The aim could not be more true.
If the tree line is the wall and we are two arrow flights scarce,
true aim does not matter, does it?
We need to bring the engine closer.
Bring it closer, we will become pin cushions.
We need a longer arm.
Longer arm is bigger frame.
Bigger frame is giant wheel. Bigger rocks.
You are making me to build a monster.
You were the finest engine builder in Damascus, no?
Yes.
Then build me a monster.
The Cricket Minister comes this way.
His troops are mobilizing.
War is upon us once again.
Speak your decree, cousin. It will be done.
There's no need for decrees.
Or sermons to rouse.
We march...
before they do.
Go.
By your will, Sire.
And by the House of Ögödei, I will lead your tumens.
Praises, cousin.
You will ride with our tumens and my sons.
I name you commander of 1,000 men.
But I lead this assault.
You ride with the House of Kublai.
I am grateful for the honor, Khagan.
But hear me, please, cousin.
Twice my men and horses have ridden under your banner.
Twice my men...
and two sons have fallen to the Chinese.
If I do not lead this next assault...
my men will return north, and I with them.
Lord Kaidu, there's no need to rush.
Let him rush.
Let him rush home to be king of his ger village.
King of nomads and sheep.
You mock nomads?
You mock Genghis?
I mock cowards, no one else.
Confer with your astrologers, cousin.
Confer with your Chinese monks, your Taoist priests.
Look to your Muslim imams and all your prophets.
How goes the Latin's construction project?
My understanding from our engineers...
My engineers!
My understanding from your engineers is that it is a gamble.
- A fool's gamble! - Mind your treason!
Know this!
As you lead your sons back into the jaws of Sidao's China...
I will march north to Karakorum to defend the true Mongol capital.
No one asked you to make a decree,
yet you do so here before the throne of the Khan of Khans?
I do not need your horses, Kaidu!
I do not need your House of Ögödei!
Leave here.
You are forever banished.
Come with me.
When I have avenged my father, I will come and honor yours.
Look for me, Khutulun.
I will ride back with many captured horses.
Don't ride back with captured horses.
Just ride back.
Rise.
Great Emperor, Triumphant Chancellor.
The men of Suzhou are saddened by the passing of the Empress.
In honor of her memory, I pledge 5,000 men to the Song army.
The Governor of Suzhou. Very important man.
Richer in swordsmen than he is in porcelain.
And he has presented us with much porcelain in recent years.
Will 5,000 troops suffice?
No!
I will pledge 10,000 men, my Sovereign.
Ten thousand to the great Song dynasty.
His Benevolence is most pleased, Governor.
We thank you and pledge expansion of your domain
when the Mongol plague is removed.
Pillow low, quilt is warm,
body smooth and peaceful.
Sun shines on the door,
curtain not yet open.
Before bonds and agreements can be duly made,
a test of virtue must be witnessed.
If these royal matrons
witness no blood upon entry of the pigeon's egg,
it is deemed that the prospective bride has been defiled.
Pillow low, quilt is warm,
body smooth and peaceful.
The water flows, mind of its own.
The birds return to perch.
And when the test has been made, if the chosen has...
Enough, Judar.
Thus... when the blood is of proper nature,
the bride is proclaimed a virgin,
the pending marriage valid.
So be it.
Sorrow and happiness are the heresies of virtue, child.
As royalty, you understand such formality.
I can sit for a count of 10
before I start thinking of all the things yet undone.
How do Mongols raise their girl children?
You will never find a more civilized queen,
nor a more compassionate mother.
But she is still a Mongol.
And when it comes to protecting her Khan and empire,
she will do what needs to be done.
As will I...
for kindness shown to my child.
It is said that a nobleman once drowned himself
after a night in your bedchamber,
because there was nothing left to live for.
Tea house songs have a way of growing into fables.
There will be new songs sung about you, Mei Lin.
I hope not.
You now long for anonymity?
I think most do.
The drums would disagree.
Every set of beats tells of the Khan's mandate.
And what do they say this night?
War.
"Those skilled in warfare move the enemy, and are not moved by the enemy.
Get the enemy to approach by his own accord.
If he's at ease, exhaust him.
Well fed, starve him. Settled, move him."
I never knew you gave much merit to Sun Tzu's treatise on war.
I don't.
But the fat Mongol is trying to become Chinese.
Do not think for one moment
that he will not be consulting Sun Tzu's manual.
So, if he expects us to attack, why mobilize?
To draw the Mongols out. Kublai is sick with defeat.
When he hears we are mobilizing, he will return, weakened in numbers,
and by pride.
Will they work?
Every day we find the engines getting stronger...
Will they work?
By your will, Sire.
And I will be ready to stand with them.
We march whether they are ready or not.
Vice Regent Yusuf gave his life
to give you this opportunity. Remember that.
I will avenge my brothers who fell at Xiangyang.
And should I fail...
Should you fail, I will leave you as carrion on the battlefield.
I don't have much time before Judar finds me missing.
I need to know if you will follow me.
Follow you?
I am to be Prince Jingim's wife.
We must run. Now.
I cannot.
Is leaving here with me not your wish?
We run, as you say.
We make it past the guards, the gate, the mountains...
and praise our good fortune every day we awaken.
Because there will not be a single night in which we are fully certain
that a Mongol blade will not find us in our sleep.
