Father-in-law.
Mr. Fan, we're running out of food.
We captured 200,000 Qin soldiers,
but it seems that's not a good thing anymore.
What did Xiang Yu say?
He left the military camp last night. We don't know where he is.
Why didn't you tell me earlier?
I just got the news myself.
General, every time you set off to fight to the enemy...
I'm always filled with anxiety,
fearful that something might happen to you.
No, wait. These blood stains may taint you.
I don't care.
General...
I need to talk to you.
You head back first, I'll be back soon.
-Mr. Fan, why are you so agitated? -General.
Where did you go?
I was out on an inspection with some of our soldiers.
We found a small group of Qin warriors.
You need not take the risk. As our leader, your safety is of utmost importance.
All right. But I'm back safely, right?
Here, have a seat.
Sit.
You all don't even allow me a moment to deal with my personal affairs.
Are you referring to that girl?
Mr. Fan, why do you ask me this?
General, if you want to get ahead, you must leave the girl.
Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?
No. Zhang Han is biding his time and our provisions are running out.
I'm worried.
How can we find enough food for hundreds of thousands of captives?
That's also my concern.
If we can't supply them with enough food, a riot will break out.
If we can't arm them to fight Zhang Han,
I'm afraid they may turn on us, pointing their spears in our direction.
For such a large group of captives, we should put them behind our procession,
but that will negatively impact our speed.
How will we attack, march on and besiege Jiyuan?
They are such a large group.
What if they attack us suddenly?
How about killing them?
We can't kill them!
The best option for Zhang Han is to surrender to us.
It's an obvious choice.
If you kill captives now...
you'll boost our enemy's morale. They'd fight to the end, not surrender.
Our inability to speed up, is absolutely because of them.
In this respect, for us,
the victory at Julu has become a burden.
General, we've experienced many wars like that in the outpost.
They are nothing new to us.
But we knew, whether the battle was big or small,
General, you'd be leading us as our vanguard, to keep moving forward.
Our men were inspired.
We displayed astounding fighting spirit, just like we did in the battle at Julu.
But now things have changed. We've got no time to waste.
Our warriors have won almost every battle,
while Zhang Han's army has retreated to Jiyuan. He's been dealt a great blow.
He hasn't take any action these days,
and his reputation has been affected too.
We should remember that the main forces of Qin remain strong.
It's as if. We could see the Zhanghe River as a divide,
we're waiting to break out of the deadlock on our respective sides.
Winter is gone.
Warmth is returning.
Yet the situation remains the same.
In the Central Plain,
people have already lost all hope in Qin.
Though Zhang Han is alone,
he's still well fortified and strong enough to hold us off.
He's truly a great general.
What about Liu Bang?
Where is he now?
You belittled him before.
He's heading towards the Northeast and have already reached Wuguan Pass.
That's what I'm worried about.
King Huai promised the first man that took Xianyang would be king.
But we are tied up with Zhang Han. We can't do anything to speed up.
We're at a disadvantage.
It's a real catch-22 situation.
General, Chen Yu of Zhao seeks an audience.
We won the war in Julu.
There are no obstacles enroute to Xianyang.
If you insist on fighting Zhang Han,
you are just wasting time and energy
without achieving anything.
What's your point?
We fight wars for benefits.
Right now, Liu Ji is leading his men and marching toward Xianyang.
General, King Huai has promised to king the first one to reach Xianyang.
You wouldn't give that position up to someone else, right?
I think we should bargain with Zhang Han to surrender.
Bargain with him?
You want me to get him to surrender?
I haven't even defeated him yet.
You came here just to tell me this?
I have other business to attend to.
Mr. Fan, please attend to our guest.
Please sit down.
Please.
Thank you, Mr. Fan.
Please continue.
Xiang Yu is pretty much invincible.
But he's clear that it's not easy to beat Zhang Han.
It's just that he can't stomach this.
If Zhang Han just surrenders to us without fighting,
it won't sound glorious.
But, Mr. Fan, I think you are clear.
If we can end the war quickly and preserve our strength
I don't understand why we have to fight.
Zhang Han holds military power, and is loyal to Qin.
With his military strength, he's capable of battling us.
How can we persuade him to surrender?
Of course, a loyal general would never succumb to his enemy.
But now the Qin imperial court is on the verge of collapse.
Even the loyal officials are killed.
