not so?
You are right, Grand Commander.
Jia Hua!
Here!
Order the navy to withdraw!
Aye!
Oh, Ziming.
Ziming!
It's getting late.
Go back and get some rest.
Grand Commander, don't worry about me.
I'll wait on you until you go to bed, then I'll go.
Sir, but...
You may leave.
Aye.
Ziming, what are you doing?
Grand Commander, you've toiled so hard for the sake of our state.
You've worked yourself ill, and your legs are both swollen.
You can barely bend down. Let me do it.
Even if I can't bend down.
I can't have you do something like that.
You're now the Southland's Vice-Commander, after all.
You mustn't do this.
Before you, I am only ever your student.
Sir, you are my benefactor. You've given me a new life.
This is but a trifle that I'm doing.
You and I are brothers-in-arms.
What's this talk about benefactors?
Father. The Southland navy pulled back 20 miles.
Why would they be retreating?
I thought it was strange, too!
Must be Lu Su who told them to withdraw.
He's showing us his sincerity.
Civil and military officers in the Southland never get along, but Lu Su alone is a sensible man.
Father, why aren't you donning your armor?
There is no need.
I will lead 500 guards to escort you to the meeting, Father.
In former days, amid seas of blades and storms of arrows,
I have galloped alone without a fear.
What cause do I have for fearing those Southland rats?
Father.
Wait here.
I will only bring Zhou Cang with me to cross the river.
Guan Yu dares to come all alone!
How he holds us in contempt!
Sir, you have come a long way. The Grand Commander is waiting for you in his tent.
Much obliged. General Lu, for welcoming me.
This way, please.
Yunchang,
please forgive me for being too ill to drink with you.
But please go ahead and have a couple more cups of wine.
I'm not one to stand on ceremony.
Come, get me a bigger goblet.
Oh, Ziming, you should be congratulating General Guan
on his investiture as the Lord of Hanshou.
Congratulations, sir.
Thank you.
Yunchang,
Zhuge Jin brought to you a letter from your elder brother in Chengdu,
commanding you to return Changsha and the other commanderies.
Yunchang, may I ask why you defied your orders?
Brother Zijing,
today we shall only drink wine, and not discuss state matters.
Of course we should drink wine.
But we should discuss state matters as well.
Oh, Yunchang,
a few years ago, my lord held only the region of the Southland,
and yet he was willing to loan Jing to you.
That was because he had pity on the Imperial Uncle, who came to him defeated and without a foothold.
But now, the Imperial Uncle has already annexed over a hundred counties of Yi Province.
The fertile lands under his control are far more than what we have in the Southland.
Logically speaking, you should have made good on your word right then, and returned Jing to us.
However, the Imperial Uncle maintained that Yi was not secure yet,
and so he could only return three commanderies at this time.
My lord was also willing to be considerate regarding that.
Unexpectedly, Yunchang, you are unwilling to be considerate.
Then let me ask you this.
Why does the Southland keep insisting
that they've loaned us Jing?
The lands of Jing are lands of the Han that we wrested back from Cao Cao's hands.
General Guan.
Long before you wrested back those lands of the Han,
you were routed at Changban,
and your survival hung by a thread.
If the Southland did not mobilize the entire state
to defeat Cao Cao at Red Cliff,
the Imperial Uncle and you, General Guan,
would have been reduced to mere prisoners before Cao Cao long ago.
How could you have gone to wrest back those lands of the Han?
The lands of the realm go to those who can keep them.
They do not belong to the^Sbuthland by divine right.
Who do you think you are, to speak so boldly here?
Dismissed.
Dismissed!
General Guan...
Here.
Yunchang, don't be so niggling over trifles.
Allow me to toast to you.
The officers set a trap without my consent.
Take me hostage and use me to escape.
I am drunk now.
The matters regarding Jing
will be discussed on another day.
Guan Yu! Do not Hurt the Grand Commander!
Move aside.
Disperse!
Why did you save me?
I'm not saving you.
I'm saving the Sun-Liu Alliance.
Even so, I won't return the three commanderies to you.
Even so, I would still save you.
Because, should your head fall in the Southland,
even if we manage to take Jing back that way,
a great war will still erupt between our two forces.
And if that comes to be,
our two houses will be subjugated by Cao Cao eventually.
