General, they’re coming. They’re coming. They’re coming.
Xiang Yu, you codpiece!
We are sworn brothers, aren’t we?
As we are brothers, my father is your father.
You want to boil him? All right. After that...
remember to save me some soup!
Nice.
-General. -Zhongli Mei.
Liu Ji refused to come to attack us.
Just boil his father!
General, no, we can’t!
Xiang Bo, it’s too late. We have no way to retreat.
-What do you know? General. -General.
Dad!
General.
-General. -General. General.
I agree with Xiang Bo.
General.
Xiang Yu, you can boil me now.
Mr. Liu...
your son is heartless. But I can’t. Sorry, Mr. Liu.
Sorry to frighten you.
General, I don’t understand.
What don’t you understand?
You are a great hero. You hate Liu Ji,
but why did you capture his father?
Maybe as a common girl, my views are wrong.
But Liu Ji is not a brave man.
With your bravery,
do you need to stoop to such low means?
Did his father commit any crime?
Precisely. His father didn’t commit any crime.
But his son, Liu Ji, committed serious crimes.
What does he say?
He says...
that the world has been in chaos for far too long.
It’s caused by the constant battles between you and him.
He suggests to follow the martial spirits of the Chu warriors
and have a duel with you to decide who's the winner.
He doesn't want families to lose their homes or be separated
as a result of the hatred between the two of you.
Do you hear this?
He’s impatient already. He wants to risk his life to fight me.
What do you think?
My Lord, he wants to have a duel with you. Who does he think he is?
You can fight him and let him know your strength.
You mean I should hold a sword and fight him?
Yeah!
Am I his match?
Think about what you just said! You meant to get me killed?
No. No. My Lord, I didn’t mean that.
Then what do you mean?
You know I’m not his match. How can you recommend me to a duel?
Actually, I don’t fear him at all.
Days ago, he threatened to boil my father.
Did he do it? He lacks the guts to do so.
Even if I, his sworn brother, stand before him
for him to, will he dare to kill me?
He daren’t.
He has a soft heart. I won’t bother with him.
Mr. Zhang, send him a reply.
Tell him that I’ll not fight him with courage
but with wisdom.
Reporting.
General, as you expected,
they dare not meet our attack.
I think we should send a group of warriors
to instigate them in Honggou.
Just ask our men to curse the Han warriors.
Ridicule them
and say they are the same as their lord. Is it okay?
We've done that before. Was it useful?
General, now warriors on both sides have low morale.
With things as they are,
we should find a quick way to raise our morale.
Even if Liu Ji uses some trickery, it won't affect us.
Ziqi, it’s rather windy outside, isn’t it?
Yes.
The wind is blowing toward us or toward the Han warriors?
Toward the Han warriors.
General, what do mean?
Ask Liu Ji to meet again. Say that, I have something important to discuss.
Show him that we're negotiating for peace. He’ll show up.
Yes, sir. I’ll do it right away.
My Lord, Xiang Yu wants to meet you.
Why does he want to meet me?
He sent a message. He said, he has something important to discuss with you.
He’s waiting for you already.
He wants to talk.
I have nothing to say to him.
Come…
What’s wrong, my Lord?
Help me write him a letter.
Here. Come here.
Sit down.
Write this:
"My son Xiang Yu,
You are strong enough to hold a cauldron, aren’t you? I admire you.
But where is your strength now?
How do you feel with your feet in the mire?"
Go on! Write this:
"A tiger in a cage is no stronger than a rat.
A snake nailed to the ground is no better than a straw rope.
You are right to say that I’m a poor rascal.
I don’t want to meet your attack.
And what I’ll do is tire you, exhaust you
and annoy you till your death."
Write all these down.
And tell him:
"that we have sufficient provisions. We can afford the time. Can you?
And I’d rather enrage you to death.”
Done.
Here.
That’s the first time I ever wrote such a letter.
My Lord.
General, we’ve sent the letter to Liu Ji.
All right. You can go.
Yes.
Wait.
Our warriors are clamoring for provisions?
Yes, that’s the case.
But don’t worry. I can handle it.
We’ll get through soon. They’ll have provisions soon.
General, I can deal with the problem.
But I don’t understand why are
we still talking to someone who doesn’t care about his father or his son?
What could he say?
Right. We needn’t talk to him.
-But-- -You can leave now.
Yes.
General, will Liu Ji come?
You are Liu Ji?
I'm stationed in Bashang.
I hope for the day
when you'll rule the world.
Brother, you wanted to meet me?
What do you want from me?
