Wei Bao...
do you want to live or die?
I don’t want to die.
And you?
I’d like to die.
You want to die and you want to live.
I’m a man who hates to hear a man begging for mercy.
Beg me to spare your life.
My Lord, spare my life! Spare me!
That’s not sincere enough.
My Lord...
spare me! Spare me!
I can spare you.
But what good can I get?
I can be your servant.
Aren’t you Mr. Wei? What are you doing here?
I’m not a king. I’m only a servant.
Come here. Come.
Have you ever ridden a king?
A king? No.
Now you’ve got a chance. Have a try.
Great. Let me ride on him.
Come.
It’s much more comfortable than a horse.
Great.
It’s great.
Great.
All right. All right. Enough. Don’t tire him out.
How can we bear to exhaust him?
We rode Mr. Wei today for entertainment. He should be rewarded.
Yes.
Have you eaten yet?
If you don't mind, you can have this.
No. I have eaten. I’m not hungry.
Not hungry?
I almost forgot that you’re used to delicacies.
How can you tolerate food from rural folks like us?
Don’t forget that you should treat us to a lavish meal.
Let’s go.
My wife...
it will be a waste to discard it.
Try begging Liu Ji.
I’ll never forget My Lord’s generosity.
I’ll pray to you every day.
What do you mean?
I’d rather give you all I have.
Please forgive me.
I can’t do the work of a servant. It’s too hard,
I can’t take it.
Then what can you do?
I promise I’ll never betray you again.
If I dare to betray you, I’d rather be ripped into pieces.
I’d rather give all I have to you.
Please forgive me, My Lord.
Give all you have to me?
I have conquered your land. What else do you have now?
Nothing. I’ve nothing already.
No, please, wait, My Lord. There is something!
I have a wife.
Please take her!
As a sinned man, I’d present my wife to you.
Your wife?
I, Wei Bao, a sinned man, would give you my wife.
Do you mean it?
It’s true. I’m willing to do so.
My Lord, Bo Ji requests a visit.
What does she want with me?
What brings you here?
I beg you to forgive Wei Bao.
Forgive him?
He’s a tottering, whining dog. But I’ve already forgiven him.
What else do you want?
Thank you for sparing him, My Lord.
Wei Bao is weak and incompetent.
He surrendered to Xiang Yu in order to protect himself.
He shouldn’t have done that.
But as you conquered his land,
I think he’s received his punishment.
Now he’s only a homeless cur.
For such a stray,
if you’ve forgiven his crime,
why do you still let him live the life of a servant?
What you’re doing may harm your reputation, My Lord.
I’ve forgiven all his family.
Why do you still stay here?
You can leave.
But I’m his wife.
Is that worth it for a man like him?
I think it’s my fate to be his wife.
I know what you mean. I need to think it over.
My Lord!
What else?
I have another request.
Tell me.
Now there is no love between me and him.
From now on, I’ll sever ties with him.
But I have no other place to go.
I hope you can allow me to stay in the palace.
What can you do in the palace?
The work of a maid servant or anything. So long as I don't stay with Wei Bao.
A maid servant?
I have enough of maid servants.
All right, as you have nowhere to go,
you can stay in my palace.
-Xiahou Ying. -Yes.
Find her a place.
Yes.
Please.
My Lord, our messenger has returned.
What’s the situation in Xianyang?
I’m sorry, My Lord. A famine took hold of Xianyang and many people died.
Fortunately, the famine is over.
And commoners’ lives are getting better.
What about warriors?
I’ve tried my best to recruit young men in Xianyang.
But constant war
has decreased the population.
Therefore, I couldn’t recruit as many men as we planned.
I’m not sure if they’ll meet Han Xin’s needs.
Han Xin wants more warriors?
Where can I get him warriors?
Do you think, I should send him more?
I think we should give him more.
Why?
If Han Xin gets more warriors,
he can easily conquer Zhao.
Mr. Zhang, if we give him warriors again,
we’ll have even fewer warriors in Xingyang
to protect our Lord.
Lu Wan, if Han Xin can’t get enough men, it'll impact the general situation.
