Their natures are similar, their habits become different.
If, negligently, not taught, their nature deteriorate.
The right way to teach is to attach the utmost importance to thoroughness.
Formerly, the mother of Mencius chose a neighborhood.
When her child would not learn…
Here.
-Thank you. -Your wine, sir. Enjoy.
Where are you from, sir?
I’m just passing through.
Don’t you know the city will be destroyed? You should hurry and leave.
I have a question for you. Since the city
is to be destroyed, why are rites, music and readings going on just the same?
Sir, in your opinion,
what else should we do?
Liu Ji is to rule the world.
If commoners surrender, they can live, no?
Lu was the fief of the late General Xiang Yu.
We are his subjects.
The general died in the battle. If we surrender,
what morality do we have?
In the Analects, Zeng Zi said, “One who can be trusted with his infant to
appoint heavy tasks,
and one who will never forsake his ideas for his own sake.”
Lu is a land for sages.
How can we betray our morals and tolerate an undignified life?
But then you will all die.
What’s to fear in death?
We’d rather die in dignity than live in disgrace.
If Liu Ji is to conquer the world and to rule the world,
he should respect the commoners’ morality,
praise his enemy’s unconquerable will.
To be respected...
one must first respect.
Rites and justice, morality and loyalty...
are respected by rulers, aren’t they?
You’re right.
If we attack by force, blood will fill the city.
Our Lord values loyalty and justice highly.
If he witness what Lu commoners are doing...
he’ll take back the order.
But we’ve got the order.
We have no time to send him a letter to dissuade him.
Within those three days, how can we find a way to save the commoners?
I’ve got an idea.
Citizens of Lu...
I’ve come to hold this funeral for your Lord.
Citizens...
your Lord passed away not long ago.
Without your memorial...
he can’t be set to rest.
Let us pay our last respects together.
Who are you? Why do you come to my home?
Granny, years ago, I fished by the river
while you washed your clothes.
You gave me steamed buns every day.
Many people ate my steamed buns.
How can I remember them all?
I’m Han Xin.
-Han Xin? -Yes.
I have no impression of you.
It doesn't matter. But I remember you.
All right. I’ve to work.
I've no more time for you.
I’ve to do this laundry.
Granny...
I came to fulfill my promise.
Thank you for helping me at the time.
My respects.
For me?
You don’t need to do laundry.
I’m hungry. Anything to eat?
Rise.
-Mom. -Be good. Come here.
Ji Tao. Ji Tao.
Pack some clothes for me.
That rascal returned.
Come on. Hurry to pack me some clothes.
I’ve to find a place to hide for a few days.
Why are you standing still? That guy came--
You have come back to kill me?
My Lord...
forgive me! I was as blind as a bat at the time.
Forgive what I did to you. Hope you’ll forget the insult.
Crawl between my legs.
I’ll spare you.
Okay. I’ll crawl.
If I crawl, you’ll spare my life.
You’ll spare my life. You’ll spare my life.
If I crawl, you’ll spare my life.
Raise your head.
Still a butcher?
Yes.
I can find you a job which will allow you to live comfortably.
Teach your son to read...
and be kind to your wife.
Live a good life.
Thank you, my Lord!
Please read the decree, marquis.
Our Lord said, “Lu Wan, you didn’t behave yourself.
As the king of Yan, how could you be so shameless?
And hanker after small money.
But as you’re loyal to me, I’ll not blame you.”
Thank you, my Lord.
And our Lord added,
“I’m feeling bored in Chang’an. I need someone to talk to.
You should come back with the marquis of Piyang.
I’ll await you here.”
At your command.
I’ve finished reading.
Come. Rise, Lu Wan.
Didn’t he say anything else?
Only those words for his decree?
What I want to know is…
Our Lord is really great. He knew you’ll ask such a question.
Lu Wan, you’re really timid.
But I overheard the discussion of our Lord...
Mr. Xiao and Cao Can.
They said someone accused you of betrayal.
What? Me?
I’m only loyal to our Lord! I’ll never betray him.
I’ll leave now.
Guards!
My Lord!
What date is it?
The seventh day of December.
More than a month has passed.
We haven’t received any word from our Lord.
I’m haunted by nightmares.
Something's not right.
Sir, since you asked...
I think you have two choices.
First, rebel and have a life and death struggle.
Second, set off to meet our Lord right now.
Only those two choices?
Yes.
All right.
I’ll have to rebel.
Han Xin...
I have good news for you. I've to come and tell you myself.
What is it?
Our messenger reported...
that Chen Xi was destroyed.
That’s really good news.
Our Lord won the war.
Ministers will go to the palace to show congratulations.
You and I can go together.
Without your help, I wouldn’t be in this position.