Zijing, what a true man of principles you are!
You have my utmost respect.
I used to think that there were no heroes in the Southland.
But today I have been proven wrong.
Zijing.
As for Changsha and the other two commanderies, you...
You may send someone to take them back.
Thank you.
Grand Commander!
Grand Commander! Grand Commander!
Grand Commander, are you feeling better?
Ziming...
You were really too rash today.
Even if you were able to take Guan Yu's head at the banquet,
Jingzhou's navy, 80,000-strong,
would still be unscathed.
Furthermore, they would be united by grief and swear to avenge Guan Yu.
Did you really want to start a war between the two states?
Ziming...
Guan Yu has already agreed...
to return Changsha and the other commarideries.
You can send someone to take them back.
Moreover...
while arranging for the transfer...
you can send a crack contingent deep inside the Jing region.
That's probably what you're thinking about, right?
Sir, you have perceived my every thought.
But I will advise you...
not to send any troops across the river just yet.
Send only a few civil officers to take up posts there.
Why?
Because Guan Yu will be watching very carefully...
will be watching very carefully...
every move that Southland officers make.
Only with the passage of time...
will Guan Yu let his guard down.
And then...
you will be able to fulfill Gongjin's last wish.
Grand Commander!
Report!
Sir. Cao Cao, seeing that Liu Bei's rule over the Riverlands is not secure yet,
led a force of 200,000 picked men to attack Hanzhong.
Zhang Lu surrendered already.
The 12 commanderies of Hanzhong are now under Cao Cao's control.
Ziming.
Cao Cao is truly an old hand at warfare. He sure was quick to move.
It seems that Liu Bei's taking the Riverlands...
really bothers him.
Oh, Ziming...
now Cao Cao's and Liu Bei's forces...
are standing off at the brink of war.
The smallest spark...
will lead to the eruption of a heated war.
And that will be the time for us to take the initiative and act.
Right, that is indeed good news.
Ziming. Now, Sun, Liu, and Cao
hold the balance of the world like the three legs of a tripod vat.
However, Cao Cao and Liu Bei's...
land and troops...
exceed that of ours.
Tell me...
what should the Southland...
do in the future?
We should follow your strategy, sir,
allying with Liu Bei to repel Cao Cao.
You only got half of it right.
Which is the half that I got wrong?
Ziming,
When Liu is weak and Cao is strong,
Liu Bei is our friend and Cao Cao our foe.
We must unite with Liu to repel Cao.
However, if, on the contrary,
Liu is strong and Cao is weak...
then Liu Bei will be our foe, and Cao Cao our friend.
We must unite with Cao to repel Liu.
Only by doing this...
will the Southland emerge as the eternal victor.
Grand Commander, you have great foresight.
I shall remember your words forever.
Grand Commander!
Ziming...
I fear this is the end for me.
No, no, that's impossible!
Grand Commander.
I will place the future of the Southland in your hands.
Grand Commander...
My lord...
Hurry, help me up.
I will write a letter to Lord Sun.
No, Grand Commander.
Don't you move!
I'll go fetch the doctor at once!
There's no need.
I know that I am beyond what medicine can do.
Hurry. Hurry and help me up.
Grand Commander!
The Emperor thus decrees:
All ministers shall proceed to the court session!
The Emperor thus decrees:
The Prime Minister may wear his sword and shoes in the palace,
and not announce himself before the Throne.
The Prime Minister is present!
Long live. Your Majesty, long live!
Arise.
Thanks to Your Majesty!
Your Majesty, ever since the Chuping years,
The Prime Minister has fought in the name of Heaven, vanquishing rebels that plagued the realm.
He eliminated Dong Zhuo and destroyed Lu Bu,
and regained the provinces of Qing, Ji, You, and Bing.
More recently, he led his majestic army to recover the 12 commanderies of Hanzhong,
and Zhang Lu was compelled to surrender.
That over half of the realm enjoys peace and stability now
is all due to the Prime Minister's efforts.
He has toiled hard for over 30 years.
His achievements encompass the world; at his name the nation trembles.
Not even the Duke of Zhou or Lu Wang has accomplished a fraction of what he has done.