And it may negatively influence his loyalty to our Lord.
But if we give our warriors to him,
how can we ensure that he doesn’t usurp the army and proclaim himself king?
Lu Wan, at such a moment, we should trust him.
Give him more. Not only warriors.
I’ll appoint him king as well.
Don’t rush me. Don’t. I’ll leave right now.
Don't move.
What? Do you want to smash it yourself?
I promise from now on, I’ll not drink in your tent.
Are you nuts? It’s hot!
Why didn’t you tell me sooner?
Is this ’cause he didn’t send you warriors?
You needn’t have drunk that way.
You wasted my good wine.
We can’t afford delay. But he still hasn’t sent me any warriors.
I heard Liu Ji and Zhang Er will be connected by marriage.
That’s not my concern.
General, you’re not worried?
I only worry about my--
Warriors? Yes, yes.
He’ll send you as many warriors as you wanted. He’ll send you 30,000 warriors.
You’ll get the warriors.
How do you know?
You gave Chencang a sneak attack
and pacified Xianyang.
Then you first saved the military after from defeat in Pengcheng
before conquering Wei.
So in his camp, no one has contributed to the military more than you did.
Your reputation is well established. And that overshadows Liu Ji.
He’ll guard against you.
Enough. Enough about that.
Calm down.
Let's have a bet.
If I win,
you allow me to drink in your tent.
What do we bet on?
I bet he’ll send you warriors
and send Zhang Er to fight alongside with you.
If Zhang Er finds that you may betray Liu Ji,
he’ll kill you.
Don’t believe me? Let’s wait and see.
-Zhang Er. -General.
General, Premier Xiao sent you those warriors.
30,000 soldiers. They’ll be at your command.
They are all green warriors.
How can they attack our enemy?
Our Lord believes that you can train them all into brave and fierce warriors.
General, our Lord ordered me to lead those warriors with you.
He said we should go and conquer Zhao.
But why didn’t I receive the order?
I received the order not long ago.
General, now I’ve come to join you,
so I’m not a king anymore. I’ll be your soldier.
That’s a violation of rites. I don't deserve it.
You can.
As a general-in-chief,
what you should do is lead warriors to win a war.
Forget about those rites.
Only with rites, things will be in order.
General,
I’ve brought you warriors.
It’s up to you how we can conquer Zhao.
Was I right?
Don’t laugh!
You accepted?
Drink up. You can drink in my tent from now on.
What I mean is not my bet with you.
I mean Liu Ji’s decision.
He’s My Lord and I’m his officer.
I must obey him.
To trade 30,000 green soldiers for my 20,000 valiant warriors.
That must be the idea Mr. Xiao harrowed out of his mind.
You are the same as Mr. Xiao.
You care most about your warriors. He cares most about war provisions.
I wonder if you were influenced by him
during the days when you acted as his provision commander.
No. I’d rather stick a foot-wrapping cloth to plug your mouth.
You’ll not change me. Even if you do, I’ll take it out and say what I want.
Then what should I do?
How can I attack our enemy?
To accept them sincerely.
But to sincerely accept them is different from accepting them reluctantly.
Tell me if I don’t allow you to drink in my tent,
would you feel frustrated?
-Yes. -It’s the same.
Now it seems that my hands are tied up. So I don’t feel good.
General-in-chief,
everything changes as time changes.
Change is a constant rule.
A commoner can only see the surface of things.
A resourceful person would be able to see beyond the surface.
Do you know why Liu Ji sent Zhang Er to watch over you?
This means that he thinks highly of you. But he doesn’t trust you.
So if you get along with Zhang Er,
I think Zhang Er will not speak ill of you in front of Liu Ji.
You can at least be safe while Zhang Er is in your camp.
As for what will happen later,
we’ll have to see as we go.
It’s hard to understand you.
My words are plain enough.
Don’t say that again. Please don’t! I agree with you sincerely.
I hope you agree with me sincerely.
Don’t waste your wine. Drink.
JIUJIANG CITY
Listen. My Lord will allow you to enter the city.
