AleksandraSucur

Now that I've read the novel, I must join persons who are dissatisfied with the turn the screenwriting has taken, after the exciting introduction episodes (which were so because the writers mantained the main plot elements from the original). Ofc, the writing team ought to simplify the plot and eliminate many side characters and subplots and I was fine with the introduction of Xiaotao character as a love interest for Wei Liang, bc. their impairment offered a good comic relief... but the drama lost a great deal of what is truly interesting in the original story: 1) passion (which inevitably includes or maybe even starts with a physical attraction) which distinguished ML's falling for Manman. He is passionate as a character, in general, that's why he is so freakin' obsessive of the past. Passion, sometimes dark, sometimes bright, moves him in his conquests and plans, he never gives in to anybody (except to her: loving her is what heals his pain and subdues his demons, vulnerabilities, suspicions and uncertainties) 2) engaging warlords' power conflicts and territorial dismemberment - so excellently described in the novel - which preceded the fall of the Han dynasty and made perfectly logical the rise of a (passionate, never give-in) person like Wei Shao and the foundation of a new dynasty and 3) political aspects of Su Ehuang scheming...
I'm always worried when I see there are many scriptwriters, more they are, less digestible is the script and TPoL is no exception. These persons literally butchered all 3 points above, transforming such a good story in a light-hearted drama for idle housewives, with dumb circling around the same thing: she wants to get closer to him, makes him go to a trip together, usual misunderstandings (we've seen in thousands other dramas), shopping on the market (woman buys, confused man carries what she bought as her personal attendant), let him worry for her ecc... expecting the audience will believe that continous circling around can be a good premise for a deep connection between the two. At least 6 last episodes were simply annoying, at the level of any bland romcom in costume, the only thing that made the story go was the direction, visuals and acting and it is the only reason for such a good reception

No, he didn't say that ("he wouldn't went to war in next 10 years"), you are distorting his words. He said (when pressed by his uncle to revenge): "I've expected 14 years, so I can expect another 10" (to eliminate Qiaos) and this sounds as a different thing to me.
She didn't stab him behind his back, she just showed him she can't be played as he would very like, but that will never happen, for one reason only: she is smart, smarter than him and what makes her smarter is the ancient Chinese saying (actually, from Sun Tsu): know yourself and your enemy. She knows herself (and her family) and she knows him (and his family) better than vice versa

Nana, if you are so sure my arguments are detached from reality, why don't you offer counter-arguments instead of manipulating what I've said?
I haven't compared XX century military tech with ancient times, I've used a better known example to counter-argue your statements: "her clan has no way to survive" and "the enemies have simple arrows that can't even reach Wei's army, so it is definitive that they cannot survive", because these two statements are NOT TRUE, even from the historical point of view and I can certainly say this, having studied the History of Warfare. Ballista's upgrades occured as soon as you caught one and copy-pasted it (which indeed happened). The weapon upgrading occurred quickly even in the very remote past (actually, much faster than my "nuke" example) and some "superior weapons" easily turned to be useless in certain battling theaters. It was more difficult to adapt the weapons to the thicker fortification (a Great Wall as a deterrent in ancient China or, in high-middle age and renessaince Europe, when every other nation wanted Italian engineers to build their defensive walls...), but all that ceded as well when there was enough (external and internal) pressure or willingness to die just to conquer...
Actually, when you say: "The primal example of a kingdom trashing others with military technology superiority in ancient times is the Qin Dinasty domination" you are utterly wrong, because it was not the technology superiority but the technique of their employment and overall strategic goals that made the difference, not the tech in itself. In other (ancient) war scenarios, inferior tech assured the victory over the technologically superior enemy. You should really study more, I think you like it
When you engage in a war, you simply don't know how it will end, because you truly do not know how it will end, simply bc. there are so many variables you can't predict, that was my point.

I'm dying 👌😂😂😂

at the beginning of ep.3. (ep 2 ended with her giving him the seal of Panyi). He chased her away with the words: "tell your to wash their necks, I am coming for them" (i.e. he is now after their necks)
While Nana continues to think she is guilty for protecting herself and her clan from such an obsessed madman... But she will heal his traumas and hatred very soon, she can't play konghou but she plays WeiShao as no other would be able to do ☺️

you won't read it because you don't have arguments, my dear.
In the period 1945-'49, no other country had nukes and then other three years were necessary for the third country (UK) to develop one... It takes time for others to catch up but they will eventually catch up. How can you tell Wei's rivals can't develop even more powerful ballistas (ballista is the exact term, not catapult) shooting arrows even to further distances during the period in which Wei needs to irrigate its land and gather necessary provisions? Technology development is just a matter of time, while "military superiority" doesn't necessarily mean your 1. and 2. I can make you a long list of "military superior" armies defeated by way weaker countries/people, but as you won't read that list, there's no point for me to make that effort

