The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Episode 48
Zhou?
Why are you here?
Sir.
Your plan has been leaked.
Although I have asked someone to inform them,
I'm afraid it's too late.
What about the Fayuan Temple?
What should we do?
Things have come to the point that
we have to bring out the final desperate move.
But I can't do it on my own.
So I came to get you out.
You and I have to worktogether to solve this crisis.
Okay.
What should we do?
Are… are you His Majesty?
Tang Fan asked me to tell you something.
He said Li Zilong iscoming for you soon.
Li Zilong?
He said you don't have to escape in a hurry.
Because even if you want torun, you can't run away from him.
I thought he told me not to worry about my life.
Yes.
He said if everything goes well with his plan,
Your Majesty is sure to be safe.
How dare you?
I, Wan An, pay respect to Your Majesty.
Get out of her way.
This is the personal sword of the late emperor.
He had left a decree that thissword is a token as his presence.
I am authorized to kill with this sword.
Anyone disobeying my order is regarded as
disobeying His Majesty.
I said, get out of her way.
Bring my son back to me.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Father.
Why don't we act now?
Calm down.
Let's wait for Tang Fan.
Sir, have mercy and give us some food.
Have mercy.
Give us some food.
[Fayuan Temple]
Sir, have mercy.
Give us some food.
With one decree of His Majesty,all the officials were demoted.
- The formerly joyful assistant minister had a laugh...- Sir.
There are a bunch of littlebeggars outside the Fayuan Temple
who act very suspiciously.
Go Give them somemoney to disperse them.
This place is very important.
Don't let them fool around here.
Yes, sir.
Wait.
Father.
Don't spook the people in the temple.
Let me go.
Okay.
With one decree of His Majesty…
[Marquis Wu'an's Mansion]
The formerly joyfulassistant minister had a laugh
when he was exiled to the remote Sichuan.
Let's get out of here!
Come on.
Do you know whathappened out there?
The Ming is now in grave danger.
And his Majesty is like standing by the abyss.
The success and failure depend on you.
Just the few steps youwalked here from the gate,
as long as I gave an order, Icould have killed you twenty times
with every step you took.
But do you know whyyou're still alive now?
Because you knewwhat I just said.
I, Zheng Ying, have dedicated my life
in battlefields protectingthe country and its people.
But why would mytwo sons end like that?
One was killed by his brother,
and the other killed himselfwhen the murder was exposed.
There are many things in life
that are beyond our control.
These are the so-called principles of Heaven.
But there is one thingthat we can control.
That is our own principles.
I'll ask you only one question.
If you knew one day youwould come to ask me for help,
would you still keep investigating whichforced my son to kill himself back then?
I would.
Then you are not afraid that Iwill not save His Majesty now?
I am afraid.
But even if I am afraid, Iwould still keep investigating.
Why?
Because no one violatingthe law should go unpunished.
Commander, you have suffered in the cell.
How do you know I'm here?
Chizi told us.
Why didn't you leave
since you knew we havefound out about your plan?
Is it necessary to come to your death?
How did you knowabout that poem?
I have been curious.
If it weren't for you, I wouldhave died several times.
You spared my life many times,but I really didn't understand why.
So I went to Wang Zhi toask about your background.
Where did you find that Qingge?
Ms. Cui bought her with a high price
from the Suzhou Departmentof Official Prostitutes.
Department of Official Prostitutes?
So she was from an aristocratic family?
I heard Ms. Cui say that it wasnot exactly an aristocratic family.
But she was the daughter of a general.
Her father Liu Qing was a scholarduring the reign of the late emperor.
After the Tumu Crisis, he was transferredfrom the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of War.
He assisted Yu Qian duringthe Siege of the Capital.
Later, he followed Mao Fushou tosuppress the Miao people's rebellion.
At that time he was honored as beingadept with both the pen and the sword.
After Liu Qing returned to the capital, he waspromoted to be the Assistant Minister of Punishments.
His career was supposedto be bright and promising.
But unfortunately,
this person was too uprightand honest for his own good.
It did 't take long for him to offend Wan An.
After that, he was demoted to Sichuan
where he died in depress.
He was only 45 years old when he died.
With one decree of His Majesty,
all the officials were demoted.
The formerly joyfulassistant minister had a laugh
when he was exiled to the remote Sichuan.
Your father wrote this poem onthe way he was exiled to Sichuan.
My father was treated unjustly.
I must kill that evil emperor to seek revenge!
You get it wrong.
What did I get wrong?
First of all, You gotthe enemy wrong.
His Majesty didn't made your father suffer.
It was Wan An.
And Li Zilong is colluding with him.
