General and I Episode 15 Recap
> General and I Recap
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
The King of Jin, Sima Hong, was deeply troubled, his thoughts consumed by Chu Beijie's perceived betrayal. He stood alone in the ancestral temple, gazing at the spirit tablets of his ancestors. He pondered aloud to his mother's tablet, asking what he should do. His mind drifted back to his childhood, to the day Chu Beijie and his mother, Chu Yu, visited the palace.
Chu Yu, chosen for ritual burial by the late king, had been secretly saved by the Queen Dowager upon discovering her pregnancy. The Queen Dowager risked everything to replace Chu Yu and send her beyond the Great Wall. Years later, Chu Yu returned with her son, Chu Beijie, explaining that her clan had rejected her, making life difficult. She begged the Queen Dowager to take in Chu Beijie for the sake of his Sima bloodline.
The Queen Dowager agreed to adopt him and raise him to adulthood, on two conditions: he could not bear the Sima surname nor be entered into the royal genealogy, and Chu Yu must keep the secret that Sima Hong was the sole legitimate king of Great Jin. Chu Yu understood this meant her death, sacrificing herself so her son could live. After bidding her son farewell, she took her own life. Young Sima Hong confronted his mother, questioning her cruelty.
The Queen Dowager explained that power demanded blood sacrifices and that even Chu Beijie should not have been spared. Sima Hong knelt and pleaded for Chu Beijie's life. Touched by his benevolence, the Queen Dowager spared Chu Beijie, promising to raise him into a famous general who would overcome obstacles and expand Sima Hong's territories. Back in the present, Sima Hong wept, questioning why, after all these years of trust and favor, Chu Beijie had betrayed him.
As he exited the temple, he was met by Zhang Gui Fei. Feigning concern for his health, she admitted she had followed him, worried after hearing the royal physician had been summoned. Sima Hong, appreciating her concern, noticed she was barefoot and gently chided her. She then revealed that Bai Pingting had arrived in Jiankang City, implying she was there to rescue Chu Beijie from prison. Sima Hong quickly grasped her meaning: Bai Pingting was there to save him.
Inside the prison, Chu Beijie lay unconscious from torture. He was roused and brought before Zhang Gui Fei, who gloated at his suffering. She offered him a more comfortable confinement if he confessed to conspiring to murder the princes. Chu Beijie, defiant, retorted that a mere dog was unworthy of hearing him speak.
Enraged by his insolence, Zhang Gui Fei berated him for disregarding the king and being arrogant due to his military merits, and ordered the guards to beat him relentlessly until he confessed. Meanwhile, the Queen arrived at the prison, despite being unwell. She asked for privacy with Sima Hong. Expressing her devastation over their sons' deaths, she admitted she wanted the culprit caught more than anyone.
However, she found it unimaginable that Chu Beijie, a general capable of controlling the battlefield, would scheme so clumsily in a palace conspiracy based on the testimony of a eunuch sent by Liang. She pleaded with Sima Hong to carefully handle the matter, warning that mistaking a loyal official for the real killer would play into a treacherous official's trap, aggrieving their allies and gladdening their enemies, ultimately disappointing loyal subjects and eroding public trust.
Sima Hong questioned if she was trying to exonerate Chu Beijie, who he believed had repeatedly disobeyed his orders due to Bai Pingting and whose heart was no longer with Great Jin. The Queen reminded him that after the princes' deaths, Chu Beijie was his only remaining blood relative, imploring him not to let anger cloud his judgment in a world already in chaos.
As she spoke, she collapsed from her illness, prompting Sima Hong to call for the royal physician. In Jiankang City, Bai Pingting was informed by Ze Yin about a royal proclamation: Chu Beijie would be beheaded at noon the next day inside the palace. She learned that the King of Jin had deployed heavy security to guard the palace to prevent unrest, making a rescue attempt with their mere 120 men impossible.
Desperate, Bai Pingting sent a message to Chu Beijie's loyal general, Chu Moran. When they met, Chu Moran immediately questioned if she was behind the poisoning. Bai Pingting did not answer directly but asked for his help to break into the palace to save Chu Beijie. Chu Moran refused, explaining that Chu Beijie had instructed his soldiers that the Emperor was a wise ruler and would clear his name.
Without Chu Beijie's military order, Chu Moran would not act, fearing it would harm Chu Beijie's chances of reprieve. He warned Bai Pingting that she was a wanted criminal, and showing herself would be extremely dangerous. Bai Pingting acknowledged Chu Beijie's fear of civil unrest in Jiankang City but declared she would save him regardless, as she did not trust the Jin king.
Bai Pingting had designed bamboo kites and enlisted Ze Yin and his men to construct them, intending to fly into the heavily guarded Jin palace. However, after her unsuccessful meeting with Chu Moran, she told Ze Yin to cancel the plan. She explained that while the kites could enter the palace, they couldn't fly out. Even if they rescued Chu Beijie and killed the King of Jin, they would be trapped and annihilated by the imperial guards.
She deemed a frontal assault a bad plan, stating she needed to ensure Ze Yin and his men returned alive, especially Ze Yin, whose wife and child awaited him. The next day, Bai Pingting, alone, soared into the Jin Imperial Palace on a bamboo kite. Guards immediately spotted her. Bai Pingting, unfazed, stated she had come prepared to die.
She admitted to committing heinous crimes and urged Sima Hong to inflict any punishment, even a thousand cuts, but to let the disaster end with her and not implicate loyal subjects. She warned that failure to find the true culprit would lead to a clan-exterminating disaster, and that the spirits of the deceased princes would not wish to see the country plunged into chaos. Sima Hong, angered, ordered her flogged.
As the whips lashed her, Bai Pingting used her own blood to write characters on the ground, revealing lines from a renowned military treatise. Sima Hong recognized the text as the legendary "Wuhou's Art of War." Bai Pingting offered to fully explain the entire military text in exchange for Chu Beijie's safety.
Sima Hong chillingly replied that she underestimated him; his true target had always been her, as it was her, not Chu Beijie, who made him uneasy on his throne. He declared his condition: she must die by Chu Beijie's sword. He then ordered Chu Beijie brought before him. Chu Beijie and Bai Pingting faced each other in the imperial court. Chu Beijie demanded to know if she was the one who concocted the poison and devised Great Liang's defense strategies.
Bai Pingting admitted to both without hesitation. When he then asked if she had ordered the poisoning of the two princes, Bai Pingting, though visibly distressed, conceded. Enraged, Chu Beijie drew his sword and lunged at her. Just as the blade was about to strike, Ze Yin intervened, leaping into the hall to block the attack. Seeing Chu Beijie, blinded by fury, about to harm Ze Yin, Bai Pingting bravely rushed forward, positioning herself between them. In that instant, Chu Beijie's sword pierced her body.