1. How do you know "her clan has no way to survive"? Because Wei have stronger weapons ("the enemies have simple arrows that can't even reach Wei's army, so it is definitive that they cannot survive")? You are so WRONG! In real world, the U.S. has the strongest weapons, so why there's no country which would unite with them and be "stronger together" (and there was no country willing to do so even during the years before Soviet Union caught up with nuclear tech)? You can't win the war with just weapons and you can't easily convince the people to accept the rule of the stronger, as Wei Shao learned both in Xindu and Panyi. As it is said in this great drama, "the best way to win is to win the hearts". Besides, if you "want to unite the people" under one rule by force, you also need smth practical like... military provisions. Wei doesn't have them and won't have them until they clean the dam and the river start to irrigate their draughty land. Wei may take few fortified cities with their weapons but stands no chance to proceed into a vaster territory, military expeditions are not speed highways, you remain stuck in certain choke points where you can't use your great weapons surrounded by a hostile civil population for years if not decades...
2. We all love peace, but there's a peace and peace. If you subjugate (or even enslave, as it often happened in the past) other people to your absolute authoritarian power, well, it is perfectly justifiable to say "f*ck peace, go back fighting". It is called the self-defence right. Wei Shao doesn't offer any kind of garantee to her clan, on the contrary, he repeats he'll kill them all except her, aren't they people too with the right to live? Is she wrong to defend her clan, are her actions offensive or are they (self)-defensive?
3. "her people are snakes (...) a bunch of cowards who stab from the back and create wars to profit. Snake nest". While I can partially agree they are cowards (otherwise they would never send a girl to settle their dispute), I'm pretty sure they aren't "snakes", you've got smth wrong - it was not her clan who stirred up the conflict 14 y ago. They helped Wei to build up the dam between Xindu (Wei territory at the time) and Panyi (Yanzhou territory), then the other state (direct rival of Wei, Bianzhou) felt Wei would get stronger with that water course threatening them and sent general Li Su to take over Xindu. Qiao failed to honour the agreement to help Wei, that's all. They didn't help the other side either, it was a neutral stance. There were two reasons why they "betrayed": one is Qiao's permanent lack of skilled generals, the other was Manman as a child that utterly "convinced" her granpa not to go to war. Their "betrayal" was not an evil plot, it was circumstantial...

girl, give up konghou for good, as the only instrument you are talented to play is that weishao wooden block! 😁👌

right, his mom through her niece

I greatly agree with you, with some slight differences. Lets say grandma didn't "save" her grandson, but assured the throne for him, nothing would happen to him if he didn't take the power. As for the alliance between Li Su and the Qiaos... she is smart enough to know Yanzhou lacks military commanders, otherwise Qiaos wouldn't offer this marriage alliance, instead of allying with Li Su. Qiaos don't fight at all, because they can't fight, so Wei Shao would probably conquer Xindu even if they helped Li Su. Besides, they didn't have a solid motivation to help Li Su in general: Li Su's taking over Xindu 14 years ago was the main reason their water canal cooperation with Yanzhou was blown up and they didn't dare to oppose him by helping Wei.
It is true Panyi is the gate to Yanzhou, but military expeditions cost money and lives and what Wei lacks are... provisions. They must first open the dam and make the water flow to their draughty lands. There's no speedy highway for Weis to get all over the Yanzhou, because they also must protect that water course from other enemies...

😁😂😂

Oh, hi, dear PBG, so glad you're here, too! As always, we see things in a similar way😂

that's true

Yeah, that's a main dramatic suspence... Imho, FL is a fighter, with a manifested water element: gentle when necessary, fierce when necessary, who will ultimately heal his deep traumas and resentment. She can't be subjugated, like a water, she'll only adapt to the environment while changing it.

