On account of my meager contribution to Tang
and the fact that I'm your Uncle,
please allow me to resign.
While I'm alive, I will not meddle with state affairs anymore.
They knew about our plan?
so we won't need to fight!
Your cavalrymen...
I'll send them back to songzhou right away.
Maybe Chancellor Zhangsun was right.
Perhaps the Prince of Wu has treacherous intent after all.
Princess Gaoyang is probably his collaborator in Chang'an.
They may act on the day of the annual memorial service for the late Emperor.
Meiniang, watch what you say.
Do you have proof?
It's just a guess.
Please allow me to explain.
But for now, the key is to summon Chancellor Zhangsun to discuss this.
Zhangsun Wuji's resignation has created some unknowns for us.
If this is just an act, what should we do?
Relax! My 5,000 cavalrymen
are hiding in the valley nearby.
On the anniversary of Father's death.
I'll order them to protect Ganye Temple.
I'm so relieved!
Zhangsun Wuji suddenly resigned,
so he's not supposed to attend the ceremony
Are we letting him off?
Keeping him alive means endless trouble.
If we don't get rid of him, I'm afraid Zhinu will become a figurehead
while he'll control the Court and command the courtiers.
Considering that, I will designate a team to kill him at all cost that day.
Your Majesty!
Uncle!
Greetings, Your Majesty!
Forgive me for lying to you.
Please get up, Uncle!
Thank you, Your Majesty!
Your Majesty,
I have always suspected the Prince of Wu
but I don't have any proof.
so I came to this decision
and pretended to resign.
Then Li Ke wouldn't have the excuse of protecting you
and must send his 5,000 cavalrymen away from Chang'an.
Please forgive me for holding out on you.
But I've found out
they left in a hurry with only 2 days' worth of provisions
while supplies for the return journey should be for more than 4 days.
I dare say
those cavalrymen had no intention to leave.
You must believe me.
I'd prefer not to,
but the presence of the cavalrymen
is leaving me no choice.
This ploy of drawing the snake from its hole is a brilliant move.
For you to endure such humiliation, you certainly deserve my respect.
Zhaoyi Wu!
Ganye Temple is easy to hold but hard to attack.
100 guards
can hold out for 2 hours.
That will give us enough time to arrest the rebel cavalrymen.
We can only count on Cheng Zhijie's 6,000 Imperial Guards.
Your Majesty, Chancellor, perhaps I have an idea.
Do you know why you've failed to win Princess Gaoyang's heart?
You've used the wrong method.
The Princess is arrogant and proud,
but your love is too submissive.
Why should I listen to you?
To save her life and ensure you can be together forever.
What do you mean?
Don't you know what she's conspiring?
You will get your entire clan killed!
Wu Meiniang sent you!
Can she guarantee Gaoyang's life?
What should I do?
Your Majesty!
Let's do this tomorrow!
I'm fine!
Thank you, Uncle!
Come...
Help His Majesty to his chamber!
Aye!
I should go!
Your Honour!
There's something I don't understand.
About General Li Ji...
Why can't His Majesty count on him?
General Li Ji and I are old friends.
I know him best.
He's not treacherous, just stubborn.
Once he makes up his mind,
nothing can change it.
If there's anyone in the world he'd listen to,
apart from the late Emperor,
his wife would be the one.
But we've been friends for so long,
there are things I cannot do except to try to persuade him in his camp.
I should go.
Your Honour! I see now.
Thank you for your advice.
Your Highness!
Wu Meiniang caught on you're using Li Ke to stage a coup.
she even tried to make me work for her.
I told you if you pretended to drown your sorrow in wine,
you'd easily gain Zhinu and Meiniang's trust.
What're their plans?
Is Zhinu still going to Ganye Temple?
Li Zhi thinks he can turn the table on us
and take out all the rebels.
He'll still go to Ganye Temple.
since Grand General Li Ji's position is still ambiguous, they dare not trust him.
They're counting on Cheng Zhijie's guards.
Before the cavalrymen are dispatched,
Li Yifu wanted me to stay away from Tenglong Valley.
Tenglong Valley?
That means their men are in the valley.
I don't care how, keep Ke locked up.
Do anything possible to take over his 5,000 cavalrymen.
I'll do that right away!
Your Majesty, nothing unusual at Ganye Temple.
Your Majesty, Tenglong Valley is yet...
