Golden flowers fill the imperial pa

Golden flowers fill the imperial palace on the eve of Zhong Yang. The Emperor (Chow Yun-fat) returns from his campaign with his second son, Prince Jai (Jay Chou), in order to celebrate with his family.

For three years, the Empress (Gong Li) has had an affair with her stepson, Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), who was born from the Emperor's first wife. Crown Prince Wan is not interested in the throne and wishes to run away with his secret lover, Jiang Chan (Li Man), the daughter of the Imperial Doctor. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the Emperess's first son, becomes worried over the Empress's ill health and wonders why she has an attraction to golden flowers. The Empress reveals that she is planning to overthrow the Emperor, who has been poisoning her. Prince Jai agrees to lead the Empress's soldiers.

The Empress hires a mysterious woman to find out the poison's species. She is successful and reveals that it is Persian Black Fungus, but right after, Crown Prince Wan captures the woman and takes her to the Emperor. The woman identifies herself as Jiang Shi (Chen Jin), the wife of the Imperial Doctor and the former wife of the Emperor. Before ascending to the throne, the Emperor had her and her family assassinated and she was left for dead years ago and now hates the Emperor's regime. The Emperor decides not to punish her and she reunites with her husband and daughter. The Emperor also decides to promote the doctor to governor of the nearby province of Suzhou, so the doctor and his family pack their things and set out.

Crown Prince Wan is sad that the doctor's daughter is leaving. He runs after their convoy and speaks to her, and learns that the Empress has woven ten thousands of scarves adorned with chrysanthemum motifs, sending them to a general of the imperial army afterwards. Fearing that this might mark the beginning of some conspiracy, Wan hurries back to the palace and confronts the Empress, who confesses that she is planning a coup d'état. Out of shock and anguish, Crown Prince Wan stabs himself with a dagger and is placed under care.

The doctor's family is betrayed and attacked by the Emperor's assassins. His servants and soldiers loyally try to fight them, but the doctor is killed. The doctor's wife and daughter flee on horseback and head for the palace. When the two of them arrive at the palace, they interrupt the Chrysanthemum ceremony and demand that the Emperor answer why he wants them killed. The Emperor is reluctant to answer, and the Empress interrupts and reveals to everyone that the doctor's wife is the same woman who bore Crown Prince Wan, which means that the doctor's daughter and Crown Prince Wan were half-siblings all this time. The doctor's daughter screams upon hearing this and flees the palace, where she and her mother are promptly cut down by more assassins.

Suddenly, the youngest son, Prince Yu, abruptly kills Crown Prince Wan with a sword, and he summons a group of his own soldiers to kill the Emperor and take the throne. He reveals that he knew about the Empress's affair and has been planning to supplant the Emperor. However, more of the Emperor's assassins descend from the ceiling and easily kill Prince Yu's soldiers. The Empress simply leaves the room as the Emperor proceeds to beat Prince Yu to death with his belt.

Meanwhile, ten thousand soldiers wearing golden armor and golden chrysanthemum emblems storm the palace with Prince Jai leading them. It happens that Prince Jai, who excused himself from the ceremony, has chosen this very evening to start the rebellion. They easily overpower the Emperor's assassins and advance into the palace's inner square, trampling the golden flowers laid out for the ceremony. However, massive silver shields block their way in, and thousands of silver-armored archers appear on the walls surrounding them. The golden soldiers initially try to fight, but the wall of silver shields is impenetrable, and they are forced to retreat. They find the gates behind them blocked