Original subtitles

Segments and Subtitles by Our Lips are Sealed Team @Viki

[Secret of the Three Kingdoms]

[Episode 2]

You have come too late.

Early this morning, His Majesty had already ascended into the heavens.

When I left the other day,

His Majesty was still well.

Since last night, His Majesty suddenly had high, unremitting fever.

Until this morning...

His Majesty left while in his sleep.

He probably left without pain.

No one knows?

The whole day today, I was guarding the bedside of His Majesty.

I gave out decrees on his behalf.

I refused all kinds of requests for an audience.

If you two still had not come,

I really do not know how long I could have continued with this.

You all told me that His Majesty is my only family.

And then, you let me see him having gone.

His Majesty has never left.

Greetings, Your Majesty.

So, you all were rushing to safely escort me here

for this reason?

Correct.

Just to save the weak legitimate Han Dynasty,

the Emperor cannot die.

His Majesty urgently called for you to come to Xudu,

so that you could replace him and sustain the Han Dynasty.

Become the emperor in his behalf.

- Replace His Majesty? - Supreme Commander Yang did not lie to you.

Calling for you to enter Xudu is all within the plan of His Majesty.

His Majesty knew that his illness was incurable.

He already left a decree of his last will.

Liu Ping, accept the decree.

I already will not last long. I am passing my throne to my younger brother Liu Ping.

You must reignite the virtue of fire and return light to the Han Dynasty.

Liu Ping, accept the decree!

How come it is like this?

How come it is through this kind of method?

Does His Majesty understand me?

Does he know if I am good or bad?

Is he really going to hand over the Han Dynasty

and millions of citizens to me like this?

If that evil Cao learns that His Majesty has died,

he will surely set a weak and incompetent puppet emperor.

Afterwards, the Han Dynasty will collapse. Its government will no longer exist.

Only the mighty virtue of an emperor can resist that evil Cao!

Hence, the Emperor cannot die.

As for you, the fact that you asked such a question,

does it not prove that His Majesty made a wise choice?

Liu Ping, accept the decree.

Greetings, Your Majesty.

May you live long.

That is more or less enough.

Although you two look alike,

it is still not easy to fool the hundreds of ministers and that evil Cao.

Your Majesty, try to act sick for now.

I will handle the officials.

You have guarded Royal Brother alone for the whole day

and are now risking this danger. Is it all just to fulfill the last will of Royal Brother?

The last will of His Majesty

is not only this.

But surreptitiously substituting one thing for another is not an easy feat.

For example, that eunuch that entered here earlier and the body of Royal Brother are in here.

All these are chains of loopholes.

The eunuch is already in here.

His Majesty had guessed it beforehand.

I will castrate His Majesty. You all go out.

But he is the Emperor.

That is my Royal Brother and also your husband. You...

Just for the Han Dynasty, His Majesty will do anything.

Get out.

Time is of the essence. We still have a lot of things to prepare.

Your Majesty, I...

already followed your instructions

and brought him into the palace.

I hope that your soul in heaven will bless the Han Dynasty

in surviving this hard ordeal.

Who is secretly roasting pancakes?

It is already burned.

You are right.

Fire! Fire!

What is going on?

What is going on?

- His Majesty! - His Majesty!

Her Highness!

- Your Majesty! - Your Majesty!

Your Majesty! Your Highness!

There!

- Your Majesty! - Your Majesty!

Put this on. Come.

Your Majesty! Your Highness! Where are you?

His Majesty is in here! Quickly protect His Majesty!

Your Majesty!

Your Majesty!

Quickly leave.

- Your Majesty. - Sit.

Your Majesty...

Your Majesty, I have sinned.

I caused you to be frightened.

What should we do?

Hurry! Hurry! Put out the fire!

Who is in charge?

- Director Xun. - Where is His Majesty?- His Majesty is still inside.

