Bailu Gate

In 1937, the Bai and Lu families of Bailu Town had been feuding for three hundred years. The Bai family had passed down a tradition of farming and scholarship, and its clan chief, Bai Jingshan, was steady and principled. The Lu family had made its fortune in business, and its clan chief, Lu Hongyuan, was ambitious. The two families had long been at odds over farmland and water sources. When the Lu family diverted water from the Bai family’s rice paddies, young people from both clans fought fiercely. The Bai family lost, deepening the feud.

Lu Jingyu, the Lu family’s young clan chief, returned from occupied Beiping with news that the Japanese army was drawing near. He urged his father to put their feud aside and prepare for war, but Lu Hongyuan rebuked him. Meanwhile, Bai Jingshan learned from his students of the terrible fall of Beiping. Worried for Bailu Town’s safety, he hoped to join forces with the Lu family.

A mysterious stranger with a suspicious manner and a handgun entered Bailu Town. When the Lu family’s cotton fields were damaged, Lu Hongyuan immediately suspected the Bai family, and the two clans faced off once again. At the critical moment, the stranger wounded a member of the Lu family and fled, forcing the Bai and Lu families to join forces in pursuit.

When they caught up with him, the stranger revealed that he was Lin Yuefeng, an anti-Japanese resistance fighter. His mission was to persuade the local gentry to unite against the Japanese; he had damaged the cotton fields only to draw the two families’ attention. With Japanese spies on his trail, Lin Yuefeng shot himself. The Bai and Lu families learned the truth from his belongings and were filled with remorse. At last, they put aside their three-hundred-year feud and decided to rally the local gentry, form an armed resistance, face the national crisis together, and defend their home in Bailu Town.