EPISODE 4
You know, aside from being cold and aloof, Guan Yu is also a secret badass. How badass? I’ll tell you.
Warrior after warrior rides out to confront Hua Xiong, and none of them manages to stay alive for five seconds after the challenge.
The “report!!” guy keeps having to run in and interrupt Cao Cao’s strategy discussion with bad news.
At one point, Guan Yu steps up and is like: ya’ll are making me lose my patience, let me take care of it. OK, he doesn’t really say that, but from his expression, it’s clear he is bored by these men’s incompetence.
Guan Yu vows that if he can’t kill Hua Xiong, he will offer his own head as compensation.
Then Liu Bei steps forward and says: if my brother can’t get the job done, you’re welcome to chop off all three of our heads. OK, everybody, calm down, nobody should chop off any more heads, OK? I though you all wanted to fight Dong Zhuo? Don’t you need capable men alive to do that?
Cao Cao wants to make a toast to Guan Yu’s bravery, but the latter shrugs it off. He has no time for that.
Guan Yu goes out and before he actually does anything, Hua Xiong’s horse already senses that he’s no joke. It’s cool that Guan Yu’s pose at the beginning of the duel is shot from an angle that makes him look exactly like the Guan Yu depicted in everything you see: old paintings, temple statues, etc.
Slicing down, slicing sideways, slicing up and Guan Yu decapitates Hua Xiong. He waltzes back into the meeting and throws the served head at the leaders’ feet while the wine is still hot.
You know, if you forget about the beard and his age, Guan Yu is exactly the kind of “war god” that Romance Fantasy writers in C-dramaland want to write but so far have failed to. Think about it: loyalty, aloofness, composure, arrogance, nobleness, awesome postures, duty before personal life (for real), etc. I swear if war gods in those dramas were one-tenth as capable as Guan Yu, dramas would be a lot shorter.
After Guan Yu’s victory and a few more battles against Dong Zhuo’s forces, Liu Bei and Co. gain some respect, but not much because technically they are still penniless.
On his own, Cao Cao does some analyzing of Liu Bei’s character. He thinks Liu Bei harbors great ambition and won’t be easy to deal with.
Cao Cao visits Liu Bei later to bring him some food since Liu Bei still hasn’t received the promised grain from Yuan Shao, one of the rebellion leaders. It’s interesting to see that Cao Cao and Liu Bei start out as allies.
Liu Bei shares his laments for the Liu family, but Cao Cao says if there’s no chaos, there’s no heroes, so to him, this is actually a good thing. And why not take this chance to create a new order instead of trying to bring back something that’s already dying?
Liu Bei also thinks that this whole Alliance is bogus. These lords don’t really want to help the emperor, they all want the throne for themselves.
At this point, Cao Cao realizes that no matter how much he sweet-talks Liu Bei, the latter will not submit to him. Liu Bei’s opinions are too strong and his goals are too clear to be manipulated by anyone. Cao Cao is also annoyed that the two great warriors Zhang Fei and Guan Yu will never belong to him. I mean… I kind of wonder how different Guan Yu and Zhang Fei’s fortune would be too if they’d chosen Cao Cao instead.
In the capital city, Dong Zhuo is still causing terror. He flexes his muscles, arresting people and slaughtering families at random. Whenever there’s a slight rumor about someone who miiiiiight have unkind intentions towards him, Dong Zhuo would execute that person’s entire family. Then, he decides to lead an army out to deal with the rebellion himself. I know that the eighteen lords of the Rebellion aren’t that good, but I’d take any of them over this a**hole.
It later turns out that the rebellion really is bogus, just like Liu Bei says. They don’t send anyone food and horses and none of the leaders send troops to aid the front lines like they promised. So it’s not jut Liu Bei that these jerks discriminate against, they’re jerks to everybody.
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