Plot: Set in China in the 1860's during the Taiping Rebellion, the story is based on the assassination of Ma Xinyi in 1870. Loyalist General Qingyun is the only survivor of a battle with anti-Qing rebels. He encounters a starving village, whose inhabitants engage in banditry to survive, where he is nursed back to health by the attractive Liansheng. With his strength regained, Qingyun impresses one of the village bandit leaders, Jiang Wuyang, with his fighting skills. Wuyang introduces him to his "big brother", who also happens to be Liansheng's husband, Zhao Erhu and Qingyun begins to assist them with their raids. Qingyun convinces his two new comrades to form a loyalist army unit to fight the rebels and feed their own people. The three men swear a blood oath. Their stunning military successes impress the governing powers, but as Qingyun's influence begins to grow, they soon fear him. The political and emotional stakes will be tested, leading to differences between the blood brothers.
Alternative Plot: China is torn apart by civil war, and in the chaos three men emerge who might bring the country back from the brink: Gen. Pang (Jet Li) and a pair of bandits (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau). Pang is the only survivor from a violent clash with rebels and -- after being taken in by a beautiful woman (Jinglei Xu) -- saves the life of one of the bandits. Soon the three men are blood brothers, and they embark on a quest to rid their land of rebels once and for all.
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