Miss Doukou had a secret meeting with Lin Gan.
Lin Gan urged her to leave with him.
She said she would after her business was done.
I bought offerings.
I mean to burn them for Uncle Quan tonight.
Is Yuan Bao back?
Yes.
I have an errand for him.
Day 27 of the Lunar New Year
You are surprised that I have not passed out?
Why did you betray me?
Why?
Why did you betray me? Why?
I didn't...
You didn't?
Bao overheard you and Lin Gan.
He wouldn't lie to me.
It's not what you think...
You stole the edict.
You meant to sabotage my plan.
No, I didn't...
Even so, I could still forgive you...
But you tried to poison me!
We are now a couple.
Do you have anything to tell me?
I wish we can grow old together.
Grow old together?
It's not what you think... No...
It's how Uncle Quan died.
I don't want to hear your excuses.
You still have revenge in mind.
You changed your mind back in Tianjin.
You came back to me for revenge.
Actually, I am ready to repay you anytime.
You didn't have to resort to it.
I could forgive what you have done.
Yet I will let no one stop me from what I set out to do,
not even the love of my life.
It's about time we settled the debt between us.
To Lin Gan
Brother Lin, when you are reading this letter,
Grand Secretary Heshen and I have already left the capital.
It's my promise to Lady Heshen.
It's what I should do.
He's the man behind my family's demise.
Yet I just couldn't bring myself to seek revenge.
He gave me hope when I was at my bleakest.
He's the love of my life. I can't leave him.
Brother Lin, please forgive my selfishness.
Don't waste your love on me.
You'll find a better girl.
We won't meet again. Doukou.
Doukou...
We pledge you our undying loyalty...
You felon have the nerve to show up here?
I am Zhongxiang Duke of First Rank, Grand Secretary of Wenhua Hall,
Nine Gates Infantry Commander, Grand Minister of States
and Minister of Imperial Household.
Who has the nerve to stop me?
This is His Late Majesty's posthumous edict.
On your knees!
Heshen, you had the nerve to forge a posthumous edict?
Come...
Sire, I have checked it against His Late Majesty's handwriting.
It really was written by His Late Majesty.
The chop is authentic too.
The posthumous edict is genuine.
The Hard to be Emperor zeal was used by Emperor Yongzheng.
His Late Majesty didn't seem to have used it.
He had used it when he learned first hand how hard it's to be emperor.
It's not used late into his reign.
Granted it's real, what mistakes has Sire committed?
Heshen, you are a felon.
Stop smearing Sire to exonerate yourself!
He committed patricide and regicide!
He's a wicked son and a disloyal subject!
He killed His Late Majesty with laced butter tea.
What nonsense!
How ridiculous!
It's Prince Yongxuan's doing!
He's a scapegoat!
The real killer is Sire!
The case's closed.
Heshen, what trick are you playing?
Heshen, tell us what you know.
His Late Majesty vomited blood on New Year's Eve.
Medication didn't do him any good.
I got him a Tibetan physician.
He said it's poisoning of a rare Tibetan poison.
Sire, do you remember it?
I do. You said red bezoar was the cure.
It didn't work at all.
It's just nonsense!
Nonsense?
I was lately told by a Tibetan physician.
The poison has a unique property.
It'll leave an invisible mark on the skin that touches it.
A red blotch will appear when reacting to vinegar.
Sire, since you claim innocence,
why not give it a try?
If it's true...
What nerve! Spreading such lies won't save your life!
Sire, why get so upset?
It's easy to find out if your fingers have such red blotches or not.
Heshen, Sire won't suffer such humiliation!
Sire, patricide or regicide is unforgivable accusation.
Shouldn't you prove your innocence to kill off suspicions?
Sire, Prince Yi has a point.
Sire, it does you no harm if you are innocent.
It's what Heshen said. It may well be a trick.
Indeed. It should be discussed first.
Sire, I am in the palace. I am a sitting duck.
Why should you worry about a simple test?
Or you are worried you can't explain the red blotch away!
What nonsense! How audacious!
Sire, allay our worries with a test.
Sire, please agree to the test.
Sire, it's up to you to do it or not.
However, Prince Yi has called for a convention of all courtiers in four hours
Sire, you need to gain their trust.
None of you believe me?
Sire, it's a chance to clear your name.
Sire, you have four hours to think about it.
If you agree to abdicate,
I will keep it a secret.
