Am I at the half-way point? I guess you could say I'm at the half-way point. And still no sign of Ruby Lin!
We pick up with Guan Yu and his sparse military outfit as they stand outside the gates of Changsha. The opposing general, Huang Zhong, is not impressed with Longbeard. Another general, General Ling, rides out alone to take on Guan Yu for one-on-one combat. Before they can even get to pounding on the war drums, General Ling is down and out. Old man Huang Zhong is still not impressed. Watch how they did it back in his day.
Huang rides out into no man's land. Guan Yu respectfully instructs the elder man to return home. Battle is no place for senior citizens. Huang Zhong just laughs and laughs. (He seems to do that a lot.) Grandpa has some moves, Guan Yu and I will give him that. Old Skool!
Guan Yu acts like he's running off. Huang Zhong falls for this ruse and follows. Longbeard finally stops playing and knocks Huang to the ground, but he won't kill the venerable old warrior. Huang Zhong must hoof it back to town on foot.
General Huang's lord, Han Zuan, is suspicious. Why did Guan Yu spare his opponent. Could these two warriors actually be in cahoots together? Han Zuan decides to test his general. The next time the city's forces face Guan Yu's army, Han Zuan will order Huang to use his considerable archery skills and kill Guan Yu with an arrow. If he misses then this is proof that General Huang is a traitor.
The next day Huang Zhong once again rides into battle with Han Xuan yelling from the sidelines, "Use your bow! Shoot him!" Since Guan Yu spared his life yesterday, Huang wishes to repay the favor and thus purposefully misses Guan Yu. This just convinces Han Zuan his suspicious were correct and he has the old general arrested.
Huang Zhong is sentenced to be executed. He's marched out to the town square and the executioner is just about to swing his blade when another general, Wei Yan, comes to the old man's rescue. Wei Yan inspires the rest of the soldiers to rise up in mutiny against Han Zuan and to join up with Liu Bei. (Nobody listens to Huang Zhong who is trying to get everyone to calm down.)
Guan Yu welcomes Liu Bei and company into Changsha. Baby Bouncer is eager to meet with the legendary Huang Zhong but Huang is excusing himself as being too ill to have visitors. Liu Bei understands that if he doesn't win Huang over, he doesn't really win Changsha.
Huang is so ill he's out practicing his archery skills. That's when Liu Bei drops in for a visit, standing right in front of the target. Huang knows this is his chance to kill the imperial uncle but the bow breaks before Huang can get the shot off. Liu Bei butters Huang Zhong up like a Thanksgiving biscuit. Kids, flattery will get you everywhere.
Wei Yan is brought before Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang orders Wei to be executed for betraying his original master. Liu Bei gently intervenes. Then Big Fan oddly turns right around and advises Liu Bei to give Wei Yan a monetary reward and make the guy the leader of an army.
Just then they receive news that Liu Qi is just about to go join his ancestors. Liu Bei hurries back to Jing to mourn the passing of the young lord. With the death of Liu Qi, Liu Bei worries about Zhou Yu and the Southland stirring up trouble.
Sure enough, Sun Quan and Lu Su are celebrating the death of Liu Qi and how they expect to get Jing Province back.
No comments:
Post a Comment