Original subtitles

[Ming Dynasty]

[Episode 39]

The empress is loyal to Your Majesty.

Her aunt brought her up.

She pleaded to the empress.

The empress couldn't refuse.

The empress knew that she did something wrong after being locked up.

Your Majesty, why don't you just let her go?

She is crying every day.

If something happened to her body,

the rumours spread

it will affect Your Majesty's good will.

I've seen Hu Shangyi's statement.

Someone like her,

even the empress dowager was pleading for her.

However, she chose to kill herself.

I don't care whether the empress is working for her aunt or not.

What I hate the most is...

She didn't tell me about the miscarriage.

I apologise on behalf of her.

She's timid.

About the miscarriage

she doesn't know how to tell Your Majesty.

If you want to punish her, just do it.

Without any explanation,

you let her starve and in thirst.

Your Majesty, why are you so mean?

What benefits did she give you? Why are you pleading for her?

Why don't I give her up?

I make you the empress.

I don't dare to think about it.

I hope Your Majesty

will take care of your dignity.

I'm afraid that outsiders won't understand.

There will be more rumours

and it will drain you.

The empress dowager and other members of the palace,

they won't be at ease.

Let me think about it.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

These days, why don't you meet Xu Bin again?

He has promised me that

once we have settled the orphans of the Jingnan Campaign's problem,

he'll leave Beijing forever.

Before I die,

he's not going to come back to Beijing.

What a coincidence.

Zheng He is going to the South again.

He has sent a memorial, seeking to leave with Zheng He.

I've approved his request.

Go meet him for a farewell.

Okay.

Your Highness.

His Majesty's order.

Greetings, Your Majesty.

I am alright.

His Majesty asked Your Highness to freshen up,

then meet him in the palace.

What am I supposed to wear?

You're the empress.

I, Hu Shan Xiang, am here to thank His Majesty.

I don't recognise you anymore.

I, Hu Shan Xiang,

beg forgiveness from Your Majesty.

Why are you crying?

I hate myself.

You feel shame to see Your Majesty.

I just want to die sooner.

Why?

At that time,

when you were still the imperial grandson,

you gave the Ruyi to me.

To me,

it was a great kindness.

At that time, I thought

in my whole life,

I could die for Your Majesty.

That would be the happiest thing in the world.

The vow is still in my ear.

But I did something wrong.

There's no redemption.

I heard that

you wash your face with tears in the palace every day.

If I don't release you from your lock-up,

we'll be worried about your life.

Do you really regret it?

All these days,

I just want to kill myself.

People are watching me closely.

Or else

I won't be seeing Your Majesty anymore.

I can't sleep.

My hair is falling too.

Last night,

I woke up in my dream.

Then, I found out that

I'm still very attached to Your Majesty.

The more I think about it, the more I regret it.

Everyone in the palace said

last night, the empress stayed in the emperor's chamber.

The emperor loved her very much.

There's no more lock-up.

His Majesty has rewarded her with a lot of good furniture.

Everyone thinks it's unfair.

Who told you that?

What's wrong with you, guys?

You've helped the empress to beg for forgiveness for so many times.

Now, the empress is in good form,

she didn't even come to show her gratitude.

Everyone feels unfair for you.

Ye Qiu.

How long have you been in the palace?

I was here since I was fourteen.

It's been six years.

In your eyes,

what kind of person is the empress?

I didn't serve her before.

But I heard that

she's a cunning person and hold on grudges.

I buried An Ge's body quietly.

Actually, everyone's pity about her,

but no one dares to say anything.

I'll give you a dowry.

By the end of the year, you leave the palace.

Did I do something wrong?

Mr. Xu Bin is here to greet.

Your Highness.

Greetings, Your Highness.

I came under the imperial order, to say farewell to Your Highness.

When are you leaving?

It should be these few days.

Where are you going?

I'll follow wherever the boat goes.

Do you still want to come back?

