Kingdom of Conquerors Page #4

---

Great Khan, you come from...

a land of plentiful sunlight

and little water.

You are not in the habit of bathing.

You killed and conquered...

without even the time

to clean yourselves.

This is unhealthy.

On the way here,

I saw many bodies unburied and rotting.

As such,

plague is bound to develop.

How do you recommend we stop it?

Have your soldiers bathe

and wash their clothes.

Water purifies all things.

I suggest this.

Distribute these herbs to you men.

In five days,

the plague will begin to recede.

Water is a divine gift

from the Creator...

to the Mongolian people...

that sustains and nourishes all life.

It must be treated with respect.

Yes, you speak the truth.

Great Khan,

water is a gift from heaven.

It is a gift that sustains

and nourishes us.

It is the softest

and gentlest substance that exists.

Water washes away stains.

It washes away illness and pestilence.

The highest virtue imitates water.

All know...

how you treasure

the lives of your soldiers,

so your virtue certainly

must afford water its own.

Tell me, Saint,

is this how your Way preserves life?

And sanitation, Great Khan.

We lose nothing by trying.

I suspected that you would not have

any immortality potions.

If immortality medicine did exist,

I would've already sipped tea

made from it

with Qun Shi Huang

and Emperor Han Wu.

But if you know it is not real,

then why did you travel

so far to see me?

I could not turn down

your invitation.

And if I remember correctly,

nothing in your invitation,

Great Khan,

mentioned immortality potion.

Long Beard, is that true?

I wrote it as instructed,

so yes, it's true.

I have also heard

that you were invited

to pay a visit to the Jin

and Song courts by their kings.

They cared only whether

they lived or died.

They showed no concern

for their people.

This violates the Way,

so heaven forbade me.

How do you know the will of heaven?

If one respects heaven, one never,

not even for a moment,

forgets one's awe of it.

The King of Heaven holds me up

and sends me signs to tell me

what should and should not be done.

I was invited here by you

because heaven has a task for me,

no matter how far I would come.

Prepare the needle.

Even if you treat me, they will kill me.

Why do you waste your time?

Because life...

is like the blooming

and the withering of a flower.

It can disappear at any moment.

Even if you die tomorrow,

I can lessen your pain today.

That much I can do.

Why did you save me?!

Would you rather see me die

in their suicide squads?

I don't want to live!

Let me die!

Reclaim your heart from the child.

Tomorrow I will take you hunting.

I know how much you enjoy that.

After half a year,

Qiu Chuji had established himself

and was entirely at home in the camp.

He often spoke of everything

in the world having life and a soul.

He even spoke

of his walking stick this way.

And one day,

I went hunting with the Great Khan

and told him the Master's words.

I was told that you

predicted today's eclipse.

Ah, and yet my knowledge

of astronomy is humbled

by that of Yelv Chucai.

You truly are a saint.

I meant no jest, Great Khan.

We Mongolians grow up

on the backs of horses.

We couldn't be thrown in our sleep.

What happened today

was very unusual.

But what's even more strange

is that a scared animal

normally takes a man's life.

That boar came right up to me,

but it didn't even touch me.

The King of Heaven

protected you in that forest.

He did not allow the boar

to harm you.

- Why would he do that for me?

- Not hurting or killing...

is the nature of all things.

And heaven wanted

to tell you, Great Khan...

that by taking fewer lives,

you can extend your own life.

And you've come all this way

just to tell me that?

Heaven rejoices...

In mercy.

But heaven?

Heaven despises death.

Great Khan,

if you obey the will of heaven,

heaven will certainly reward you.

And you're speaking

of Tengri the Blue Sky?

Exactly.

I'm speaking of the same heaven

that Tengri inhabits.

I believe what you are saying.

And yet I have my share of enemies

and they must be punished.

There.

No bones were broken.

You should be back to walking normally

within three days.

I named you Saint

because you are indeed a saint.

You extend heaven's gift of life,

and you cure me of all my injuries.

How should I thank you?

Stop killing.

I'm going to get you out.

They put me in their shaer army.

They make them charge

headlong into city walls.

They get to live if-- if we survive.

They're beheaded if they retreat.

I'm a prisoner and I'm going to die.

But it's enough

that I see you one last time.

I'm going to avenge your death.

I will die with you.

Otrar agrees to surrender,

but the treasure and livestock

that they promised to send

has not arrived.

Some think they agreed

to surrender to buy time

to recruit more men

to fight you, Father.

Stop delaying.

Allow us to attack the city.

We've only just seen

an improvement in the plague

and the soldiers are very homesick.

Attacking Otrar now may be...

It may be overly hasty.

Wipe Otrar off the face of the earth.

Prepare for battle!

Prepare for battle!

Son! Son! Answer me!

Son!

Oh, son.

Doctor! Get the doctor over here!

Doctor!

- Son.

- Doctor, get the doctor!

The Great Khan won't eat or drink

and hasn't emerged

for one day and night.

No one may disturb him.

Do not worry.

I won't go in.

I'm here to say goodbye.

I didn't bring any immortality pills.

I traveled 39,000 Ii

to see the Great Khan.

All for nothing.

So I should go.

I am such a fool.

At 19, I began learning

from Wang Chongyang

and spent 19 bitter years

attaining enlightenment.

And now... I'm 74,

an old useless man.

I'm a disappointment

to the Great Khan.

We mortals have short lives...

to walk long paths.

And we can demand nothing at all.

Before I left,

I cast my fortunes and...

I saw I had less

than 300 days to live.

The truth, Great Khan,

is that I did not know

if I would finish the journey alive.

I did not know

if I would get to meet you.

My apprentice,

he made a coffin

that was meant for me.

And he died on the way...

saving my life.

He was my best student.

And he did not want me to come...

but he couldn't stop me

and I couldn't stop myself.

Because day after day,

day after day,

I felt like there was...

a force pushing me to come here.

I believed that force was...

heaven keeping me alive...

and bringing me to meet you.

But the mercy of heaven

was wasted on me.

And if I cannot convince

the Great Khan

to stop killing,

what is one more life saved

but good fortune?

And things under heaven

live and die.

And the Way, it is everlasting.

It carries men's hearts.

Great Khan!

Your Eternal creator Tengri

and my Lord of Heaven

are one and the same!

Both of them treasure life

and they abhor death!

General Liu,

we've traveled a long way together.

You-- you understand my words.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes