King is Not Easy Episode 16 Recap
> King is Not Easy Recap
Ji Man was paying his respects in the Empress Dowager's bedchamber when he received an urgent report sent by Shen Jia's subordinate. It turned out that envoys from the Queen Mother of the West Tribe were coming to Haojing for an audience and had already entered the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty, expected to arrive in Haojing late tomorrow.
The Empress Dowager pondered, the Queen Mother of the West Tribe had developed rapidly in recent years, and she wondered about the purpose of their visit this time. The Empress Dowager suddenly remembered that Ni Shang was sent by the Queen Mother of the West Tribe to foster good relations between the two parties.
Although Ni Shang had made mistakes, under the current circumstances, the only way was to release Ni Shang to appease the Queen Mother of the West Tribe. Ji Man agreed. After Ni Shang was released, she became arrogant. Upon encountering Da Xi, she used the pretext of maintaining the proper conduct of the main palace to punish Da Xi, ordering her to kneel in place for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Da Xi guessed that the Queen Mother of the West Tribe must have made a move, otherwise Ji Man would not have released Ni Shang so easily. Ji Man returned to Longde Hall and did not see Da Xi, only Ni Shang, dressed in a palace maid's attire. He was greatly alarmed. Ni Shang cried, asking Ji Man to give her some face in front of the envoys, promising that she would never make mistakes again.
Ji Man disliked Ni Shang's entanglement, so he agreed and turned to leave Longde Hall. Unexpectedly, as he left, a military deployment map fell out, which Ni Shang picked up. Excitedly, Ni Shang took the map back to her bedchamber. A San, one of the envoys from the Queen Mother of the West Tribe, came to Ni Shang's bedchamber. They had already learned of Ni Shang's loss of favor, so A San's attitude was very cold.
Ni Shang knew that for someone born into a royal family, when they were no longer useful, death was the only way out. However, she now possessed a secret weapon. Ni Shang handed the military deployment map to A San. She had no idea that this would become the accelerator of her death. The Protector Lord was very excited after seeing the deployment map.
This was a treasure worth a thousand pieces of gold, adding great convenience for attacking the Great Zhou Dynasty. A San felt they would have no legitimate casus belli, but the Protector Lord said with a sinister smile, "Don't we have one now?" That night, the Protector Lord sent people to infiltrate Ni Shang's palace.
They incapacitated the guards at the entrance, strangled Ni Shang to death while she was bathing, and then made it look like a suicide by hanging. The envoys hadn't even left, yet Ni Shang was dead. Ji Man, upon learning of the matter, was at a loss. Da Xi was awakened and pressed Ji Man about what had happened. To prevent Da Xi from worrying, Ji Man concealed Ni Shang's death.
During the morning court, A San led his men into the main hall, demanding to know Ni Shang's current situation and whereabouts. Ji Man realized that all of this was a trap set by the Queen Mother of the West Tribe, but because he had no evidence, he could not expose the conspiracy. However, Ji Man had not anticipated that overnight, multiple border strongholds would fall, and their soldiers would be routed.
The successive battle reports filled Ji Man with anxiety. The Queen Mother of the West Tribe repeatedly provoked them. To boost the morale of his warriors, Ji Man decided to personally lead the expedition. Although Ji Man had made up his mind, he didn't know how to tell Da Xi about it. He even considered keeping it a secret from her. Although Da Xi was usually carefree, at times like this, she could still understand Ji Man's anxiety.
She proactively brought up the matter, expressing that she understood his thoughts. Da Xi stated that she was willing to go on the expedition with Ji Man; even if the battlefield was unpredictable, she was willing to die alongside him on the battlefield. Ji Man emotionally embraced Da Xi. On the eve of the expedition, the Empress Dowager personally saw Ji Man off. Ji Man bid farewell to the Empress Dowager and led his army mightily towards the front lines.
Not long after the army departed, they were stopped by Shao Yong and Wushuang. It turned out that the two had heard about the border emergency while they were away and rushed back overnight to join the fight. Ji Man felt proud to have such generals and went to the battlefield with Shao Yong. Ji Man had not expected the situation of the border guards to be worse than he had imagined.
The Queen Mother of the West Tribe seemed to know all the border defense maps, which caused the border warriors to waver and contemplate retreat. Ji Man's passionate speech stirred the morale of everyone, and they all declared that they would stay at the border and live or die with the Great Zhou Dynasty.
