Episode 18

Scene 1: Taiwan, Royal Palace

Continuation of the coronation scene and its dramatic ending. Tang Fei continues her accusations saying that Zheng Kezang has ordered the assassination attempt on herself. She cites Jin Hanchen as her eye witness and instructs him to come forward with his testimony assuring him he does not have to be afraid. Jin Hanchen accuses Zheng Kezang of having offered an award of 500 Tael for the killing of Tang Fei. Feng Xifan adds that this is not even the worst thing. In fact, he contends, Zheng Kezang is not really of royal blood.
In the meantime, we can watch Liu Guoxuan and his men riding towards the Palace
Feng Xifan says he can prove that Zheng Kezang is not meant to be the new Prince of Yanping. Furiously Zheng Kezuang jumps at Feng Xifan, only to be held back by several officials. Feng orders Hong Xu to come forward with the prove for his allegation. Hong Xu presents a scroll written by the Prince of Yanping a long time ago. In it, he orders to kill Chen Fei (supposedly the mother of Zheng Kezang) and her son. In the meantime, Feng Xifan’s soldiers appear. Feng loudly demands to bar Kezang, the fake regent, from ascending the throne. When some officials oppose Feng immediately kills two of them with his sword, Hong kills another one and, taking advantage of the tumult, Qiu Hui murders Zheng Kezang who is still shouting and trying to defend himself. Zheng Kezang falls to the ground, deadly wounded, and finally dies. The other officials try to flee but are held back by the soldiers. Now that Zheng Kezang is dead, Tang Fei wants her own son, Keshuang (Kezang’s stepbrother) to accede to the throne. Keshuang himself is very surprised and loudly declines this nomination. An eunuch hauls the frightened Keshuang off (to get dressed with his new clothes). Dong Taifei verbally attacks Kezang’s murderer Qiu Hui, who, by the order of Feng Xifan, is arrested at once. Feng wants Qiu to die so that he cannot give away the secret of Feng’s part in the murder. Dong Taifei is now asked to write a document to secure Taiwan’s independence but she refuses. She does not want an independent Taiwan which declares war on the mainland. Meanwhile Liu Guoxuan has arrived at the palace.

Scene 2: Taiwan, Royal Palace

Liu Guoxuan’s assertion of solidarity. When Liu appears, the frightend Dong Taifei asks him whether he has also come to enforce his will upon the throne by military means. Liu places his hand on the blade of his own sword and cuts the palm of his hand. In front of the Prince of Yanping’s picture he promises, while his blood is dropping onto the ground, that he will fight for Dong Taifei his whole life. If anyone should try to act against her he shall die by Liu’s sword. Tang Fei pretends to welcome Liu. The new ruler Keshuang enters, quite bewildered. Dong Taifei willy-nilly agrees to appoint Keshuang as the new the Prince of Yanping. She believes Keshuang still to being too young and inexperienced (and also too soft) to be a good ruler. Feng Xifan apologizes for having been so rude to Dong Taifei. He also thinks that this bloodshed was no good. The officials bow in front of their new ruler.

An assassin creeps around the house. Some black clothed figures follow him inside. He enters the house of Shi Lang who lies on his bed sleeping, a sheet of paper on his breast. The assassin unsheathes his sword, takes away the paper from Shi Lang’s breast and starts reading. The paper is a letter that Shi Langs has written to his son Shi Shizong. While the invader is still reading Shi Lang awakes and sits up on his bed. The assassin points his sword at Shi Lang’s throat, but then, suddenly he falls on his knees, drops his sword on the ground and takes off his mask. It is Hu Ganjiang. Being asked why he didn’t kill Shi Lang, Hu answers that he used to hate Shi Lang und acted upon order of Feng Xifan to kill him. But after ten days of having observed Shi Lang, he has recognized that Shi Lang is an honourable man. His one and only wish is now to serve Shi Lang as a bodyguard. Suddenly the black clothed men appear in the house. They are Shi Lang’s guards. Shi Lang calms them down and says that nothing particular has happened, only that he now has a new bodyguard.

Two parallel conversations between Dong Taifei and Liu Guoxuan/ Tang Fei, Hong Xu and Feng Xifan. Tang Fei is afraid that Dong Taifei could probably recruit Liu Guoxuan to kill her and Feng. Feng Xifan admits that he has given the order to kill Zheng Kezang. But he thinks that Dong Taifei has no other choice but to accept the new situation created by the murder of Kezang. After all, it is now only another of her grandsons sitting on the throne.
Liu Guoxuan explains that he has not arrived earlier because of the fake order that was pretended to be the Prince of Yanping’s. Liu manifests his absolute loyality to Dong Taifei, assuring her he will eliminate her enemies. Dong Taifei does not want him to go that far. After all, the new Prince of Yanping is also her grandson and she doesn’t want continued strife within the family. Nevertheless Dong Taifei feels safer thanks to the presence of Liu and his soldiers. Liu advises her to calm down the Taiwanese population. He fears that in the case of riots this could be seen as a chance for the Qing to take over the government.
An eunuch who has spied on Dong Taifei enters the room and tells Tang Fei and Feng Xifan that Dong Taifei has resigned herself to the situation and does not want any war within the family. Tang Fei and Feng Xifan think about visiting Dong Taifei in order to apologize for the dramatic ending of the coronation ceremony. Tang Fei thinks that this would mean admitting a mistake. However, Feng replies that something must be done to appease Dong Taifei. The conversation drifts to Qui Hui, the murderer of Zheng Kezang. For many years he has been an adherent of Feng, and Tang Fei thinks Feng was too cruel to let him die without remorse.

Dong Taifei recieves Feng Xifan and Tang Fei. They apologize for what has happened to Zheng Kezang. Dong Taifei decides that in the future Feng should take care of the inner affairs of the palace and Liu Guoxuan should care of the outer businesses (military defense).

Yao Qisheng Yao receives the govnernor Wu Xingzuo at his house. The two men start drinking together and Yao presents a letter which reports the Prince of Yanping’s death and the resulting internal strife in Taiwan. Both men believe this to be a chance for taking over the Taiwanese government. Yao wants to travel in person to Beijing in order to immediately convey this message to emperor Kangxi.

The emperor’s calligraphy. The Kangxi emperor, Wu Qijue and Li Guangdi visit a Buddhist convent. Here the emperor is supposed to write a calligraphy for the monks who thank him for this honour.

The emperor, Wu Qijue and Li Guangdi take a look at the Defense Map of Taiwan and Penghu. Kangxi asks Li Guangdi whether the long awaited chance to recover Taiwan has finally come. Li Guangdi again denies any competency to discuss the Taiwan issue and requests in return to call Shi Lang back to Beijing. However, the emperor still has doubts concerning the relationship between Shi Lang and Yao Qisheng. After Li Guangdi has left the scene, the emperor starts talking with his bodyguard Wu Qijue about their personal relations. He wonders how he was able to bear Wu’s presence for so many years without getting sick of it. Wu admits that it is because he himself has no influence on politics. Kangxi replies that in fact Wu has a lot of influence on political decisions. The emperor asks Wu about his wife and utters his hope to see her again as soon as he has got some time. Wu Qijue evades a clear answer and instead reports Feng Xifan’s assassination attempt on Shi Lang.

Shi Lang, Shi Shilun, and Hu Ganjiang receive a messenger who brings good news for Shi Lang. In an edict the emperor allows Shi Lang to return to Beijing and to regain all his titles. Shi Lang thanks the emperor.

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