Film "The Magnificent Seven"

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During the years of Emperor Jiajing' s reign in Ming Dynasty, Zhang Jing, who was famous for fighting against Japanese pirates, became the victim of traitorous ministers' conspiracy. Seizing this opportunity, the Japanese pirates, led by Han people Wang Zhi and Japanese people Koizumi, unscrupulously invaded the coastal cities in southeast China. They burned, killed, robbed, and grabbed in these cities, and plunged the people there into an abyss of misery and poverty. The government troops of the Ming Dynasty were defeated by the Japanese pirates over and over again. Qi Jiguang was dispatched by the emperor to Yiwu City of Zhejiang Province to recruit warriors and establish a Qi Army to fight against Japanese pirates.

General Feng Ziming, a native of Yiwu, accompanied Qi Jiguang to Yiwu, who was also a guide to Qi Jiguang for this recruiting trip. For the sake of safety, they disguised as ordinary businessmen and were on the way to Yiwu. They passed by a village, which had just been ransacked by the Japanese pirates; all the villagers were massacred except one man, who was nailed on the tree at the entrance to the village. This was a trick frequently used by the Japanese pirates, which would make a human being can neither live nor die. The man told Qi Jiguang, that it was Wang Zhi, who led the Japanese pirates to massacre the village. The man felt so miserable that he begged Qi to kill him, which shall make him free from the utter misery. Although Qi could not bear to that, he killed that man at last.

Qi Jiguang and Feng Ziming conducted cremation for the massacred villagers. As the flame engulfing the bodies and smoke pervading in the air, Qi could no longer control his anger. He whipped the horse and rode swiftly to chase Wang Zhi by himself despite of the dissuasion of Feng.

As Qi came to a place, he reined the horse, checked the marks of horse hoof, and he judged that Wang Zhi was not far away from there. Therefore, he took a short cut, and whipped the horse to the mountains. Thanks to his consummate equestrian skill, Qi went through the trees and bushes in the mountains, as if walking on flat ground. Qi came to the peak, reined the horse, and overlooked the valleys. There was a narrow path in the gorge greeted him, on which a group of Japanese pirates whipped the horses and walked leisurely. Among them there was a guy in gorgeous red robe, which made him be very striking.

Qi Jiguang drawn the bow, set the arrow, and shouted the name of Wang Zhi loudly.

The guy in red robe was no one else but Wang Zhi. He raised his head, and looked following the sound. The arrow discharged by Qi flew like a meteor, which exactly hit the left eye of Wang Zhi; Wang fell at the sound of hit. Qi drawn the bow, set another arrow; a pirate tried to protect Wang Zhi with his own body, and hit by the arrow and fell dead. Other Japanese pirates tried to find obstacles to hide. Qi discharged the arrows one after another until the arrows were all used up, and no arrow that was shot was wasted. Qi killed and hurt a dozen of Japanese pirates. The pirates could not figure out the enemy's situation, so they escorted Wang Zhi, whipped the horses, dashed about wildly, and disappeared quickly. Only then did Qi take the horse to return.

The Japanese pirates escorted Wang Zhi to return to their headquarters, which had been established in a secret hillside with a lot of checkpoints and passes. The other Japanese pirates, who had heard about the attack, had already gathered in the square, and looked at their companions, who fled back in panic, in perplexity. The horse of Wang Zhi frightened, got to its feet, and threw Wang Zhi to the ground heavily.

Qi Jiguang and Feng Ziming came to the Yiwu City, in which they saw a picture of prosperity and well-being, and people's expression was calm and auspicious. The iron heels of Japanese pirates had not yet stepped into this land. Qi had just come from the war-devastated battlefield, so the scene before him was almost a fictitious land of peace away from the turmoil of the world to him. Returned to his hometown after an absence of 13 years, Feng Ziming also looked very excited. They passed by a tavern named Auspicious Tavern, at the entrance of which gathered a group of spectators. A girl in graceful white held a horsetail whisk, stood firmly on the top of a thin bamboo, which was erected on the ground, and was wiping off the dust on the plaque. The girl named Yu Huan, who was the manager of Auspicious Tavern. She sensed the audience's enthusiasm, so she turned around and smiled sweetly. However, her face contrasted unfavorably with her figure. She was not in good looking, but in the eyes of Wang Rulong, the owner of the butcher's shop opposite the tavern, she was as beautiful as Xi Shi. Wang Rulong was very skilled in using knife, one cut without the slightest error in the weight of pork.

