Original subtitles

♫ Raising the wine cup, I toast to the boundless sky ♫

♫ In talks and laughters are vast mountains and rivers. ♫

♫ Love and hate, debt and feuds, have all dissolved. ♫

♫ Where's my soul's hometown and my kindred spirits? ♫

♫ Seasons rolling by, we dream for harvest. ♫

♫ Warriors and warhorses howl across the sky. ♫

♫ If only I could turn into the wind, ♫

♫ to blow away all the pain in mortal coil. ♫

♫ I toast to the blue sky, to courage in solitude, ♫

♫ to migrating gooses, to boats heading home. ♫

♫ With even three thousand days and nights, ♫

♫ Will it be enough to drain this cup I toast to peace? ♫

[Swords into Plowshares]

[Episode 14]

So Lord Shuiqiu, you mean, if we investigate today, we can still find something out.

Investigate today?

In what name?

Just based on these few deeds?

We can't interfering in local governance.

The documents you issued in the name of the New Year's envoy

to him are nothing but scraps of paper.

Wasn't a Registrar just murdered?

He was an official of the court.

Can't we investigate that?

Then I ask you,

how can you prove that Chen Xing's death is related to the prefecture's administrative affairs?

Moreover,

even if they allowed you to investigate,

what could you possibly find out?

They might not even allow.

If by then you find no solid evidence, they could turn around and accuse you,

You'll give them grounds for complaint.

And if the King and the ministers intended to investigate this case in the future,

there would be no opportunity.

Our punishment is one thing.

It's just a pity for Registrar Chen,

who lost his life and tore open this...

Is that Gao Xu still waiting outside?

Yes.

We brought two hundred attendants. One hundred, guard the school.

Muster some troops under your unified command, to accompany me on a tour around the city.

May I ask, Prince,

what is the purpose of entering the city now?

To stroll around.

It's urgent.

I'll put everything else aside.

Lord Shuiqiu, Third Brother,

please stay here and enjoy your tea time.

Whatever the circumstance, first, let's raid Gao's county office.

I'll go with you.

Raiding a county office without solid evidence is akin to rebellion.

Even if you are the king's own brother,

you cannot be forgiven.

Ninth Prince,

do not involved yourself in trouble, nor involve the King.

Rebelling in the Ninghai County office surely cannot be more difficult than in the Chongyuan Hall, can it?

Hongchu, have you thought it through?

Of course.

Lord Shuiqiu, a pillar of the state, cannot act recklessly.

But a fisherman,

can.

I, Prefect of Ninghai County, pay...

What's this scoundrel?

You dare to be rude facing a royal female relative?

Ninth Prince,

I am Prefect of Ninghai County.

Seize him!

Ninth Prince,

Ninth Prince,

Tie this fellow up!

He dared to stare at my wife.

Gouge out

his eyeballs!

I'll do it myself.

Prince,

punishment is enough.

If his life taken, you will be punished by kneeling in the Fengxian Hall back to the capital.

My wife has already drawn her blade.

Haven't you heard

that a drawn blade is hard to sheathe?

Yes, you are right.

However, Prince and the Lady are touring Ninghai,

how can you let such a petty man ruin your mood?

Drag him away.

Do you recognize me?

Good that you do.

Since you recognize me, you should know you have no other choices.

From now on, Taizhou and Ninghai will have nothing to do with you.

Back to Huanglong Island with me,

and whether you live or die is all up to you to choose.

I'll give you one hour.

If you think it through,

I'll give you a chance to speak.

Surround them from all directions, don't let a single person escape.

Yes.

What, this...

is...

Who... who are you?

How dare you barge into the County Office!

Presumptuous!

This is the Ninth Prince, General of the Right Guard,

Acting Minister of Works, Officer of Zhenhai and Zhendong Armies,

Commander of the Inner Guards, Secretary of the Marshal Office,

with honor equal to the Three Departments.

All you offficials and attandants,

come forth to greet him at once!

What? This...

I, Qin He, Deputy Prefect of Ninghai County, pay my respects to you.

I have not received any official documents, and was unaware of your arrival.