Eunuch Zhang refused to open the doors. Without any decree, the major of the palace gates also dares not open them. [Chong Ji]

Absurd! Spread my decree to open the middle gates. Protect His Majesty![Xun Yu, Courtesy Name: Wenruo]

I, Director of Secretariat Xun Yu, asks for an audience with His Majesty!

Is it Director Xun?

Eunuch Zhang, quickly open the doors so we can put out the fire.

The whole royal palace will soon be burned to the grounds.

Quickly open the doors.

Oh, my, Director Xun, it is great that it is you...

Quickly take me to see His Majesty.

Director Xun, please go inside.

Your Majesty, Director Xun is here to protect you.

I came late. I deserve to be punished.

Director Xun, quickly rise.

Is it safe around the palace?

Replying to Your Highness, Chong Ji has already come to provide protection.

Currently, the northern winds are quite fierce. The fire is spreading very fast.

It is not safe to stay here in the palace.

I earnestly ask Your Majesty to transfer to the Imperial Secretariat to hide from the fire.

I am allowing it.

Eunuch Zhang, there is no more water in the copper urns. I fear that we will not be able to put out this fire.

Useless! The rules of the palace is that

there must be water in the copper urns everyday for fire avoidance. How come there is no water?

Immediately look for water to put out the fire!

Yes...

This...

Greetings, Your Majesty! I came late and deserve to be punished.

Your Majesty, the fire is too strong. Quickly leave this place.

Immediately escort His Majesty and Empress to the Imperial Secretariat.

Yes.

Your Majesty, let us go.

Okay.

Magistrate Man!

Quickly save Man Chong!

- Yes.- Wait.

Magistrate Man surely has reasons for his actions.

- Put the palace in lock down!- Yes!

Is General Cao Ren here?

Everyone, please wait.

Magistrate Man, are you trying to lock His Majesty in here, too?

Your Highness, forgive me. The fire situation is still unknown. I just fear that someone is using the "during the tiger out of his den" strategem and will eventually harm His Majesty.

May Your Majesty wait for General Cao Ren and let him escort you out of the palace.

The fire was caused by me accidentally tipping over a charcoal stove.

You are suspecting me then?

Magistrate Man, I will escort His Majesty to the Secretariat Office.

Reporting! General of the Gentleman of the Palace Cao Ren is here to escort His Majesty.

General Cao is here. Your Majesty, please.

Your Majesty.

I, Cao Ren, am here to escort Your Majesty.[Cao Ren, Courtesy Name: Zixiao]

General Cao Ren,

you came so quickly.

This concerns the safety of the Emperor. How can I dare be late?

General Cao, His Majesty is in shock and it is not good for him to encounter any weapons. I have to trouble you then.

Move aside!

Raise the carriage!

[Xudu]

Officer, please open the city gates! I have urgent matters to enter the city for!

No! No! We will open the gates by morning!

There are bandits outside the city and fire inside.

What is going on?

Officer, the weather is cold. Get some wine to warm your body.

The air and ground is cold out here. I just want to find some place to avoid the wind.

Come in to warm yourself. No more next time.

Get in.

What place is on fire in the city?

The Royal Palace. They will surely be busy all night.

Thank you, Officer.

- Thanks. - Come in...

[Imperial Secretariat]

This is my lodging here in the Imperial Secretariat.

Allowing Your Majesty to suffer living in such a simple and crude place

is my fault.

The situation was urgent. Fire is heartless.

Director Xun, you have already done well.

I want to boldly ask Empress,

how did the fire start?

Sister Tang brought in some nerve calming fragrant herbs.

While burning them, the medicine cauldron accidentally got tipped over.

Good thing, the eunuch that came in with Sister Tang risked his life to save us.

Hence, we got safely escorted out of there.

Too bad, that eunuch...

May Director order that he be buried immediately and compensate his bereaved family well.

I will abide.

Call Imperial Physician Zhao!

I called for Imperial Physician Zhao to check on His Majesty.

- Greetings, Your Majesty and Your Highness. - No need.

Your Majesty has been sick for several days and then today, you were traumatized and exposed to the wind.

It is still more appropriate to let the Imperial Physician check your pulse.