You can keep your name.
What about it?
It came out of the blue.
We should leave Sire alone to think about it.
Ji Xiaolan, you long knew His Late Majesty was poisoned by Sire?
Just a suspicion. Sire never admitted it.
You knew. Instead of exposing Sire, you still worked for him.
You are a learned man.
Why would you work for a man who committed patricide and regicide?
It makes you an accomplice!
Only time will tell if Sire is a capable emperor.
However, what he did was to rid the court of corruption!
Isn't patricide just as evil?
Heshen is a threat to the Qing reign.
If Sire could do this to his father and brother,
how would he be benevolent to the people?
Do you mean we should go over to Heshen's side?
To me, Heshen is the bane of the country.
He has men all over the land. It's outrageous!
He's enemy of the people.
If we let him use the edict to overthrow Sire,
he will come back to power.
Countless people will die.
It's the doom of the Qing empire.
Sire may have made a grievous mistake,
we as his subjects can't be disloyal to him.
Mummy.» mouth“
Sire and Heshen, which is the lesser evil?
You may disapprove of Sire,
you should still help him overcome this crisis.
Father had taken such a step to ensure Heshen's safety.
This wicked courtier was more important to him than his own son!
Sire, it's said that Heshen can imitate His Late Majesty's handwriting.
Could the edict be a forgery?
It's not possible.
It's written on a piece of fireproof seven-colored brocade for decrees.
The handwriting can be forged, but not the brocade.
Father, I don't get it. Why?
Why did you go back on your word?
Do you really mean me to lose to Heshen?
Year 2 of Jiaqing Era
Mars on ascent.
I do hope the offering will bring us peace.
It's a treacherous time.
Keep Empress's funeral simple. It's not the time for extravagant display.
Aye, Your Majesty.
Father, she's the empress after all.
Too simple a funeral will not be appropriate for her status or the court.
We should put the people first.
Rituals can be tailored to meet the needs.
Empress was a victim of a freak fire.
The Mars Constellation oversees wrongdoings
The fire was meant for Heshen the corrupt official, not Empress!
He's got nothing to do with the fire. Don't drag him into it.
You two, one is fire and the other water.
Pitting against each other is mutually destructive,
it does neither of you any good.
Why not work together to seek mutual construction?
Father, what if we two can't tolerate each other?
Yongyan... Yan means fire.
You do not have to fear water.
You are the emperor.
You don't have to be hesitant.
Heshen is a smart man.
He knows where the line is drawn.
If he has the nerve to cross the line...
I'll fan the fire for you.
Sire arriving.
Sire, greetings.
Sire, have you reached a decision?
Sire, should the edict be read out?
Sire, it's fireproof.
Fire can't damage it.
So?
Sire, so you already had a decision.
I'll follow His Late Majesty's posthumous edict.
Heshen, make sure it's carried out.
Of course.
Please read it out.
Honor your word.
Time to kill Heshen
His Late Majesty set me up...
Heshen, the men you called up from other parts of the country
are all stopped on their way.
You are doomed.
Heshen, His Late Majesty once warned you not to cross the line.
You should have used it to broker a retirement.
You only have yourself to blame.
Come, arrest the traitor!
Sire, I beg for forgiveness.
About what?
I led the Guillotine Squad for the Jing Mountain rescue.
I failed to reveal myself to you. Please forgive me.
It's you who saved my life.
You should be rewarded. What forgiveness?
At ease.
Thank you, Sire.
There's still one thing.
I passed Heshen the blank decree.
What's it about?
His Late Majesty didn't have the heart to kill Heshen.
He wrote an edict after going back to Yangxin Hall.
Cao Jinxi...
Aye...
The edict's done.
You keep it for me.
Tell no one about it.
Aye...
Once I am dead, Sire and Heshen will lock horns.
Sire is not one to back down,
Heshen will fight back with all his might.
Caught in their fight, other princes may lose their lives as a result.
If Sire fails to gain the upper hand, there will be chaos.
Heshen will come to you.
You just give him this blank decree.
It'll tip the balance.
Your Majesty, it's a blank decree.
Grand Secretary Heshen can imitate your handwriting.
What if he forges an edict in your name?
It'll only make matters worse.
If he's still loyal to me,
he can use it to save his own skin.
What if he isn't?
Then his fate is already sealed.
I knew Heshen would turn the court upside down once he got the blank decree.
