笳聲吹斷漢皇情

漢元帝選妃，按例由畫師為佳麗繪畫丹青，供漢帝挑選。佳麗紛紛賄賂畫師毛延壽，望能中選。王昭君卻不屑賄賂毛氏，他憤而將丹青塗污，令昭君被打入冷宮。後元帝偶遇昭君，驚為天人，瞭解原委後即下令緝拿毛延壽，並冊封昭君為妃。毛氏喬裝逃至塞外，向胡王呈昭君畫像。胡王慕昭君美色，前來向元帝討親不果，要脅進攻漢土。漢將文龍與胡王交戰不敵，皇城告急，胡王下令元帝於十日內獻出昭君。元帝矛盾不已，昭君寧願為國犧牲，忍辱和番。元帝忍痛命文龍護昭君過江，昭君曉以大義，望文龍勸元帝切勿妄動干戈。昭君其後到達大漠，請求胡王答允三件事，包括處死佞臣毛延壽。最後昭君投江自盡，其屍首竟逆水流回漢邦，眾人無不肅然起敬。

The Emperor’s Lost Love/ Blowing Away the Han Emperor’s Love

When the Yuan emperor of the Han dynasty begins looking for concubines, it is customary for the court portraitist, Mao Yanshao, to prepare pictures of the candidates. It is likewise customary for the candidates to give bribes to the portraitist in exchange for proper representation. Refusing to comply, Wang Zhaojun, a spectacularly beautiful candidate, is sent to the palace for disfavored concubines when the artist smudges her portrait. When the emperor eventually discovers this neglected beauty, he is awestruck. Finding out that she was sabotaged, he orders Mao to be arrested and calls for the reinstatement of Wang.

The fugitive portraitist reaches barbarian land and offers their king this time an accurate portrait of Wang. The king asks the emperor for the beauty. Met with refusal, the king invades Han land and defeats WenLong, the defending general. Alarms sound at the capital when the invader demands that the woman be handed over within ten days.

While the emperor finds himself in a quandary, Wang expresses her wish to make a sacrifice for the country by going to the barbarian king. Reluctantly, the emperor orders Wen Long to escort her across the river. With a cautionary reminder for the emperor to refrain from starting a war lightly, Wang departs. Once on the king’s turf, the beauty beseeches him for three favors, the first of which is to execute Mao, the portraitist. In the end, the beauty kills herself and her body drifts upstream into Han territory, where she has earned her countrymen’s solemn respect.