I heard that you wanted to talk to me.
You can talk to my flabby butt.
I’ve got nothing to say to you. You can attack me.
I've no time to talk to you.
If you want to talk to me, just wait.
-Who can shoot farther? -Me!
Take it.
Wait!
Just wait and see!
Read it carefully!
Have you read the contents clearly?
Understand it?
If you understand it, then don't bother to reply.
General, don’t fall into his trap.
He’s just trying to enrage you.
Brother, in the past, I thought you were a hero.
But now, I think you’re not worth a fart!
I worry that you’ll not die in my hands
by driven to death by my letter.
Why are you silent?
You are speechless with anger?
We dare not hope to be born on the same day,
but hereby vow to die on the same day.
My Lord. My Lord. My Lord.
Don't move.
Liu Ji, you need more than words to battle.
Keep back! Keep back!
Brother, you’re not so good at archery.
It didn’t hit my heart.
Do you know where it hit?
It hit right at my heel.
You should go back and practice your bow skills.
Then come and fight me.
-My Lord. -Don't touch me.
Brother.
Back to the camp.
My Lord.
My Lord! My Lord! My Lord!
My Lord! My Lord! My Lord...
My Lord! My Lord! My Lord!
My Lord! My Lord!
My Lord! My Lord! My Lord!
-Hurry! hurry! hurry! Help our Lord in. -Hurry. Lift our Lord up. Hurry.
Lu Wan. Hurry.
Lu Wan, ask Premier Xiao to come here. Tell him
that the state is of greater importance. He’ll know. Hurry.
Yes.
My Lord! My Lord! My Lord!
Our Lord is wounded? Where is he hurt? Is it serious?
I don’t know the details.
I heard it from Premier Xiao’s servants.
I think the news is true.
Premier Xiao will make a trip to see our Lord.
You should go with him.
And bring Ruyi.
Mr. Xiao, what does Mr. Zhang’s words mean?
"The state is of greater importance" means our Lord may not be able to make it.
So he asked for me.
You mean our Lord may…
Premier Xiao. Lu Wan.
This is--
I heard our Lord is wounded.
Is it serious?
I don’t know the details.
I want to go with you.
You’re a concubine. I can't stop you.
But we must speed up on the road.
I think you may suffer fatigue from the long journey.
I’ll be fine.
Okay.
Within an hour, we must conquer Yu County.
All right. Then we should first go to the county treasury.
-Reporting. -What happened?
Xiao He and some of his followers left Liyang hurriedly.
You mean, he didn’t take warriors or provisions?
Yes. It is a group of ten over people.
If we conquer Yu County, Xiang Yu will not have any provisions.
-Hurry! -Wait!
Why?
My orders: Retreat.
We’ve almost conquered the city. Why do we stop here? Why?
Cut the cackle! Retreat.
We’re retreating to Liangdi.
Yes. We must hurry to Liangdi.
We were about to conquer Yu County but you ordered to retreat. It’s strange.
Now you want to rush back to Liangdi.
What happened?
Our messenger reported last night
that Xiao He left Liyang
for the southeast.
Southeast is where Mt. Guangwu is.
Xiao He is Liu Ji’s premier.
He’s ordered to report to the front line. It’s not strange at all.
It's rumored that Xiang Yu shot an arrow at Liu Ji at Mt. Guangwu the other day.
Some say Liu Ji was only hurt in his foot.
It seems to me that Liu Ji was severely wounded.
I-- I don’t believe it.
Then you don’t know how Liu Ji works.
Xiao He is stationed in Xianyang. Unless he has to escort huge provisions
and warriors, he won’t be easily deployed to the front line.
But now an unforeseen event has happened
and the situation in Mt. Guangwu has changed.
If Chu warriors start the attack, Han warriors will be doomed.
Think about it,
if we are deep within Chu territory
when the Han warriors are conquered, Chu warriors will come to attack us.
Then we’ll have no way to escape!
People say that you’re a wily hare.
Now I finally believe it.
Sandwiched between Chu, Han and Han Xin, we can’t be too cautious.
March on at top speed. We must hurry to Liangdi.
Good job, guys.
-It's no trouble at all, General. -Good. Have a rest.
All right.
-Guys, thanks for your work. -Put it over there.
-It's no trouble at all, General. -Done. Go and have a rest.
General, Peng Yue retreated to Liangdi. Our supply route is restored.
Peng Yue retreated to Liangdi
and gave up the supply route from Yu County to Waihuang.
Why would he do that?
He’s probably afraid that you’ll settle the score with him. He’s scared!
