The Conqueror's Story

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, many rivals are fighting for the throne. Among them, two good friends Lau Bong and Hong Yue are the most renowned. Yue’s only ambition is to overthrow Qin. But, he ends up committing suicide at the Wujiang River. In contrast, Bong is from the lower class and has no political ambition at all. Ironically, he conquers the country. Their different endings suggest that personality determines one’s success, rather than the times or fate. Although Yue has many good helpers, including Fan Tsang, Ying Po his uncle Hong Leung and cousin Hong Chong, his arrogance drives them away one by one. On the other hand, Bong makes good use of his human resources. Many good warriors and intelligent politicians, like Hon Shun, Cheung Leung, Chan Ping, Siu Ho and Fan Fai, devote their life to him. There is always a beauty behind a hero. Bong’s wife Lui Chihelps him immensely. She has a desire for fame……

To YUE’s surprise, BONG does not expose his plot. On the contrary, BONG helps him to hide it, which moves him immensely. They become good friends after that. BONG and other villagers, SIU HO, FAN FAI, HAHAU YING, CHO TSAM and YUNG CHI are good friends. HO and FAI suspect that BONG is hiding something from them, so they interrogate him. CHI meets BONG at where he works. She finds him a hooligan at first. But when she sees his strong leadership, she believes that BONG will make a great leader and a perfect husband. She neglects MAN’s objection and marries BONG. MAN confiscates all her properties, but she just does not care anymore. She is willing to live a poor life with BONG. BONG has a few jobs in order to support the family. CHI gives birth to a boy and a girl. BONG has a heavy family burden. YUE invites him to rebel against QIN. However, BONG turns him down because of his family.

BONG is found out by the Magistrate of Sishui County, TONG, that he is taking outside jobs. TONG orders him to send workmen under escort to build imperial tombs as a punishment. YUE sees BONG off before he goes back to his base Huiji to discuss with his uncles HONG LEUNG and HONG PAK about their uprising. The head of Huiji, YAN TUNG, is planning his own rebellion. He takes HONG LEUNG hostage and blackmails YUE and his army to subdue under him. YUE refuses and kills him. His army beats QIN’s general LUNG TSE’s troop easily. He raises the HONG’s standard and announces his revolt in public. BONG meets a big white snake blocking his way when he sends the workmen. It seems that they have no way out, so BONG asks the workmen to leave first and he himself stays behind to drink. He kills the snake when he is half drunk……

BONG announces his revolt. HO, FAI and the others decide to follow him. On the other hand, YUE is gathering wise men to support him, too. He appoints CHAN PING as his advisor and invites a retired wise man FAN TSANG to help him. CHI uses the Red Emperor story to advertise for BONG, which attracts many people to follow BONG. BONG’s army is enlarging. They live deep inside the mountain and wait for a chance to ambush. BONG meets Lady TSIK in the countryside and is attracted by her innocence. LADY TSIK admires what BONG is doing and is also attracted to him. They spend a night together. YUNG CHI has a crush on LADY TSIK. He asks BONG to tell her about his feelings. When he finds out that BONG has already got LADY TSIK’s heart, he hates BONG deeply. CHI is heartbroken to learn about BONG and LADY TSIK’s relationship. In order to keep the people’s faith in BONG, she swallows her pride though and proposes to marry BONG and LADY TSIK.

YUNG CHI reports BONG’s secret rebellion to TONG in revenge. TONG orders to kill both BONG and the families of his followers, who are at large. BONG jokes about killing TONG in return. However, FAI, who takes it seriously, kills TONG. BONG saves his followers’ families. Everyone believes that he is a prophet and nominates him to be LORD PEI. When the villagers from nearby villages hear that BONG has killed a county official and rebels against the empire, they follow suit and swear to follow him. When the army is growing, BONG realises that once the insurrections begin, deaths and injuries will occur, so he tries to convince the people to return their hometowns with an excuse of insufficient supplies. His warm-hearted suggestion, however, moves the followers and they are even more determined to stay. BONG understands that the people can only live a better life if the QIN’s empire is overthrown. Fighting over battles is inevitable……

YUE rushes a long way from Liyang to save BONG and his men. In order to thank him, BONG presents YUE the red cape that CHI has made him and announces YUE is the real Red Emperor. CHI scolds YUE for robbing BONG’s troops and horses. YUE denies it. He throws the red cape on the floor and leaves angrily. Before he leaves, YUE teaches BONG some tactics of leading an army and gives him some books for his reference. YUE leads his army to attack Liyang and claims his first victory. He meets a beautiful girl LADY YUE in the town. LADY YUE tries to assassinate him for her brothers and father’s death. She scolds him for being crueller than the QIN’s emperor. YUE does not bother to explain. He keeps her by his side to let her see for herself his real personality. HOI does not care about politics. He only wants to have fun, so he follows whatever KO suggests. QIN’s general CHEUNG HON leads an army to attack YUE……

HOI speeds up to destroy some weaker rebellion armies. BONG knows that his army cannot withstand QIN’s force, so he forms alliance with YUE’s army. TSANG reads BONG’s face and notices that a favourable cloud is protecting him, which means that BONG will become King one day. Knowing that BONG will be YUE’s biggest enemy, TSANG advises YUE to kill BONG. YUE refuses to do so and has a quarrel with TSANG. TSANG feels no point to stay and wants to leave YUE. YUE persuades him to stay at last. HON SHUN is from a poor family, but well educated. He suffers a lot of humiliation because of his background. Luckily, LADY HEUNG, who is a dancing prostitute, always stands by him. LADY HEUNG wants him to make good use of his talent, so she encourages him to join YUE’s army. SHUN pledges to marry LADY HEUNG when he comes back with fame and fortune. YUE’s army is growing. HONG LEUNG wants to claim himself King but is objected by TSANG……

YUE wants to find a CHU’s descendent to become the emperor in order to gather the remaining CHU’s people to join his army with a proper reason. CHEUNG HON’s army attacks YUE again. YUE calls for an urgent meeting with CHONG and PO. CHI is annoyed that YUE does not ask for BONG’s advice, so she encourages BONG to fight the battle himself in order to preserve his pride. HO and FAI support him. BONG is very bothered that he cannot defeat CHEUNG HON’s army even though he has the city surrounded for days. Meanwhile, a very eloquent man who is also a hermit LAI SIK KEI agrees to help him. KEI manages to convince the QIN’s army to surrender, which surprises BONG. PAK has found a late CHU’s emperor’s descendent, Prince MAI SUM, at last. YUE uses the CHU’s standard to resume the CHU kingdom. After the news that SUM has been found spreads, CHU’s former official SUNG YI leads his enormous army to follow SUM……