The Empress of China Episode 29

episode 29 spoilers ahead

29/30!
REVOLT!

1.General Hou stirs his troops with a rousing speech. He insists that they must regain their honor that the crown would rudely humiliate him with a demotioin. The revolt begins, and the slaughter is on.

2.Elsewhere, Crown Prince prepares his soldiers. Meniang bravely walks up to him in a dramatic scene. He looks at her, and she tells him this is foolish. She says he is cruel to do this to his father, because his father would never abdicate he would rather die. he refuses to stop, so she pulls his sword and points it at him. He walks towards her, and she cries because she cannot kill him. He orders her to be tied up but not hurt, and he promises to spare her for past help. She says he will regret this.

3.Zhangsun is told by Chong'er that the Crown Prince has revolted. Zhangsun calls them imbeciles...

4.Xu Hui is taken away by the emperor, ignoring her warning that the revolt is actually happening. The emperor confronts his son head on. He says he must be his son if he led his army into this courtyard. They are surrounded. He learns that the emperor summoned Li Ji, another general, and we learn that the emperor has known for 2 weeks that he was planning a revolt! The soldiers ares slaughtered, the prince is betrayed by his own lietunenant, and Rui'an discovers Meniang and unties her.

5.the emperor says he will spare his life. But Crown Prince says he is not an idiot and knows how the politics work. He tells him that he can never please him, and wonders if he hadn't rebelled, would he have disappointed him for not revolting? He fights him in a kind of duel, but loses. He also learns that the emperor never intended to depose him, and he glares at Meniang who has arrived and accuses her of betraying him.

6.the emperor immediately sees Meniang in private and wants to know what is going on. She explains she did not collaborate with the prince. he slaps her. She says it clearly doesn't matter at this point what she says so he should kill her. The emperor refuses to kill and says he will (basically) keep her around as a reminder that a woman did not bring him down. She is arrested. Li Zhi defends her innocence. he wants to save her. She says he should try to plead for crown princes life.

7.Elsewhere, Prince Wei is practicing his look of grief/concern when he hears that his brother has betrayed the emperor (this guy is something else). He sees Consort Wei and is burning paper. (I finally realize that Crown Prince Wei has been deceiving her, using his mother as a means to manipulate an alliance with Consort Wei. He probably doesn't give a fig about his mother, or Consort Wei. This guy might be a sociopath). Both are confident that Meniang, now in Yeting, is beyond redemption.

8.Fuji reports that even Zheng Wei was involved. His ministers say he should lose all posthumous honors; the emperor refuses to do this and say his good acts outweigh his bad acts. Outside Li Zhi kneels in the rain on behalf of crown prince. Prince Wei arrives and joins him. The emperor tries to get him to stop but he refuses. The emperor wonders who to give the crown to. He knows Prince Wu is not an option. He knows Prince Wei is capable but admits that the thought o f giving him the crown makes him his skin crawl (Justice!) He finally sees Li Zhi as a candidate....

9.Li Zhi passes out, and Prince Wei tells an unconscious Li Zhi that he needs to stop upstaging him (bwahhahahhaa)

Comments: I don't know how I feel about Meniang's actions. She chose to do the nice thing, and it landed her in prison. I am not a fan of killing people, obviously, but she will have to survive....especially if she wants to prevent the really bad people to get power (People like Consort Wei and Prince Wei, who enjoy toying with peoples lives and destroying them for fun)

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