I've promised His Majesty.

As long as he's still alive,

I'm not going to come back.

If I'm lucky enough to be back,

I will come to see Your Highness again.

I'm afraid that when you're be back,

you can't even find my grave.

I won't.

After death,

be it on heaven or hell,

we'll meet again.

His Majesty sent me here today.

I won't stay for long.

Please take good care of yourself.

Until we meet again.

Wait a minute.

You said that

if you go to the sea again, you'll take me with you.

Now you go on your own, what about me?

Why do you have to leave?

The emperor loves you very much.

If I don't leave, his heart will not be at ease.

If I don't leave,

my heart won't be at ease either.

When I think of

you're living under someone's roof,

or are you happy

lying beside another man,

my heart hurts

as if it's being dug out alive.

I don't dare to say those words before.

But the future is hard to predict.

I'm afraid that I'll die on foreign land.

Then, I won't have the chance to say it.

With your words

that's enough for me.

Brother Xu Bin.

All these years of hard work,

at least, it's not wasted.

Remember.

There's wind at the sea.

I'm the wind.

There's rain.

I'm the rain, too.

When the moon rises,

please come out and watch it.

Because I'm watching it too.

Doesn't matter where you are, as long as you're still alive,

as long as you're alive,

I'll be all right.

Even if we die

it's just that

we're not seeing each other for a while.

The ancient people said,

come back when you're alive,

when you're death,

you'll be missed.

This sentence

I'm giving it to you.

[1430, the fifth year of Xuande Era,]

[Zheng He went to the South for the seventh time.]

[He reached the south of Africa.]

[The Ming Dynasty was at its prosperity year,]

[known as The Rule of Ren Xuan.]

My heart isn't strong,

why do you ask the immortals?

Go away, all of you!

Go away.

Go away!

-Bring them all down. -Go away!

Come on, let's go.

Father!

Nothing is good here!

Go away!

It's not the time to say this kind of words.

You don't do it for me.

You do it for our children.

Emperor Taizong has passed away.

We're under the roof, we have to lower our heads!

Lower your head.

What?

They...

Who are they?

How could you be with me?

I was born in the same era as that shameless boy.

How am I supposed to live?

Go away!

Let's go.

Go.

Madam, you want to have

a Land and Sea Ceremony to pray for the deceased?

Master, please

show me a way

that benefits the deceased.

I'm willing to do anything.

Madam, you've that kind of request,

I'm sure you're deeply in love with the deceased,

or feeling guilty.

[Hu Shangyi]

Hu Shangyi.

Please write her age,

her date of birth,

the date and time of deceased on this paper.

If you have her remains, you may bring it here too.

Her age

I don't know.

Her date and time of birth

no one knows.

Wu Shangyi, three words.

Shangyi was her official name.

Her surname was Hu, that's all I know.

I don't know anything else.

Her remains

I went to the cremation chamber at Zuo Jia Village,

I couldn't find any ashes of her.

Her body, together with those roadside corpses and old eunuchs,

all burnt and mixed up.

Then, it was sold to the farmers at the outskirts of the capital

to make fertilizer for farming.

It's like

she has never came to this world.

Besides me,

no one remembers her.

What was her relationship with you?

My benefactor.

Who are you?

Please stop asking.

This temple is called Huang Liang Temple.

It has a story.

During the seventh year of the Tang Dynasty,

there's a scholar named Lu, who failed his examination.

He passed by Handan

and met Lui Zu, Lui Dong Bin.

Lui Zu, take out a porcelain pillow and gave it to him.

Lu slept on the pillow.

In his dreams, he has many offsprings and lives a glorious and wealthy life.

He lives until 80 years old.

After that, he joined the secession.

His property was confiscated, and he was beheaded.

He woke up in a shock.

He looked around.

The shopkeeper was steaming some yellow millet rice.

The rice was still uncooked in the pot.

He just had a dream.

