[🔎👁‍🗨The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty👁‍🗨🔍] [Episode 43]
Let's go!
Take him.
Your Majesty!
Sir.
No wonder Li Zilong is going to assassinate at the Beginning of Spring Ceremony.
The crowd means many hidden dangers.
We have to make a watertight plan to protect His Majesty.
Yes, sir.
At the day of the ceremony,
all the Jinwu Royal Guards and secret agents of the Western Depot in the capital
will lurk around the Taihe Gate.
Arrange as many of them as you can above the gate tower.
I want His Majesty to be under airtight security.
Yes.
His Majesty's food will be served last minute.
I want you to use a silver needle to test every dish for poison.
Then I will try them myself.
After I am sure they are safe,
I will personally serve them to His Majesty.
Yes.
For everyone at the ceremony, regardless of the officials, guards,
or eunuchs as servants,
conduct a detailed background check on them beforehand.
They are not cleared to enter
if there is anything suspicious about them.
Yes, sir.
At the day of the ceremony, there can be only one entrance
inside or outside the palace,
which will be strictly guarded by the Imperial Guards.
No one can carry weapons to enter except the guards.
They must be admitted empty-handed.
Yes, sir.
And also, those Bolang bombs must be hidden for safekeeping.
No mistake is allowed with them.
Yes, sir.
Call Jia Kui.
I have some questions to ask him.
You have been through battlefields.
Do you know about weapons such as crossbows?
I have some shallow knowledge.
What is the farthest shooting range of the bows and crossbows?
When it comes to bows and crossbows, the most lethal army
is no doubt the Mongolian Cavalry of the Yuan Dynasty.
It is said the long-range attack
of that Temujin's cavalry
could reach two hundred steps.
And this distance was only the average range of the entire force.
The best bowmen could reach up to three hundred steps.
Really?
How far is it from the Wu Gate to the Taihe Gate?
About four hundred steps.
As you see, can anyone shoot an arrow from here
to assassinate someone at the Taihe gate?
I don't think that's possible from such a distance.
But…
What?
After all, I know little about bows and arrows.
Actually there is a veritable marksman that we both know.
You may get different insights
from him.
We both know?
Who is it?
Wuyun Bulage.
Sir.
There is some news.
Go on.
I heard that Gao Yi is now in the Western Depot.
He and Tang Fan escaped from the Huanyi Brothel together.
Is it possible that Tang Fan is also detained in the Western Depot?
Let's go.
You got news of him?
He's probably in the Western Depot.
Let's go to take a look.
Let's go.
Your Highness.
I heard about
someone wants to assassinate His Majesty.
Your Highness.
This matter is already under investigation.
What did you find?
By far we only know the mastermind is a man named Li Zilong.
Other are still unknown.
You have been careful and meticulous.
But you are so incompetent handling such a serious matter this time.
You're right, Your Highness.
My incompetence has put His Majesty in danger
and made Your Highness anxiety-ridden.
I deserve to die to atone for my crime.
Look up.
You have to remember,
His Majesty was the reason
you and me
stayed alive.
Yes, Your Highness.
Commander's order.
No admittance for unauthorized personnel.
I am Sui Zhou from the Northern Administrative Court of the Imperial Guards.
I came to ask about Tang Fan's news.
Commander's order.
No admittance for unauthorized personnel.
Is Mr. Wang Zhi here?
- Commander's order... - Can you say something else?
Mr. Sui.
General Gao.
I am just a prisoner.
I won't forget
how you paid the price of blood and sweat for the Ming.
General Gao.
To be honest,
I come here to ask you about Tang Fan's whereabouts.
Tang Fan is in Li Zilong's hand.
That day Li Zilong raised suspension about me.
I knew he was up to a scheme
but I couldn't get any information from him.
Tang Fan wanted me to take a dangerous move
to use him as a gift to show Li Zilong my sincerity to cooperate.
Li Zilong is going to assassinate His Majesty.
Tang Fan's strategy worked.
After I handed him over to Li Zilong, he
Revealed to me his plan of assassination.
I was surprised to hear that he is going to assassinate His Majesty
at the Beginning of Spring Ceremony.
I don't know if Tang Fan has any plans to get himself out.
But since he was captured by Li Zilong, I am afraid
he might be dead by now.
Mr. Sui.
Can I speak with you in private?
What are you going to do?