I beg you to forgive me failing to welcome you properly, .

The General decrees: Those who did not know are not at fault.

Qin, you may rise.

Thank... thank you, General.

Hurry and welcome the General into the office!

This way, sir.

What General is this?

Governor.

I have only heard the Ninth Prince of the capital

by command, to act as Minister of Works

and oversee the two armies.

But I have not heard of any General of the Right Guard with honor equal to the Three Departments

You,

claim to be the Ninth Prince?

That's interesting.

Could it be that

you are the Ninth Prince?

Even if you truly are the Ninth Prince, without the King's written decree,

you cannot make a commotion in the county office, or interfere with local governance.

Such actions violate the law of the land.

You

You

They intend to assassinate! Seize them!

Yes!

Gao Xu is after all the son of a meritorious official.

Truth is still unclear.

Troubling him now is meaningless.

It's fine

Since Hongchu has captured him, things will not be peacefully resolved.

Might as well scare him a bit.

Perhaps we'll get some information.

Here.

Young Master, everything is here.

How goes it on your end?

Find anything?

The account books are all perfectly balanced.

It’s clear they have made great effort.

What should we do then?

If finance is flawless, then criminal cases.

Qin He.

I,

I'm here

Where are the criminal records since the beginning of this year?

Are these from the past two months?

Yes, yes.

Where is the criminal in this case now?

Well,

This,

this... this man

committed...

He's implicated in high treason!

He's currently detained in Cell No. A, Ren-class.

I...

I...

I came today,

precisely for this man.

Are you Shen Yin?

You are the Ninth Prince, right?

You have met my third brother?

If it were the Marquis of Xi'an here, it would be a blessing for the people of Taizhou.

When others speak of him, they either call him Traitor Sun or Commoner Sun.

The more polite ones simply address him by his name Sun Ben.

Yet you still remember his title from days gone by.

How do you, Prince, address him?

He is my third brother.

And still is?

Some things never change.

Then you are truly a man of unwavering integrity.

Just now, you said that if the Marquis of Xi'an were here, it would be a blessing for the people of Taizhou.

What did you mean?

Prince, today,

for what you come?

"Collect First, Measure Later", and land concentration.

It seems you know quite a bit, Prince.

Since you already know,

what do you plan to do?

The account books and census registers are perfectly balanced.

No irregularities jump out.

You can understand the account books and census registers?

Of course I can understand them.

I just can't see through them.

Seeing through them isn't actually difficult.

The reason you can't see through them, is that you don't usually handle practical affairs.

Then please,

tell me about that.

Have you thought it through?

Getting involved in this most troublesome matter in history,

what difference does whether I think it through or not make?

These deceitful tricks of local officials are actually not hard to detect.

But after detecting them, the real difficulty begins.

So what?

However difficult matters need someone to take responsibility for.

You are already a person beyond state affairs now.

If I don't shoulder the responsibility, should I really leave it

to the Ninth Prince, a royal boy not yet come of age?

I knew you may dislike stirring up trouble, but when something truly befalls you,

you will never, ever shrink from it.

By the Great King's decree, the grain taxes here were exempted for two years.

On the surface,

no one dares to disobey it.

So the autumn taxes collected in advance cannot be on the official accounts.

However, when the government levies taxes,

there must always be contracts as proof.

There are contracts, but not many.

About ten or twenty.

To use as evidence, it's far from enough.

We have to go to every family,

going door to door to ask

and collect.

Taizhou has five counties.

We need to collect from over a thousand households to bring this matter to the court.

If you go to the common folk now to collect the tax receipts, I'm afraid you can hardly even get one.

Prince, it's already quite an achievement to have collected over a dozen.

Why is that?

Tax receipts certainly exist.

Without a tax receipt stamped with the official seal as proof,

who would be willing to pay the grain tax?

It's just that these tax receipts

are no longer in the hands of the tax-payers.

Not with the households?

They... were confiscated by the government?

Forcibly confiscating them would immediately provoke a uprising.

They aren't that foolish.

Prince,

have you checked the loan contracts kept as evidence in the county office?

Loan contracts?

Private loans are mostly mutually agreed upon and have nothing to do with the government.

However, if they involve land deeds as collateral,

those wealthy families lending money always go to the government to formalize clear contracts as proof.

Go find that Qin.

Have him bring the loan contracts of the past three months, since summer, for us.

I'll hold this.

There's no text here using the contract as collateral.

Documents with such solid evidence must not exist.

Otherwise, if thoroughly investigated, how many shall be executed?

Do take a close look, my Prince.

Most borrowers in these loan contracts are local households and farmers,

who have lived in Ninghai for generations.

The key

lies with the lenders.

Commissioner of Agricultural Operations in Taizhou in the Zhendong Army.

What they lend out is military grain in store?

It's just a smokescreen.

Military storage concerns state affairs, no one dares to touch them.

This Land Office merely acts as the guarantor.

The grain being lent have never even been on Land Office's accounts.

So on their ledgers, it cannot be traced.

If wealthy families outside Taizhou came to issue loans,

people would worry about the risk of land being seized,

and would not easily trust them.

But if the Land Office appears as the intermediary,

those local commoners naturally feel much more at ease.

So that Chen Xing who lost his life was the Registrar of the Land Office.

The Land Office is merely the surface layer.

Take my family as an example:

Even we Shen family of Wuxing is prominent,

after all, we are not Ninghai locals.

come here from far away to issue loans and annex land—

how could we possibly command him, Du Hao, to step forward?

Du Hao... Commissioner of Agricultural Operations in Taizhou.

Du Hao,

is the brother-in-law of Lord Hu, the latter a senior minister who had served three kings.

According to Doctor Cui's words,

Gao Xu is the descendant of a meritorious official,

and Shen Congyue is a local powerful clan leader.

Du Hao is Lord Hu's brother-in-law,

A noble, a powerful magnate, and a commander.

If we throw this stone,

it will stir up

a monstrous wave.

The governments go down to collect taxes that should have been exempted.

It has not yet the autumn harvest, and people have no grain to pay.

So the Land Office steps in to offer loans.

As long as they use their land deeds and the receipts issued by the government after tax payment as collateral,

they can borrow grain from the Land Office to pay the autumn taxes.

Thus, the local people can survive

this most difficult summer.

Actually, the Land Office is just a front.

The land deeds and receipts used as collateral are immediately transferred to the real lenders:

the nobles, powerful families, and gentry.

As for the autumn taxes collected by the government,

they are not actually recorded.

Thirty percent goes to the officials and clerks of the prefectures and counties.

Thirty percent goes to the military storage of the Land Office to count as military merit.

The remaining forty percent is returned to those powerful families and gentry.

In this way, the prefectural and county officials gain benefits,

the Land Office gains military merit,

and the powerful families and gentries,

with sixty percent of the capital, they earn double the interest.

But for those who took out loans,

at least one-third cannot repay the interest the following year.

They either borrow new loans to repay old ones,

or they lose

the land used as collateral.

But what about the state?

If the commoners are burdened with debt or even lose their land,

wouldn't that cut off the tax revenue that should be entering the treasury?

Prince, have you come up with the answer?

Once those contracts end up in the lenders' hands,

they won't be returned.

The five counties of Taizhou, the Land Office, the powerful families and gentries,

are like a vast net.

Could such a scheme grow if there were

no mutual entanglements and collusions between them?

That's roughly how it happens.

Liu Yanchen.

Yes.

No one is to be on the ships anymore.

Let the remaining three hundred men come here.

Yes.

We can wait no longer.

The Taizhou Land Office is in Haiyou Town.

Riding there will take at leaast over half an hour.

Made up your mind?

Without an edict, I cannot interfere with local administrative affairs.

But the Land Office is different. It concerns military affairs.

Strictly speaking, the Ninth Prince and I have the authority to take expedient action.

Just go there.

I will hold the fort here in the school.

The Ninth Prince has already controlled the county office.

As for the Land Office, I will go there myself.

We'd better involve no more troubles.

You just stay at the county office.

That Shen knows the inside details well.

He must be firmly kept in our hands.

Shen Congyue has served in multiple prefectures.

He is not easy to deal with.

