Original subtitles

Explain. Why do you pass yourself off as Ji Xin?

I knew sooner or later his blabbing habit would get him in trouble.

So when you came to catch him, I passed myself off as him.

Sir, I shall bring him to you.

Fine.

Rise.

Thank you, sir.

Zhou Ke...

why do you choose to be a scapegoat?

Sir, Ji Xin once saved my life.

Though he often speaks carelessly, though he’s full of complaints,

his loyalty to our lord is unsurpassed!

Sir, please spare him.

In your eyes, Ji Xin is quite valiant?

He never hesitates in charging our enemy.

You are loyal indeed.

Good. I’ll help you. I’ll request our lord to promote you.

Sir, what about Ji Xin?

Ji Xin?

He’s a man with complaints. He’d rather fight on the battlefield.

Since you view him this way, I’ll not accept any help, either.

Tell me why.

As a squad leader, I’m always with my men.

If I were promoted and surpassed Ji Xin,

our friendship might be damaged.

For your friend, you’d rather choose to be a squad leader.

Zhou Ke, you ’re a great man.

I know what I will do.

You can go.

Thank you, sir.

General-in-chief, our lord urged us

to save him in Xingyang several times.

He hopes we charge toward the south to attack Chu warriors,

but you don’t take any action. Why don’t you follow his order?

Please understand, our general is doing what he should do.

He has stationed our forces in Xiuwu.

At the present time, we must wait.

But very soon, our lord may be killed.

Even if he was here,

I wouldn’t change my mind.

He’ll agree with me.

Chen Ping, I brought Ji Xin here.

I’m sure he’s Ji Xin this time.

Thanks for your hard work, Xiahou Ying.

I want to have a personal talk with him.

Sir, what do you want of me?

You’re Ji Xin.

I know...

you’ve been wounded three times while guarding our city.

You should have been rewarded.

But you complain too much and you’re impertinent.

Yes. It’s a blessing and a curse.

Then why don’t you leave our camp?

Or maybe, you could surrender to join Xiang Yu.

Leave?

Everybody I know is here.

Where should I go?

Besides, surrender?

No, I could never surrender to anyone.

Most excellent.

If that’s the case, I have a request for you.

What is it?

For me, no, for our lord, no,

for the future of Han...

I entrust a mission to you.

I’ll entrust you and our son to Mr. Zhang.

Don’t worry. He’ll protect you.

My Lord, Chen Ping requests an audience.

What brings him here so late?

I’ll stay at your side.

Don’t be silly. Now you’re a mother.

You should protect our son Ruyi.

But I worry about you.

Don’t worry. We’ll meet again soon.

My respects, My Lord. Respects, madam.

You can leave now.

Yes.

What’s wrong?

My Lord, I’ve got something important to tell you.

You want to talk whether we should leave here, don’t you?

Yes.

You oppose leaving?

No, I can’t agree more.

But I wonder how we leave

and how we break through the siege.

You have a good idea?

For the time being, Xingyang is tightly besieged indeed.

It’ll be hard for you to leave safely.

Don’t be so coy. Just get to the point already.

Xiang Yu hates you deeply.

And he can’t wait to kill you.

Only you, Liu Ji,

can distract the attention of Xiang Yu’s main forces.

Then our warriors can break out of the encirclement.

What do you mean?

You want me to be bait for Xiang Yu?

How can you think of such an idea?

My Lord, probably it doesn’t sound sane.

But this plan can protect you.

We can find a man to disguise himself as you.

Then if he sits on your chariot,

wears your clothes and holds your flag,

I think he can surely distract Xiang Yu’s main forces.

Then in the chaos and mess, you can leave the city.

Once you get outside the city,

to the south there’s a forest.

There I’ll prepare a chariot for you.

It’s no good.

The world will condemn me and say I choose life over honor.

There’s no shame in being a coward.

We all fear death. To fear death is not shameful at all.

We all fear death.

But what made us choose to die and in what way we should die?

We should ask ourselves if it’s worthwhile to die.

You are the king of Han. You should take our state in the first place.