I will try to save Tang Fan, of course.
We don't have much time left until the ceremony.
Now the safety of His Majesty is our top priority.
And Tang Fan
is a smart man.
I am sure he made such a risky move
only because he must have thought of a way to save his life.
How much do you know about Li Zilong's plan?
To be honest, I have no idea at all.
So now you have it.
In my opinion, Tang Fan is the only clue to the whole thing now.
So the only way to solve it is by saving him.
Goodbye.
I will not see you out.
Goodbye.
Step aside.
Wuyun.
I know you are a first-rate marksman.
I need your help.
If I find out anything, I will come to the Iron Market to find you.
Kill him.
What are you waiting for?
Kill him.
We agreed earlier that it was just a normal pick-up and delivery.
Why are there corpses now?
I told you guys I will never get involved in anything illegal again.
If this carriage can't get out of the capital today,
I will kill you and your whole family.
Over here! Go after them!
Let's find a place to take a short rest.
Because we need to turn around and go back to the city in a while.
We finally came out.
You want to turn around and get caught?
Don't worry.
Right now
they must be strictly examining vehicles getting out of the city.
We can enter the city without anyone asking any question.
Tang Fan?
It seems that we have to get another carter.
Why should I help with you Ming Dynasty' affair?
Before answering your question, I want to ask you a question.
Why did you want to look for Tang Fan?
Tang Fan
was someone Dora wanted to protect even with her life.
And now Dora is dead, I should protect Tang Fan for her
so that she can rest in peace.
That's why you have to help me.
Tang Fan asked Gao Yi to exchange him for intel.
Now because of this intel,
we can arrange security details to protect our emperor.
If Tang Fan already died,
we get this opportunity to take precautions
in the price of Tang Fan's life.
With your help, we can better protect His Majesty.
Without your help, we may fail.
Wuyun.
Let me just ask you one thing.
Do you want what Tang Fan exchanged his life for
to be wasted in vain?
What do you need me to do?
Sesame cakes!
Come and take a look at the gadgets! They're nice and fun.
This is the Imperial Guards investigating a case!
Please cooperate with us.
The Western Depot has sealed this place.
Unauthorized personnel please…
Sir, are you Mr. Sui Zhou?
I am.
I just received an order from Mr. Ding.
If it was Mr. Sui from the Imperial Guards, let him come through.
Please.
Please help yourselves.
But don't move any item in the room.
Sir.
You go upstairs to see if there are any clues.
Yes, sir.
Gadgets!
After the blockade last night,
have you tracked this wheel rut?
Sir.
We're only responsible for blocking and guarding the scene.
We didn't receive instructions for other matters.
But please don't worry.
Even if this is left by the suspect's carriage,
he must not be far away.
Why?
Sir.
The blockade order we received last night was the first-degree alert.
There are 68 checkpoints in the capital.
Within the moment of receiving the order,
they have been blocked all the vehicles in or out.
Yes.
Unless the suspects were long gone out of the city before that,
otherwise even if they escaped,
they can't escape the other checkpoints in the capital.
When did you receive the order of blockade?
It's about nine at night.
So I can assume that just before nine-thirty,
the whole capital was under a complete state of martial law.
Yes.
Sir.
There is nothing suspicious upstairs.
Someone cleaned up the scene to make sure no trace is left behind.
Is there anything suspicious with the rut mark?
The carriage wheels were modified.
Modified?
This type of wheel is several times narrower than normal wheels
so it's exceedingly difficult to control.
But if the carter controls it properly with good skills,
this wheel will be able to increase the speed of the carriage by several times.
So you're suspecting these rut marks
were left when Li Zilong and others left?
I don't know yet.
Let's follow it.
Sir, although this rut is special,
I am not sure we can follow it on and on.
Because of the narrow wheel surface to carry the load,
such a wheel requires extremely tough wood to make.
As far as I know
only one kind of cypress wood is hard enough to make it.
And this cypress is oily
with a very recognizable odor.
Odor?
I know.
We use dogs to track the trace.
Father.
Qingge.
You
showed mercy to Tang Fan again and again.
Father.
His life may yet have value to us.
Whether he still has value
is not up to you.
Sir.
Tang Fan woke up.
We meet again.
Of course we need to meet again.
If I can't meet you again, I can't eat or sleep well.
Why?
I'm afraid you might die.