For everything you are doing now,
while you think you areavenging your father, actually
you are helping your enemy.
The biggest mistake you made
was you misunderstood the emotions in his poem.
There was no
resentment orhatred in his poem.
It was just like when I was demoted to Tongzhou.
Although we were both forced to
leave from the corridors of power,
it actually made us more relaxed and relieved
and let go of many useless thoughts.
That being the case,
why did you return to this corridors of power?
If it were your father,he would have come back
as long as the Ming still needs him.
I saved you because Ididn't want you to die in vain
and be wrongfully killed like my father.
I have never felt grievance.
Because even if I die,
I die a worthy death.
Wait a moment.
Take your time.
If I were you, I wouldn'thave spared his life.
You are too kind for your own good.
Just kill me.
Cut the nonsense.
We'll see if I'll kill you later.
But right now, I still needyou to do something for me.
What's the matter that youcalled me here in such a hurry?
Grandpa Shang.
Sui Zhou.
This time you tried to steal in myroom and were caught red handed.
I will not go easy onyou like I did before.
Actually as early as the firstday you joined us three years ago,
I have been hating you.
Why else would someonefrom an aristocratic family
want to join the Imperial Guards?
Of course it was because you are a spy
the sinister Empress Dowagerplanted in my department.
Let me be honest with you.
I have been trying to frame you.
The banned books in your home wereplanted there by some of my people.
And those two fake ImperialGuards who robbed the bank.
You think that I didn't knowthey pretended to be you
to commit fraud?
But why did I allow them to continue?
Because I wanted to use them
to get rid of you.
Why is it you?
Commander Wan.
But…
Where is Sui Zhou?
Wuyun and several other excellent marksmen
are all locked up in the Eastern Depot's prison.
Go rescue them and bringthem to the place we agreed.
At such a critical moment, morehelpers will always come in handy.
Tang Fan hasn't appeared?
No. Sir.
He never showed up.
Where is Qingge?
She went after that bunch oflittle beggars and never returned.
We are not waiting anymore.
Break into the temple.
Let's go!
So, you are Li Zilong.
Exactly.
I also have been waiting a long time
for this day to come.
Go after them!
My people didn't findthe emperor or Qingge.
What should we do?
Where can the emperor go?
He can only go back to the palace.
Wan An has the wholecapital under his control.
We just need to wait for themon their way back to the palace.
It's me.
Your Majesty.
Your Majesty, don't worry.
I'm fine.
Why are you alone?
Where are the people of the Western Depot?
It's tough already that I am stillalive and have managed to come here.
Don't count on the Western Depot's men.
Where is Sui Zhou?
Why did you just bring so fewpeople of the Imperial Guards?
I did steal Wan Tong's token.
But no one wanted to follow me.
These are the most loyalsubordinates of me and Mr. Sui.
They are the only ones who arewilling to come with us to fight.
What should we do?
I checked the street when I came.
It looks peaceful outside.
But during the short distancefrom here to the Donghua Gate,
there must be dangers with each step we take.
It is difficult to break through withjust a dozen people we have now.
Then we can only hope forsome good news from Sui Zhou.
Sui Zhou!
Why is there a team of femalesoldiers coming out of the palace?
I only know one woman who is so brave.
Wan Zhen'er.
Good.
Our opportunity has finally come.
Zhen'er.
- Zhen'er!- Protect His Majesty!
Let's go!
Yes!
Zhen'er.
Gao Yi.
You traitor.
How dare you appear in front of me again?
Why are you guys here?
For Oirat.
No.
You came here just forthe prince's selfish desires.
Did you forget
what Khan Esen Taishi said?
Only when Oirat builds agood relationship with the Ming,
can we have frontier trade.
Only with the frontier tradecan the Oirat people survive.
What you are doing today
will burn your bridges in the future!
So today
I will wake you up with a fight!
Protect His Majesty!
Zhen'er.
Father.
Why?
Why do you betray me?
For one person.
My real father.
Qingge…
How could you betray…
Stop it, father.
Stop it.
Father,
Father.
[Royal Study]
Your Majesty.
Gao Yi has takenAmasanji back to Oirat.
Before they left, he conveyed Borona Halle,
the leader of Oirat's information
in which he apologized deeply for the incident
and the hope to continue thepeaceful coexistence with the Ming.
The three treacherous officialsshould be killed for what they did.
But… I understand.
If Wan Tong is seriouslypunished, Her Highness will be sad.
But if he goes unpunished,
You Majesty might be afraidthis result cannot convince others.
If so I do have some proposals
that can give them the punishment they deserve.
[Xuanwu Gate]
What are your proposals?