No.
My Lord, this is more than a little strange.
What do you mean?
Look, General, if Peng Yue blocked our supply route,
we’d be in danger.
Why did he retreat?
And he travels 50 kilometers a day all the way to Liangdi.
Very unusual.
Peng Yue’s change of attitude
implies a change of situation.
My Lord, I request to make a feint attack on the Han side.
No. Await for my orders.
My Lord, a full-scale attack in three days should...
Let’s go.
We can’t afford any delay. We must make a decision now.
Then do you have a suggestion, madam?
Me? What do you mean? In such a critical moment,
as his important ministers,
you should know what we should do.
I’m only a woman. How can you ask me for suggestions?
Madam, don’t misunderstand me.
Our Lord is wounded seriously.
Life is hard here. There's a lack of medicine.
And Xiang Yu could attack at any time.
So it’s not good to treat his wound here.
But if we go to Yueyang, the road is far and rough.
We must make a decision.
All in all, we shouldn’t stay here.
So you mean we go to Yueyang?
-I didn’t mean that. -Then--
I didn’t say we go to Yueyang.
Yueyang is too far away.
If there's an accident, I can't be responsible!
But--
We should stay here.
Qi Ji, it’s too far from here.
We’d need at least 15 days.
Can he make it that long?
This is a serious predicament.
Then just extract the arrowhead now.
Doctor, what do you think?
If we send him to Yueyang, the 15 days’ rough journey
with no medicine and medical care will endanger his life.
If his wound swells up,
I’m afraid he’ll not make it to Yueyang. And--
And if at this time, our Lord leaves camp, our morale will be impacted.
Yes. It will shatter all morale.
Then what should we do?
Our Lord is awake.
Our Lord only wants to see Mr. Xiao.
Please.
My Lord, I’m here. Any orders?
My Lord,
I’m here. Just tell me what you want.
You told me
to appoint a crown prince.
It’s the right time.
My Lord,
you’ll recover.
I understand…
very clearly.
How is our Lord?
What did he say?
This decision is not one that we ministers can make.
Lyu Zhi is currently imprisoned in the Chu camp.
And the other two concubines are at odds. This is going to be very tricky.
Yes. The premier who manages all world affairs
is now trapped between two women, there’s no protocol for that.
Governing a state is easier than managing a family.
And what’s more, it’s Liu Ji’s family, not mine.
All right. Then let’s not make this decision now.
What? Don’t make the decision?
-But our Lord is on the verge of-- -Premier,
did you notice anything strange in Chu?
It seemed that they made some movements
but they suddenly retreated to a farther place.
You mean they want to attack?
Were it not for Peng Yue’s retreat,
Xiang Yu would have attacked us.
The provisions from Yu County
made him drop that plan to attack.
Xiang Yu is self-conceited.
And he always misses his chance.
But Chu's right-wing warriors didn’t seem to obey Xiang Yu’s order.
They will launch a sneak attack?
Premier, what we need now is a big victory
to win time for our Lord.
I have an idea. I hope you’ll agree with me.
Go ahead.
I need to borrow something.
What is it?
Our Lord’s banner.
Zhongli Mei,
Chu’s doom is coming. You are a great general.
You should hurry to surrender to us.
Our general has prepared a banquet for you.
Zhongli Mei, do you know your crime?
I disobeyed your order, launched an attack and failed.
I should be beheaded.
Hey, Zhongli Mei, don't talk like that!
General, Zhongli Mei attacked our enemy without authorization. It’s his fault.
But he’s been our sworn brother for years.
I beg you for his life. Please be merciful to him.
Yes, my Lord.
We’ve been in this stalemate with Liu Ji’s warriors for months.
And soon, the cold winter will come.
All our men are looking forward to the end of this war.
Please spare his life, General.
Ji Bu. Ziqi.
I’m guilty. I should be beheaded.
I’ll not kill you. Just leave.
My camp doesn’t need you anymore.
That’s worse than killing me. Just behead me then!
-Zhongli Mei! -Zhongli Mei!
Fine!
You don’t listen to me anyway.
But do you think I fear death?
I didn’t allow the attack because I didn’t want you to die for nothing.
We’ve lost so many of our brothers.
And now you still want to die, too?
My Lord,
since the day I joined you,
I haven’t feared death at all.
I promised you my life. What do I have to fear?
I’m wrong and I should be punished. I should be beheaded.
But do you know what I am thinking?
I only want to kill Liu Ji! I want to kill that man
so he’ll never vex you ever again!
Subtitle translation by Hwee Lin Wong