I'm afraid you might die in the hands of others.
Then how regretful will I be?
Maybe I will have to dig your body out
to destroy it to make up for the regret.
That'll be very unpleasant for me and you.
I'm sorry to bring you inconvenience.
When will you kill me then?
I'm not in a hurry anymore.
Not in a hurry?
You are already in my hands anyway.
I can't let you die casually.
There's no rush.
Let me think about it.
Don't pretend to be nice.
Since you don't kill me I am definitely useful to you.
Not everyone is useful to others.
One of the most common problems of humans is that
they always consider themselves important.
Why?
You know him?
When I saw Gao Yi, this person was with him.
I asked Gao Yi to kill him when I left.
Why is he here unharmed?
You mean
these two connived with each other?
Exactly.
It seems that Gao Yi didn't want to be part of your great cause.
He pretended to pledge loyalty to you and me
just to spy out our intelligence.
If so I'm afraid our plan has already leaked out.
This is not the result I want for giving you my help, Mr. Li.
I wanted the plan to be disclosed.
With such a big show, the more the merrier.
Aren't you afraid the emperor will take precautions?
I want him to take precautions.
What does that supposed to mean?
Amasanj.
Do you know the Thirty-Six Stratagems of the Han people?
I heard of them.
Gao Yi taught me that.
Then do you know
what else is there other than the Thirty-Six Stratagems?
I don't.
Use their strategy to go against them.
How is it?
The square below is not easy to hide because it's too empty.
As long as you have made the right deployment,
the enemy will not risk attacking from the square.
But the woods there is a different story.
It's quite easy to hide in the woods.
If someone shoots from the top of the trees,
there is just within the shooting range.
So you have to get someone to deal with it in advance.
Cut the woods.
Yes.
What about the Imperial Ancestral Temple?
Are you talking about the roof of the temple?
If it were me, I would hide there to shoot.
Regardless of distance or height,
it's an excellent location to launch an attack.
Then I will double the manpower to guard the temple.
What now?
It is 400 steps away from the Taihe Gate.
No one can shoot from here.
I can.
You can shoot a target 400 steps away with an arrow?
With an arrow? No.
But you have to know in the ‎Sultanate of Rum in the West,
there is a special matchlock gun with an extremely far-shooting range.
If it's downwind plus the high and low drop,
its actual range can reach 500 steps.
So this way, with that gun, where we're standing now
will become the best place to attack.
How many people can do this
in the whole world that you know of?
There are three people besides me.
Sir.
Many different odors are mixed in the suburb.
Even the dogs lost track of it.
Gao Yi left the building last night at nine-thirty.
According to those two agents,
the whole city was blocked at nine thirty, too.
Even if Li Zilong was highly vigilant and left there
the moment Gao Yi left,
could he have arrived this far within one hour?
I don't think it's possible.
What do you think?
As I see it
this time was too short for him to do that.
Perhaps that wheel rut was not left by Li Zilong at all.
Can Li Zilong's gang
still hide somewhere in the city now?
The Western Depot's search and blockade
are very timely and comprehensive.
From last night to now,
they basically turned the whole capital over to find them.
If Li Zilong and others were really still inside the city,
the Western Depot would have some clues.
Besides… Besides what?
If we don't try in person, how do we know if we can get this far or not?
How should we do that?
You and I will go different ways from here.
You return by the same way we came.
I have a few other things for you to do.
What about you?
I will borrow something.
OK.
It's you again.
I even got lamb to eat?
This tastes good.
Join me.
You eat unsuspectingly.
You're not afraid it might be poisoned?
You saved my life several times
even at the cost of defying Li Zilong's orders.
Why would you poison me?
In fact, I have a problem that has been bothering me for a long time.
Why am I not dead yet?
I know there is a person who kept showing mercy to me.
You know,
I wasn't sure about my conjecture until the wind outside
brought your perfume.
Qingge,
right?
Commander.
I have made a new deployment plan according to Wuyun's advice.
Please take a look.
Where are the best marksmen Wuyun said earlier?
I have sent squads to find their whereabouts.
There will be news soon.
This matter is particularly important.
Don't take it lightly.
Get them here as soon as possible.
Yes, sir.
Wait.
How is your plan
about the Bolangs' safekeeping?
Since you told me to keep them in safety,
I set up a whole new system of safekeeping which
cannot fail under any circumstances.