Yu Huan found Qi Jiguang in the crowd, which made her eyes be brightened; she fell off the bamboo intentionally, and judging from the direction, it was meant as a shot at Qi Jiguang. She hoped that Qi could catch her. However, Wang Rulong had already jumped up to the sky and gathered Yu Huan into his arms. It was evident that Yu Huan and Wang Rulong was a couple of happy foes. Wang Rulong was going after Yu Huan, while Yu Huan had been noncommittal.

Qi Jiguang and Feng Ziming walked the horse to the county yamun. However, Yu Huan was anger with Qi because he did not catch her; she deliberately created difficulties for Qi. Fortunately, Feng Ziming and Wang Rulong were old acquaintance, who had not seen each other for years; nevertheless, they finally recognized each other. They became apprentice to the same master years ago, so they were fellow apprentices. Only then mischievous Yu Huan stopped willfully making troubles.

Qi Jiguang and Feng Ziming came to the county yamun, and saw that the red notice for recruitment had already been posted. They saw Zhao Dahe, the county magistrate of Yiwu, and enquired the progress in recruitment; Zhao told them that not even a person had signed up for military service by then. The heart of Qi Jiguang shriveled; by this token, it would be an absolutely impossible task to recruit a government troop of over 3000 people within one month. However, Zhao Dahe told him that, as long as he could find an important person and asked him to make a public appeal; even 5000 people could be recruited, not to mention 3000. This person was exactly Chen Jiugong, who was the patriarch of Chen Clan, which was the biggest clan in Yiwu. Chen Jiugong was of high dignity and authoritative among the people in Yiwu. The mine workers in Yiwu Silver Mine followed the lead of Chen Jiugong' s nephew Chen Dacheng. Chen Jiugong used to be an imperial physician, and crowned as " the most skilled doctor under heaven" . Eighteen years ago, his wife died of dystocia. Chen Jiugong failed to save his wife, so he vowed never again to practice medicine; he lived in seclusion and paid no attention to affairs of human life. Thus, no body knew whether he was still alive or not. Fortunately, Chen Jiugong had two daughters; the elder one named Yu Huan and the younger one named Yuan Yang; who managed the Auspicious Tavern now. If Qi and Feng wanted to inquire about the whereabouts of Chen Jiugong, they had to start with the two sisters.

Qi Jiguang and Feng Ziming returned to Auspicious Tavern and were in the guise of guests for accommodation. Yuan Yang sat behind the counter and embroidered. Her beautiful appearance contrasted clearly with that of her elder sister. Qi and Yuan Yang looked at each other and were well disposed towards each other.

Since Wang Zhi had been shot by Qi Jiguang, he had been in critical condition. There were power struggles within the group of Japanese pirates. Taking the advantage of being the son of a Japanese general, Koizumi had already drooled over the military power of Wang Zhi. As he heard that Wang was seriously injured, he came to see what had happened, and prepared to raise a rebellion to usurp the military power of Wang. Several samurais kneeled in front of Wang Zhi' s bedroom, and no one was allowed to enter Wang' s room. Among them there was a beautiful girl named Tomoko, who was a ninja. With two security guards, Koizumi intended to make a forcible entry into the bedroom of Wang Zhi, but they were resisted by the samurais. Koizumi drew the sword, and killed one of the samurais. However, Tomoko and the other samurais looked unbending, without concession. Koizumi had no other choice but to wait for Wang Zhi in the meetinghouse of Japanese pirates.