He should send a man with the same official title as I to greet me.
I never heard such a rule.
Would you treat Xiang Yu’s emissary so rudely?
Listen. I’ll wait until he sends a man
with an equivalent title as I.
Insolent codpiece! How can you treat an emissary this way?
My Lord bears good purpose and bestows respect.
How dare you treat my liege so arrogantly?
Are you all barbarians?
Why is he standing there?
To make a show of his authority? Go to kill them all.
My Lord, we shouldn’t do that. Don’t do that, My Lord.
You can leave.
-Yes. -Why shouldn’t do that?
Do I have to invite him,
and let him see the emissary from Chu in my palace?
If not, do you know why the emissary of Chu would rather not leave your palace?
Is it that I promised Xiang Yu
to give him help if he intends to attack Liu Ji?
Yes, but how can you help Xiang Yu now? You promised him 50,000 warriors.
And you promised him provisions!
My Lord, you’re familiar with the rules of a bazaar.
You'll only pay when you see the goods. No credit allowed.
The alliance will break down. You can't pay provisions or warriors on credit.
This is the time to consider all possibilities.
Don’t be impulsive.
So we might as well show him respect and welcome him in.
Let’s see what he wants
and what he can give us.
But that would be a betrayal.
My Lord, you are the king,
Liu Ji is a king and likewise Xiang Yu is but a king as well.
You betray nobody.
Survival is the right path.
And do you know why a common emissary
sent by Liu Ji can be so valiant?
Standing still at the gate regardless of the cold wind and sand storm.
It’s true that things are always changing.
Liu Ji is not the same person as he was when Qin was just destroyed.
JIUJIANGCHENG
I’m an official of the king of Jiujiang. My king sent me to greet you.
I’m an emissary of the king of Han.
Please show me the way.
-Please. -Please.
This is the best guesthouse in our city.
I hope you are happy with it.
Yes, I do.
Sir, when can I meet your king?
I’m afraid My Lord is ill.
Then I’ll wait till he recovers.
The king of Han told me this before I came.
You’re joking.
Your Lord is far away from us. How can he know that My Lord is ill?
The illness of your Lord is known by the world.
Oh, how is that?
Hen-pecked men have been common since antiquity.
But your Lord is different. He’s pecked by Xiang Yu.
It seems perhaps you’re joking.
When Ying Bu meets Xiang Yu, he may suffer the same fear a rat feels towards a cat.
It’s even sung in the children’s song in Xianyang.
But I think Ying Bu, the king of Jiujiang hasn’t heard the song yet.
Perhaps, it’s better not to tell him.
I see. I wish you have a good rest.
I’ll take my leave now.
He really said that to you?
Yes. Don’t be upset by him, My Lord.
Why do you laugh, My Lord?
Do I look like a rat?
Does Xiang Yu look like a cat?
As for that silly children’s song from Xianyang,
I can write songs too!
I don’t think there’s any able man in Liu Ji’s camp.
I’ll never meet him!
Then how should we deal with him?
That Chu emissary has stayed in my palace for a fortnight.
We might as well treat the Han emissary the same way.
Guards.
Sir.
What’s the time?
Daybreak will come soon, sir.
It seems that Ying Bu doesn’t want to meet me.
Fetch a torch for me.
Fire torch?
Are we leaving here in the night, sir?
Do as I said.
Yes.
Sir! Sir! Bad news!
Sir, a big problem!
-Why are you in such a panic? -The-- The guesthouse is on fire!
How can that be?
Put out the fire! Put out the fire! Put out the fire.
Put out the fire!
Hurry! Hurry! Fetch water! Water! Hurry!
Where’s the Han emissary?
They are here.
Where’s Sui He?
He’s still in the fire. We’re trying to save him.
Hurry. Hurry.
Hurry. Hurry. Put out the fire.
Make way!
It’s our fault that the guesthouse is on fire. Please forgive us.
Are you okay?
Thank you, sir. I’m okay.
Look, our guests have suffered.
-Hurry to arrange a new place for them. -Yes.
-Sir, -Put out the fire! Put it out!
I set the fire myself.