You should try to protect our warriors.

If we can save a lot of our warriors

with a little price,

why not do it?

My Lord, I’ve found the right man for you.

My Lord, you know some were born to be kings and some

were born to die for others. We should follow their respective roles.

My Lord,

if we don’t sacrifice the scapegoat,

how can we

save so many of our warriors?

You rise. Rise.

Yes.

I need to think it over.

Yes.

Hey.

Don’t tell this to anyone.

Yes.

This way. Show your respects.

My respects, My Lord.

What is your name?

Ji Xin.

Ji Xin?

Don’t you remember me, My Lord?

You were with me when we were in Mt. Mangdang?

Yes.

You are a grumbler. They call you “Grumbling Ji Xin.”

Yes.

Do you know you’ll be dying on my behalf?

My Lord, I’ve long been ready for death.

Why?

Because I don’t see you going anywhere.

How’s that?

My Lord, I can’t remember how many victories we’ve had.

But I remember every battle we’ve lost.

Let’s hear it.

In Huling, we lost 17 guys.

In Changyi, a tiny battle, we lost 35 of our guys.

In Pengcheng, we lost 25.

My Lord, how’s my memory, am I right?

Correct.

My Lord, I have been waiting

to tell you all my bitterness for so long.

Alright. Let’s hear all of it.

We followed you all the way

from Pei County to Xianyang,

and from Xianyang to Nanzhen,

then Liyang, and now Pengcheng.

Do you know how much we’ve had to put up with?

You don’t know.

We’ve followed you but you've never given us a decent life.

I’m not an ambitious type. I only want to be a good warrior.

Today, I’m lucky to let this all out.

I've now expressed all these years of pent-up frustrations,

I feel relaxed.

And now, I want to thank you, My Lord.

Why?

Thank you for letting me be king for a few days!

Now, I can finally see where I am going.

But, My Lord,

you should give our warriors a place to go.

My Lord, stop hesitating.

Few of our guys from Pei County are left anymore.

In my group, only Zhou Ke and I are left.

My Lord,

do you really want

all our guys to die with you?

My Lord, please let me do this!

Liu Ji, don’t you dare think I’m dying for you.

I die for all our warriors.

You must lead them way to safety.

We can’t afford more deaths.

My Lord, I’ll delay Xiang Yu’s attack. The farther you run, the better.

I hope you lead all our men to live in safety.

My Lord,

I’m begging you!

I’ll not forget your words.

Throw it.

Throw it.

Advance! Advance!

Great balls of fire! Run!

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

Hurry! Get out of my way! Wake up!

Retreat.

Buddy! Buddy!

-Hold his chest firmly. -Wake up!

Hold on. Buddy. Hold on.

Go back. Don’t run.

-Carry him here. -One. Two.

Have you made arrangements to retreat?

And also, what about the commoners?

My Lord, everything is ready.

You should decide who guards the city.

-I’ve already chosen someone. -Who?

Let’s let Wei Bao guard the city.

My Lord, if you send him to guard, our city won’t stand a chance.

The moment we leave, Chu warriors will take over.

I’ve already decided, he’s the best choice.

If he guards our city, we have three choices.

First, if he dared to abandon the city and surrender,

then it’s easy;

neither we, nor Xiang Yu would spare him.

Second is, he loses his life in the attack,

he would wash away all a lifetime of disgrace,

and then I can give him a king’s memorial ceremony.

The third possibility,

and the least possible,

is if he won the battle.

If he really won the battle,

I would reward him well.

And I’d have another valiant general. That’s good for us.

My Lord, Wei Bao is incompetent in battle,

and he’s also a coward.

I think he’s not proper. Let me stay here to guard the city.

Mr. Zhang, don’t even try to do that.

I’d never let you run the risk.

My Lord, I think there is a qualified man.

-Who? -Zhou Ke.

No. He’s only an infantry leader.

But…

Zhou Ke? He’s from Fengyi, right?

Right.

I know him. He’s reliable. We can entrust the mission to him.

Yes.

Alright. That’s it. We should separate.

