General and I (A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to Be Appreciated / 孤芳不自赏)

My brother.

It's too difficult to take you with us as we march off to war.

I can only leave you here.

Once you go downstream, you will reach Great Jin.

It's the land that you've spent your entire life protecting.

You can settle back to our homeland at last.

You can then rest in peace.

Farewell, Your Majesty!

Dear Yang Feng .

Ever since I reunited with Bei Jie, both of us have ridden day and night.

We have finally met up with the alliance army of Liang and Jin.

With the assistance of Chief General Ruo Han, all is going smoothly and well.

We hope to fight against He Xia soon and save our people from misery.

I have been away for days.

Chang Xiao is very naughty and you have Ze Qing to see to.

I've troubled you much.

I am deeply grateful.

The alliance army shall set out to war very soon.

I hope that you and both boys

can meet up with our army soon to reunite with me.

Yours, Ping Ting.

Is it a letter from my mother?

Chang Xiao is so smart.

You got it right.

Your mother wrote us a letter.

She said that she's met up with your father already.

She's also met some of their old friends.

She told me and Ze Qing to bring you to her.

Very soon, you'll get to meet your father.

Who is my father?

Your father?

He is a great hero.

Great hero?

How great?

He's a really...

He's an extremely, wonderfully great hero!

Everyone in the world knows him.

He's an invincible and all-conquering hero!

Everyone in the world hopes that he will stand up against enemies.

Why am I telling you this?

You don't understand it, right?

Right?

Anyway, just bear this in mind.

Your father is a great hero.

He's even greater than your Brother Ze Qing's father.

Do you remember that?

Ze Qing. Chang Xiao.

Let's tell Grandfather Huo that we'll get ready to leave.

- Yes! - Yes!

Let's go.

Let's go!

- Let's go! - Let's go!

Regent Prince.

Sima Hong is dead.

Although Sima Hong was killed by one of our men

he announced a decree before his death.

The throne was passed on to Chu Bei Jie.

Chu Bei Jie has now taken the throne as Great Jin's new king.

What did you just say?

I'm incompetent!

Our troops in Jin State were all defeated by Chu Bei Jie.

Have you verified the inheritance of the throne?

Sima Hong did pass his throne to Chu Bei Jie.

He passed it to Chu Bei Jie?

Yes.

Chu Bei Jie.

Chu Bei Jie.

You've disappeared for so many years.

You're finally unwilling to be a coward anymore?

It's time that we fight to the death.

Regent Prince.

Jin State is now in great crisis.

Sima Hong just passed away.

Their people are in mourning.

The entire army of Jin State is desperate.

Why don't we use this chance to deploy our troops to Jin

and fight it out with Chu Bei Jie?

Chu Bei Jie is good at developing strategies.

It's extremely foolish to set out to Jin State now.

I've been foolish.

I know nothing of your plans.

Regent Prince, do advise me.

Chu Bei Jie was entrusted by the king in great emergency.

He must be the aspiration of their people.

Don't forget.

A desperate army always wins.

It isn't the best time to launch an attack on Jin State

but the worst one.

I haven't thought it through.

However, if we do not enter Jin State, how can we kill Chu Bei Jie?

Are we to do nothing as he re-enters Jin State?

First, we're not going to Jin State.

Second, we won't let him into Jin State.

What we should do now is...

Take down the defenseless Great Yan.

Great Yan?

Once we vanquish Great Yan

Chu Bei Jie won't get more reinforcements.

Once he falls, the others will follow.

Regent Prince, what a good strategy!

Remarkable!

This time, we'll surely kill Chu Bei Jie.

We'll take down Yan and then Jin.

The world will then be ours!

My ambition...

It will soon be fulfilled.

The spy we sent to Bai Lan has sent back some information.

He Xia learned that Your Highness...

No, Your Majesty took the throne.

He's now gathering his force to fight against us.

He Xia.

Whatever happens, I have to protect my brother's territory.

- Your Majesty is right! - Your Majesty is right!

He Xia is too brutal in his conquest.

Should this man conquer the world, it will be the misfortune of all people.

Since he's now waging war against us, we will take him on.

- Exactly! - We will take him on!

Let's take him on!

We'll fight until we die against his army of Bai Lan!

- Exactly! - We'll fight until our deaths!

Please calm down, everyone.

It won't be that soon.

We won't confront Bai Lan's army head on yet.

What does that mean?

This is all the more confusing to me now.

His Majesty came out of retirement.

He Xia already flew into a rage.

He'd surely want to take out his biggest threat.

Why would you say that he won't act so quickly?

Could there be some other plan?

Exactly.

Do you have some other concerns or different strategies?

This is actually very simple.

You mustn't forget that although we're an alliance of Jin and Liang

we're no match for He Xia's tens of thousands of soldiers.

If we are to replenish our armed forces

we can only recruit new soldiers from Great Jin.

Moreover, our relationship with the neighboring Yan State

has been quite delicate.

Should one fall, the other might follow suit.

Therefore, if He Xia attacks Great Jin now

Yan State surely wouldn't sit on the sidelines.

They will deploy troops to our aid and fight against Bai Lan.

By then, Bai Lan will be sandwiched between both states.

It will be one difficult battle.

Moreover, He Xia is a very meticulous man.

From what I know of him, he surely wouldn't do so.

Therefore, attacking Great Jin now isn't his best plan.

His priority would be to take out Yan State swiftly.

That makes sense!

However, we're small in numbers now.

If he attacks Yan rapidly, we won't be able to offer any assistance.

Even if we do go to them, we can't help much.

Water far off will not quench a fire that is near at hand.

Once he takes out Great Yan, he is then free from any menace.

By then, he will plow his army into Jin State

and take us over in one sweep.

As for us...

We'll just end up as his dessert.

Who would have thought of that?

If so, neither the alliance army of Jin and Liang

nor Great Jin is in immediate danger, but Great Jin's neighboring state, Yan?

Exactly.

Your Highness is truly insightful.

You could anticipate what we couldn't.

Fortunately, we didn't act recklessly.

Otherwise, we would have made a fool of ourselves

and even hindered military operations.

Exactly!

If so, what should we do now?

Yan State is far away and we're still small in numbers.

Are we to watch as He Xia gobbles up Great Yan

before attacking us?

- Exactly! - Exactly!

We must come up with a plan soon!

What should we do now?

Generals, don't be so pessimistic.

What I just mentioned are but a few possible situations.

Since ancient times

there might not be many tales of the few over the many

but there are still quite a few.

Generals, who can say that we won't make yet another tale?

- Yes. - Yes.

You're all commanders of the alliance army.

You're the heart and soul of this army.

As long as we keep our spirits high, our chance of winning is high.

Exactly! We could surely win this war!

We can win this war!

Moreover, we still have a chance of winning.

Your Highness, what's your great strategy?

I can't call it a great strategy.

It's just that He Xia was born in Yan State.

He knows the royal family of Yan very well.

If he were to attack Yan

the Yue family will surely take him on.

He Xia is bound to make use of their weaknesses

to keep the city under siege and starve them for days.

Once the city is surrounded, it will be one long siege.

Judging from that, we seem to have time to prepare for battle.

Once we're well prepared