If no one is there controlling the overall situation,

perhaps

he might find an opening and turn the tables.

Before I left I have told Taizhen that, if I do not return,

even Seventh Brother came in person, he could not take Shen away.

Right Director of the Secretariant, Deputy Military Commissioner of Zhendong Army,

Commander of the Imperial Cavalry and Infantry, Judge of the Supreme Command of Military Forces

Commandant Shuiqiu, is here.

Open the camp gate immediately.

I, Commissioner of Land Office in Taizhou, Du Hao, from the Zhendong Army, pays respects to you.

Arrest him.

Yes.

Commandant!

Commandant?

Commandant Shuiqiu, what crime have I committed?

Commissioner Du, please calm.

After the investigation, I will then restore your innocence.

I am innocent!

Lord Hu

is my brother-in-law.

I know.

You are Lord Hu's brother-in-law.

My coming here is also under Lord Hu's esteemed orders.

The Lord is well aware of your loyalty, Commissioner.

Therefore,

I am here to restore your innocence.

Seal the Land Office, the study, and the signing office.

Without my military order, not a single piece of paper shall be taken out.

Yes.

Follow me.

Commandant!

Commandant!

Lord Hu is unaware of what Du Hao is doing in Taizhou?

Only my guess.

This Du Hao needs military achievements.

Lord Hu is a senior minister.

His position is already at its peak.

He have had enough military merits.

Even if he want land and property, it should be in his hometown, Huzhou.

Matters in Taizhou are beyond his reach, and quite likely, beyond his interest.

If so, it would indeed be easier to handle.

Easier?

Lord Hu, a senior statesman having served three kings, at the pinnacle of officialdom,

with prestige in the army.

Even if Sixth Brother, as the Great King, cannot harshly treat a meritorious minister.

If he is not involved in this,

the matter would be even easier, wouldn't it?

So in your opinion, Prince,

once the truth is exposed,

this matter is over?

If the Marquis of Xi'an or Lord Shuiqiu were here, they would certainly not think so.

How many in total?

Haven't yet counted.

We find the seals of all these five counties, Linhai, Huangyan, Taixing, Yong'an, Ninghai.

The total number, I'm afraid, is seven or eight thousand households.

Seven or eight thousand?

Seven or eight thousand!

That means over a hundred thousand people, over a thousand qing of fields.

You!

The five counties of Taizhou have seventeen thousand, eight hundred and sixty-seven households in total.

The registered land is forty-three thousand, two hundred and sixteen qing, thirty-two mu and three fen.

If thirty percent have taken out loans, that's six thousand households.

That concerns the livelihood and lives of seventy to eighty thousand people.

My sixth uncle, Prefect Gao, Du Hao, and others with them, have committed capital crimes.

Even to drain the water of the East Sea, it would not be enough to wash away their evil.

But the Gao family, the Du family, the Wuxing's Shen family, are prominent families of hundreds of years.

Even if they were all beheaded, it would only be over a thousand heads.

And after the beheadings?

Everything's over then?

Regarding the loans have already been taken, are their contracts valid?

If they are not valid, who will fill this deficit?

The loans handled by the Land Office can be written off.

But the autumn grain has already been collected.

Are the loans took from local wealthy families valid?

Are the interest promised in the contracts valid?

If they are not, then who will cover the losses of the local wealthy families?

Since it is a wrongdoing committed by the government, the government should make up for it.

Prince,

do you know

how large this deficit is?

This year's autumn tax,

calculated at three hundred catties of rice per mu of land as interest,

one mu of land means thirty catties of rice in tax.

The total for the five counties of Taizhou is five hundred forty thousand and two hundred hu of rice.

Prince,

that is a mountain of rice!

With this amount of rice,

one could buy the throne of the Emperor in the Central Plains.

I would cross the Yellow River—ice chokes the ferry;

I would climb Mount Tai—snow fills the sky.

Whether you buy it,

steal it,

or seize it,

by the end of the month I want to see five hundred thousand hu of rice.

That's far too much!

Where on earth to find it?

Who knows?

Where do we even start?

Yes.

Yes.