But it's His Late Majesty's order,
I had to carry it out.
If you had not done so, I couldn't have defeated Heshen.
His Late Majesty's move couldn't have been cleverer.
Heshen could have used it to live the rest of his life in peace.
It would have been a win-win outcome for both of us.
But he was over-ambitious.
He sealed his own fate.
He only has himself to blame.
Ziguang Pavilion
Your Majesty, you had my back all these years.
On my part, I served you with all my heart.
I saw you as my father.
I did everything for your reign.
Yet you set me up in the end.
It's because he wrongly trusted you.
He helped me take you out.
It's for the continuous reign of Qing.
Father had the perception.
He knew your ambition and your greed.
I didn't mean to take on you.
I promised His Majesty I would help you rule.
We ended up in this state because you refused to give me a break.
You still refuse to admit your wrongdoing.
You are a talented man.
You had achieved greatness.
I once thought we could be friends and take the country to a new level.
But your ambition led you astray.
I was wrong about you.
I was wrong. I underestimated you.
I thought you were a moderate man who's kind in nature.
You were the right person for the people. You would usher in a peaceful reign.
Call it fate.
Heshen, we can't tolerate each other.
My reign is not His Late Majesty's reign.
In my reign, here's no place for you the corrupt official.
Can you keep your throne without His Late Majesty's tutelage?
You will have no reign to speak of.
I beat you with lessons learned, not fluke.
You didn't beat me.
His Late Majesty beat me.
I lost because I am not an Aisin Gioro.
I lost because I am not His Late Majesty's flesh and blood.
That's the reason he put you before me.
A gentleman uses his talent for good.
A wicked man uses his talent for evil.
A gentleman puts character before talent.
A wicked man puts talent before character.
His Late Majesty may have set you up,
if you knew the bound and remained loyal to Qing,
you could have retired in peace.
In the end, you proved yourself a power-hungry man
who had laid the country to waste.
Bravo! What a lofty speech.
Sire, you had resorted to wicked means to beat me.
You killed your father and brother.
You are an unfilial son and a disloyal subject.
With such a talentless and evil man on the throne, Qing is doomed.
Only time will tell if I Can make the country thrive,
but you won't be around to see it.
My spirit will live on after my death.
I'll see the decline and fall of the Qing empire.
I'll prove your curse wrong!
Sire, thank you for seeing me off.
You may turn back.
Take this journey as a break.
Come back when you have seen enough of the world.
There's nothing to keep me in the Forbidden City.
It's where Father and my brothers died.
Sire, please forgive me.
I will never come back to the capital.
Don't you forget we are blood brothers.
It's precisely what I am trying to forget.
Heshen is now in prison.
Sire, your wish has come true.
Why do you still look unhappy?
There's still Fuchang'an.
He had an affair with Empress, he attempted an armed revolt.
I can't wait to quarter him.
What are you waiting for?
I really am torn.
Ling'er, what should I do?
Though not formally recognised, he's His Late Majesty's son after all.
For His Late Majesty's sake, let him live.
He's a threat.
Mianning...
It's our fault. Sire, please forgive us.
How come there's cat here?
I don't know...
Mianning, does it hurt?
Xiaodezi, kill the cat and spank the owner.
Aye...
Father, no. The owner didn't cause me the injury.
Who's the culprit?
Here it is.
Sire, leave it for me to handle.
Mianning, what did it mean?
Father, it's what you taught me.
Do your utmost and put yourself in other's place.
The cat gave me three scratches.
It should be forgiven once it's punished for it.
Sire, His Late Majesty taught you the saying,
you then taught Mianning the same saying.
He maybe small, he gets its true meaning.
Sire, Fuchang'an is brought here.
On your knees...
Let him.
It's reckoning time.
Fuchang'an, you attempted armed revolt. Are you remorseful?
Why should I?
I was not an ambitious man.
I was forced to take the step by you and Heshen.
I was caught between you two's struggle.
My back was against the wall.
You owe me my brother's life.
Why should I be remorseful?
How audacious!
You might have an excuse for revolt,
what about your affair with Empress?
You are the illegitimate son of His Late Majesty and Lady Fuheng.
I killed your brother out of rashness.
You and Empress committed adultery and she died because of it.
Our two families seem to have locked in a vicious circle of love and hate.
The winner takes all.
I lost. I should pay for it.
Shurong and I will soon be united in Hades.
