In 1642, after almost three hundred years of existence, the Ming dynasty is on the verge of collapse. Li Zicheng's rebel-forces have already surrounded Kaifeng, the capital of Henan province, but their attack on the city has been temporarily re…
In 1642, after almost three hundred years of existence, the Ming dynasty is on the verge of collapse. Li Zicheng's rebel-forces have already surrounded Kaifeng, the capital of Henan province, but their attack on the city has been temporarily repelled. The politically persecuted Marshal Sun Chuanting (Leon Dai) is released from prison and ordered by Chongzhen Emperor (Yu Shaoqun) to defeat the rebels with only 5,000 troops. Arriving in Tongguan with his wife (Feng Bo) and child, he is greeted by the corrupt garrison-commander He Renlong, who does not know that Sun has come to execute him and his men for their dereliction of duty. Meanwhile, the itinerant physician Wu Youke (Feng Yuanzheng) is put on trial for allegedly poisoning a patient with his unconventional treatments. The case is dismissed but the magistrate forbids him from practicing within that jurisdiction. Wu decides to visit his former teacher in Tongguan, but is forced by Ming troops to attend to the wounds of Li Tianyou (Sun Qiang), a disillusioned scholar who contemplated joining the rebellion. He then stays with his former teacher, the master-physician Zhao Chuan (Qian Xuege), who is told to treat the Ming soldiers when more and more of them mysteriously start falling ill, but Master Zhao is unable to stop the spread of the epidemic among the soldiers and later dies of the plague himself. When all the other physicians flee in fear, an understanding develops between Wu and the Field Marshal Sun, who allows Wu to test out his unconventional medical theories of airborne disease. Wu isolates the sick in dedicated camps and orders everyone in contact to cover their face, and manages to contain the plague for the moment. The rebels hear of the success and attempt to kidnap Wu to treat their troops, but Field Marshal Sun's troops rescue him.
Meanwhile, Field Marshal Sun finds that Tongguan's grain supplies are seriously low and the grain bags are filled with sand instead, so he angrily executes the regist..