Given such circumstances, even a stubborn person would be swayed.
Let me try to persuade Zhang Han.
We can't afford any delay.
Mr. Fan!
I'm Chen Yu.
Chen Yu? Xiang Yu sent you here?
I came on my own accord.
But I met General Xiang Yu before I came here.
I see. Sit down.
Thank you, General.
As you're a world famous general,
I'd like to ask you a question.
How do you think you compare to famous generals Bai Qi and Meng Tian?
I cannot compare with them.
Bai Qi accomplished brilliant victories,
but he was driven out of Xianyang and committed suicide.
Meng Tian
made great contributions, but was framed by Zhao Gao and was killed.
Why do such things always happen in Qin?
It's said in Qin, once a general's contributions are too great,
the royal court will find an excuse to kill the general.
It's a tradition in Qin.
As a citizen of Qin, you should know this better than I do.
At present, only your army is left protecting Qin.
But the rebel army is growing,
and your royal court won't give you more men.
If this goes on, you'll lose sooner or later.
What I don't understand is...
General, what are you fighting so hard for?
For the traitorous Zhao Gao?
As an upright man...
How can you allow your legacy to be tainted by him?
Then in your opinion, what should I do?
Turn around and attack Xianyang.
You can join the other vassal states to conquer Qin and become a marquis.
If you continue to fight for Qin, you'll be executed in public.
General, these are your two options.
That's what I came to say. Please think it over carefully.
Chen Yu, how dare you bullshit me with your hackneyed words?
As you are an emissary,
I'll not kill you. Leave now.
I'll take my leave.
Farewell, General.
Sima Xin, it seems that you've got something to say.
I think he's right.
General, whether you win or lose, you'll be killed.
Sima Xin, I'm just a warrior.
I'm happiest when fighting on the battlefield.
Should I attach so much importance to my life?
You are a general...
the survival of your men is in your hands.
If you join Xiang Yu's army,
our warriors will follow you just as they did before.
Former generals, such as Bai Qi, and Meng Tian,
enjoyed immense popular support among warriors.
You are a general like them.
You mean even if I surrendered,
if my warriors still support me,
I'd still be a great general, is that right?
I think we should know why we fight.
What's most important now is to end the war...
and bring our warriors back home.
This is the most important thing.
This way, you'll be saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
Do not persist in having things your own way.
General, I was briefly acquainted with Xiang Yu's family.
Long ago, I was working as a prison official.
Xiang Liang committed murder, and came to me.
As he was honest and fair, I let him go.
If you need a go-between,
I can make an appointment with Xiang Yu for you, General.
What I desire most in my life...
is to fight my enemy to the death.
This time on this battlefield, the enemy I face
is the most formidable opponent in the world.
For a general, that's a blessing.
After this battle, I may be proud to have defeated my great enemy, or vice versa.
Why are you attacking Qin warriors all of a sudden?
Sima Xin sent a messenger, but Zhang Han didn't.
I didn't want to negotiate with Sima Xin,
So I sent General Pu to fight Zhang Han's men stationed south of Zhangshui River.
If so, why didn't you send our main forces to attack the Qin army from the upstream?
That way, Zhang Han's main forces will be crushed.
My orders, attack on all fronts.
Yes.
Wait.
We should not attack this way. Zhang Han is like a cornered wild animal.
A frontal attack will bring great losses for us. We should attack his flank.
Mr. Fan...
I can't fight in such a shameful manner.
I must give him a frontal attack and destroy his line of defense.
Zhao Gao! How dare he kill our emperor!
I'm going to the palace to kill him right away.
That's not necessary.
He sent his messenger here.
What? His messenger?
He's afraid that we'll take action after finding out what he did.
So he wants us to return.
Where's the messenger?
I killed him.
General, Qin is on the verge of collapse.
It's because our emperor trusted Zhao Gao that he was killed.
Honestly...
it was expected.
If that's the case... If that's the case...
what should we do?
We have no choice.
No one will come to our aid.
We have to surrender to the Chu army.
What did you say?
Surrender to Chu?
Did you forget that I killed Xiang Liang?
If I surrender, will Xiang Yu spare my life?
Then, will Zhao Gao spare you?
So what if you lead your troops all the way to Xianyang
and kill Zhao Gao? What can you do?
How many more days will Qin last?