I once told someone
even if there comes a day when you asked me to die,
I’ll not refuse you.
But I never expect that the one to invite me would be you.
Okay.
Mr. Xiao, take care.
How dare you!
My greetings, Empress.
You colluded with Chen Xi to betray. Do you admit your crime?
I never did anything to betray our Lord. How could I betray him?
You’re really arrogant.
How can you deny your crime before death?
What are you smiling at?
I didn’t smile.
Our Lord wants to kill me. So he can easily find an excuse.
Did you find a good way to kill me?
I know our Lord once promised you...
that whatever crime you've committed...
he can’t kill you in five situations.
Not in the open air, not on the ground...
not in the light, not by copper, and not by iron.
Don’t worry. I’ll not violate his promise.
Do you think you can see any light here?
You could put out all candles…
Han Xin, all your life, you’ve been a conceited person.
You despise too many.
I’ll let a group of girls dispose of you.
Servants.
Yes.
Kill him.
Mr. Xiao, what happened?
-Han Xin is dead. -What?
With my help, the empress killed him.
You…
Forget it. He’s already dead. It’s no use to blame you.
I trust you the most.
I want you to do me a favor.
What is it?
You know everything I’ve have done all these years.
And I've helped the Empress in killing Han Xin.
It will bring me trouble eventually.
I want you to accuse me of corruption.
Why?
Soon our Lord will concoct an excuse to capture me.
And he may sentence me to death.
When they send me to prison, you can hand the evidence of corruption to them.
But I…
I have no evidence.
What can I give to them?
I’ll try to find a way to get you the evidence.
In 195 B.C.,
when Ying Bu saw that almost all the other kings he rebelled, were killed.
Liu Ji and his warriors waged a punitive expedition against Ying Bu.
In the war, Liu Ji was shot by an arrow.
The wound was in the same spot where Xiang Yu once wounded him.
In the end, Ying Bu was defeated and killed.
But years of war had severely impaired
Liu Ji’s health.
Why isn't anybody around?
I’ve told you we shouldn’t...
clear the streets or shut the doors, and we shouldn’t reproach them.
They are our countrymen.
We shouldn’t treat them rudely.
-Yes. -We've come
to visit them, isn't it?
Ji, where have you been?
We’re waiting for you.
Come here. Hurry. Take your seat.
Still with the habit of crying?
If you don’t want to see me cry, I can stop crying.
You can. But you can only cry when I am at your side.
-Still with the habit of getting mad? -Still do.
You can get mad at others...
but you can’t be mad with me.
My greetings, my Lord.
Rise. Rise.
How is it?
Did you find them?
My Lord...
since I received your decree to look for the family of Ji Xin...
I have begun to look for them at once.
-But-- -What happened?
I couldn’t find him.
How can it be?
No one knows him.
And someone said that he may not be our countryman.
Bullshit.
Ji Xin joined me since we were in Pei County.
It’s impossible that he’s not from Pei County.
He saved our lives. He once saved me.
Without him, I might have been dead far earlier.
We owe him a debt of gratitude. I must find him.
Forgive me, my Lord. I have tried my best
but I can’t find any information about his family.
If we can’t find his family...
we can find his friends...
or his neighbors.
If you can find them, I will reward them.
I'll promise a comfortable life for them. Go and find them.
-Yes. -Go find them.
Hey.
My Lord.
You should call me Liu Ji.
-I dare not. -Dare not?
Why don’t you dare?
You dare to do anything. You are a bold woman.
And why didn’t you...
come back to me with Lyu Zhi?
Well, forget it.
But this time,
why didn’t you come and meet me?
I have to come all the way here.
I want to avoid the bustle.
Of all people! You want to avoid the bustle?
Don’t you love bustling time?
The bustling in my tavern is just temporary.
It’s all quiet after closing time.
But the bustle at your place...
has no moment of peace.
Don’t drink any more.
Leave me alone.
Great!
I want to know how our son is.
I think he’s good.
It’s a long time since I last saw him.
Good. It’s good to be far away from you
in case he brings you trouble.
I don’t want him to live here, either.
I don’t want his wives to bother me.
What’s funny?
Why don’t you admit that you’re stubborn?
I can’t change, my Lord.
I fine you a drink.
Why do you fine me?
You want me to miss you but you don’t let me see you.
Shouldn’t you be fined?
Drink.
If you miss me, you can come back to meet me.
See you? Come back to see you?
Come back. You’re dreaming. I can’t come back.
Never again.
Don’t talk that way.
How are your sworn brothers?
My brothers?
Why did you come back all by yourself?
My brothers.
For those who deserved to be king, I kinged them.
I killed those who deserved death and I imprisoned some who deserved it.
Do you still remember Mr. Xiao, the magistrate?
Hmm.
