In the late Kangxi years of the Qing Dynasty, Pan Qing, the general manager of the river defense camp in the south of the Yangtze River, and two other heroes, Weng Yan and Qian Jian, became opposite-sex brothers and acted chivalrously together. During a spring outing, Pan Qing met Li Fengqing, the daughter of Suzhou weaver Li Xu, and fell in love at first sight.
In order to expand his power, Li Xu betrothed his daughter to Cao Fu, the youngest son of Cao Yin, a weaver in Jiangning. When the two were getting engaged, they were kidnapped by Zhang Nianshan, a bandit from Siliang Mountain. Li Xu and Cao Yin offered rewards for rescuing their lives, and Pan Qing fought tooth and nail to rescue the two, and was promoted to General Manager Qian by Cao Yin.
After Zhang Nianshan was arrested, he framed the retired anti-Qing strategists Chen Wangting and Chen Muzhou and his son. The two committed suicide on the spot. Chen Muzhou's son Chen Huaixia escaped. When Kangxi inspected the disaster area, Zhang Nianshan was assassinated and was rescued by Pan Qing. Kangxi rewarded Chen Huaixia with a yellow mantle, and Pan Qing took the opportunity to ask for pardon for Chen Huaixia. He was granted permission and named the Chen family's boxing method Tai Chi.
In Henan, Pan Qing became a disciple of Chen Huaixia's uncle Lu Yi and became a believer in Taoism, and got to know the fourth prince. Pan Qing and the fourth prince talked all night long, and the fourth prince decided to ask Pan Qing to come forward to organize the victims and boatmen to form a river operation meeting to undertake government and private water transportation.
Pan Qing returned to Hangzhou and, with the help of Weng Yan and Qian Jian, established the Anqing Gang to organize water transportation. Delengjia killed Weng Yan and Qian Jian. However, under Pan Qing's persistence, the Anqing Gang grew more and more powerful, and ten years later it finally became the largest gang in China, referred to as the Qing Gang.
Later, the four princes fought for the throne and executed Delengjia and the Cao family. Pan Qing saw through the red world, set strict gang rules for the Green Gang disciples, and retired to the mountains and forests.