During the early times of the Southern Song dynasty, the imperials of the Jin kingdom who invades and occupies the Central region sends massive troops further south for invasion. Yue Fei leads the Yue family troops and the resistance generals to courageously fight back and contact the voluntary troops of the two Rivers to cooperate in the battles to fight their way up north. They win battle after battle until they reach the southern banks of the Yellow River. The troops are in high morale, and voluntary troops are eager to receive the “Yue” character flags. In order to save the losing war, the imperials of the Jin kingdom “talk peace while preparing for invasion”, through Southern Song’s traitor Qin Hui, who makes use of Emperor Gao’s underlying apprehension and threaten Emperor Gao to ask for peace – that is if the war against Jin is won, then Emperor Qin who has been captured by Jin will return and scramble for Gao’s throne. When Yue Fei vows to his troops at the crossing and ready to cross the river to fight his way up north as he recites his poem All Red is the River, Emperor Gao suddenly retreats the various troops ready for the expedition up north, and in one single day he places twelve imperial orders for Yue Fei’s return. When the public hear the news, they rush forward to stop the horses and troops. Both the military men and commoners cry in sadness and the sounds of their crying shake the plains.

Happiness prevails at Tianbo Mansion as the 100 years old Madam She hosts the 50^th birthday celebration for her grandson, Yang Zongbao, who guards the borders. All of a sudden, bad news breaks that the Duke of Xixia invades with his troops and Zongbao has been unfortunately killed in action. The news shakes the imperial court which intends to make peace. Madam She keeps her sadness in and leads her widowed daughter-in-law, grand daughter-in-law and her oldest grandson Yang Wenguang, etc. to bravely lead the troops, and the whole family went on an expedition to protect their kingdom. The young Yang Wenguang also asks for permission to go with the troops to battle the enemies; despite that his mother Mu Guiying shares his intention, Wenguang’s grandmother, Princess Chai is worried about losing this only son in the Yang family and does not approve for him to go along. Madam She orders Guiying to fight with Wenguang on the practice grounds to determine whether he has the martial skills to go. At Yang Wenguang’s pleading and Mu Guiying’s secret yielding to Wenguang, Madam She finally approves for Wenguang to go along to the borders. At the battleground, the Duke of Xixia retreats back to their old barracks in defeat. While on defence at a strategic spot, the Duke of Xixia plots to trap Wenguang in the Hulu Valley in order to threaten the Yang family. Madam She and Mu Guiying see through the trick, and from the words of horse attendant Zhang Biao, it is proven that when Zongbao was alive, he found during his explorations that there is a plank road which can let them through the dangerous location to make a surprise attack on the enemies. So Mu Guiying asks Madam She for permission to force into the Valley in order to turn Duke of Xixia’s trick against him. Madam She gives permission and gives Zongbao’s White Dragon Horse as a gift to Wenguang to boost his morale. Guiying and her son and Yang Qiniang, etc. are led by Zhang Biao into the dangerous valley. They pass by many hills and go through many difficulties, eventually, guided by local people and herb collectors who are familiar with the way, they climb onto the plank road to make a successful surprise attack.

Famous courtesan Su San (Yu Tang Chun) is an acquaintance of Wang Jinlong, the son of the Minister of Personnel; they vow to spend the rest of their lives together. When Wang Jinlong is expelled from the courtesan house by its keeper, Su San sets her mind not to see another customer. The keeper then plots to sell her off to a wealthy merchant, Shen Yanlin, to be his concubine. Shen’s wife, surnamed Pi, commits adultery with Zhao Jiansheng; she kills Shen by poisoning him and wrongs Su San for murder. The county magistrate is bribed and he sentences Su San to death. Court bailiff Chong Gongdao escorts Su San from Hongdong to Taiyuan for re-trial. On their way, Su San reveals her story and Chong comforts her. When Su San reaches Taiyuan under escort, she is tried jointly by three magistrates; coincidentally the Civil Governor is Wang Jinlong. At the sight of Su, Wang cannot stay composed, and his affection is noticed by the other two magistrates, Provincial Governor Pan Bizheng and Provincial Judge Liu Bingyi, so Su San is not sent for final trial. Liu is advised by Pan to bring justice to the case. Wang and Su are happily reunited.

