Episode 29
Scene 1: Penghu Islands, coastal artillery position
Liu Guoxuan and his second in command Zhu Lin discuss Shi Lang’s possible tactical options in order to adequately prepare their defenses. Liu Guoxuan still doubts that Shi Lang will dare to attack around the time of the summer solstice. However, Zhu Lin is adamant that exactly that will happen. That Shi Lang has moved the fleet from Xiamen to Tongshan is prove of his southern monsoon tactics. Since this year’s summer solstice is on the 16th of the 5th month [July 10, 1683], only six days are left to prepare. Two or three days before the date of the summer solstice, the winds will change direction from north to south and the Qing fleet may depart from Tongshan. Their only hope is that at the same time typhoons will begin to ravage the seas and destroy the Qing fleet before it reaches Penghu. Zhu Lin thinks that Shi Lang also knows about the danger of taiphoons. Therefore, he is most likely to pursue a Blitzkrieg tactics trying to move quickly from Tongshan to Penghu within one or two days in order to force the Taiwan fleet into a decisive naval battle. In order to strengthen their stand, Liu orders the transfer of troops to some of the islands to prevent Shi Lang’s troops from landing there. If everything worked according to plan, the outcome of the whole military campaign would be decided within the following ten days.
Scene 2: Beijing, imperial palace, Kangxi’s study
The Kangxi emperor talks to Li Guangdi about the latter’s request to visit his sick mother. The emperor makes clear that he is aware of the fact that Li not only wants to return to Fujian to visit his relatives, but more importantly wants to have a talk to Yao Qisheng about the censor Sun Hui who was bribed by Yao to oppose Shi Lang’s position in court. Li plans to influence Yao Qisheng and Shi Lang to work together instead of against each other. The emperor is pleased with this and grants Li’s wish. He also reassures his confidence in Shi Lang by saying that he will not regret the decision to promote Shi Lang to be sole military commander of the Taiwan campaign (zhuanzheng).
Tang Taifei, Haikui and servants. Tang Taifei plays Mahjong with her servants. Haikui rushes into the room with a furios look on her face. Tang Taifei opts her to join the game, but instead of playing, she just sits down and is silent. In the following conversation Haikui says that Shi Shizong was put in jail because he surrendered to protect Yao Yun. But Feng Xifan got hold of Yao Yun again despite his promise to release her. Tang Taifei replies that they got what they deserve for endangering the safety of Taiwan, she reminds Haikui that Shi Shizong does not love her. Moreover, under the new circumstances, a marriage would be inacceptable anyway. However, Haikui still wants to save and marry him and leaves in anger.
Yao Qisheng talks to Governor Wu Xingzuo about his relationship with Shi Lang and that he is no longer interested in struggling with him. In this moment, general Lahada arrives and hands a copy of an imperial edict to Wu Xingzuo who reads it aloud. It is the promotion of Shi Lang to military commander of the Taiwan campaign. After Yao hears it, he visibly feels uneasy, and the other two take their leave.
Fu Weilin wishes to talk to Liu Guoxuan about Shi Lang’s promotion. He has already tried talking to Feng Xifan, but he would not listen. Fu makes a proposition: Now that peace is even less probable, the Zheng government should contact Yao Qisheng who had granted amnesty to many officers defected from Taiwan. Yao’s attitude towards Taiwan seems friendlier than Shi Lang’s. This might give Taiwan new hope for possible peace talks. Liu agrees, even if this strategy will probably only delay Shi Lang’s attack for a few days. He decides to return to Taiwan and orders Fu Weilin to write a letter to Yao Qisheng.
Scene 6: Yao Qisheng’s private quarters
Yao Qisheng on his sickbed has a feverish nightmare. Sleep talking he expresses his fear that his twenty years of service are not properly recognized because he is put aside now and has to relinquish the military command to Shi Lang. He gets woken up by his wife who tells him about his dream and asks him not to care about it too much. Yao’s servant enters the room and informs the two of the arrival of Shi Lang. Yao’s wife declares to go and shout at the guest, but Yao calms her down while trying to get up. He wants to meet Shi Lang in the guest room, but Shi enters the bedroom before that. He praises Yao’s strength despite of his sickness, but, as he looks at the bed, he sees that Yao has hidden under the blanket. In his stead, Yao’s wife talks to Shi Lang. Shi Lang begins a speech about Yao’s virtues saying that he has offended Yao gravely, but because Yao was a true gentleman he could not really be offended. He also emphasizes the fact that he considers Yao a teacher and friend and dearly hopes that he will not be offended by Shi’s action. He then waits for a reply by Yao, but only his wife makes a statement that was not as forgiving as Shi might have hoped for. Shi leaves, not without praising Yao’s achievements for the whole campaign. He hopes that one day he will be able to properly apologize for his actions. After he is gone, Yao discusses the event with his wife who is quite furious about Shi’s flattery. Yao says that although Shi is not a bad person, he also surely is not a man that brings others joy. Shortly thereafter, the servant comes with another message: A great supply of wheat and silver for the soldiers has arrived. Yao says that Shi Lang is in charge of this and that it should be brought to him.
Scene 7: Taiwan, in front of the jail
Haikui is sitting on a chair in front of the jail gates, crying. The jailor tries to appease her. He tries to politely make Haikui return to her palace, because the whole situation could cost him his head. Haikui insists on getting into jail to Shi Shizong. She even threatens to starve herself to death. Shortly thereafter, Liu Guoxuan rides by, accompanied by some soldiers. He stops and orders one of them to check out what it is all about. After he hears that Haikui tries to get into jail to meet Shi Shizong, he just says “Nonsense” and rides on.
