PeachBlossomGoddess

No I initially thought the monk was part of Tongmenghui but it now looks like he works for Prince Qi. I think he is a remnant of South Shaolin temple and he has been tracking the three treasure hunters probably bc Prince Qi doesn't fully trust ZBF. He saves WJL bc he recognizes he has some talent and may be helpful in locating the treasure. He is also helping to recruit him to Prince Qi/Beiyang Army side.

The fisherman is Yuan Shikai who leads the Beiyang army and is in Prince Qi's faction. He ends up being the first President of the Republic of China but he is not remembered well in history bc he became a dictator and a joke when he crowned himself emperor. History does not record him as a Chinese emperor bc he had no blood claim and China was already a republic when he did that.

She is toxic and resentful of what ZBF did to her. She guilts him all the time and will never let go her grievances. Her methods are unnecessarily vicious and cruel - i.e. Tan Xian. ZBF can do a lot better.

He is one of a few directors whose movies I will rewatch.👍

This period is always about that unfair fight and usually ends badly.

ZBF is just as outdated bc guns ended the time of sects and young people are joining Sun Wen’s movement in swarms and not outdated sects. I have a bad feeling that the whole build up about them all being made obsolete is bc they will all die in one big heroic act. As for his Shiniang she is a very nasty person I hope she gets killed off by her own bugs.

WJL disrespects MSD bc he sees MSD as an overrated imperial guard who no longer has an emperor to protect.

MSD sees WJL as a pedantic scholar turned guard that is still upholding the Qing Code after it has effectively been abolished with the imperial exams.

They are in reality both no longer relevant which is what each sees in the other but can’t see in themselves.

But the worst most delusional moment is ZBF and MSD’s mutual admiration bc so what if they are both top swordsmen? It doesn’t mean jack shit in the age of guns. And looks like WJL is gonna get himself one quite soon and that will be the last time ZBF gets close enough to stab him ever again.

Inglorious Bastards is one of my favorite movies for that reason.

The unidentified fat fisherman should be Yuan Shikai. His hobbies were fishing and poetry and he controlled the Beiyang army.

Of course if Sun Wen or Yuan Shikai pop up they have to be accurate y depicted like Guangxu emperor was. But in any case Lucky would be too young to be him.

It’s just speculation that is who he is loosely modeled on. It’s quite common to do that in these stories to design fictional characters based on real ones around the same time. Like Prince Qi is most likely based on Prince Gong but the timelines don’t match either (he died a few years before 1911) who had an overseas educated daughter a princess of the first rank.

I think my grandpa met him around the time he moved the HQ of Tongmenghui and his family to Penang in 1910. As for the drama they could be taking some small liberties with timelines and characters as it is historical fiction.

Revolutions cost lots of money.

Her preposterous achievements are terrific and what makes ir so addictive! Ty for reading and I am glad you enjoyed the drama so much.😀

No in what was called Malaya at the time. Sun Wen spent most of his time outside of China before the Qing dynasty fell bc he was a wanted man in China. My grandpa was also tortured by the Japanese during the war.

Yeah small donor only he was a village headman and active in the overseas Chinese community.

It kind of makes sense bc it accumulated when Qing was rich and powerful and they didn’t care about it then bc they had so much but the dynasty fell on hard times and is so desperate they are trying to recover a treasure that may not even exist. The Southern Shaolin temple is a myth there is no proof it ever even existed.

I guess it must be some treasure! I wonder how these poor monks managed to accumulate such mass wealth but I guess it was from the pinnacle of Qing dynasty Kangxi emperor times.

Money was very important to his movement so he raised money for his cause far and wide. My grandpa like many overseas Chinese was a donor and met him at one of his fundraisers. That said the drama may avoid ever directly identifying him as Sun Wen bc of censorship wrt depiction of historical figures.

Looks like that is where this is going.

I have a feeling Lucky is Sun Wen himself. The one stain on Sun Wen is he had a big thing for teenaged girls. I think one of his wives or concubines was a 15 year old Japanese girl. So if you remember the scene MSD walking in on him with a prostitute as he was asking her age and she said 15.