Director Xun,

are you also going to make His Majesty feel uneasy?

I...

dare not.

A few days ago, the medicines that His Majesty took in were very effective.

Just deliver the same ones.

Currently, the war situation is pressing.

If the news about my illness gets out,

will that not affect the military morale of Lord Cao?

I do not know if it will make people happy or worry.

I understand.

I hope Your Majesty will take good care of your health.

If there is nothing else, you all can leave.

Empress will take care of me.

Director Xun, you are tired, too. Let His Majesty rest early.

Then... we all will take our leave.

I will order the eunuch to deliver the food and medicines.

He is out...

Director Xun, how is His Majesty?

His Majesty is already resting inside the Imperial Secretariat. Superintendent Kong of the Privy Treasury, no need to worry.[Zhao Yan]

No need to worry? The internal and external defense of Xudu

has been thrown in chaos by the Ministry of Works.

And now, even the Imperial Palace is not safe. Director Xun is asking me to not worry? [Kong Rong, Courtesy Name: Wenju]

Do not forget.

If one's master worries, that is an insult to a subject. When one's master gets insulted, that is the death of his subject.

His Majesty being well is already a great fortune among the misfortunes.

Once His Majesty recovers,

he will surely call for morning court meetings again and see all of you.

Court Adviser Zhao, assist your teacher in going home.

May Director Xun

take care.

Separating the king from his subjects. Law and order are in chaos.

I will go back now and write a memorial.

It is great that His Majesty is all right.

- We can now be at ease. - That is right.

His Majesty is now resting. You all have worked hard.

Hurry home and rest.

The comet attacking the Purple Star.

His Majesty getting sick... A fire in the palace...

What kind of evening is this?

This is a human-made disaster. There is no use for Director to ask the heavens.

How is the fire in the palace?

This rain came too late.

We can only watch the whole royal place get burned into ashes.

What is your opinion about this fire?

Whatever explanation the palace puts out, I will never believe any of it.

I am willing to hear your opinion.

First: It was pre-arranged that there would be no chamber guards tonight in the palace. I have asked around.

The people of Chong Ji were sent out of the palace by Empress since this morning.

Empress said that there were a lot of new soldiers under Chong Ji that are ignorant of the rules.

His Majesty is sick and asks for silence, so she had them stay outside the palace.

Second: That eunuch did not die from the fire.

A person will surely gasp for air while surrounded by fiery flames.

The mouth of the victim should be opened.

Moreover, his four limbs were all extended open,

unlike the flexed limbs of people getting burned alive.

This person most likely died before the fire.

Bringing a eunuch into the palace, killing him,

and then starting a fire.

Completely burning the whole palace as his funerary.

Why then would they do that?

That, at this time, I do not know.

But no matter what they want to hide,

I will get to the bottom of it.

Magistrate Man,

Lord Cao waged war against Yuan Shao. The final battle of Guandu is happening soon.

His Majesty is very important for Lord Cao.

I hope Magistrate Man can act by prioritizing the general situation.

The wind starts as a ruffle from the grass.

His Majesty choosing to act at this moment

might be related to the war in Guandu.

We all must work more carefully and help Lord Cao stabilize his rear.

Lord Cao handed Xudu to us, so there are some matters that we must take responsibility about.

And only we can bear it silently.

No matter what His Majesty is hiding, and no matter what conflict there is between His Majesty and Lord Cao,

as subordinates, we both should know the proper etiquette and our own duty.

Magistrate Man

should not coerce His Majesty too much.

I understand.

But Director Xun, you have always known

that our emperor is not that weak.

What is wrong?

What if I was fat?

What?

I was thinking about how you have survived this whole day.

What if the me that you were waiting for turned out to be a fat person?

I feel that you all should be grateful to Zhongda.

When I was 15, I went up the mountain to pick some herbs.

I almost fell off a cliff. If not for Zhongda saving me,

I might be crippled now.

Wouldn't all your plans be foiled then?

Who is Zhongda?

Zhongda is my foster brother in Sima Manor, Sima Yi.

Can I write him a letter to tell him that I am fine?

You cannot! You think we are playing a game?

Every move we make is on top of a mountain of blades and forest of swords.

Are you going to leak out news and have yourself captured?

Sorry. I was too anxious.

It was because His Majesty's plan was so tight

that we were lucky to have survived tonight.

If you dare be a bit lax, we will not be far from failure.

Just to hinder the Imperial Physicians from approaching you frequently, you must stop pretending to be sick very soon.

Once you are well, you must go to morning court sessions and meet the high officials.

In the future, you still have to meet Cao Cao. Just one wrong step and everything is doomed.

Do you understand it or not?

I was wrong.

Oh, right. Royal Brother's corpse is still in the hands of Man Chong.

What should we do now?

I will handle that.

Who is that Man Chong?

A poisonous snake.

How did it go?

Informing officer, the victim is around 16 to 20 years old.

He has been dead for less than 2 days. His organs are still fresh.

I know all of that already. Investigate something new.

I will try my best.

The Xudu Magistrate Man Chong...

Xu Chu, Guo Jia, Xiahou Dun...

Cao Cao has so many fierce warriors and good strategists under him.

Each one being quite well-known.

But I never thought that...

a little Xudu Magistrate could be this powerful.

Afraid now?

Afraid? I am still dizzy right now.

How can I have time to be afraid?

But your group is also quite outstanding, having so many spies.

That chamber guard Chong Qi is also your spy, right?

Even you noticed that,

you think Man Chong will not notice it?

Then...

The powers here in Xudu are intricately complex.

A lot of things are not purely black or white.

You will slowly understand it in the future.

What you should do now is be cautious,

and be more cautious.

Okay.

Only now can I sense

how great Royal Brother is.

What the former Emperor thought about in every moment of his life

is how to save the dilapidated Han Dynasty.

In his 18 years of life, every day of it

was more difficult than my past.

Hence, he never smiled.

Are you saying that Royal Brother never smiled?

But you smiled today.

Remember, do not smile to any officials from now on.

Also, earlier, you addressed Cao Cao

as Lord Cao. That is wrong.

You should call him Grand Minister Cao of the Ministry of Works.

Okay.

Do not worry. I will make you become the real emperor.

Yes. I must quickly become Royal Brother.

I already have to attend the morning court tomorrow and face those high officials.

How does Royal Brother face those high officials?

Also, I should quickly learn the court etiquette.

With just one night,

it is completely not enough.

[Xudu]

Did you not hear? The Imperial Palace was on fire.

Really? I did not hear of that.

I felt familiar with you two upon first sight and have disturbed you all night.

I should leave now.

Come again, buddy. We will be on duty here again the day after tomorrow.

If you have time, let us have drinks again.

Thank you, buddies. I will take my leave.

Hurry...

- Which one has the most delicious food?- Please have mercy.

Mister, look, I am starving to death and you still ask which one has the most delicious food.

Try starving for three days and you will know which one is delicious.

Watch your stupid mouth! How can you beg for alms like that?

Sir, please be charitable. Sir, I wish you good fortune.

Give us some, mister...

Thank you, mister...

Thank you, Sir!

I know.

The food on Tongtuo Street is the most delicious.

Say it. Which officials entered and exited the city gates yesterday?

I keep watch of these gates for Zhang Rice Shop.

I still need to eat.

Can you talk now?

Yesterday, it was quite bustling inside and outside the city.

There are bandits. There are fires.

There are so many people going in and out,

including officials.

Continue.

It is not easy for me to meet you.

If I do not ask for more,

is it not being too stupid?

How come our family hired a person like you?

Fine.

Say it.

Yesterday, it was first the carriage of Supreme Commander Yang that entered the city.

And then, his son followed.

Then it was...

City Guard Xu and Man Chong who personally went out of the city to capture the bandits.

In the middle of the night, they brought back a bloody man.

And then afterwards, a fire broke out within the city.