Enough! Don't tell me anymore!
Aye!
Why did you dismiss them?
I don't want any more updates.
I only want to look at you.
When this is over and you come back,
you have plenty of time to look at me.
I'm afraid years from now, you'll get tired of seeing me.
You're right!
When I come back, we have years ahead of us.
Come...
Must you go to Ganye Temple?
I'm still hoping that Ke has no treacherous intent.
In that case, if I don't show up, I would hurt his feelings.
But if he does and I don't show up, it'll rouse his suspicions.
Besides, we already have a plan in place.
Meiniang, I have a feeling this is my predestined fate,
just like Xuanwu Gate was Father's.
Neither of us can run from it.
Your Majesty, it's time.
Wait for me.
Bianji...I have waited too long!
After Wu Meiniang returned to the Palace,
I've used her to topple Empress Wang
and used Brother Ke to stage a coup.
Everything Zhangsun Wuji values I must take away from him.
I'll do anything to avenge you!
All these years, my painstaking plotting
is to ensure I'll take over the throne
and I can bring Zhangsun Wuji's head before you.
Bianji...
You're leaving? Are you angry with me?
I know you must feel bad
about what happened to the Gaoyang you loved so much.
Bianji, I'm also afraid the day I meet you in Hell,
you'll find my path towards you strewn with skeletons.
And you won't want to see me
or wait for me.
What should I do?
Bianji...
Milady!
You think Fang Yi'ai is the key to our success?
Is he reliable?
Pitching 6,000 Imperial Guards against 5,000 cavalrymen,
the odds are against us.
The key lies in whether we can split up the enemy
so that General Cheng's men can have an overwhelming edge.
When dealing with Li Yifu, Fang Yi'ai was too quick to oblige.
That means Gaoyang was setting a trap.
I went along with it.
General Cheng's main force is not in Tenglong Valley.
There're only a few scattered soldiers serving as bait.
Let's go!
stop!
This part of Ganye Temple is off limits.
Who are you?
How dare you! shoot!
It's time to surround Ganye Temple!
Charge...
Move it!
Your Majesty!
Pass my order,
if they can hold off the Imperial Guards for 2 hours,
everyone will get 20 taels of gold.
Aye!
This way...
Greetings, Milady!
Well? Did you get it?
Yes, Milady!
Excellent! With this
I'm so much more confident.
The rebels are coming...
What's happening?
Oh no... What's going on?
Zhaoyi Wu, what's this?
I came to see you
not to ask you for a favour.
Please take a look at this...
I believe you know its owner.
How dare you!
Maogong, no!
shut up!
I'm warning, Wu Meiniang!
Where is my wife?
Don't worry, she's at home,
safe and sound.
Really?
Really!
But your household of 56 are with the Imperial Guards.
You...
Your wife told me
when you got married, this was your token of love.
For decades, she always carried it with her.
she also wanted me to pass on a message.
What is it?
Chung Yeung Festival is coming up.
When cornels are blooming in Lihu, Caozhou,
she'd go home with you to visit your mother.
Gaoyang's rebel troops have besieged Ganye Temple,
Cheng Zhijie is locked in a fierce battle.
Only you can save His Majesty.
I'm not patient like Chancellor Zhangsun who's trying to persuade you.
And I won't beg either.
I'm here to order you to go to His Majesty's rescue.
should you falter, and fail to make the right decision,
your household of 56, including your wife will be buried with the dead.
Charge!
Li Ji?
Kill...
Gaoyang!
Kill them!
I lost my head.
Back then...Brother Ke coerced me!
He said if I wouldn't do as he said, he'd kill Fang Yi'ai.
According to Fang Yi'ai's statement,
you were coerced, you had no intention to rebel.
I still think I'm unforgivable. Please punish me.
Why would I do that? You're my sister.
Don't worry, I will pardon you.
I will keep you out of this mess.
But Fang Yi'ai committed treason.
I cannot pardon him.
He'll be beheaded in public in 3 days.
You may go!
Thank you, Your Majesty!
Gaoyang, you have always been the clever one even as a child,
but cleverness may overreach itself.
I hope you'll conduct yourself properly.
Even if you plotted against me,
I'd still forgive you.
After all, you're my only surviving sibling.
Gaoyang, what's your hurry?
What do you want?
Nothing.
I didn't expect after a year,
His Majesty still chose to forgive you.