But all the sadness and anxiety in my heart is true.

I always pushed my pillow and woke up in the middle of the night.

It hurts so much that I can't breathe.

Master.

If you have Lui Zu's pillow,

can I borrow it?

I want to forget all these things.

Madam, you look like someone prestigious.

Why do you ask for Lui Zu's pillow?

Life is like floating in the sea, just like a dream and illusion.

These words are for you.

You're so cool.

I heard that

you ate a locust.

That doesn't taste good.

The locust bites into your mouth,

those green mucus

is bitter and awful.

It's disgusting.

Do you still need your dinner?

Mother.

Why didn't you spit it out immediately?

This year, we have locust plague on the outskirts of Beijing.

Wherever we went, all the lands were barren.

The conman at the countryside

built a locust temple.

The conman encouraged 10 thousand locals to sign a petition.

They wanted me to pray to the God of Locust.

What is God of Locust?

Why do I need to pray?

So, I sent someone to tear down the locust temple.

I went to the field

and got a locust and asked

'are you the God of Locust?'

If you dare, come and eat my organs.

Don't waste my people's harvest.

I heard about that.

Your Majesty's sincere act has touched God.

After that, all the locusts flew away.

Yes, they flew away.

Too bad, they flew away after eating all the crops.

This son of mine always makes me worried.

I heard that

you were upset with the empress a few days ago.

The empress has a miscarriage.

The consort is pregnant too.

Let me make things clear.

If you don't take good care of the baby,

I won't forgive you.

The consort is pregnant, how come I don't know about it?

The news from imperial physician.

This emperor

You have time to worry about the locusts,

wouldn't it be better to worry about my grandchild instead?

Of course!

Hurry, go!

You've got thorns on your butt.

Yes!

They have this song in the country.

Hacker's tail is long.

You married a wife and forgot about your mother.

That's what this song is all about.

All right, I'll go after I have dinner with my mother.

Go on.

Alright.

Stop talking about locusts.

Got it!

Your Majesty.

The consort is asleep?

The consort is sick, with some fever.

-You may leave now. -Yes.

You're awake.

You're back.

Was the imperial physician here?

What's the prescription?

How could you catch a cold?

The imperial physician was here.

Due to the change of season,

I caught a bit of cold, nothing serious.

I just thought, with the baby

I don't want to take medicine, I'll just sleep more.

I don't even know that you're pregnant.

I was at the empress dowager's place, then she told me about it.

The empress dowager said

no matter what happened, I have to keep this child safe.

If not, she won't forgive me.

I wanted to tell Your Majesty immediately.

But Your Majesty went to the outskirts of the capital

to deal with the locust plague.

Then, I went to tell the empress dowager.

I knew that you're coming back today.

I wanted to take a nap and report it after that.

I didn't expect you here.

Take good care of our child.

I'll name him in the future.

In the past, I thought

when I become the emperor, everything will be all right.

In fact, it isn't.

It's like you are obsessed with a view over the top of the mountain.

But, when you were at the top,

you could only see pieces of rubble,

wild grass, wildflower,

venomous insects and ferocious beasts.

But at that moment,

you couldn't go down,

you couldn't hide.

Your Majesty, you must be tired, take a rest here.

I want to watch you sleep.

Three old sad faces, what now?

You still can sleep?

I envy you.

You don't have to envy him.

Tomorrow, the cabinet will collapse.

The three of us will go home to be farmers.

We let Yu Qian be the chief.

By then,

he'll know what's actually going on.

What happened?

Prince of Han has been fasting for four days.

It's a public uproar.

Did you tell His Majesty?

A few days ago, His Majesty went to inspect the farmland and pray.

I didn't bother him with all this.

The Prince of Han has made this kind of scene,

we must let His Majesty knows.

It has been four days, what should we do?

He's the emperor's uncle.

His Majesty has told the world that he won't kill the Prince of Han.

Now he is trying to starve himself to death.