General, you've done what you should have.
What happens next is not for us to decide.
It's just as you said.
If I win, I die. If I lose, I still die.
I've won the battle, but I have to surrender.
How could this happen to us?
Bring me wine. I need a drink.
Sima Xin, let's drink to victory.
I'm afraid when I surrender,
we may only drink wine that we never wanted.
Mr. Fan.
-You may leave now. -Yes.
Mr. Fan, is anything wrong?
Did you see Zhang Han's emissary?
What? He only won a small victory. Does he mean to insult me?
Not at all.
Not at all. He wants to surrender.
Why?
He heard Zhao Gao killed Huhai.
Zhao Gao is afraid Zhang Han and Sima Xin would blame him and ordered their return.
Qin is done.
There's no point serving Qin anymore.
I think Zhang Han understands this. That's why he's surrendering.
-I'll not accept this. -Why?
Zhang Han only has one way out, Death by my sword.
Are you crazy?
He's here to surrender, and you want to kill him?
You should know that a centipede may die but it won't topple over.
Zhang Han is that very centipede. He may be our enemy,
but he's also an opponent who deserves respect.
Even now, he is our biggest threat.
Yesterday's battle has proven his strength.
We can fight him again.
I'll fight him on the battlefield.
If I can't defeat him, how can I accept his surrender?
Such a victory is dishonorable and disgusting.
General, we are fighting to conquer the world,
not to settle personal feuds
Zhang Han is desperate.
He doesn't fear death at all. If you fight him,
what are your chances of winning?
What's more, this desperate man still has 200,000 warriors in his camp.
Even if you were lucky enough to defeat him,
how many of your warriors will you lose?
And who will end up dead?
Me? Zhongli Mei? Ji Bu? Long Ju?
I believe even if Xiang Liang were here, he would not allow you to fight.
I hope you reconsider.
Sima Xin, do you see the elms?
You are an extraordinary man, General.
At this moment, instead of victory and defeat, you're concerned about elms.
We're attending our surrender ceremony shortly.
It seems like they chose this place to humiliate us.
Before we came, I was worried
that you might be too sad to make it here.
But now...
even though you don't look happy, you don't seem very affected.
Sima Xin, let me tell you a story about elms.
Years ago, before General Meng Tian was framed and killed by Zhao Gao...
he drove Huns to the desert North of the great wall.
To prevent an uprising from the Huns,
he decided to grow elms along the North of the desert.
A broad forest belt was formed.
Using this natural advantage,
the Huns were effectively held back.
This is why the moment I saw these elms,
I thought of General Meng Tian.
No wonder.
But things have come to this, even if General Meng Tian were alive,
he won't be able to save Qin.
Hey! That's General Zhang Han?
I'd rather die, if I were him.
I'm Zhang Han. My greetings to you, General Xiang Yu.
General, you needn't bow to me.
Rise, please.
Have a seat.
Thank you, General.
General, what's wrong?
I was thinking how in the royal Qin court...
nobody respects his inferiors like you do.
Never. There's no gratitude between ministers and the emperor.
And ministers are always scheming against each other.
You and I have been mortal enemies.
It's beyond my expectations
to be treated so respectfully today.
I don't know how…
how I can express myself.
Right now...
I just want to have a good cry.
You once gave us great trouble.
And I took you as my greatest adversary.
I know you're a man of strategy
and you are courageous.
I admire you very much.
In the past, we were enemies.
From now on, you're one of us.
Thank you, General.
From now on, I, Zhang Han, will be at your every beck and call.
Don't say, "beck and call." You're not my subject.
I've given this much thought.
And Mr. Fan agrees with me.
We hope that you'll be a king.
From this moment, you'll be King Yong.
I'm greatly honored.
But I can't accept this title.
I'm only the general-in-chief appointed by King Huai.
I have no right to decide on that.
But I'll recommend you to him.
I think he'll agree with me.
King Yong, let's work together...
to overthrow Qin.
As you are a king, you can stay in my camp.
As for leading your 200,000 warriors,
just leave it to Sima Xin.
Yes, Sir.
This man has been pretending to be a lunatic for all these years.
It's clear that Ziying is even more cunning than Huhai.
It's fortunate that he has no supporters.
Who dares oppose me?
Only with my permission can he be the emperor.
Greetings to you, Premier.
Ministers, Emperor Huhai...
has passed away.
