Cao Cao asks the bloody Ji Ping (who has bitten off one of his own fingers - go figure) who put him up to the assassination attempt. Ji Ping still won't rat out Dong Cheng, and when Cao Cao orders more torture, the old doctor escapes the soldiers and kills himself by that favorite Chinese drama death of ramming his head against something.
Cao Cao asks Dong Cheng if he's feeling any better. Perhaps he needs another dose of "medicine". Next to be dragged into the room is the slave of Dong Cheng who overheard his master's plotting with Ji Ping and went to warn Cao Cao. In a show of gratitude for saving his life, Cao Cao orders the slave to be executed since he betrayed his master. Ah, ethics.
While all this has been going on, soldiers have been searching Dong Cheng's estate and found the bloody imperial decree from the emperor. For Cao Cao's convenience, all the rebel lords in accordance with the emperor have signed the decree, so now the prime minister has a list of names. Nice going, guys. Way not to leave any evidence behind.
Wearing a silly helmet, Cao Cao and his men march into the imperial palace. The young emperor and Consort Dong are hiding out in his toilet cubicle. Cao Cao forces the emperor to watch as the pregnant Consort Dong is strangled. With Dong's still warm body remaining in the room, Cao Cao brings in a young woman. She's another one of the emperor's concubines, and she's Cao Cao's daughter. Did you know he had a daughter? I didn't know he had a daughter until this episode. He has all sorts of kids coming out of the woodwork now. Cao Cao has the crown plucked from the head of the dead queen and gives it to the emperor, strongly implying that Concubine Cao should now become the new empress. That wimpy kid declares it so. Cao Cao and his soldiers all drop to their knees and wish long life to the emperor. So cold.
Now that that's out of the way it's back to business and business is good. Business being war, because that's all that's really happening in this show. Cao Cao musters his forces and marches on Xuzhou and Liu Bei. Liu Bei sends a messenger to Yuan Shao's camp to ask for help. With Cao Cao and most of the army out of the city of Xuchang, this would be the perfect time for Yuan Shao to attack and take over the custodianship of the ineffectual emperor. However, the old man's young son has suddenly fallen ill and Yuan Shao doesn't want to hear any talk of going to war. He just wants to nurse his child back to health.
Guan Yu is stationed at Xiapi and from a discussion with a subordinate we learn there is a great and bloody battle going on at Xuzhou. Too bad we can't see it. With no help coming from Yuan Shao, Liu Bei bets it all on a surprise night attack. But once again...
Cao Cao has been making it appear his troops are exhausted when really he's been saving the best for last. Finally some battle scenes! Loudmouth and Zhao "No Lines" Yun hold the rear while Liu Bei makes his escape. He rides his horse to exhaustion. Feeling useless and hopeless, Liu Bei walks to the edge of a cliff and prepares to throw himself over when he's stopped by Xu You, an advisor of Yuan Shao's who had tried to get the old man to chuck his responsibility to his sick child and get him to march. Xu You convinces Liu Bei that he still has responsibilities to the Han Empire and can't kill himself just yet.
I've never been a fan of Liu Bei's and frankly, if he had thrown himself off the cliff, I would have been quite happy about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment