Secret Battle of the Majesties

Production: ATV series, 1994

Episodes: 2 parts, 30 episodes each

Cast:
Kwong wah as Prince no. 4, Yung Cheng
Erica Choi as Miu Yan (Miu Fei)
Annie man as Princess Kong hui
Yan Chi Keung as Prince no. 14, prince no. 4's blood brother
Kent tong as the monk, Man Kit
(I don't know most of ATV actors/actresses's name so this is the best I can do)

Warning: Be prepared for a lengthy review!! Spoilers ahead

The storyline: The series is set during the Ching Dynasty, during Hong Hei's reign for the first part and Yong Zheng's reign in the second part. The first part of the story concentrates on the fight among princes to get the throne. Also, the first part portrays the transition of prince no. 4 from a good prince to an evil son. The story began with the hunting festival. Prince no.4 refused to give a hunted fox to the crown prince, prince no.2. Because of this, Prince no.2 tricked him to unintentionally rape a Han peasant, Miu Yan. Then prince no. 2 sent murderers to kill her and her father (fortunately, Man the monk saved her just in time). The king is really angry and arrested him for quite some time under prince no.2's control.

Prince no.4 met Nin Kang Yew, who will be his best friend and most loyal general later on. Nin Kang Yew is the best war strategist and also good at kungfu but Prince no. 2 envied his ability so he didn't use him properly. So Prince no.4 and Nin became friends during their hard times. Prince no. 2 planned to overthrow Hong Hei but failed desperately as Prince no.4 sent Nin to inform Prince no.14 and prevent this event. Why did Prince no. 2 tried to overthrow the king even though he's the crown prince? Simply because he can't wait to be the king. Stupid man, isn't he? Because of this event, prince no.2 is arrested and prince no.14 became Hong Hei's new favorite son - biased father, right?

Prince no.4 is only set free. He then tried to look for Miu Yan. However, he can find only his son from Miu Yan (some villagers tried to kill Miu Yan and her son so they were separated). He brought his son back to the palace and the king was really angry with him again. Prince no.4 had to leave the palace in exchange with having his son grow up in the palace. His mother, Tak Fei, suggested that that he visit his grandpa, who became a monk after the death of his favorite concubine, at Mt. Ng Tai. He gained his grandpa's favor and got the letter recommending him to inherit the throne before the death of his grandpa (He used some tricks suggested by his advisor though).

Then he went back to the palace and the two monks (Sin and Man) became his followers. The trip is not smooth though, prince no. 8 and co and prince no. 1 tried to assassinate him and steal his letter. However, Hong Hei refused to let him be the crown prince but promoted him to Duke instead. Later, Lung the minister set a dirty plan to blame prince no. 1 that he used black magic to cause prince no. 2 to become crazy and tried to overthrow his father. Hong Hei believed this stupid claim so he promoted prince no. 2 to the crown prince again and arrested prince no. 1.

Prince no. 4 used Lan Yu Fong to seduce prince no. 2 and poisoned him to become crazy. Hong Hei then decided to give the throne to prince no. 14. Knowing this, Prince no. 4 raped Su Lan (later became the empress), Lung's daughter and Prince no. 14 girlfriend's, to get the assistance from Lung. He also accidentally killed Miu Yan's father to get his powerful weapon. Prince no. 4 then killed his father and changed the will to get the throne.

The second part revolves around how princes and ministers try to overthrow Yong Zheng's reign and their ultimate ending. First, Prince no.14, together with no.13, no.8-10, tried to overthrow him using his army and Duke Yee Sin's army (Annie Man's father). However, Prince no.14 can't really believe that his own blood brother killed his father so they left the army to Yee Sin's follower and went back to palace to examine Hong Hei's body. Prince no. 14 found out that his father was murdered and was about to kill Yong Zheng but failed. In the meantime, Nin persuaded Yee Sin's follower to betray his boss so they failed to overthrow Yong Zheng.

Yong Zheng decided to set free all of princes except prince no. 14. He was arrested at Hong Hei's funeral. After that, Prince no. 8, 9, 10 and 13 tried to overthrow again. Thanks to prince no. 1, Yong Zheng knew their plan and they failed miserably. Prince no. 13 can escape but other princes were paraded on the streets and people lynched them to their death. Then prince no. 14 pretended that he was sick so Yong Zheng released him to Mt. Lu. Prince no. 14, together with Prince no. 13, Lung the minister (the empress's father), Man the monk, and some other generals planned to overthrow Yong Zheng. Thanks to Miu Yan's help, Yong Zheng caught them all.