Why?
I know what you are thinking about.
I say it aloud for you.
You thought that you have a lot of warriors
and you are much more powerful than the other vassals.
But if compared to Zhang Han, your warriors are fewer, yes?
And compared to Xiang Yu, you are less powerful, yes?
I know you have won many battles.
But in terms of military strategy, how do you compare yourself with Han Xin?
I’m not an ambitious man.
I only want to be the king of Jiujiang.
Xiang Yu went to attack Qi but left Han alone.
And Liu Ji went to conquer Wei.
Do you not yet see why? Whichever state is weak, it will be attacked.
The world is well aware that Liu Ji conquered the state of Wei.
Soon he’ll conquer Yan and Zhao.
And how long will Qi sustain with Xiang Yu’s attack?
Xiang Yu and Liu Ji are much stronger than you.
You’ll sure be the next— just a matter of who gets here first.
Go on.
I’ve told you what I came here to say.
I’ve had the wine and food. I’ll go to sleep now.
Wait, sir! I need your analysis!
Ying Bu, I’m only Liu Ji’s emissary.
What I’ve said is beyond the duty of an emissary.
Please forgive me.
Well done, sir. You started that fire and met the king of Jiujiang.
But for all the trouble in getting to see him,
why did you just stay to speak less than an hour?
Did he agree?
No, but he’ll agree with us soon.
What about the matter I entrusted to you?
Sir, I’ve bribed the servant close to Mr. Yang.
As you said,
the moment you left the palace,
the Chu emissary went to meet Mr. Yang.
And tomorrow, the Chu emissary will meet the king of Jiujiang.
Excellent.
You promised My Lord to attack Han. Why haven’t sent any warriors until now?
My Lord Xiang Yu ordered you and your 50,000 warriors to join him.
If I don’t see your warriors, I’ll not set off.
It’s not that easy to send that many warriors.
I suggest you return to tell Xiang Yu
that I’m still ever so loyal to him and I shan’t ever fail him.
I’ve heard that Liu Ji’s emissary persuaded you to join him.
Is that true?
That’s flagrantly false!
Doesn’t Xiang Yu trust me?
Please return to Xiang Yu first.
I’ll handle this.
You've a strong force under your command. 50,000 warriors is not an issue.
There’s something I want to ask you.
If I can’t send him 50,000 warriors,
what will Xiang Yu do?
-Stop. Stop! -Are you refusing our request?
I’m the Han emissary, Sui He. My greetings, sir.
Ying Bu, how-- How can you deceive me?
Don’t be impulsive!
You!
I’ll kill you for that!
You cunning dog!
How can you kill my emissary?
How can you put me in such an awkward situation?
You should thank me. Yet you requite kindness with enmity?
Your death is destined, sir.
Even My Lord can’t save you.
Whether you kill me or not, you’ll die. It makes no difference to you.
Come on. Thrust that blade into my heart.
All right. I’ll kill you.
Then I’ll tell what happened to Xiang Yu.
Even if you kill me,
do you think that Xiang Yu will trust you again?
It’s too late!
Wait, My Lord.
Tell us what is too late.
That fire yesterday broke out suddenly.
Last night, the Chu emissary visited you with his men,
but this morning, he came by himself. Why?
The others were sent back
to report to Xiang Yu of your betrayal.
I’ll kill you and send you head to Pengcheng. Xiang Yu will believe me.
Even if you do that,
even if Xiang Yu trusts you for now,
you know him better than I.
Has Xiang Yu ever spared those who betrayed him?
Do you think that your relationship is still as good as before?
-I’ll cut you into pieces. -I feel sorry for you!
You contributed greatly to Chu’s victory. But what did you get?
Xiang Yu entrusted you with the most disgraceful task.
He asked you to exile Emperor Yi and take the rap.
If you kill me now, it means that you’ve rejected Liu Ji.
If Xiang Yu won’t tolerate you,
then, where can you find sanctuary?
If you have to live cautiously under Xiang Yu’s command,
why don’t you join Liu Ji?
And if you can help Liu Ji at such a critical moment,
he may give you even more in return.