Towards the end of the Yuan dynasty, revolt explodes in all directions. Local voluntary army chiefs of various places make themselves the local ruler. On the one hand they fight against the rule of Yuan, on the other hand they battle with one another in the strife to become emperor. With the aim to attack Zhu Yuanzhang in the capital city Jinling, Chen Youliang, King of Han in Jiangzhou, joins forces with Zhang Shicheng, King of Gusu, and negotiate with Zhang Dingbian, the grand marshal, to send Hu Lan to invite Zhang Shicheng’s son, Zhang Ren, to come over to get married, and capitalize on the opportunity to negotiate on joining forces. Hu Lan and Zhang Ren are captured on their way, so Liu Bowen, the military adviser, plays the trick against the enemies to talk Hu Lan into surrendering and deploys General Hua Yunlong to impersonate Zhang Ren to get married; appointment is also made with Chen Youliang to send troops into Yu Mountain on the 15^th day of the 8^th month so as to attract the enemies to go deep into the mountains and capture them all at one time. When Zhang Dingbian first sees Hua Yunlong, he was suspicious; in the first reception banquet, he keeps probing and finally finds a loophole. After returning to his residence, he tortures Hu Lan. Hu Lan confesses the truth and commits suicide out of guilt. Zhang Dingbian, who has the confession in hand, thinks that Hua Yunlong will easily succumb to him. To his surprise, as Hua Yunlong and Zhang Ren look similar, so Chen Youliang has no doubt at all; as Hu Lan is dead, there is no way to verify the truth. Zhang Dingbian is in turn ridiculed by Hua Yunlong, who renders Zhang in disadvantage. To protect the foundations of Northern Han, Zhang Dingbian must make thorough investigations to expose the ploy of Jinling in the impersonated marriage. On the day of the Princess’ wedding, he rushes into the wedding hall and captures Hua Yunlong. Just as he is about to torture Hua for confession, to his surprises Hua is saved by Chen Youjie. Chen Youliang is afraid of offending Zhang Shicheng, so he rescinds Zhang Dingbian’s commander seal, and sends troops to Yu Mountain as planned. When seeing that Chen Youliang is unswerving, Zhang Dingbian puts on his mourning outfit and tries to intercept Chen Youliang. However, Chen Youliang is keen for honour and achievement, so he does not listen to Zhang. When the troops arrive at Yu Mountain, they really fell into the trap and the Jinling troops set fire there. Just as the situation becomes emergent, the loyal Zhang Dingbian sets aside previous grudges, rides by boat to the mouth of Jiujiang, fights the enemy troops until they retreat and saves his king.

Scholar Cai Changzong goes to the capital city to take the imperial examination. The maid, surnamed Zhang, sends her son Luer to go along with Cai. Luer sets his eyes on having Changzong’s wife, Dou E, for himself, so on the way he pushes Changzong into the river and goes home to lie that Changzong fell into the water and died. Cai’s mother falls ill from serious sadness and wishes to have some goat stomach soup. Luer secretly puts poison into the soup in his plot to kill Madam Cai. However, the soup gets eaten by Luer’s own mother, and she dies right away. Luer capitalizes on the opportunity to extort the women under false pretences, and wants to take Dou E by force. He lodges a case with the magistrate, who tortures the women to extract confession. Dou E cannot stand seeing her mother-in-law tortured, so she gives false confession and gets sentenced to decapitation. The execution takes place in summer, suddenly it snows heavily, and the county chief is extremely frightened. Dou E’s father, Imperial Commissioner Dou Tianzhang, comes to Jiangnan for investigation and has saved Changzong on his way; he meets the county people who cry out injustice for Dou E, so he arrests Zhang Luer and conducts a trial. Changzong returns home with the title of top scholar in the imperial examination. The whole family is happily reunited.

Liu Shichang, silks and satins trader of Nanyang during the Song dynasty, passes by Dingyuan County on his way home with the proceeds from his business. The rains are heavy so he seeks refuge at the home of a potter, Zhao Da. Zhao plans to kill him for his money. He poisons Liu Shichang and burns his body to ashes. He makes a black pot with the ashes so as to remove evidence of the murder. Three years later, an elderly man, Zhang Biegu, tries to recover some debts from Zhao Da; instead of repaying with money, Zhao gives Zhang the black pot. Liu Shichang weeps to Zhang and tells his grievance. Zhang brings the black pot to Dingyuan County and lodges a case with Magistrate Bao Zheng. Bao hears the case, and arrests Zhao Da. Justice is upheld for Liu Shichang.