But, His Majesty doesn't know?

What is going on?

He doesn't just fast.

The Prince of Han keeps swearing.

Those words that he swore,

no one dares to tell His Majesty.

What was it?

It's all his old achievements.

About the Battle of Jingnan,

the way he fought bravely.

He said that he followed Emperor Taizong for five expeditions,

he fought till his death to contribute to the country.

Now, he's innocent.

Emperor Taizong died on whose hand?

-He was wronged -All right.

Watch out for the eavesdropper!

Sit down.

This old debt can't be turned over.

Has Prince of Han gone crazy?

He's not crazy.

He's smart.

He's forcing His Majesty to deal with it.

The emperor won this battle,

he didn't put any charges,

and didn't put any history record.

His Majesty wants to lock him up until he gets old.

What kind of person is the Prince of Han?

How can he manage to be fooled by others?

Those things that he complains

doesn't give much impacts.

But now, it has become the core of the conflict of the palace.

Those officials from the Ministry of Rites

have sent memorials to His Majesty to enquire about this matter.

His Majesty didn't respond.

The old alliance of the Prince of Han

is planning to make a scene tomorrow.

They want our cabinet to resign.

They want to push His Majesty to come forward

to explain clearly about the Prince of Han's matter.

Explain clearly?

They really don't want to live.

His Majesty is a young man.

How can His Majesty tolerate them?

When His Majesty isn't happy, he will punish them with the cane.

Why are you laughing at?

Mr. Yang Pu, you're the oldest here

but you have shallow eyes.

I'm speechless.

What did you say?

A cane punishment can't seal the people's mouth.

His Majesty wants to calm down the public opinion.

What should he do?

It's just the four of us who took part in this.

His Majesty wants to borrow our head to settle this.

To lend

or not to lend, that's the question.

On the twelfth year of Yongle Era,

I went to the north with you

at Ulaanbaatar,

we defeated Arughtai.

The Prince of Han has stabilise a dangerous situation,

he should get his credit, not a punishment.

Your Majesty treat your own family like this,

it's a lack of courtesy.

Then is it a courtesy for him to rebel?

Don't forget.

I didn't remove his title.

I didn't even touch him.

There's no evidence about the rebellion of Prince of Han.

Did he plan to separate a regime?

Did he plan to set his own reign and declare himself as an emperor?

No, he didn't.

He led his army to surrender,

there wasn't any war.

It's an act of excruciation.

No evidence?

When Prince of Han's army was at Shandong,

he was threatening our army at Zhili.

How many of you secretly wrote him a letter of loyalty?

Do you think I don't know about it?

I just thought that at the beginning of the new dynasty,

I don't want to add too much hostility,

So, I didn't pursue it.

What about now?

You all are stepping on my face,

you are at the rebel's side.

-You locked up to your own family -Shut up!

Elder Yang.

Your Majesty.

You're in charge of the six ministries.

Now, your man from the Ministry of Rites is giving me trouble,

you're here just to watch the show.

Your Majesty.

The Ministry of Rites has sent you memorials,

but Your Majesty didn't response.

I ignored that to protect you.

Your Majesty.

Did I ask you to speak?

Come!

Hold him down.

Hit with cane.

Your Majesty.

It's the fault of the Cabinet.

Hit us with the cane.

I should do it long time ago.

Who else wants to be beaten?

Your Majesty,

please release Prince of Han from the lock-up.

This...

Okay.

List down all their names,

and punish them.

When the both of you

are dealing with the punishment,

I can't be alone.

Let's go!

Come in.

Your Majesty.

Are you here to resign?

Bring it here.

Your Majesty.

About the Prince of Han, we can't drag this matter any further.

Today is the fifth day.

He's not made of iron.

He is trying to starve himself to death.

In the future, Your Majesty,

how are you going to explain it to the people?

How to explain to the ancestors and families?

I don't have to explain.

That's what you said.

