Ah yes… Li Bing and dogs still don’t mix well.

“Best quit now!” - this is actually a reference to one of the famous 36 stratagems - a series of stratagems for war and politics (as well as the essay illustrating their usage). To be more precise, he says “Of the 36 stratagems, the best one is ‘If all else fails, retreat’”. This stratagem is the best-known one of all the 36 due to this idiom.

“I’m giving those two to the Commandery Prince to deal with. I will take my leave”. Here General Qiu is using Li Bing’s title from before his imprisonment. His speech is also overall very polite and formal.

Those who have watched the donghua might remember this scene as our first introduction to General Qiu. In the donghua General says, according to the English subtitles, “So you are Lord Li from the Dali court?”, but in the original Chinese he also refers to him as “Commandery Prince” there. I just feel like that’s a pretty cool detail that got lost in translation. You can read more on that title here in chapter 8 notes