Hulu Sr. and Duan Shao come to Lan Ling Manor to inform the prince that they've been suddenly ordered to report to the northern frontier. Supposedly they are to check the threat of invasion from the Turks. What this really does is strip Chang Gong of two of his strongest supporters.
Gao Wei is building a huge garden for his new empress. While they tour the worksite they encounter a man being whipped. The emperor stops to ask what is going on. The whipped man explains he has two young children to feed but his wages aren't enough so he stole some food.
Gao Wei has the whipped man and his family brought before the royal couple. Gao Wei makes the magnanimous offer of allowing one of the screaming babies to be killed in their father's place with the added benefit of the surviving baby getting more to eat. This gives Zheng Er the brilliant idea to start having every baby girl in Qi state killed. Somehow this slaughter of the innocents will help build a stronger army in the future.
What. The. Hell.
This Celestial Garden being built is crippling the royal treasury as well as causing a burden to the people. Xue Wu worries that Chang Gong won't be able to help himself and will end up arguing with the emperor.
The garden isn't being built fast enough. There aren't enough workers. Zheng Er once again comes up with a brilliant idea. There are no wars going on right now. Why not use the soldiers? Specifically, why not use the soldiers from Chang Gong's army?
Chang Gong tries to talk the emperor out of this. Not only does he not succeed, but the emperor makes the prince announce the soldiers will all be docked one month's pay in order to buy new clothes for the new empress. This is all part of an act so Gao Wei can step up and tell the men he would never ask them to make such a sacrifice. Chang Gong then publicly resigns from his military position.
As he's leaving the parade grounds, Gao Wei orders the prince to kneel for the next couple of hours. To show where their loyalty really lies, all the soldiers also kneel. The emperor orders them, even physically tries to make them stand back up but they refuse. I am Spartacus! It is only when Lan Ling orders them to that the soldiers stand up. Gao Wei gives Chang Gong such a "You are dead meat" look as he finally leaves.
A storm breaks as Chang Gong remains kneeling on the ground. I'm having a Bu Bu Jing Xin flashback. Sure enough here comes Xue Wu to stand by his side in the rain.
Later, Empress Zheng Er invites Chang Gong and Xue Wu over for some tea. This is a rather odd place to be having tea. Is that an arena set up there? Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.
Yep, that's an arena, alright. Zheng Er has invited the couple over for some tea and massacre. While armed soldiers surround the outside of Thunderdome, prisoners are marched into the small enclosure. A lotta men enter, one man leave, as the prisoners must fight each other to the death. Let the Hunger Games begin.
Chang Gong demands this brutality to be stopped. Zheng Er counters that it was his own Gao family who came up with this prisoner massacre in the first place. One can't go against family tradition. The one survivor, a boy who managed to live by sheer luck, is brought before the empress to be pardoned. In his exuberance of thanking Zheng Er he accidentally slings some of his blood on her dress. Zheng Er motions for a nearby soldier to kill the offending survivor.
Chang Gong asks just what does Zheng Er want? She tells him to walk with her, she'll tell him what she's after.
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