I felt I needed to cleanse my palate so I went back to watch a bit of the Korean drama The Princess' Man. Now that is how you do a drama.
Cao Cao and his brother ride in the back of a truck -er, they ride on "horses" and have a long conversation. Turns out Cao Cao did know that the capital of Luoyang had been burnt to the ground which is why he was so generous as to let General Sun take it. Cao Cao has his sights on rescuing the child emperor, which will surely give him great rewards. They catch up to the long caravan in a narrow canyon and attack it with paper mache boulders, which causes the people being struck to spit out cherry kool aid.
Lu Bu is supposed to be guarding the emperor, but he's too distracted by the lovely (and in danger) Diaochan who is riding in a carriage. When her horse is spooked, Lu Bu rides after her and is able to snatch her before she goes over a cliff. (Nothing is done to save the poor horse.) Lu Bu rides off with the unconscious Diaochan in his arms. Unfortunately her father, old man Wang, doesn't realize she's been rescued and he thinks she has plunged to her death.
Far, far from the battle, Lu Bu watches over the sleeping beauty. He leans down to plant a kiss when Diaochan cuts him off by waking up at that moment. Oh Diaochan, you tease. Later at some kind of refugee camp, old man Wang and Diaochan are reunited. However, her father notices she's wearing an elaborate cape now and recognizes it belongs to Lu Bu.
Meanwhile, General Sun and his troops reach the burned out capital. Right at the father's side is that nine-year-old son that Dong Zhuo wanted to marry his daughter to. Something tells me this kid is going to be important to the story later on so I'd better learn his name. It is Sun Quan. As they sift through the wreckage of the charred palace, they happen upon the very important jade imperial seal and tell big, long stories about it. All may not be lost for the Sun faction. With this rather hefty piece of jade, General Sun could easily declare that he now has the mandate of heaven and proclaim himself a new emperor. Cao Cao's not gonna like this.
Yuan Shao is throwing a little get together to celebrate General Sun's victory when a beaten and battered Cao Cao shows up. Once again we get to hear about and not see a significant battle, this time in which Lu Bu defeats Cao Cao. Cao Cao has a hissy fit about how Yuan Shao isn't a competent leader and C.C. plans to leave the alliance. After this, Sun Jian announces that he's also disappointed in Yuan Shao and he also plans to withdraw. Yuan Shao wants Sun Jian to give up the imperial seal before he leaves and orders his men to attack. Sun Jian had a feeling that Yuan Shao would pull something and so his own men spring out of the woodwork to defend their leader. The alliance is practically shattered and Sun Jian leaves with the seal. At certain camera angles the actor playing Sun Jian resembles English actor Claude Rains.
Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian have a last sit down together before they split up. After The Three Musketeers take off first, Cao Cao advises Sun Jian that having the imperial seal is not such a good thing. It will cause enemies to spring up all around Sun.
Speaking of enemies, we now jump to an old man - no, not Wang. This is old man Liu Biao and he's received a secret message from Yuan Shao to intercept Sun Jian and get that friggin' seal. Old man Liu doesn't really want to get involved but his yes men convince him otherwise. While they may not have the military strength, they can use guile.
First, a messenger is sent to meet Claude Rains on the dusty trail. His message supposedly warns Claude about how Liu is set to ambush the Sun army at Sanjin Crossing. After a meeting with his own yes men, Claude decides to split his forces into three parts. One go one way, one go the other, and he'll lead the rest into the supposed trap and find out just what Liu Biao has in store.
Old man Liu and his troops are stretched across the opening of the pass. He comes out for a private pow wow with Claude Rains. Liu admits that he received instructions from Yuan Shao to kill Sun Jian and get the seal. Liu also honestly admits that he's an old and sickly man and his troops are no match for Sun's, but he can't risk angering Yuan Shao. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place, so here's his suggestion. Claude Rains will lead his troops to charge against old man Liu's. Liu's men will pretend to fight but will surreptitiously pull back and allow the Sun troops through. That way it will look like Liu was trying to do what Yuan Shao ordered him to do but his troops weren't strong enough. Sun agrees to this ploy and the episode ends with him leading the charge.
Don't trust him, Claude Rains! It's a trap!
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