Every other day,
the Bolangs will be escorted by heavily armed soldiers
to transfer from a warehouse to another for safekeeping.
The purpose of doing so is
bombs being stored in one place for too long
will make it possible for the enemy to make plans to rob them.
But in doing so, if they ambush on the way of transferring,
they can just wait for us to get the bombs out to them.
Why are you sure it can't fail under any circumstances?
Don't worry.
I have taken this into consideration, too.
To make confusion and distraction, every transfer
I will arrange three armed escorts that are exactly the same
and set off together at the same time.
On each carriage, there will be a box of the same weight
and the same look.
Even the escort squads themselves
won't know which carriage carries the real thing,
and which two are fakes, let alone those who want to rob it.
Every other day, I will personally arrange
the Bolang's loading, routes, and the warehouses.
So I will be the only one who knows where the real Bolangs are.
Where are the Bolangs today?
You can't even tell me?
Sir, if you don't know, no matter what means the enemy tries,
they won't get information from you.
Very well.
You idiot!
Now that he knows your true identity,
I'd like to see how you are gonna do in the future!
What?
You still don't want to kill him and just let him go back
to expose your true identity?
Or are you going to just keep him here like this forever?
Did you get the Bolangs, Amasanj?
We didn't make any move.
They sent three identical carriages to go different routes.
I couldn't tell which one carried the Bolangs.
They are really deceitful.
But it's okay.
I have sent spies to follow them
and found out the warehouses of the three carriages.
Tonight I will personally lead soldiers to rob them one by one.
We can always get the real Bolangs in the end.
No, you can't do that.
Amasanj, Bolang is the key to our entire plan.
You can't spook them by an impulsive plan
and lose the greater interest for the less.
I know all is well that ends well.
But if we fail, we won't have a second chance.
The reason the Western Depot made such action
must because that Han guy colluded with Mr. Gao
and Mr. Gao told them our true target.
He's so cunning.
I will kill him now.
Why do you stop me?
You cannot kill Tang Fan now.
Only he can help us get the Bolangs.
I have a plan to kill two birds with one stone.
Mr. Sui.
Is there news about Tang Fan?
Not yet.
But no news is good news right now.
At least we know he is not dead yet.
What do you need me to do?
I want to borrow the fastest horse you have and a carriage.
Thanks.
You are welcome.
If you need my help, come to me anytime.
Mr. Sui.
If the situation is really like what Wang Zhi said,
Tang Fan will not be spared this time.
Wang Zhi is right.
But for the long time since I knew him,
Tang Fan also taught me something.
Sometimes humans can't control their life and death.
So there's no need to be obsessed with it.
If we live like Tang Fan, there will be no regrets when we die.
You mean uphold one's faith and do one's best like him?
No.
I mean eat when you are hungry like him.
He has been captured for so long.
He must be hungry.
I have to find him soon and take him home for dinner.
Sir.
Are things done?
I have notified all the checkpoints along the way.
No one will stop us.
I also have the timer ready to keep track of the time.
Hop on.
Sir, turn right at the intersection.
How much time did I use?
Just over one hour.
With your excellent skills driving a carriage,
it took you more than one hour to get here.
I really don't know who else can be faster than you.
I know someone can do it.
And only she can pull it off.
Hua Yuhu.
He came from a savage Jurchen tribe
and learned shooting arrows from childhood.
In order to train his eyesight,
his father had used oxtail hair to tie a lice
and hung outdoors to let him stare at it as practice for years.
It is said that after three years, tiny things like a lice
would become as big as a wheel in Hua Yuhu's eyes,
hence his nickname Eagle Eyes.
This person was sent to the Liaodong area half a month ago.
Gurijabatu.
He hailed from the Tumult Tribes of the Tatar.
A professional armed escort.
This person was born with unusual strength
and can shoot with strong bows of three stones.
So his shooting range is up to three hundred steps.
Because he can always hit his targets with a single arrow,
he often only carries three arrows which are enough for him.
So people call him "Three Arrows".
This man just escorted a caravan back to the capital two days ago.
He's still in the capital now.
Stop.
That's him.
Arrest him.
Liu Bai.
A Nanjing native who lives in Yangzhou now.
Formerly archery teacher of the Nanjing Defense Army.
When he shoots a big stone,
the arrow can shoot into the stone to feather-deep.
People call him Strong Liu Bai.