My Lord, what do you mean?

It’s easy to understand. If we stick together,

we’ll easily become Xiang Yu’s target. He’ll not spare us.

He’ll chase after to attack us.

Then we’ll suffer a great loss.

If we separate, he’ll be at a loss.

Mr. Zhang, I’d like to entrust you

to look after my family.

Take her with you.

-Xiahou Ying. -Yes.

-You go with me. Yes.

Alright.

Tell our guys,

we’ll break through the encirclement when it becomes dark.

My Lord, that’s too dangerous!

Drop it! Leave. Hurry!

-But… -Hurry!

Open the gate!

Guys, I’m Liu Ji, follow me to break out!

Liu Ji is here! Chu warriors, put down your weapons!

Or I’ll kill you all! Who dares to attack me?

Charge! Charge! Charge!

Let’s go…

Ji Xin, we’ll rely on you.

Close the gate. We’ll go guard this city!

Reporting.

My Lord, Liu Ji ran away in a chariot.

From where?

From the east gate. He’s outside the city already.

Let him run.

Yes.

Come on. Come kill me. What are you waiting for?

Where’s Liu Ji?

I’m Liu Ji.

Bullshit!

Don’t you see he’s Xiang Yu?

You are Xiang Yu?

You’re not as tall as I imagined.

I'll ask you again. Where’s Liu Ji?

I don’t know where he is.

But I know the day he returns

will be the day you die.

Our lord will behead you sooner or later.

-Burn him to death. -Yes.

Come on. Set your fire. I was just feeling a little cold.

My Lord! Let’s be brothers in the next life!

Liu Ji might not leave the city. Block the city gate.

Yes.

This is very important. You should protect it with your life

till you hand it to Xiang Yu, understand?

I’ll not fail you.

You’ve got little time left. Hurry and set out.

Yes.

Why do you return so soon?

Sir, Xiang Yu’s messenger is coming.

He didn’t forget me?

-Let him in. -Yes.

It’s great you come here.

My respects, Mr. Wei.

Listen. Now is right time to catch Liu Ji.

I’ve made a plan for him.

You’re daydreaming.

How dare you betray Liu Ji. Maybe in the next life!

Hurry.

General, this is Zhou Ke, the city guard.

You survived a rather harsh attack.

I think you’re not common.

Stop your bullshit. You’d better kill me now.

Then I can join my friend Ji Xin.

Ji Xin.

The one who disguised himself as Liu Ji.

You’re clear that if you guarded the city, you would inevitably be killed.

You bet.

Your and your friend risked your lives to serve Liu Ji. But what have you got?

You got nothing.

You should join me. Then you can be a general in my camp.

No.

If I grant you marquis over 10,000 families? How about it?

No.

You can be a first-rate general, higher than all of them. Agree?

No.

Bring him here.

Untie him.

I think you’re aware, what this pot is for.

You want to boil me.

The bigger the fire, the better for me.

Be boiled, or to join me. You can choose.

Boil me, please.

Why?

Why you would rather choose to die?

The pledge.

I’m a thousand times stronger than Liu Ji.

He’s a man of vile character, I could have killed him,

but I, Xiang Yu, benevolently spared him.

I don’t understand

why you’d rather choose to die for him.

He obviously sold you out.

Neither of you ever had to die.

Especially you!

Wake up. Follow me.

Idiotic nonsense.

Soon you’ll die. Do you realize,

this is the most miserable, the most painful death,

to be boiled like lamb in oil.

While I still hold you in high regard,

you can beg me for mercy.

I beg you…

to boil me!

As you wish!

Ji Xin, I’m coming to join you!

General, I can’t understand

what Liu Ji does to make

so many people join him

and help him, and even choose to die for him.

General, we got the message that Xiang Yu conquered Xingyang.

How about our lord?

His whereabouts are unknown.

I heard Xiang Yu is scouring madly for our lord.

Do we need to muster our warriors?

Guards.

General.

Wait.

What would our lord want us to do most?

Organize our army and stock up provisions for a decisive battle against Chu.

I believe they can survive the danger.