He committed suicide. It was Heaven's will.
I merely acted in accordance to Heaven's will,
and enforced what it had in store for him.
Since I ordered tyrannical Huhai's death,
I'm responsible for appointing a new emperor for Qin.
Qin was originally a vassal state.
When the first emperor conquered the other six states,
he appointed himself emperor.
The restoration of the other six states has been completed now.
Qin only has its original lands left.
Qin is no longer an empire anymore.
So I hereby declare...
Qin as a kingdom.
The emperor shall now be known as king of Qin.
I think Prince Ziying would be suitable for the post.
What do you think?
We totally agree, Premier.
Huhai was an unjustified tyrant. He was an unqualified emperor.
He should be buried as a commoner
in Yichunyuan.
He shouldn't be buried in the Qin mausoleum.
What are your thoughts?
A wise decision, Premier. Huhai doesn't deserve the burial for an emperor.
Good.
let Ziying know about our common decision about Huhai's burial,
together with our decision to elect him as king. Bring along the imperial seal.
Send word to him quickly.
After he has fasted for five days, we'll hold the ceremony for his accession.
If no one else has any other comments...
you may leave now.
I heard that Zhang Han surrendered to Chu. Now Xiang Yu's army is in high spirits,
and has almost arrived at Hangu Pass.
What's more, Liu Ji's men have arrived at Wuguan Pass.
Xianyang is greatly endangered now.
All the Qin officials and commoners are in shock.
In 600 years, Qin has never experienced a crisis of this proportion.
Whatever you're speaking of…
It wasn't because of me
that Qin became so weak, right?
But you have to find a way out.
Qin's end is coming.
Now Huhai is dead. What should we do?
What should we do?
I don't know what we should do.
But you've always been resourceful.
There's no way to escape. We're waiting for you to tell us what to do.
Surely you must have an idea.
Xiang Yu's men are attacking from the East and Liu Ji's men from the South.
I think Xianyang will be conquered.
Then… Do you mean that we are just going to wait and do nothing?
If we resist further, our enemy will hate me even more than before.
Tell me...
about Liu Ji's character.
Is he a smart guy?
Well...
Step back. Step back. Step back.
Why are they closing the gate? What's wrong?
Why?
-Why aren't they allowing us to enter? -What's wrong?
Why are they closing the gate all of a sudden?
I only know that the garrison warriors got here overnight.
Not only this, the other three gates are also closed.
Zhang Liang's prediction is right.
Some internal changes must have happened in Qin.
We shouldn't stay here any longer.
Let's return to the tavern.
Yes.
I don't know why you've captured me.
Where are you from?
I'm a businessman from Dongyang. I'm here to sell herbs.
How's business?
Wars are happening everywhere.
Frankly speaking, I've earned a fair amount.
But now it's not easy to acquire herbs,
except for common ones like kudzu vine root and liquorice.
I see.
But I'm wondering if Liu Ji's army is in need of herbs?
I don't understand what you're talking about.
In Liu Ji's camp, the person who is responsible for provisions...
is Xiao He.
Lu Wan, you run errands. You don't sell herbs.
Yan Le, am I right?
Exactly, Premier.
This time you came here from afar.
I'm sorry that I didn't give you a warm welcome.
I hope you don't mind.
You're too kind.
Everyone sees me as a cruel...
and inhuman beast.
But in fact, what I hate most is fighting and killing.
Would you believe me?
Does your premier intend to kill me?
I don't know.
Then will he release me?
Our premier only said that you should stay.
He didn't tell us anything else.
Just kill me and get it over with!
Such hypocritical antics! He's not a man!
That's great.
It's said that all Liu Ji's men are heroes.
I'm convinced about this today.
Either you kill me or let me go.
What do you want with me anyway?
I'd like to know...
whether Liu Ji knows that when allied forces arrive,
Qin will surely be destroyed, never to exist again?
I'll tell you something first.
You can take my life as you wish...
but within two months,
Qin will be attacked from every direction. You're done!
That's just as I thought!
That's why we should have a chat.
What makes you think I'd want to speak with you?
I'm not planning on speaking with you.
I'd like to do...
some business with Liu Ji.
All right.
Tell me your plan.
My Lord, it's an empty city.
We can't see any Qin banners anywhere.
Subtitle translation by Min Wei Wong