Father,

Father.

Do you know the rules?

What time is it already?

Father, here...

[Huang Wei] At the Chancellor's mansion,

[Huang Wei] is Chancellor Yang on duty today?

Report, this is not a memorandum from there.

It is an urgent report from Taizhou.

Documents from prefectures should first report to ministers there.

You have been an official quite long.

This is urgent joint report from the Ninth Prince and Commandant Shuiqiu.

Great King.

[Qian Hongzuo] Tell Yang, no need to send anyone to ask again.

I will not go there tonight.

Yes.

I will instruct the kitchen to prepare some food.

No need.

Better not disturb everyone in midnight.

Just to prepare a bowl of congee and a little dish.

It won't be disturbing.

Anything to say?

This is a joint memorial from Ninth Prince and Commandant Shuiqiu, sent from Taizhou.

Joint memorial?

Yes.

Summon Seventh Prince and the two Ministers to the palace.

At this hour? Anything happened in the palace?

[He Chengxun] Commandant Shuiqiu and Ninth Prince

[He Chengxun] sent an urgent report from Taizhou.

It is 23:45.

The palace gates are locked.

Outer officials should not enter the palace.

Chancellor, you are King's father-in-law, a relative of the royal family, not an outer official.

[Yang Renquan, Associate Chancellor] Who else in Western Court did the King summon?

In reply,

Chancellor Yang and Seventh Prince is also summoned.

[Yuan Dezhao]

A rebellion within?

In reply,

there is not.

Southern Tang troops reached Qiantang?

In reply,

they have not.

The Great King is unwell?

In...

In reply,

He is not.

Then, Honored messenger,

please return.

Please convey on my behalf to the King,

when dawn breaks I shall follow protocol and enter the palace

to greet him and attend to my duties.

Reporting,

Chancellor Yuan replies that at dawn, he will enter the palace to greet you and attend to his duties.

Leave now.

What does he mean by this?

Great King,

I beg your pardon for my careless deliberation.

It's not your fault.

It's mine.

You two entering the palace late in midnight,

Tomorrow, the rice price at the Trade Office will surely soar again.

Since you're both here anyway,

come take a look.

Who else is in Chen Xing's family?

He has an elderly mother and a younger brother.

Allocate fifty gold ingots to them.

Yes.

Don't use the public account. Draw from the internal account.

Yes.

Write a letter to the Shen family of Wuxing on my behalf.

Say that they owed us a life debt.

So, this money

should be paid by them.

Yes.

[Qian Hongzong]The Shen family is so bold!

Not just one Shen family.

I am guilty.

It's not your fault.

Which family doesn't have unworthy descendants?

Prominent families have dozens of branches intertwined and connected.

You are not the clan leader.

You alone cannot oversee everything.

I have failed to govern my family strictly, indulging my descendants in seizing civilian land.

I'm ashamed, not deserved to stay in the court.

I request to resign from my position preserve your virtue.

I know you well.

As for resigning, do not mention it again.

Since someone from your clan is involved in the case,

as per custom, you should avoid suspicion.

Submit a memorial requesting sick leave.

Go home and recuperate for a while,

then return to your duties at the Chancellor's office later.

I kneel and thank you for your grace.

I take my leave.

You understand now?

This is targeting the court situation.

Everyone is involved?

What?

The six clans of Wuxing: Shen, Shui, You, Ming, Yao and Shi;

the four clans of Kuaiji: Wei, Kong, Xie and Xia;

plus the Qu clan of Linhai ,and the Kui clan of Yuhang...

every single one of them has a hand in this.

The Yang clan of Huzhou also got involved.

The Yang clan...

[Lady Yang, Qian Hongzuo's wife] The eldest daughter of the Yang's third branch,

[Lady Yang, Qian Hongzuo's wife] is Sixth Brother's principal wife.

In the past two years, the three Ministers have passed away one after another,

leaving the court quite empty.

Last September, the Seventh Prince was appointed minister,

taking one position.

Chancellor Yuan and Yang should originally be appointed ministers this year.

Now, such a major case has been exposed.

Chancellor Yuan

will be fine,

but Chancellor Yang will be in trouble.