We’ll not go anywhere.

Tell Fan Kuai, do not stop training, we need those men trained!

Yes. I’ve got it.

Cao Can, Han Xin is really a talent.

Thanks to him, these soldiers are well trained!

-Enjoy! Drink! -Drink…

How can you enjoy a drink at a time like this?

Are you still Liu Ji’s sworn brothers?

Do you know what happened to him?

It’s obvious you’ve completely forgotten about him!

What’s the matter?

Xingyang has fallen into Xiang Yu’s hands!

-How did it happen? -When did it happen?

We followed Han Xin and conquered Zhao and Wei.

Now we’ll set off to attack Chu warriors in Qi.

But then now who’s left to go save Liu Ji?

Cao Can, what should we do?

We moved to conquer Zhao in October of last year.

And then to the northern bank of the Yellow River.

So we’ve stayed here

for almost eight months.

Yet Han Xin doesn’t want to take any action. Do you know why?

During this time, we’ve been training our soldiers.

We haven’t missed a day.

-Exactly. -But does Liu Ji know that?

And do other warriors in Xingyang know that?

They’re anticipating immediate help from us.

That’s what they need most.

Hey,

I heard Han Xin wants to proclaim himself king.

-No way. -I don’t believe that.

Zhang Er, where is this coming from?

Whatever Han Xin does is for our lord.

Impossible. I don’t believe that.

Zhang Er, I’m absolutely positive

of Han Xin’s loyalty to our lord.

If you observe Han Xin closely, you’ll believe my words.

As a military inspector, I’ll investigate this.

Our lord sent a messenger here. Open the gate.

Stop!

My Lord. My Lord.

My Lord. How did you come here?

My Lord.

My Lord. My Lord.

How did you come here?

-Cao Can! -Yes.

Gather our warriors and bring Han Xin’s military seal.

And I order you and Fan Kuai to lead our warriors to set off.

Yes.

You needn’t panic, my General.

You’re really skillful in training soldiers.

You have trained them into powerful men, indeed.

I appoint Zhang Er the king of Zhao and you the premier of Zhao.

I’ll set off with my warriors. I’ll leave 2,000 for you.

Please recruit new warriors for us. I believe you can train them well.

Very soon, you should set off to attack Qi.

Rest up.

Yes.

General, I saw our warriors are all leaving.

Our lord took the military seal away.

Our lord came here?

He appointed you the king of Zhao and me your premier.

He left us 2,000 warriors to attack Qi.

2,000 warriors to attack Qi?

General, our lord went mad?

There are over 70 cities in Qi.

How can we attack them with 2,000 men? That’s asking for a quick death.

Why do you smile?

Our lord ordered me to recruit new soldiers and train them.

He ordered me to attack Qi.

But he left general’s sword! Then I’m still the general-in-chief!

And the 2,000 men?

My orders: Tell the 2,000 warriors that they can go home now.

Go home?

General, you are mad?

Give them money for 15 days. Tell them to return within 15 days.

Tell them, anyone returns with five men will be promoted to squad leader.

With ten, I’ll promote him to corporal.

With 100, I’ll promote him to sergeant.

I don’t fear war. What I fear is no war at all.

[Effortlessly,]

[Liu Ji retook military power] [from Han Xin by force.]

[It was the most beautiful performance] [of Liu Ji’s life.]

[After that, Liu Ji had his own troops]

[at his command to attack Xiang Yu.]

My Lord, we’re almost out of provisions.

How long can we last?

Strictly speaking, we used up the provisions yesterday.

Our soldiers even ate the leaves off of elm trees.

Now our soldiers are searching for mice all over the mountains and wilderness.

What’s wrong with Xiao He?

No messages from him?

I’ve sent him two letters already.

I think Mr. Xiao has his own difficulties.

But surely, he's well aware of our current situation.

I think you should write him a letter.

What's the use of that?

Don’t urge him to send us provisions in the letter.

What do you mean?

Just ask after his health and he’ll know what we need.

I’ll write to him right away.

Subtitle translation by Hwee Lin Wong