During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the Jurchen tribe in the north rose, and the border war in eastern Liaoning resumed. The imperial court was corrupt and the frontier army was exhausted. Yang Zhen, a general under the command of Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, was demoted to a bitter cold place because of his outspoken remonstrance. At the same time, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci secretly accumulated strength in an attempt to unify and establish a state.
Yang Zhen met Amuna, a Jurchen woman, at the border. The two became connected due to the war, but they fell into a love-hate entanglement because of their opposing stances. After the powerful official Zhang Juzheng died of illness, party strife intensified and the situation in Liaodong became increasingly critical. Yang Zhen struggled between being loyal to the emperor and protecting the people, and finally chose to unite the border soldiers and civilians to resist the Jurchen cavalry, composing a tragic epic of iron-blooded loyalty.