He doesn't want to eat or drink,

he wants to starve himself to death.

Not my problem.

He's been fasting for five days.

You only tell me about it after five days.

I didn't go far, did I?

This is such a big matter. Why didn't you tell me personally?

You want to bring it to the imperial court.

Do you want to embarrass me?

Your Majesty.

Prince of Han did this all of a sudden.

We don't know what to do.

Especially when he keeps talking in his house.

He goes to sleep when he's tired of talking.

When he wakes up, he continues.

The imperial physician doesn't even dare to enter the door.

The servants have quit their jobs.

He talked those offensive words.

Those words that he said

were mostly malicious falsehood to Your Majesty,

and gave credit to himself.

I don't have that guts

to tell the truth to Your Majesty.

I don't know what to do.

I can only plead that Your Majesty

step out to deal with it.

If I go to him, I will be humiliated.

But now he refused to admit to his wrongdoings.

I can't punish him, I can't kill him either.

What should I do?

Your Majesty.

What Prince of Han and Prince of Zhao said at the funeral

has shocked the world.

Even though they lost the battle,

they have messed up with the loyalty of our people and army.

But, a lot of people out there

think that Your Majesty treats them so well

because you feel guilty.

Now that the Prince of Han has made a scene

and created a havoc,

it's hard to clean up his mess.

Your Majesty.

Everything needs to be in retrospective.

The death of Emperor Taizong should have clarification.

It's for the sake of our future generations,

for the sake of our people and army.

Initially, I wanted this matter

to dismiss in peace and quiet.

But he's good.

He thinks that I'm weak.

He spreads the rumours to rabble-rouse the people.

I know.

All these years, in the imperial court,

he has his own alliances.

Alright.

They're all out now.

He has thirty thousand soldiers set right in front of me,

I wasn't afraid of him.

Now, they are just a few noisy civilian officials,

and they want to challenge me?

Your Majesty.

We have the law, we can't simply kill someone.

Emperor Taizu had an edict.

Imperial censors can't be killed.

The monument is standing outside the palace.

What does that mean?

The history is a solid proof.

I'm afraid His Majesty will not be able to bear it.

Your Majesty.

It's been more than a year since the last battle.

Now that Prince of Han wants to commit suicide,

it's not a small matter.

There's no better way to kill a person from his heart.

We have to get Prince of Han to start eating.

We have to make him step out to clear the air

on how did Emperor Taizong die.

Why did he want to be a rabble-rouser?

If this event is recorded in the history,

what can we do about it?

Our dynasty will become a laughing stock.

Prince of Han has been in the military brigade for a long time,

he has a lot of trusted generals.

They see Your Majesty's attitude as ambiguous.

Hence, they seek justice for him.

It's more important to be aware of the word-of-mouth

compared to be aware of the borders.

The imprisonment and beating the ministers

wouldn't solve any problems.

Even if the ministers have shut their mouth,

what about the army?

If the army is in chaos,

what should we do?

Your Majesty.

The three of us can resign.

But, Your Majesty, you have no way to escape.

Greetings, Your Majesty.

I am fine.

Princess of Han, please get up.

The empress dowager misses you a lot.

If you have time, please play cards with her at the palace.

Bring it in.

I've brought uncle some snow lotus, Lingzhi

and some good ginseng to nourish his body.

Where is Uncle Gao Xu?

We couldn't retreat this time.

Gao Sui and I brought the Three Thousand Division

to cover His Majesty's army for retreat.

The battle was like a snowball.

We were stuck, we couldn't get out of there.

I told Gao Sui that we couldn't retreat.

We have to move forward.

We have to take down the Tatars and Oirats.

Then, His Majesty's camp would be safe and sound.

Gao Sui said

Brother, let's fight!

It's our blessing if we couldn't die.

In the end, we caught eleven Princes of Tatars alive.

We covered His Majesty until we reached Yumuchuan,

there were no soldiers around