Ezekiel made some good point but i believe he got confused about the part about general fan. because general fan actually did abandoned king of Qin after witness his increasing cruelity and twistness, he has no intention to help king of qin and agrees with lady zhao that such a vicious tyrant needs to be removed thats why he didnt hesisate to gave his life in order for the real assasination (not the planned assinasin) to successed, you might ask if he wanted king of Qin dead why is he still loyal to him and kept his secret upon death? it might be hard for most modern minds to understand or believe now, but back in those days loyalty and honour are firmly planted in people's mind, especially general fan has served king of qin for all his life so he is conflicted by what he was taught to do and what his conscience requires him to do, at the end he chose to aid Jing Ke to assasin the king to prevent further tragic deaths, but his rooted royality also made him feel guilty about such betrayal thats why he wasnt hesitate to give his life away, both to assist the assasination AND repent his crime of betrayal by his own death, and it was a code of honour to not break a gentleman's promise once it was made, so even upon the death he could not and would not shame his last bit of respect by spill the king's secret....
by the way, this whole event was actually recorded in the chinese history so it wasnt made up by the director, and let me tell you another historical tale happened during that warring states period- a politic refugee named Wu Zixu escapes from his state pursued by the soldiers and was blocked by a river, a fisherman learnt of his tragic story and was kind enough to sail him across, after they got to the other side, Wu tried to gave him money as repayment but the fisherman refused, then Wu Zixu asked him not to tell anyone that he came this way in case the soldiers follows up, the fisherman pomised right away, upon departure, Wu still feeling unsecure and reminded the fisherman again and again, the fisherman felt his honour and pride has being insulted because Wu didnt believe his words, so he drawn Wu's sword and cutted his own throat, to prove to Wu that his promise wasnt a lie also cleanse his honour by death....
yea very extreme eh? but thats how it was back in those days, people places honour pride and respect above everything else including their own lifes, thats why Jing ke went ahead with the assasination even though he knew he would die wither success or fail, and thats why the Zhao kingdom would rather all their children dead than let them become slaves of Qin. it might be hard for our modern minds to swallow but thats how it was, and with all due respect, for them..... ^^
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