Liu Guoxuan enters and, after properly greeting the Prince of Yanping, Zheng Keshuang, explains to Feng Xifan that the sea is quite rough, perfect for their plans. Feng is pleased with Liu’s report. Zheng Keshuang asks whether the waves on the ocean really were three feet high, but is laughed at. Zheng appears childish and is obviously not taken serious by Feng Xifan and the other officials who pursue their own selfish interests. After that the officials continue to talk about Shi Lang’s promotion and the resulting fears of an imminent attack. Feng Xifan seems quite sure that Shi Lang will not be able to break the defenses of the Penghu archipelago. After all, Liu Guoxuan will be a match for him. But Liu replies that he does not have enough resources at hand. Even though he does not want to promote the thought of capitulation before the Qing, but he reminds the others not to loose sight of the realities. Should Shi Lang finally be able to beat them, it would be wise to engage in peace talks as early as possible. Before, the Qing court sent seven or eight envoys with offers of amnesty and liberal conditions. This time, the Qing enforce their conditions with military might, therefore conditions will be more severe. Feng accuses Liu of supporting capitulation. Liu defends himself by claiming that he only wants to preserve the status quo in order to win time to prepare for the war. Feng replies that he rather wants to call the Dutch for help in order to quickly establish a new state in Taiwan. In contrast, Liu replies that once Taiwan declared its independence, the Qing would crack down on it immediately. According to Liu, no state or dynasty would agree to a split up of its territory. Even Zheng Chenggong’s will was not to establish a state on Taiwan, but to reunite China under the rule of the Ming. Even if they were not able to fulfill Zheng Chenggong’s wish, the regime on Taiwan should not relinquish the unity of China. After that they talk about the prisoners Shi Shizong and Yao Yun. Feng Xifan simply wants to execute them and send their heads to Shi Lang. Fu Weilin argues that such an act might only further enrage Shi Lang and Yao Qisheng. Liu agrees. The two could be used to give the Taiwanese an advantage in both the negotiations and in war. They agree to send two emissaries. Feng Xifan suggests the Cai Youxiong and the Huang Xue, both of whom are deemed inexperienced and of low rank by Liu. Fu Weilin offers to lead the mission, which is accepted by Liu.
A sedan chair stops in front of the jail, an accompanying servant orders the jailor to let Fu Weilin enter the jail to see Shi Shizong. After the jailor tries to prevent them from entering, Fu Weilin lets his servants knock down the jailor. They enter the jail, lead by the now limping jailor, where Fu explains to Shi that he is going to lead negotiations with the Qing. He asks the prisoner to write a letter. He also appeals to Shi’s good memory and that it might help him get pardoned. It seems that Fu wants Shi to draw another map of the Taiwan coastal defenses. But Shi replies that Yao Yun’s memory is better than his own. Fu mentions her being arrested again, which comes as a shock to Shi Shizong.
Scene 10: Yao Qisheng’s private quarters
Yao Qisheng, still on his sickbed, is being fed by his wife. His servant comes and says that a man came to see Yao and could not be stopped. Yao’s wife goes to meet him. Not recognizing Li Guangdi, she asks him to leave, but Yao hears the voice and calls him into his room. After exchanging polite words, Li mentions that he has come to Fujian to see his sick mother, but found that she can well take care of herself. In fact, he his true intention was to help Yao cure his sickness. After Yao Qisheng’s wife has left, Li reveals that he thinks that the reason for Yao’s sickness is only the disappointment with Shi Lang’s promotion to commander-in-chief of the Taiwan campaign. He fully understands Yao’s position who for the last twenty years has spent his family fortunes and worked day and night to pacify Taiwan and who took enormous pains and personal risks to achieve his goal, but was pushed aside in the end and deprived of harvesting the fruits of his efforts by a man whose career he had promoted with so much commitment. Recognizing the truth in Li’s words, Yao begins to shed tears, but Li then reveals to him that he and the emperor knew of Yao’s bribe to Sun Hui. After that revelation and subsequent Li’s promise that the emperor holds no grudge against Yao, the latter feels much better and relieved and agrees to wholeheartedly support Shi Lang.
Scene 11: Taiwan, prison
The jailor is just having a cup of tea when Feng Xifan and Hong Xu enter. After taking a seat, Feng demands the jailor to repeat the conversation between Shi Shizong and Fu Weilin. The jailor replies that he did not wholly understand what the two where talking about, merely Shi’s mentioning of his and Yao Yun’s memory was clear to him. Another sentence he remembered was a garbled impression of a sentence of Fu Weilin. The jailor mixed up the literary phrase for “wearing the ball and chain” with another phrase which made no sense in this situation. But Feng can make out after a while that Fu told Shi about Yao Yun’s arrest. After that, the jailor mentions that he was beaten and whether the two noble sirs might support him because of that. Feng agrees to give him some money.
Scene 12: Court yard of Feng Xifan’s residence
Feng Xifan and Hong Xu talk about Fu Weilin. He seems suspicious to both of them, and they do not want him to leave Taiwan because they fear he might change sides. In order to gather evidence against him they decide to closely monitor his anticipated meeting with Yao Yun.
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