There is nothing beyond those walls but doubt and fear.
All we can change is here... in this place.
And how do you propose to do that?
I must win this war for the Khan.
And you think he will give me to you?
Just like that?
It's the only way.
Do you desire a sip? I believe you need one.
I just need your good words.
In one of my darkest hours, cold and lost in the Wudang Mountains,
my life was saved by a small yellow bird.
How?
I caught it and ate it.
That is a terrible story, Sifu, in which I find no wisdom.
Your destiny is sealed by those machines.
When you march south,
if you take the wall, you will be lauded.
Should you fail,
there is no other soul to sacrifice in your place.
There will be no such march, Sifu.
Not for the Latin.
And when I return from Xiangyang,
he will be well on his way home to his thief father.
Defeat me now and you can fight in this war.
Lose... and you will ride for Venice at first light.
Enough.
Avoid me on the field.
Do you now desire that sip?
The Empress has warned me about you.
I am certain she has.
Do you think I would grant you an audience with the Blue Princess?
No. I have learned that lesson well.
Clearly not.
I leave tonight with the army.
But I will return.
I do not ask to see her.
All I ask is that you deliver something to her from me.
This...
is from the Silk Road...
a place I hope to show her one day.
The I Ching says this:
"Attempt to seize all of China and destruction will follow.
The Silk Road you once opened
will be overtaken by a black cloud from the West,
leaving nothing but weeds and nettles."
You speak any more poetry, Priest,
you'll be growing weeds and nettles out of your dung hole.
Mind your nature, husband.
Your Most Benevolent and Holy Khan, the I Ching tells no lies.
Return war to the South
and there may never be harmony
between the heavenly and primal.
You observe that?
He looked at you when he said "the heavenly."
Why conscript these priests and prophets into service
if you do not heed their words?
That priest is from South China.
How do we know he does not have grandchildren
behind those walls down there?
Hear me, Kublai.
You have only half the men and horses you had on the last march.
Kaidu has gone north.
Banished north.
Your men are tired, uncertain.
Another defeat will destroy the empire.
Proclaiming peace will not only preserve men, it will preserve face.
I care not about preserving face.
Preserving life, then. My husband's life, my son's life.
My war is with South China, not with my wife and Empress.
You know I heed your wisdom, but there's no more waiting!
This wall must break before me or I die trying!
There's nothing else!
Have you lit a fire?
- I have. - Light four more.
Each of us ignites five fires, every one man becomes many.
An art of my great-grandfather's.
War against the enemy's mind.
I fear my father is desperate to believe in your European war machines.
As am I.
- Will they work? - They must.
Is that how life works?
Kaidu did not ride with the Khan.
If we lose tomorrow, he will become Khan.
Of what?
There will be nothing left to rule when Chinese loyalty returns to Jia Sidao.
In truth, I fear what may happen should we win.
Please, sit.
What you did... defending me in front of your father and brother...
I can never repay you.
I simply spoke the truth.
The man you must truly repay can never collect his debt.
I must light my fires.
Set my trebuchets.
And test the Song wall.
Catapults. Tried and failed.
No, it's something else.
- Are the men prepared? - They are.
Then let the war begin.
Do you wish to give the order, Sire?
Fire!
More counterweight, Talib.
- Any more weight, the axle will... - More counterweight!
Enough!
- Again! - Again!
Take him to the tunnels. Wait for me there.
Teacher, I'm scared.
Do not fear the wolves of the steppe.
They are but wind howling in the night, rattling doors.
An emperor does not fear the thunder.
All you need is this.
I will come for you very soon.
Speak, boy.
It is going to be a long night. A long day will follow.
But it will be well worth it in the end.
It doesn't feel as it should.
Sire?
I should feel more joy.
When you are triumphant, happiness will come.
You're certain?
I am.
You will take the wall and open the gate to all China.
The dreams of your fathers will be realized.
As will your own.
I must return to the line.
Right, ready?
Left, ready?
Fire.
They've broken through, Chancellor.
All walls are built by men's hands and they crumble by them as well.
I will commend the Khan just prior to taking his head.
- Where is the breach? - East of the gate tower.
They will charge in their Mongol formations by units of 10.
Six of every 10 will be light archers.
The remaining four will be heavy lancers.
Are the fire lancers ready?
At your word, I give the command.
All horses to the breach.
Now.
Black powder! Sidao has black powder!
They've blocked the breach with spears of fire.
They're slaughtering our men!
Push through.
Prince Jingim has fallen, Great Khan.
Surround the Prince!
A round-eye?
What stake do you have in this fight?
Come down and surrender to your Khan.
Surrender the Song dynasty...
to a Mongol...
by order of a European.
You white devils... on the Silk Road...
grovel for the Khan's favor.
You have much to learn.
Chancellor.
Even a blind man can see that it is over.
May Song dynasty endure 10,000 more years.
Where's the boy?
Find him.
Auspicious that I didn't defeat you with my sword back in Cambulac.
Prince.
Our Khan will want to hear your account, Polo.
Then he will hear that his son fought like his great-grandfather, Genghis.
A Khan worthy of the throne.
Peace to you...
brother.
Kokachin.
Do you like it?
Liu Guandao, esteemed Song dynasty painter.
If you do not like it, you do not have to say so.
I find it...
exquisite.