Prince no.13 is killed by Sin the monk, Lung, Prince no. 14 and the empress drank the poisoned wine, offered by Yong Zheng. However, before her death, the empress told Miu Yan that Yong Zheng raped her and such so Miu Fei tried to seek the truth. To uncover this truth, Tai Fu is offered poisoned wine as well but he sent the letter telling everything to Miu Yan before his death. Miu Yan then tried to assassinate Yong Zheng but failed. She's arrested and later harmed seriously by Nin, thinking that she caused the king to ignore his country. Miu Yan was unconscious for a long time. Nin is then offered poisoned wine. Before his death, Yong Zheng promised that he'll be a good king. Six years later, Miu Yan regained her consciousness and tried to kill Yong Zheng but couldn't. Yong Zheng then put her sword to kill himself. Literally, he committed suicide. The end.

Characters:
Hong Hei
I know that Hong Hei is the great and popular king according to real history, however, in this series, he is a very biased king. No matter how bad prince no.2 was, he always loved and forgave prince no. 2. However, he will punish Prince no.4 even if he only made a minor mistake (like bringing his own son to the palace), unfair huh? He rejected giving the throne to prince no.4 even though prince no.4 had his grandpa's will. When Hong Hei burnt grandpa's letter, you can see Prince no.4's anger and sadness and you know something bad was going happen in the future. Prince no.4 might be an unfilial son but Hong Hei is a truly biased father.

Acting wise, Hong Hei is played by a veteran actor whose face is so familiar to me but I can't recognize his name. He did well all along. He suited the biased king's role perfectly and he can portray his love toward prince no. 2 and no. 14.
Rating : 4.5/5

Prince no. 2
He's the crown prince simply because he's the most favorite son, born from Hong Hei's beloved empress. He's evil, ruthless, scum, too arrogant, etc. He murdered, raped, looked down, tried to overthrow his father even though he's the crown prince, yet his father still loved him so dearly. Blind man huh! When he became crazy, I think all viewers are happy. He deserved this ending the most.

On acting wise, I don't know this actor's name but he portrayed the ruthless prince quite well. I saw his arrogance in his eyes. He overacted sometimes but overall is ok. He had very limited screentime though.
Rating: 3.5/5

Prince no. 4
He's a good guy in the beginning, a bit arrogant and hot-tempered but good. See, he's so sweet to Miu Yan the first time they met and he felt really guilty when he did rape her. He tried so hard to protect his father from prince no.2. He nearly could not lie his grandpa to get the throne. But he faced many events and changed to ruthless, unfilial and evil man.

The turning point of his character:
Two points I must say, the first one is when he went back from his father's room, knowing that he's promoted to duke, not crown prince even though he had his grandpa's will. At that time, his beloved stepmom is dying, thinking that he's already the crown prince. Therefore, he vowed to get the throne no matter how. The second one is when prince no.2 became the crown prince again, he forced prince no. 4 to drink his piss. After that, he became the man who can do anything to get the throne.

Is he evil? Yes, but he is a good king, isn't he? (at least in this series). Is he the most evil guy in this series? I beg to differ. He might have used many dirty plans but other princes used dirty plans (or worse than that) as well. Prince no. 1 and 8 tried to kill him several times. Prince no. 14 pretended to be sick, knowing that his brother will set him free (meaning that prince no.4's still kind-hearted, right). He might kill many many people but almost all of them tried to kill him first. You don't expect him to sit and do nothing when others tried to threaten and kill him, right. The hate factor comes from killing his two loyal followers, Tai Fu and Nin Kang Yew though. These two didn't deserve to die. Blame Miu Yan for the death of these two faithful follwers. Is he unfilial? Yes but his parents are really biased. No matter how good he did, compliments and rewards always belong to other princes. Anyway, his love is real. He really loved Miu Yan and his son. This is the positive side and all viewers forgave him in the end.

Kwong Wah as Prince no. 4 aka. Yong Zheng
One word, Excellent!! I swear this is his best performance ever. He can portray good-turn-evil prince really well. His eyes, body language, the way he talked, walked just suit his role really well. In one scene he heard his mother tell his blood brother how to overthrow him. He just stood and his eyes can tell you how sad and angry he is. I think Kwong Wah is very good at portraying grey characters like these. Unfortunately, he's never gotten this type of role again from TVB. So this is the peak of his career, I daresay.
Rating : 5/5

Prince no. 8
The scheming prince who thought he could be the crown prince. He got assistance from prince no. 9 and 10 and some ministers. However, he lost to king's beloved son, prince no. 2.

