Chapter 480

At the China Film Digital Base, Reba exuded authority while shooting in front of the green screen, yet there was no sign of the male lead Wu Jing.

Originally, to speed up filming progress, Jiang Heng divided the crew into Team A and Team B.

Jiang Heng led Team A in the digital soundstage, shooting the shots that required special-effects rendering.

Wu Jing then led Team B outdoors to shoot the shots concerning the modern plot, especially the military action scenes, which were entirely his responsibility.

Wu Jing, while delighted, also felt enormous pressure; he heard that after rushing to the outlying area not long, his mouth broke out in blisters.

Jiang Heng's side, however, was leisurely filming, occasionally handling company business, which was quite pleasant.

That day Du Huan came over and said that Zhang Yimou's new film was preparing to start shooting after National Day.

Jiang Heng laughed and said, "Great, I'm really looking forward to it!"

Perhaps due to an inexplicable fondness for Qin Shi Huang, Zhang Yimou's fantasy-effects epic still took the Qin dynasty as its subject.

It tells of the Qin king sweeping away the six directions, unifying the realm, after which many monsters suddenly appeared on the steppes, often marching south to harass the borders of the Qin.

These monsters were huge in size, extremely fast, feeding on the populace, and wreaking havoc in the northern borders.

The First Emperor naturally could not tolerate this, ordering Meng Tian to lead 300,000 troops northward; after paying a heavy price, they finally drove back the monster horde.

Therefore, the senior officials at court split into two factions: some thought they should station the large army there, while others believed they should strengthen defenses by building the Great Wall amid the towering mountains and steep ridges to block the monsters.

The First Emperor ultimately decided to build the Great Wall and sent his eldest son, Fu Su, north to oversee all affairs.

Several years later, the First Emperor fell ill and died while on a tour.

Li Si and Zhao Gao forged an edict to install Hu Hai, and at the same time sent emissaries to deliver a letter to Fu Su ordering him to commit suicide.

Fu Su naturally could see the letter was fake, and he consulted his trusted generals. The soldiers all declared their willingness to follow Fu Su back to Xianyang to seize the throne.

Unexpectedly, an unprecedented monster tide surged. Fu Su faced two choices: leading the army back to Jingcheng, which risked being pursued and slaughtered by monsters that had breached the Great Wall, resulting in a disastrous defeat for the army.

But the greatest likelihood was actually that the monster horde ravaged the north, leaving the land silent for miles—no rooster crowing.

After all, these monsters feed on the populace; they move south to find food, not to wage war.

Which is easier to capture, the Qin army or the civilians? Or is it clear-cut?

Having spent many years in the north, Fu Su knew all this. If he abandoned the Great Wall defense and gave up the nearby populace, he had a high probability of returning to Jingcheng and ascending that supreme throne, for the elite, most combat-effective troops of the empire were stationed here.

But when he thought back to when he first arrived here, seeing the monsters' rampage and the people's miserable plight, he could not bring himself to be that ruthless.

In the end, Fu Su decided to lead the army in holding the Great Wall line, resisting the monster horde.

After his decision was announced, the soldiers fell silent for a moment, then burst forth with a thunderous cheer.

Because they had garrisoned the border for too long, many soldiers had made this place their home; some were even conscripted locally.

If Fu Su led the army back to Xianyang, it would mean their families would be devoured by the monsters! With the decision made, they united as one; the 300,000 Qin troops relied on the Great Wall line and engaged in a death‑to‑death battle with the monster horde.

Because there was a king commanding the monsters, this attack was fiercer than any before, and many Qin generals fell in battle.

Fu Su and Meng Tian also suffered grave wounds, but in the end they still slew the beast king and wiped out the vast majority of the monsters.

On his deathbed, Meng Tian asked Fu Su, "Your Highness, do you have no regrets?"

Fu Su replied: "My father poured forth the legacy of six generations, unified the realm, and brought peace within the seas. I can annihilate the monsters, protect the northern populace, and keep the Qin safe—no regrets!" The ending is that Fu Su and Meng Tian both died from their wounds and illness, and the Qin fell a few years later in a great rebellion. The whole story was polished by Zhang Yimou and his writing team; the fictional tale blends with history, and its core remains the principle of sacrificing oneself for the world.

In this, Fu Su is absolutely the male lead.

Zhang Yimou picked the obscure Huang Xuan, feeling his temperament suited people's image of Fu Su.

Speaking of these two, they had known each other since the time of *Curse of the Golden Flower*.

Because Zhang Yimou originally chose him to play the 19‑year‑old little prince, but under Zhang Weiping's arrangements, Jay Chou joined the cast and the little prince was changed to 14 years old, causing Huang Xuan to be cruelly eliminated.

Zhang Yimou felt some regret about this; now that a suitable role existed, he naturally thought of Huang Xuan first and recommended him to Jiang Heng.

Besides the male and female leads, the remaining roles in the film are all played by well‑known veteran actors from the industry.

With Zhang Yimou's influence, finding actors is naturally effortless.

Seeing that preparations in all aspects were roughly complete, and that Huang Xuan, Yang Mi, and others had solid action‑scene foundations, they decided to start shooting early.

Jiang Heng had no objection to this.

He merely told Du Huan to pay attention to filming safety and absolutely avoid any accidents.

Secondly, regarding the filming budget, he urged to avoid overspending as much as possible.

Du Huan chuckled, "Don't worry, I and Lao Mouzi are not big spenders!"

Jiang Heng nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Du Huan then said, "That handsome Wang Changtian has been heavily promoting *Lost in Hong Kong*; don't you think we should do something about it?"

Jiang Heng laughed, "Of course—the rights to the *Lost in Transit* series are in our hands; Xu Zheng this kid didn't even say hello, teamed up with Old Wang to make a *Lost in Hong Kong*, and if there's no reaction at all, then later infringement issues will only multiply!"

Du Huan nodded, feeling the same, "Then what about the scheduling?"

Jiang Heng waved his hand, "No need for that—scheduling data is crystal clear, totally obvious!"

Later, when they complain to the media, accusing us of bullying the small and suppressing them, that would look bad!

"Hmm, that's true—we haven't done anything, yet many people are constantly crying online, claiming we're suppressing them in every way; what about this then?"

Jiang Heng laughed, "Easy enough—we'll arrange people to make an article out of the film's reputation!"

Du Huan's eyes lit up, "You mean his film might be of poor quality?"

Jiang Heng nodded, "Lost in Transit indeed reflects some realities of the difficulty of getting home during the Spring Festival travel rush; Lost in Thailand, too, counts as taking a different path, showcasing Thai style. Lost in Hong Kong—just that little place, what could possibly go wrong on the road there?"

Du Huan nodded and laughed, "Don't say his film might be bad; even if it's good, public opinion can be melted down and its reputation possibly crushed—rest assured!"

After chatting a while longer, Du Huan hurried off, and Reba came over.

"What's up, in a rush to shoot?"

"No, I saw it's too hot today, so I bought some cold drinks for the crew; this is for you!" Having said that, she handed over a cup.

Jiang Heng laughed as he took it, sucked through the straw, and indeed felt much cooler; he told Reba, "Not bad, thoughtful!"

Reba gave a simple smile, "I just felt everyone's filming was hard, so I wanted to help improve things a bit!" (End of chapter)