I respect everybody's opinion, but I'd say people who think she's manipulative are simply wrong, or, at least, they don't fully get what the term means. All people are manipulative, a psychologist would say we are born with this potential, even a newborn baby "manipulates" with a loud howling once he/she "learned" that after that cry someone (usually a mother) will appear with milk or change his diapers or will cuddle him... and he/she will continue to cry until anything that bothers him/her is removed.
So, FL is manipulative as any other person, nothing more than that. She is simply smart (smarter than the ML) and she finds herself in an extremely hostile environment, dealing with extremely difficult tasks and goals to achieve. To prevent Wei's revenge on her family is only one of these tasks. She must keep herself alive and kickin' in a wolves' den. She also feels for the people, she wants to preserve all people's lives, that's why she blocks the distruction of the river dam putting her own life at risk (and all other goals she has). Just this single thing shows she isn't manipulative in a bad sense of the term.
In that environment - in which, lets' remember, she is totally ON HER OWN, isolated and constantly targeted - it is absolutely normal she needs some strategy, tactics and tricks. Her ultimate way out of such a situation is... her husband, there's none else who can help her other than him. He, on the other hand, is a man grown up with deep traumas, resentment towards her family and obsessions of revenge - all comprehensible, but... nobody in Wei really helps him to get over them (actually, except for his grandma and his advisor, everybody else is counterproductive). In order to get help from him, she must deal or, better, help him to heal, all that crap in his head. She is helping him constantly, more than any other person, certainly more than his own mother, stuck in grief and useless when not counterproductive. He must rule and look after his people: she brings HIM a crucial city in her dowry, helps HIM to win over the people there and to revitalise a necessary water supply for HIS kingdom. This is about her direct support, not counting how useful she is indirectly (and ML figured it out by himself: she uses her to refuse his uncle, ministers and mother who would fill his harem with concubines in order to gain influence over him - and that's a manipulation, strictly speaking). What does he do for her? Gives her temporarily his room and allows her to his study just to accuse her for spying in a freaking violent way? Any other woman would run away from such a situation and a man who can't get his sh*t together. But she is a fighter, gentle when necessary, fierce when necessary, she'll heal him

I've replied you below. Chuyu is basically irrelevant. Whatever she had done, she had ML's mother approval, more or less.
She'll soon be out of the picture because his mother is not a smart person

Granny indeed hopes for the peace, but it is not her only agenda, and what is peace is vague as it is today.
Lets' remember:
1. grandma was the only person who supported the election of WS as a new ruler of Wei, despite he was a child and against his uncle's aspiration.
2. She has this ignorant-silly daughter in law (ML's mother) who is stuck in a grief and revenge we all can comprehend as such, but she (unconsciously) is useless if not harmful for her surviving son. Her son didn't have HER support in becoming a ruler, that thing happened only thanks to the fact his grandma is his biggest supporter. She can't tailor the shoes for her living son, because she is stuck with the size of her dead son. ML's mother is also a manipulator, she doesn't push to place Chuyu into ML's harem to have more influence over her son or to surpress FL, she wants to surpress grandma, too. Understandable, but she is simply not up to that level.
3. Granny could have not know the QX's potential, but if I were her, in order to support my grandson in such an internally precarious situation, I would have place my bet on a person unrelated to any internal interest and that is the reason why she accepted Qiao's marriage proposal

Conclusion: Chuyu is irrelevant in this picture. Of course, we won't see her for a long time

The cousin is his mother's niece. Distant, being his mother Lady Zhu, while the niece is surnamed Zheng (Chuyu). Chuyu, who obviously also has her own ambition to be s.o. important to the ML and within the Wei clan, is basically her aid, confidant and tool, managing tasks and servants on her behalf, that is her power.
Her misdeeds are all arranged or at least approved by ML's mother, who is... not a smart lady and who is btw, stuck in hatred, revengefulness etc. we feel strongly in Wei kingdom. We may symphathize with a mother who lost a son 14 years ago, but she is useless if not (inconsciously) harmful for her surviving son, who loves her even when she tailors his shoes in a smaller size (of his dead brother) and tries to put "her person" (ie. Chuyu) into his harem, without thinking of the consequences (he already rejected more powerful persons who offered their persons as concubines: his uncle, his ministers and seniors and who would certainly be offended if he accepted Chuyu into his harem). On her side, his ignorant mother wants Chuyu in his harem to influence him and also to have a leverage over the hated "Qiao girl" and her own mother-in-law. And that MiL, his granny, is actually the only sober person, beside ML's advisor, in Wei kingdom, the only person who supported her grandson (despite he was a child and against his uncle) to take the rulership and to solidify his power for 14 years. And still, we see that the ML's position is still precarious in Wei, that's probably why grandma accepted Qiao's marriage proposal: internally isolated and unrelated wife won't work against her grandson's interests, while may be of some help in handling external relations.

I agree 100%