You know, he followed me for years. He was loyal to me.
But he turned into a very greedy man.
Really?
Of course. But I'm relieved.
It’s good. The greedier, the better it is.
It means that he isn't ambitious.
-How about Lu Wan? -Don’t mention him.
He escaped.
He betrayed me and ran to the north.
How can they be like that? They were all your sworn brothers.
Screw them all. What brothers?
Man always changes.
I thought that you would be happy to be the emperor.
But it seems that you’re more troubled.
You’re wrong.
I feel that my days are not long.
I can’t live for long.
But I fear death.
I fear it.
I don’t want to die.
I think as long as I live...
I can come back to Zhongyangli.
These days, I kept dreaming of this place,
dreamt of the seniors here,
dreamt of my father, dreamt of my mother,
dreamt of that yellow dog of my family...
and dreamt of you.
You’re still just as beautiful and cute.
-Forget me. -What?
Forget me.
Forget you?
Do you see this?
Can I forget?
I can’t forget.
What’s that sound?
I think our villagers are performing village opera.
Village opera?
It’s not the village opera.
Not the village opera.
Who are you?
-Xiang! -Xiang?
Are you my son or my grandson?
I don’t know.
Who is your dad?
The king of Qi.
The king of Qi is Liu Fei.
And your dad?
My dad? My dad was a rascal.
You’re unlucky. Mine, too.
Are you living here?
Yes. But I'm moving soon.
-Where will you move to? -Changling.
That’s a graveyard.
I know it’s a graveyard.
So I’m moving there.
You are going to move to the graveyard?
All of us will have to move there.
In the future you’ll also move there.
Actually, the graveyard is the same as here.
Come here.
Here. I’ll give you something delicious.
-It tastes bad. -Taste bad?
I grew up with it. Eat it.
-Delicious? -Yes.
How do you feel about this place?
-Very good. -Good.
Very good.
You’ve never been to E Pang Palace. That was a really good palace.
It’s a pity...
that it was burnt down by Xiang Yu.
Who is Xiang Yu?
People call him the god of war.
But I defeated him.
Isn’t that remarkable?
Hmm.
I also think it’s remarkable.
It’s not that I defeated him.
I’m not his match at all.
It was heaven that helped me defeat him.
After the collapse of the tyrannical Qin, I didn't contribute much.
But I got the most advantage.
I reached Xianyang first and became king.
Don't you think I was lucky?
Of course...
thanks to my sworn brothers, I was able to stay alive up until now.
As for winning a war by devising a plan in a tent, I can't beat Zhang Liang.
In managing state affairs like taxes and levies...
Xiao He is better than me.
As for fighting wars and managing an army...
I’m no Han Xin.
The three of them are people of exceptional ability.
But they chose to obey me!
Do you know the reason?
I can tell you.
Because... I am a dragon.
Historians said that my mother was engulfed by a dragon by the river,
where she gave birth to me,
the dragon.
You don’t believe it, do you?
Of course you’ll not believe it.
But I’m destined to be emperor.
On my body, there are 72 moles.
And my sworn brothers told me...
that I’m the Red Emperor’s son who killed the White Emperor’s son.
So I became the emperor.
Chen Sheng once asked if kings and nobles were given their high status by birth.
That’s the most impressive thing I ever heard!
To be frank...
I had no status and went to seek my fortune barefoot.
And unexpectedly, I won the world.
It’s not that I’m great...
but it was heaven's will.
My victory over Xiang Yu was the victory of the commoners’ dissatisfaction.
And Xiang Yu...
shouldn’t have been killed,
but he didn’t want to live, and asked for death.
But I admire him.
Even now, I still fear him.
But I never gave in to him.
And I defeated him.
The strong one lost...
and the weak one won.
The humble man won the world.
As a man...
we can lose a hundred times...
but we must gain the ultimate victory.
I don’t know, when you reach my age...
if our state will still be in our family’s hands.
The world sometimes will change in absurd ways.
I tried every effort to strengthen our state...
by establishing the foundation.
But my efforts were in vain.
Look at the Changle Palace.
Its foundation is weak.
It's not stable. It’s shaking.
It’s not shaking. When my dad drinks wine, he says the room is shaking.
But the room’s not shaking at all.
The house is not shaking, you’re right. It’s the human mind that is shaking.
Our people‘s minds are wavering.
The most abstruse matter is one’s mind.
The most difficult to satisfy is the mind.
The hardest to confine is the mind.
Follow heaven's will and people's wishes during an interregnum.
In my opinion...
a good emperor wins with morality and a cruel one with force.
But both morality and force are needed for governance.
We must manage our state and make people obey.
We should use both force and morality to rule.
Respect heaven, and you can rule forever.
Subtitle translation by Hwee Lin Wong