Your servant entreats on behalf of the people of the nation
that Prime Minister be granted the rank of a prince and the Nine Dignities,
so that his merits may be acknowledged.
Your servant concurs.
The Prime Minister should be promoted to a prince.
Your servant believes
that not only should he be made a prince, but also be granted a cap of ten jade tassels,
a gold-plated carriage drawn by six horses,
and the privilege of using the imperial procession.
Your Majesty.
Your servant's family have served the Han for many generations,
and have received much from the nation's bounty.
Even though I have accomplished a little, it was all due to the majesty of the Imperial Ancestors.
I dare not accept this elevation to the nobility.
Dear sirs...
Does anyone have more comments on the matter?
Your Majesty.
The Prime Minister acts in accordance with Heaven's will
and carries out its justice.
He has always considered it his responsibility uphold the Han,
to strive to be loyal and true, and to abide by the precepts of humility.
When the Supreme Ancestor established the Han dynasty.
he decreed that...
those not from the Liu House may not become princes.
If the Prime Minister is made a prince now,
he would be exalted far above the other ministers,
and have power equal to the emperor.
This will draw criticism from all within the realm.
We, who are both subjects of the Han
and the Prime Minister's subordinates,
should not force the Prime Minister
into such an immoral and dishonorable situation.
I implore you. Sire, to heed the Prime Minister's own words of loyalty,
and not elevate him to princedom. ?
Wenruo has spoken wrongly!
Your Majesty,
even though half of the nation now enjoys security,
Sun Quan and Liu Bei are still at large,
plotting to usurp the Han.
Therefore, the Court/should manifest its majesty even more, in order to bring the rebels to heel.
For the Prime Minister to be promoted to princedom
is in accordance with both the will of Heaven and the desires of the populace.
Your Majesty must not, for the sake of some outdated law,
disappoint the people of the realm!
We... We were willing to promote the Prime Minister to princedom,
but... the Prime Minister himself was not willing.
Sire! The promotion of the Prime Minister is an imperial boon.
How could it be aborted just because he declined it?
Your Majesty, seeing how humble the Prime Minister is,
you should really promote him to the nobility!
Your Majesty, you should promote the Prime Minister to the nobility.
We humbly implore you to promote him to the Prince of Wei!
O ye lords and ministers. Ye subjects of the Han!
Ye who have received the nation's bounty must repay4with loyalty.
But today, ye are as rotten wood, as withered grass.
Where is he who is upright still?
Dong Zhao.
Here.
You shall compose an edict on Our behalf.
Announce to the corners of the realm.
We... elevate Prime Minister Cao Cao to... Prince of Wei.
He shall have a cap of ten jade tassels,
ride in a carriage of gold and silver, drawn by six horses,
and be preceded by the imperial procession wherever he goes.
As Your Majesty wishes.
We thank you, Sire.
Your servant is grateful for this imperial boon.
Young Master.
Good news, good news.
Its all settled.
My father has been promoted to Prince of Wei!
Congratulations, Young Master.
It's getting late. Let's hurry and drive over to Zhang River.
Our friends are all gathered there in order to compose poetry to congratulate the Prince.
Young Master If I may ask, which palace gate should we drive through?
What's the difference?
If we detour to go to the East Gate, it'd take a whole hour.
But the White Horse Gate leads directly out of the palace.
The White Horse Gate, then.
But, Young Master,
by the rules of the palace,
none but the imperial carriage may pass through the White Horse Gate.
That only applies to the common ministers.
Go ahead and take the White Horse Gate.
Open the gate!
By palace rules, no carriage may use the White Horse Gate.
Can't you see who I am?
Cut the nonsense. Open the gate.
The Young Master orders you to open the gate.
Open it.
Aye.
Who is that in the carriage?
Who dares to take the White Horse Gate without permission?
Sir Xun?
I have an urgent business. Please let me through.
There is no business urgent enough to warrant the violation of the imperial laws.
I am attending a gathering at Zhang River, on the Prince's orders.
Please, hurry and let me through.
The Prince's orders indeed!
The laws of the nation are made by the emperor.
If you insist on passing through,
you will have to do so over my dead body.
Sir Xun, please do not push it.
A law-breaking father.
a law-breaking son.
Completely scandalous!
Sir Xun!
What will you have me do then?
I will ask you to turn around and go back!