The city gates were shut, so no one could get in or out.

Where did the carriage of Supreme Commander Yang go after entering the city?

This... I do not know anymore.

We earning for a living have boundaries.

I only care about—

No... Sir...

Have mercy... It is not that I do not want to tell you.

It is just that place has ghosts.

Sir, have mercy.

[Imperial Secretariat Office] Director Xun, you also did not sleep all night?

I dare not close my eyes. What about you, Magistrate Man?

I have no time to sleep.

What have you found out?

That corpse is not a eunuch.

I investigated the lower part of the victim. It was cut off too cleanly.

In a real eunuch, you only remove the yangfeng.

Hence, I am sure that this person was not a eunuch when he was alive

and it was only after death that he was castrated.

He most likely is a person that we all know of; hence, His Majesty had to start a fire to burn the evidence.

When Princess Consort Tang brought him into the palace,

I saw this person. Too bad,

I did not clearly look at his appearance.

A person we are all familiar with,

got brought into the palace after much effort, just to destroy his corpse and all evidence.

[Imperial Secretariat]

Guozhang, greetings.[Fu Wan][Guozhang refers to the father of the empress]

Greetings, Secretariat Xun. May I ask if His Majesty is well?

Can I see him?

Although His Majesty got traumatized and inhaled some smoke, he seems to be in high spirits.

You are his in-law. He will surely see you.

[Imperial Consort Dong]

How do you take care of His Majesty?

Your Highness, you are pregnant. Why must you still tire yourself like this?

With the skin gone, what can the hair adhere to?[Dong Cheng]

The safety of His Majesty is more important than my daughter's.

As his subjects, how can we dare lose the greater for the less?

One of you is the Director of the Imperial Secretariat, the other the Xudu Magistrate.

How could you have allowed the royal palace to burn without reasons?

Driving away the Emperor to lodge at a place like this. Tell me. Is there anyone trying to kill His Majesty?

Your Highness, you are right to blame us.

Your Highness, you are worrying too much.

Empress has already promulgated a decree to placate the worries of the officials

that it was just accidental fire that originated from a medicine cauldron.

Empress? While your daughter is by His Majesty's side,

this is how she takes care of him?

Looks like His Majesty is awake.

Please inform him that we all ask for an audience with him.

Your Majesty was sick for a long time.

I have not seen this clothing for a long time.

Just for this imperial robe,

how much blood has been bled?

How many people have died?

Oh, right. That eunuch that I replaced,

did you have him killed, too?

Sister Tang sent him back to his home province.

You must remember that you are the Emperor.

If you do not do it well, there will be more people dying with you.

I remember everything that you said last night.

For health reasons, try to talk less.

There are three things that you must remember. First:

If I do not disagree, just say that their suggestion is approved. Do not inquire anything else.

What about the corpse of Royal Brother?

The more important it is, the more you must pretend to not care.

I understand. What is the second thing?

You must not smile.

Third: You must tell Dong Cheng one thing.

Don't let me down with what I've entrusted you to do.

Did you hear it clearly?

I did not.

Do you remember it now?

Segments and Subtitles by Our Lips are Sealed Team @Viki

♫ The flame for cooking the wine is still warm. ♫

♫ Passionate love, devoid of hate ♫

♫ The light during the night talks is still attractive ♫

♫ Meeting a wandering soul while having a long dream ♫

♫ Covering up another's moon only made matters worse ♫

♫ Desolating a certain sight ♫

♫ Reality is hesitant. Bursts of cold air ♫

♫ sank so many stars and constellations ♫

♫ A young man's ambition and the desire to be recorded in history ♫

♫ After hundred years of chaos, no famous people remain ♫

♫ Can only pray for world affairs in one's remaining years ♫

♫ Sorrowful songs singing about one's empire ♫

♫ A young man's dream is unchanging from start to end ♫

♫ Hundreds years of wars and in all cases there are loyal men ♫

♫ Able to fulfill their wishes in their remaining years ♫

♫ The wind falls back to the mortal world ♫