Yang Qingxuan is dead, the Prince of Wu,
Fang Yi'ai, Xue Wanche,
Chai Lingwu...they're all dead!
Just because you made Li Ke your scapegoat,
doesn't mean you can get away with it.
You're the real mastermind behind the coup.
Because of your ambition, because of your treachery,
countless people who trusted you are dead.
I don't care if they live or die.
I only wanted to be with him.
Him?
Bianji?
You want to be buried with him?
Does Zhinu know you're here?
He doesn't need to.
I knew you'd do this behind his back.
But you must understand,
I'm the only sister he has left.
If I'm dead,
he would have no more siblings.
He won't let you hurt me.
I will not let Anding's killer go unpunished.
Anding?
Anding...
I really adored her!
Her death...pains me too!
But...if I didn't kill her,
how could I make use of your conflict with the Empress
to drive a wedge between Zhinu and Zhangsun Wuji?
Meiniang, I had no choice!
Everything you did was targeted against Zhangsun Wuji?
Don't forget how Bianji died!
Zhinu had no real power...
All because of Zhangsun Wuji!
He's our common enemy, right?
I have not forgotten.
But I also remember
when Zhangsun Wuji banished me from the Palace,
because of the prophecy of "the woman rule named Wu",
you stood by me,
took care of me and treated me like a friend
After I went to Ganye Temple,
you often visited me,
told me about His Majesty's predicaments
and made me worry about him.
After I returned to the Palace, you helped me dodge
the Empress' and Consort Xiao's machinations.
Gaoyang, do you know I really treated you like a sister?
I'm sorry, Meiniang!
I must have lost my head.
Please let me go!
Let me go, Meiniang! I beg you...
How can I forgive you?
Bianji...
Forgive you for manipulating me?
For killing my children?
Meiniang...
I'm really sorry!
For half of my life,
I was best friends with two women,
Xu Hui and you.
I saw you two as my best friends, my sisters...
In the end, you both betrayed me.
The hypocrisy of so-called sisterhood
is after all no match for your infatuation with a man!
Have you ever waited for someone, Meiniang?
When you take one look at him and you know he's the one?
I haven't.
You're lying! You waited for Father.
Just like Zhinu is waiting for you.
All my life, I only waited for Bianji.
But so what? Father executed him!
I hate Zhangsun Wuji,
but I hate Father more.
I must destroy everything he loved.
Just because he was the Emperor,
he thought he had the right to take away my love.
If one could do anything with power,
someday I want to be the Emperor too.
You, Ke and Zhinu,
you were my stepping stones,
a bridge under my feet!
You have gone mad!
There has never been a female Emperor in history.
There are all sorts of reasons in the world.
Who says a woman cannot be an Emperor?
If I had power,
Bianji would still be alive today.
You think if you had power,
you could do whatever you want?
Be whatever you want to be?
Gaoyang, do you know in order to gain power,
you'll lose even more?
so what?
Winner takes all, right?
Come on...you want to kill me?
Go ahead.
As you wish!
I'll bury you with Fang Yi'ai,
and return Bianji's ashes to Huichang Temple,
and put him in a Buddhist hall
forever separated from you.
No...
I'll kill you, Wu Meiniang!
I know it was you
who stopped me from seeing your Father before he died.
Do it!
Your Majesty!
What do you think?
You look perfect.
When you reached for my hand, you seemed hesitant.
Once inside Taiji Hall, you'll become the Empress of Tang,
and will spend the rest of your life in the Palace.
Are you sure?
I care about you, so I don't want to force you.
Between us, we rely on each other for warmth
more than we're passionately in love.
We're more than depending on each other.
We protect and look after each other.
You're my husband and the father of my children,
no matter what lies ahead,
I will be there for you, and see you through everything.
But...
But what?
Absorbing the essence and rejecting the dross,
may work in wine making, but not in life.
sugar canes are not sweet on both ends.
I was never a gentle and agreeable woman.
If you choose me,
you must accept me and my shortcomings.
For example, I'm domineering among other things.
That's how it goes when we depend on each other.
Meiniang, to have a wife like you, is all I have ever wanted.
One more thing...
I've been wondering...
did you have anything to do with Gaoyang's death?
Wu Meiniang came from a prestigious family
with virtues and talents worthy of an Empress.
Long live Your Majesty...
Long live Your Highness...