It's all here?
Except 70 or 80 percent.
Han Xin, are you clear of your punishment if you’re late?
You made it quite clear already.
And if you fail to deliver all of it?
Some are indeed not here.
Where did you put them?
Mr. Xiao!
Mr. Xiao! This is urgent!
Go ahead.
An hour ago, our lord left with our troops and headed to the southwest.
He ordered left and right wing to set off immediately.
He ordered that provisions must reach our main troops by 12 noon tomorrow.
All right.
Here’s our military route.
They'll first stop at Aogu Pass, 15 kilometers away.
Why did he make such a sudden decision?
We have no time to prepare!
Not only you, none of us have time to prepare.
But--
But we must obey his order and nothing else.
Mr. Xiao, the provisions are vital for our warriors.
Our lives depend on you.
-I'll be honest with you. -The provisions-- Mr. Cao is right!
Mr. Xiao will have everything ready for tomorrow!
Mr. Xiao.
Well? Are you going to tell me now?
Show me the military route of our lord.
What you marked on the map is the exact route we’re taking now.
How do you know? You were informed in secret?
I’m only a provision commander. Why would he tell me?
I made a guess. It was just a guess.
You guessed?
Mr. Xiao! Mr. Xiao!
When I was escorting the provisions, I noticed that
the frost at night has melted before dawn the next day.
It is the sign of the rainy season.
The solar term arrives earlier this year.
We planned originally to arrive at Nanzheng before the rains.
Now that it is arriving much earlier.
Once the rain started, our military speed will be slower by half.
If that happens, before we arrive at Nanzheng,
our warriors might have starved to death.
So, our lord wanted to arrive at Nanzheng before the rainy season.
This is the only route.
So, I decided to build
temporary granaries along this route and stationed men to guard them.
Good. Provisions come before military maneuvers.
But, Han Xin,
have you considered carefully before doing this?
How confident are you about it?
If you failed...
To be frank...
I'm confident about the rainy season and the route.
The only risky part is...
whether our lord will make the correct decision.
So, I bet on it with my life.
If I was wrong, I'll accept execution.
If I was right, I'd have accomplished my mission.
Am I the wise one here?
-Or is it Liu Ji the wise one? -Commander.
-We'll take these carts first. -Sure.
-Yes. Guys, be careful. -Sure. Let's go.
Look. I built several temporary granaries here.
Here and here as well.
These shall ensure our soldiers have enough food supply.
Keep up the good work.
Mr. Xiao, I should really praise you.
The rainy season arrived earlier this year,
I changed our route in such a short notice.
I never expected that you’d be so on top of it
and prepared in advance for us.
This isn't easy.
My Lord, I can’t claim credit for this.
It was Han Xin actually who arranged everything.
Han Xin? The soldier who wrote these war theories?
That's him.
He’s only a common soldier. How did he think of it?
That’s precisely where he stands out from the rest.
He is talented.
By the way, I’ve been reading some of his writings.
But being so busy, I haven’t been able to read too closely.
You should find time to read more.
Mr. Xiao, this is the list of names of recent deserters.
Han Xin was told to capture deserters
but instead, he ran away with them.
-When was that? -Last night.
Mr. Xiao! Where are you going in such a hurry?
You craven! Coward!
Why did you leave the army?
You didn’t make me a general.
You’re not entitled to complain.
If you want your talent to be hidden forever,
go on running away and be a coward.
If it's hopeless to become a general, I’d rather be a coward.
Han Xin, Oh, Han Xin!
You're not qualified to be provision commander.
How do you convince us of your talent?
What reason could you give me to recommend you to our lord?
He would never want me.
His soldiers are getting lesser, day by day.
More will be leaving, but does Liu Ji even care?
Mr. Xiao, thank you for your concern.
I appreciate your effort and help.
I've made up my mind and please accept my respects.
You want to kill me?
If you don’t serve our side,
I must kill you.
In the future, you’d be the greatest threat to My Lord.
I'm actually glad that you wanted to kill me.
It means you believed in my talent.
I’ll give you one last chance. Will you return to camp with me?
Return to be that provision commander?
You should just kill me.
I'll be nothing else but a general-in-chief.
I can help you.
In formation!
Advance!
Did you know? Our lord will appoint a general-in-chief.
Really?
Halt!
Didn't you notice Lu Wan and Fan Kuai are actively training warriors?
Ever since Zhang Liang left,
the general-in-chief position has been vacant.
If our lord wants to appoint someone, I'm sure they'd compete for the post.
But based on loyalty, war merits and background,
qualified to compete with Lu Wan and Fan Kuai
are only you and Zhou Bo.