Alright.
Xiaodezi.
You were Father's favourite son.
He bailed you out time and again.
Spend the rest of your life his mausoleum caretaker.
You let me off?
Father once said.
It takes more courage for an emperor to forgive than to kill.
Benevolence is the way to break the vicious circle of tit for tat.
My son gets it, why shouldn't I?
Take him away.
Aye.
You are the one to see me off.
What will the emperor think of it?
You can't break the bond between Sire and me.
You have broken the curse on my women.
They all met a tragic end.
I am not your woman. I don't count.
Indeed. You are no longer the innocent Ling'er of old.
You will soon be crowned empress.
Whatever.
Keeping you company is the last thing I can do for you as a friend.
An old friend indeed.
You brought me my favourite coffee.
Chang Mei was a dear friend of mine.
I should do it for her.
What had she told you?
Mostly about you.
She liked to talk about how you two met,
how you picked up English to propose to her.
What grieved her was that she failed to give you a child.
It's heaven's punishment for me for being overambitious.
It's not her fault.
What else had she said?
She's a tough woman.
She said if your plan could work out, she would die with no regrets.
I owe her too much.
As Lady Heshen, she's resourceful and understanding.
As my wife, she's gracious and caring.
As her husband, I had sold her short.
If life could stay as we first met,
we would be spared the neglect and regret.
Love is expressed through all sorts of ways.
You alone know how much you love her.
You can't fool heaven and earth, you can't fool her.
I can't fool heaven and earth...
We will soon be reunited.
I'll pour out my heart to her.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
His Late Majesty is my bane. I didn't stand a chance.
Doukou, you had a tragic life because I took away your family.
I ask for no forgiveness nor will I resent it.
I still have things to tie up.
You have already suffered too much.
That's why I sent you away.
I wish you a life of peace, there will be no more sorrow for you.
I pray that I can make up to you in my next life.
We will be a couple and grow old together. Heshen
Fifty years living as if in a dream,
it's about time to say goodbye.
When I come back to make another claim,
mark me by my distinguished sign.
I am such a fool...
Honourable Liu, Honourable Zhu Gui, take care.
Brother Ji, you take care too.
Brother Ji, you really will stay behind?
The country can't do without a ruler.
His Late Majesty was kind to me.
I owe him my life.
Gentlemen, we may never meet again.
Sire arriving.
Sire, greetings.
At ease.
Mentors, you two are the mainstays of the court.
Though Heshen's dead, corruption is still rife.
I need you two to restore disciplines.
Please reconsider.
Sire, our minds are made up. Say no more.
Sire, Honourable Ji is resourceful. He'll be a great help to you.
Sire, if you stay true to the cause, honest courtiers will flock to you.
If you two won't change your mind.
I won't make it difficult for you.
Sire, will you hear me for the last time?
Please go ahead.
Heshen's dead. Your bane's gone. Peace is restored.
Sire, rule with benevolence.
Be forgiving.
I understand.
Mentors, take care.
Sire, best wishes.
May we be excused?
It's said that if you can hit the turtle with a coin,
your wish can come true.
Xiaodezi, coins.
Sire...
Father?
Yongyan, your wish has come true.
Heshen's dead.
You are in full control.
Why are you still unhappy?
You are wrong.
I am in full control.
I don't have to follow your words.
My hands are no longer tied.
My reign has finally begun.
With Heshen gone, I'll right all the wrongs.
I'll rid the court of corruption.
People will live in peace.
Father, you have my word.
My reign will be stronger than yours.
I don't need Heshen.
I alone can usher in a prosperous era.
Good! My wish has come true.
Father...
In Year 4 of Jiaqing Era,
Vice Emperor Heshen's fortune was confiscated.
It's more than ten years of national revenue.
As it's said, Heshen fell, Jiaqing's fed.
Though Jiaqing was an industrious emperor,
corruption was too intertwined to be uprooted.
Social unrests also persisted.
The influx of opium led to the out-draining of silver and grains,
and marked the decline of the Qing Empire.
Its former glory was never seen again.
Decrees in Ming and Qing were colourful.
3, 5 and 7 colored ones
for officials of fifth rank or above.
Those below only got single colored ones.
In Jiaqing's time, they were in green,
yellow, black, white or red.
Decrees were made of brocade
with a red sea! in the center,
known as five-colored decree...
This is Sire's order...