So someone is coveting the position?

Guess who it is?

No need to guess.

Lord Du is already eighty-five.

He has already served as minister, and a few years ago, he revoked the ranks of his grandson.

How could he still have such ambitions?

Eighty-five is nothing.

That one,

is already approaching ninety.

You all leave.

Father.

Du Hao is in trouble.

Shuiqiu's memorial has been submitted to the palace.

He's not a young boy,

[Hu Jinsi] still so rash.

[Hu Jinsi] When can he ever become steady?

Well...

This is ridiculous.

Since three generations ago, has there ever been a ninety-year-old chancellor?

Think it through,

Since Grandfather established the chancellor office, there have been six successive chancellors.

Watching younger generations appointed chancellors one after another,

while he himself, a founding veteran and meritorious noble,

only gets to hold military honorary titles and live leisurely in retirement.

If it were you,

would you be content?

If it really is him, what about Du Hao's case?

How should we explain it?

According to Shuiqiu's memorial,

Du Hao has committed a capital crime this time,

with no grounds for leniency.

When a relative of Mr. Yang commits a crime, he should step aside.

His brother-in-law here guilty and deserving death, shouldn't Lord Hu also submit a memorial to apologize?

How can he still be the chancellor?

He's not a god.

How could he have predicted that Shuiqiu and Hongchu would be diverted to Taizhou by the sea wind?

What good does it do for Du Hao personally holding so many contracts in his hand?

He's waiting for the right moment to act.

Once the edict appointing Hu as chancellor is issued,

by convention, he must decline it three times before accepting it.

If Du Hao then presents this physical evidence,

would his father-in-law not feel ashamed to enter the chancellor's office?

Hongchu has actually done a great job.

That little brat...

he really fears nothing.

Among King Wusu's descendants,

the seventh branch is the most indecisive.

Somewhat effeminate.

But this little Ninth Prince,

turns out to have guts.

Not at all like his father.

Quite reminiscent of his grandfather instead.

Father,

The Ninth Prince, the Deputy Envoy, is merely a figurehead.

The one truly pulling the strings behind the scenes,

I'm afraid,

is no one other than Shuiqiu.

You know nothing.

Then, father,

should we now submit a memorial of apology?

Why such a haste?

This is half-cooked...

I'm getting on in years and can't digest it.

Somewhat effeminate!

You're the ninth son,

and so is he.

You are much older than him.

Learn from that kid!

He's forthright and decisive, act swiftly without hesitation when the time comes.

When it doesn't, he can keep a steady head.

There's a whole mess of trouble ahead.

Don't be in a haste.

Just wait and see.

I am foolish.

I don't know what to see.

To see how our Great King handles all this trouble.

Then, how should we deal with these people?

Deal with what?

Such a major case involves no fewer than a dozen prominent families and clans.

From the two courts, to the prefectures and counties

countless officials and clerks have been implicated,

not to mention the ministers in the imperial court.

Is this the time to attend to these matters?

Right...I was being muddle-headed.

What about the Chancellor's office?

When will Shuiqiu and Hongchu arrive in Hangzhou?

On the eighth.

They still have four days' journey ahead.

Order the Tongru Academy to draft an imperial edict.

Order Wu Cheng, Minister of Rites, Senior Secretary of the Western Court,

to perform the welcome ceremony on my behalf.

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles strech towering mountains. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles run surging rivers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles cry warhorses. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles there are emotions unspoken. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, flowers are blooming along the road. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, gooses are returning to the north. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, we stand through storms. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, we hope for a safe return. ♫

♫ Tens of thousands of miles is not enough, ♫

♫ for a lifetime's sorrows and joys. ♫

♫ Tens of thousands of miles is not enough, ♫

♫ for the endless seas and rivers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ love will overcome all barriers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ we are together in life and death. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ the moon shines in the boundless world. ♫

♫ My heart has its hometown to return. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ who is the one crossing the waves with me, ♫

♫ with our hearts unrepentant, through countless lifetimes. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ oceans and lands witness that♫

♫ the world will be safe and sound. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ my heart is unchanging. ♫