Wan An will be retired andgo back to his hometown.
And is not allowed to setfoot in the capital ever again.
Shang Ming will be deprived of histitle of the Eastern Depot commander
and go back to the palace as a servant.
As for Wan Tong, justlet Her Highness decide.
Her Highness will punish him accordingly.
Sis... Shut up!
If you weren't my brother,
your limbs and head would havebeen torn apart by five horses now!
Sis… I know I didsomething wrong.
Go back to Changping to raise horses.
I don't want to see youagain for the rest of my life.
Ok. Let's do so.
But other than these people,
there is one more sinner.
Tang Fan.
What's wrong with Tang Fan?
Tang Fan has two charges.
Firstly, before the Beginningof Spring ceremony,
Tang Fan was deceived byLi Zilong without realizing it
into exposing the Bolangs' location.
Li Zilong was able to take awaythe Bolangs because of Tang Fan.
You can't blame him for that.
He was also the victim of Li's scheme.
A covert scheme is harderto avoid than an open attack.
Even if you try to put up a guard,
there will be times when you land in the trap.
Secondly, after the incident, TangFan almost made a wrong choice.
What choice?
Li Zilong threatened Tang Fanwith Bolangs to make a choice
between you and millionsof people in the capital.
My life is valuable.
But aren't the people of my Ming valuable, too?
If all the officials can
regard the people just asimportant as me like Tang Fan
so that all the people know theroyal court represents their interests.
The people would love thecountry and the royal court and
the Ming will enjoy prosperity and peace.
I think he didn't do anythingwrong in the choice he made.
Speaking of which, since you areworried that he might be punished,
why did you mention it to me?
I would never hide anythingI know from Your Majesty.
Wang Zhi.
You did a great job this time.
Tell me what you want as reward.
Protecting Your Majesty is my job.
I know you always wantedto lead troops to fight and
build military merit.
Today
I will make your dream come true.
It's just that you're achamberlain of the palace.
According to the ancestor's law,
military power cannot be givento chamberlain of the palace.
But I can appoint
you as provincial military governor.
Go to Hetao border pass.
Thank you,
Your Majesty.
This time His Majesty didn't punish me.
I guess it was because of you again.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
I help you, and you help me.
This time after you go to Hetao, Idon't know when we'll meet again.
I wish you success and triumph.
Don't be so sentimental.
Maybe I'll see you soon.
Don't.
Why not?
Just stay at the borders.
I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse
if His Majesty calls youback to the capital next time.
Li Zilong has been eradicated.
Those three powerful officialshave also been resolved.
The most destabilizing factorHis Majesty worries about is you.
So don't come back if everything is fine.
Better still, don't let HisMajesty think about you.
If one day His Majesty reallycan't remember you, that's the best.
But what if I miss you two?
I don't want that even more.
It's nothing good being missed by you.
I always had to clean up the mess.
Is it safe you just takehim there with you?
What can I do even if it's not safe?
I can't bringmyself to killing him.
I know his ability better than anyone else.
But I don't feel safe leavinghim in the capital's prison.
So I can only take it with me.
Besides, he has been with me all these years.
I'm really not used to it without him.
You've changed.
You became softhearted.
Mr. Wang!
Her Highness gave you this as a present.
Her Highness personally askedme to convey this message.
Don't lose it this time.
Gentlemen.
This is where I say goodbye.
We will meet again one day.
Do you remember that Yang Fu from Ji'an's case?
Yes.
I had been thinking since thenthat why this person disappeared
after the case.
It turns out he had beenimprisoned by Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi kept him alive so thathe could die for Wang Zhi someday.
In this way Wang Zhi showedhis loyalty to His Majesty.
I see.
No wonder this time His Majesty
would finally agree to let himget involved in the military affairs.
Sometimes it'sjust hard to think
he Is still a teenager who'snot yet twenty years old.
Are you a bodhisattva?
Sister Bodhisattva,
you are so beautiful.
Just as beautiful as my mom.
From today on, you will work for me.
Wang Zhi,
you have to remember,in this palace,
you have to smile.
Only by smiling can you survive.
Let's dig in!
Come on.
Tang Fan, here you go.
Sui Zhou!
Pei?
Why did you come back from your hometown?
Because my hometown got into a big trouble.
In the northwest of the country,
a plague happened in a village wherethe patients would look like zombies.
The symptoms of the bodies are quite like
the Black Death that has sweptthe Western Regions in recent years.
But I suspect this matteris not so simple as it seems.
I suspect someone was
murdering people in the cover of the disease.
Where are you going?
Go pack up!
Let's get ready to hit the road!
Can't we finish eating first?