Say what you will, but you killed that emissary and manipulated me.
What you did is contemptible.
As good birds select their trees, good men select the Lord to serve.
That is what a hero does.
To work with a trustworthy man and prepare for great undertaking.
That’s what a hero does.
To help a wise Lord to rule the world and leave a name in history.
That’s what a hero does too.
Don’t you want to avenge the insult you suffered and become a hero?
Is Liu Ji truly a trustworthy man?
Is Xiang Yu really an arrogant man?
My Lord, I think what he said makes sense.
Ying Bu declared that he’d separate from Chu
and join Liu Ji to attack Chu.
Zhongli Mei, I’ll give you 30,000 warriors to attack Jiujiang.
We must kill him.
-Yes. -General, a letter from the premier.
What again?
Premier Fan said that as Ying Bu has now defected to Liu Ji
and Liu Ji has conquered Wei,
right now, we should suppress our anger for the time being and
try to bury the hatchet with Tian Heng and ally with him.
He said we should hurry and attack Liu Ji while his power in Xingyang is still weak.
Total nonsense.
How can I ally with Tian Heng, that dog?
There’s no way I can forgive Ying Bu.
-My Lord. -If you intend to persuade me, forget it!
General, I hope you can listen to me.
If you refuse to ally with Tian Heng, then Qi must be conquered promptly.
We can send some warriors to punish Ying Bu at a later time.
Do we have to tolerate his alliance with Liu Ji?
General, we all know Ying Bu.
He joined Liu Ji for some meagre benefits today.
In the future,
he’ll also betray Liu Ji for his own benefit.
For you, he’s not a loyal official.
But for Liu Ji, he won’t be bosom buddies either.
All right. Just do as you said.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll attack Qi with all our forces.
Yes.
HAN
Where’s Liu Ji?
Why hasn’t he come to meet me?
He told me he would greet you here. He’ll keep his word.
He doesn’t take My Lord seriously.
Just be patient, Mr. Yang.
You’ll soon see him.
My Lord.
All of you should go in. Stop your work now. Hurry. Go in.
Hurry. Hurry.
Hurry. Into the room.
-Hurry. -Hurry. Stop your work.
Hurry. Hurry.
Inside the room.
-Hurry. Hurry. -Into the room. Hurry.
-Hurry. -Hurry.
Hurry. Hurry.
Hey!
Hey. Why did they ask you to do that?
I requested it. I’m only idling away my time.
It’s better than doing nothing.
You needn’t do that. You are a wife of a king after all.
I spared you but I didn’t mean that you should do such work.
I’m willing to do these chores.
If you didn’t allow me to do it, I’d feel uncomfortable.
Why?
My Lord, I was born into a peasant’s family.
Mr. Wei captured me and made me his wife. At the beginning, I was very sad.
But he treated me with kindness.
So I began to plan his future.
Now I think what I did was ridiculous.
I heard that Mr. Wei was soft-hearted. And he listens to you in everything.
I thought too highly of myself and got him into trouble.
Now the harder I work, the better I feel.
It seems that the work can relieve my guilt.
Please allow me to carry on with the work.
If you like it, you just do it.
If Mr. Wei really listened to you,
he would not have turned out this way.
Oh, your songs are very nice.
It seems that Liu Ji knows the etiquettes well.
Please forgive My Lord.
He planned to greet you himself.
But he got a headache and almost couldn’t move.
So please follow me to his palace and discuss military affairs with him.
How can he behave this way?
Sui He, what does he mean?
My Lord is not feeling well.
I think the king of Jiujiang could sympathize, no?
We’ve waited for several hours already.
How can we believe his sincerity?
Sir, don’t be hindered by trivial matters. We’ve got important things to do.
My Lord, look.
Let’s go. Go.
Sui He, where’s your Lord?
Please be patient.
My Lord’s determination to ally with your Lord has never changed.
Please understand.
His headache is very severe.
He can barely move a step.
Our Lord invites the king of Jiujiang.
-Let’s go. -Go.
Subtitle translation by Hwee Lin Wong