The Warlords

The film is set in China in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion. It is based on the assassination of Ma Xinyi in 1870. In the beginning, there is a battle between loyalists and rebels, during which all of the loyalists, abandoned by the forces of a rival loyalist commander, are killed except Qingyun, the general. Qingyun goes to a village nearby where the inhabitants, led by two men, Erhu and Wuyang, engage in banditry. He offers his assistance in executing a raid against a rebel convoy, which is successful. However, a loyalist army assaults the village shortly afterward and seizes the spoils for themselves. Around this time, Qingyun begins an affair with Erhu's wife Liansheng.