-Advance! -But Zhou Bo's a coward
and he's illiterate.
He can be a general,
but he's not general-in-chief material.
He's not like you.
You're once a Qin official and you know laws. You know how to lead.
Moreover, you’re a friend of Mr. Xiao.
Don’t you want to try for it?
Xiahou Ying!
It’s not proper to speak such things behind our lord's back.
I’d never say this to anyone else.
You and I worked together in Pei County.
We’ve known each other for years. I admire you very much.
I'm doing this for the sake of you as well as our lord.
You are the right man for the post.
You mean I should try to get the post?
Advance!
My Lord, you wanted to see me?
Mr. Xiao, come here.
I’ve read these writings by Han Xin. They’re great. He’s talented.
I don’t want to speak highly of him but he certainly is a talent.
I finally understand
why you ran after him late in the night. He's worth it.
-What position is he holding? -Provision commander.
Provision commander? That'd be such a waste.
What do you think if I appoint general in our left column?
My Lord, wouldn't that be too low?
The position of a general is too low?
You mean...
I'm not sure if I should be saying this.
-If it sounded silly, please forget it. -Say it.
We are lacking a general-in-chief, aren't we?
General-in-chief?
Mr. Xiao, appointing him as general-in-chief doesn't seem proper.
My Lord, I understand him. I think he's capable.
My Lord, you were once a patrol chief--
That’s different.
Mr. Xiao, appointing him to general of the left
is already a very risky decision for me.
If a left general makes a mistake, we don't lose that much.
If I appoint him a general-in-chief,
we'll lose the whole army if he fails.
Also, we actually...
don’t know him that well yet, right?
What if he’s just a courageous but foolhardy man?
That's right.
Who's the man who fights battles on paper?
-Zhao Kuo. -Right. What if he's another Zhao Kuo?
Plus,
he once served in Xiang Yu's military.
Our men would not obey him.
-My Lord. -Just hear me out.
Some of our men followed me
and fought along with me since Pei County.
If I appoint Han Xin general-in-chief, what about them?
You know that
all of them wanted to be the general-in-chief?
If I appoint Han Xin, I'm sure they'd leave me.
My Lord, is this position of general-in-chief,
meant to look after our men from Pei County
or for the best of Han's army?
No. He can't.
I believe he's capable and I will vouch for him.
I'll vouch for him with my life.
My Lord, I will vouch for him for a lifetime.
I heard that our lord has begun fasting.
A general-in-chief will be appointed tomorrow.
Zhou Bo, in your opinion,
who'd be the chosen one?
As for war merits, Cao Can is the best choice.
Don’t pretend you don’t know.
You have a stable and resolute character.
You’re perfect for it.
Cut the nonsense.
I heard our lord has ordered to choose the date and build an altar for it.
It'd be such a magnificent ceremony.
Our lord seems very serious about it this time.
Xiahou Ying, what’s on your mind?
It's not going to be me. What more should I say?
Xiahou Ying, you seem a lot mature now.
You’re not that cart driver anymore.
That's right.
When we got to Nanzheng, you just couldn't stay still
and were always riding your cart around at night.
We thought you're haunted by a ghost.
It’s a pity that Nanzheng is small
and its roads are too rough that I can’t drive my cart freely.
Don’t you feel a little constrained?
Hey, did you see my new cart?
That light carriage? What’s so great about it?
That’s not a common carriage.
Did you see the wheels?
I tore them off a carriage of a minister.
It wasn't easy to bring here all the way from Xianyang.
The wheels of the carriage of a minister?
That's a good sign.
It might mean you'd be appointed as a general-in-chief.
I shall just wait and see.
My Lord, Han Xin has arrived.
Let him in.
Greetings, My Lord.
You may leave.
Yes.
My Lord.
Xiao He will read your order now.
"In the past, Qin rulers were cruel. They brought great misfortune.
Xiang Yu emulates Qin rulers.
Innocents were slaughtered, the palace was burned.
What he did angered earth and heaven.
Since ancient times, during chaos,
we’d appoint a general-in-chief to restore balance.
Today, our lord here upon this altar,
will proclaim before heaven and earth
the man to help restore peace,
and as general-in-chief to lead us
in the righteous crusade to new prosperity,
for all people under Heaven."
Now My Lord, please proclaim the name of the general-in-chief.
Han Xin, step forward.
Come here.
I’m ordered to grant this bow to the general-in-chief.
Step forward.
I’m ordered to grant this battle axe.
Step forward.
Damn it! Who is that damned dog?
I know who he is.