On acting wise, this actor portrayed his character quite well. He looked calm, yet cunning which suited his character perfectly huh!.
Rating: 4/5

Prince no. 14
Prince no.4's blood brother. He's the most kind-hearted prince. In the beginning, he is the only prince trying to persuade his father to give the throne to prince no. 4. Sadly, prince no.4 didn't support him in return. He's a man of dignity but he's too kind-hearted to be the king. That's why he lost his girlfriend, throne, and eventually his life to his brother. Some might feel that he didn't deserve his tragic end but I beg to differ. He should know that his brother is a good king and he should stop when his first attempt to overthrow was unsuccessful. The second attempt is kind of stupid in my opinion, and he didn't even think about his people. He just wanted to overthrow and revenge for his father and mom, that's it. What about his people? They want to live peacefully, right?

Yan Chi Keung as Prince no. 14
I saw him in "Who is the Winner III" before and I think he overacted at that time. Again, in this series I still felt that he overacted sometimes, especially his crying scene.
Rating: 3.5/5

Nin Kang Yew
The most loyal follower of Prince no. 4. Why? Because prince no. 4 gave him a chance to show his ability and then used all of his savings to buy a position for him. After that, he vowed to be loyal to prince no. 4, no matter what. He even killed his own sister to protect Yong Zheng. He always pointed out Yong Zheng's mistakes and Yong Zheng always listened to his suggestions until Nin harmed his beloved Miu Yan. Nin should know that harming Miu Yan is something more than the King can accept. However, he's loyal to the king and willing to accept his death. His death scene is the most touching scene in this series!

On acting wise, again I don't know his name but his righteous look suits his role quite well. His friendship with Kwong Wah is the most touching moment in this series, in my opinion. They fought together during their hard times and they encouraged each other. It is so sad when Yong Zheng offered poisoned wine for Nin.
Rating : 4.5/5

Man Kit, the monk
He is a monk but he is not really a monk, confused huh? Well, basically he was forced to be a monk to protect Hong Hei's father only. So when he met Miu Yan, he had fell in love with her. I think Miu Yan's never loved him but she wanted to thank him, that's why she accepted him for some period of time and finally found out that she only loved Prince no. 4. He is a man with principle and dignity that's why he helped Prince no. 4 at first and left him when he found out that prince no. 4 became scheming and evil. But you might think that he, in fact, envied prince no. 4 since he had his beloved Miu Yan ha! He helped prince no.14 after that.

At last, he tried to assassinate Yong Zheng but failed and died.

Kent Tong as the monk
This is the second time I saw Kent played a good guy (the first time is "Demi Gods Semi Devils 1982"). He is very talented actor. Sadly, he always portrayed evil guys again and again. He looked so compatible with this righteous monk. Unfortunately, he has no chemistry with both Erica Choi and Annie Man. Kind of too old for both. Also, I think he gained some weight.
Rating: 4.5/5

Miu Yan
She's only a Han peasant at first. I think she developed some feelings the first time she met Prince no. 4 but, because he raped her and she misunderstood that he killed her father, she vowed to kill him. Then she knew the truth and accepted him, only to know that this man became evil. Quite sad huh. But she should know that regardless of how he treated others, he really loved her.

Erica Chois as Miu Yan
She overacted a bit at first when she portrayed naive Miu Yan but she looked much more comfortable as a girl with full of vengeance. She is good in crying scenes as usual. Overall, I think her acting is good.
Rating: 4/5

Princess Gong Hui
I think that her role is quite irrelevant in the series. She loves Man Kit but he's never loved her back. He accepted her at the end but that's because he thanked her for the many sacrifices she made for him.

Annie Man
She looked compatible with this energetic role as usual. She always gets this kind of role because of her looks, I think. The problem is that she has no chemistry with Kent Tong at all. She looked like his sister in this series.
Rating: 4/5

My verdict:
The most touching scene:
- The death of Nin Kang Yew
- The ending
- When prince no. 2 forced prince no. 4 to drink his piss, look at prince no.4's angst and sadness.
- When Tak Fei told prince no. 14 how to win prince no. 4, look at prince no. 4's face , so touching
- When Hong Hei burnt his father's letter, you can see, again prince no.4's angst. He didn't say any word but his eyes told you all of his feelings.

My favorite characters:
- Prince no. 4, this is his story anyway huh!
- Nin Kang Yew
- Tai Fu, he's clever till his end!

My least favorite characters:
- Evil prince no. 2
- Biased Hong Hei

My favorite actors/actresses:
Kwong Wah, of course

Best chemistry:
Yong Zheng and Miu Yan. I think Kwong wah and Erica are compatible since I watched "Return to the Truth". This series proves my opinion!

Other couples lack chemistry, so not worth mentioning.

My final opinion:
This is must-watch series! The production and costumes might be a bit lousy compared with TVB but the storyline is great. Acting is superb in this series, especially Kwong Wah! If you are Kwong Wah's fan, you must watch this series. It's the best role he's ever gotten. In my opinion, this is the best historical drama so far.