He’s that thief who fought in the tavern.
Zhou Bo, why didn’t you kill him back then?
Who is he? Who's he? Do you know him?
Han Xin.
From this day forth, all my warriors are at your command.
I'm appointing you as the general-in-chief.
Han Xin, leave that altar.
Dog! How can you be a general-in-chief?
Yeah! You're just a thief!
Do you want to be a general-in-chief?
Why should you be leading us?
Get lost! Leave the altar! Leave!
Thief! Get lost!
Who are you? Get lost!
Get lost! Leave!
Leave the altar!
Get lost! Leave the altar!
-My Lord, this... -Get lost! Leave the altar!
Didn’t you say he’s qualified?
-Get lost! -Yeah!
I want to know if he's capable to make them obey him.
-Get lost! -You dog! Get lost!
-Get lost! -Get lost!
-I'll quit if he's the general-in-chief! -Yeah!
Give us the seal. Hurry. Give it up.
Get away from there! Get lost!
-Come down, right now. -Yes.
-Get down here. -Surrender the seal.
-Get down here... -Get lost! Go away!
Get lost!
You are nothing but a thief. We'll not accept you.
-Get lost... -We'll not obey you.
I’m Han Xin. Some of you may have heard of me.
Today, our lord has appointed me general-in-chief.
Since you won’t obey me,
you may come up here and kill me, and take my place.
Han Xin, surrender the general seal.
We’ll not listen to you. Get down from there.
-We'll not obey you. Get lost! -We'll not obey you.
-Yeah! -Give us the seal!
Get down from there. Get lost! Get down from there right now!
If you don’t obey my order, whose will you obey?
-We only obey our lord! -We only obey Liu Ji, our lord!
We’ll not listen to you.
We only obey Liu Ji, our lord.
Get down from there! We only obey our lord.
If I come down, who could hold this post?
-Any of us is better than you. -That's right.
-Who do you think you are? -Come down.
Do you think you are competent?
All of you feel that you are qualified.
Who among you can win every battle and conquer every city?
-We can do that. -Can you?
-Come down!
Can you? We don’t obey you.
What can you do?
General, what’s your duty in the camp?
I'm guarding the main forces.
On our way to Nanzheng,
a third of each camp left us.
Do you know your crime?
How about you, General. What’s your duty?
Me? Everyone knows I’m a vanguard commander.
I’m always the first one to climb over the city wall.
Wasn’t that you at Xiangcheng?
You went to attack by yourself
but you failed.
In the end, it was our lord who conquered Xiangcheng.
I-- That--
Can you be a general-in-chief?
And what’s your duty?
I’m the inspector general.
If I gave you 100,000 warriors, how would you inspect them?
Check their jobs.
How do you account for 100,000 men?
In a 100,000 men army, do you know how many are infantrymen,
cavalrymen, provision-carriers,
bowmen and doctors are required?
How many vanguards,
and rear guards we have? Did you count?
Of course, I could.
What about 200,000? 1,000,000?
Then how would you account for them?
I need only 10 loyal generals
to assist me to lead 1,000,000 warriors.
You’re bragging!
I’m your general-in-chief.
I do not lead soldiers.
I lead generals!
I must understand weather, geography, theory, strategy,
make wise decisions, determine rules
for punishment and rewards.
Who among you fit the requirements?
If we can’t, how do you prove that you can?
-That's right. -Prove it to us.
Prove it!
If you can lead us leave Nanzheng and defeat Xiang Yu,
if you can do it, we’ll obey you.
-Yeah. We’ll obey you. -If you can, we’ll obey you.
-Can you? -Prove it...
Well said.
Our lord appointed me the general-in-chief today.
The sword he gave me is like the sword of Damocles.
Whether I succeed is decided not by words but by action.
I need not explain to you the reason I was appointed the general-in-chief.
If he made a wrong decision, that's his problem.
But as his subjects, shouldn’t we obey his order?
I know it’s not an easy job.
Every decision of mine will affect our safety and future.
I've made up my mind.
I’ll not choose to die in a dangerous situation.
I’ll not insult a man because he’s a lower rank.
I’ll not use my wit to serve my own interest.
I’ll never be arrogant in the face of victory.
I’ll share your sorrows and joys,
and I require the help from all of you.
Here, I pay my deepest respects to you.
Today, I’m appointed.
This is to tell the world
that military affairs
are of vital importance
and will not suffer any violation from anywhere on earth.
I’ll be accountable to our lord.
You all are accountable to me.
If I’m wrong, our lord will punish me.
But before that, I must punish those who disobey me.
I don't care if he’s a sworn brother or relative of our lord.
With this sword, I will do what must be done.
I'll do what must be done!
I will now read our military rules on behalf of general-in-chief Han Xin.
First, march on when you hear drums, raise our flags when you hear gongs.
If you do not raise our flags or refuse to march on,
you have violated military regulations.
Violators will be executed.
Second, If your name is called and you don’t respond,
if you don’t return on time, if you do not follow protocol,
you've violated military regulations
and shall be punished by death.
Mr. Fan, Yu Ziqi, Zhongli Mei, Ji Bu
and all my generals.
The reason why we managed to conquer Qin and the world
was because of your strong determination and courage.
Were it not for your help, I'd not be sitting here.
I'd like to show my respects to all of you here.
A toast to all of you!
Thank you, General.
Mr. Fan.
We should be happy now. Why are you in low spirits?
You think the war is over?
Other vassals are still fighting.
Don’t worry.
Once they're finish with each other,
we can destroy them all. Right?
Yes, we can destroy them all.
-Yes. -We can destroy them all.
It’s not the other vassals. We must beware of one man--
I know who you mean. You mean Liu Ji?
He burned the plank road. What are you worried about?
You shouldn’t let down your guard.
General, I have an idea.
Mr. Fan.
Look at us.
We’re celebrating our victory.
We shouldn’t talk military affairs now.
After the banquet, we can talk about that.
Mr. Fan. A toast to you.
Drink up!
Brothers!
Enjoy yourselves!
Sure! Sure! Drink up!
YUEYANG
My Lord, this was the room for an official of old Qin.
We tidied it for you.
-We’ll stay here at the moment. -All right.
Compared with the palace in Nanzheng,
it’s quite simple.
I don’t think so. I think it’s good.
My Lord, I have a question.
You chose Liyang instead of Xianyang. Is this a good choice?
Why isn’t it a good choice? What good is Xianyang?
Xianyang suffered a lot of wars. Though it’s in ruins,
the place is endowed with the spirit of an emperor.
What spirit of the emperor?
The second emperor of Qin died there.
Mr. Xiao, we’re a stone’s throw from Xianyang,
I think this is the place...
that's endowed with the spirit for an emperor.
Guys, we've just arrived but we have a lot of things to deal with.
We need to cheer up.
Mr. Xiao.
Provision.
No matter where we go,
we must have enough provisions or else we’ll be easily defeated.
Be rest assured, My Lord. I will do my best.
Let's take a look inside.
-I’ll not give it to you. -Wait for me.
Both of you! Why are you running?
You're going to fall. Do you hear me?
Look. Look how happy they are.
Let me do it, Father. Have a rest.
Our life is much better,
but you have become lazier.
What are you talking about?
When Liu Ji was at home, he brought loafers home all the time.
They ate and drank here.
I was always busy with housework.
What are you talking about?
We all know now Liu Ji is more talented than you are.
Can you lead soldiers to fight in a war?
Will we be able to lead such a happy life here,
if we were to rely on you?
True. He helped us a lot.
But don’t forget, Liu Ji has been away for long.
Now he’s a successful man. He'll never return.
Who said he’ll not return?
Me.
Once a man leaves his home,
he forgets his wife. Am I right?
Stop your nonsense.
It’s because he’s busy that he can’t return home.
I believe he’ll miss us.
My Lord! My Lord! A message for you, My Lord.
-A message? -A message from Liu Ji.
Bring it to me.
The messenger is outside.
-Let him in. Let him in. -Yes.
Open it.
Liu Ji sent us a message.
Mother, cook a hen for me.
You only care about food.
Sooner or later, you’ll eat all we have. Come here.
If father comes back and finds that I’m not strong enough,
he’ll blame you.
You ungrateful boy!
You’re just like your father. Give me a kiss.
-Ms. Cao. -Yes?
Ms. Cao! Ms. Cao!
What is it?
Liu Ji. Liu Ji. He--
-Is he back? -No, he’s not back yet.
He sent a message to pick you up.
You should get ready.
-Really? -Yes.
Hurry, get prepared. Ms. Cao, take care.
-Thanks. -You’re welcome.
I knew it. Son, hurry! Let’s get prepared.
You’ll see your father soon.
I want to eat chicken first.
You know nothing but food.
When you meet your father, don't say this, okay?
-I won't tell once I eat it. -You’re a greedy boy.
Give me a kiss. Hurry. Get prepared. Hurry.
Madam, we are well prepared.
Good.
Things left here are in the warehouse.
Someone will be guarding it.
But...
What's wrong?
Subtitle translation by Loretta Kok