In the bedroom of Wang Zhi, he held the arrow cut from his eye, saw that there carved a word "Qi" at the end of the arrow, and knew that it was Qi Jiguang, who hurt him. The doctor told Wang, that the arrowhead was still in his eye; if still left the arrowhead in his eye, he might be alive for anther half a month, otherwise, he might be dead immediately. Wang Zhi was so furious as to kill the doctor. In order to save his own life, the doctor recommended his master-Chen Jiugong from Yiwu to Wang Zhi. He told Wang Zhi that only Chen Jiugong could save his life. Wang Zhi then sent Tomoko to Yiwu to find Chen Jiugong without fail. And then there were only Wang Zhi and a mysterious figure in the corner. The mysterious figure came to the bed of Wang Zhi, and took off the leaf hat; he looked exactly the same as Wang Zhi; his name was Otsuka, and was the elder brother of Tomoko, as well as the shadow warrior of Wang Zhi. (Please refer to Kagemusha of Akira Kurosawa for the concept of shadow warrior.) Wang Zhi ordered Otsuka to give commands on behalf of him to let everyone see that Wang Zhi was not injured and still alive to stabilize the morale of Japanese pirates.

Koizumi saw Otsuka and thought that he was Wang Zhi; he was surprised that he was not injured. The 50th birthday of Koizumi's father in Japan was imminent. In order to prepare for a birthday surprise, Koizumi proposed Otsuka to rob the Yiwu Silver Mine. Otsuka agreed to the stratagem of Koizumi, but asked him to go together with himself.

Feng Ziming invited his five senior and junior fellow apprentices to join the army for fighting against Japanese pirates. Firstly, he came to Wang Rulong. Wang declined with the excuse of just being a butcher. Feng asked him, were there differences between slaughtering pigs and slaughtering Japanese pirates? Wang Rurong joined the army. And then Feng came to his second senior fellow apprentice Ye Dazheng, who had become a monk; Ye was very much like Lu Zhishen, wine and meat passed through the intestines, while Buddha remained in the heart. When Feng Ziming and Wang Rulong came to his home, he was cooking a pot of chicken soup. He tried to hide the chicken soup, but scalded himself. Ye excused that he was a monk, who should be lenient and not allowed to killing. Feng persuaded him that the killing was for life-saving, so that the Buddha would definitely not blame him. Thus Ye Dazheng also joined the army. Then, Feng Ziming and Wang Rulong also persuaded their senior fellow apprentice Mao Zigao and sixth junior fellow apprentice Lou Nan to join the army. Finally, they came to their third senior fellow apprentice Wu Weizhong, who was a horse-trailer dealer and in possession of lots of properties; he was eventually persuaded by Feng Ziming as well.

Each of Feng Ziming' s five senior and junior fellow apprentices had his own speciality. Senior fellow apprentice Mao Zigao was a vendor engaged in bartering chicken feather for candy, the iron shoulder-pole seemed to be very light to him, and could be used as a sharp weapon. Second senior fellow apprentice Ye Dazheng had a thunderbolt arhat club, and a blow would be a hundredweight. Third senior fellow apprentice Wu Weizhong boasted ghost-image qinggong, drifted from place to place, and went as swiftly as the lightning. There would be no need to dwell on the speciality of fourth senior fellow apprentice Wang Rulong. Sixth junior fellow apprentice Lou Nan was a teacher, delicate skin and folding fan, unerring point percussion.

Yuan Yang went to Grand Buddha Temple to make a vow to the god for her dead parents. Qi Jiguang accompanied her. Persuaded by the abbot of Grand Buddha Temple, Qi also made a vow in front of the Buddha: " not wish to become a commandant, only hope to squash the Japanese pirates. Even I might be killed on the battlefield, I shall never regret for that." Hearing this, Yuan Yang knew that Qi was a promising general being concerned about the fate of the nation and people.

Tomoko was disguised in male attire and came to Auspicious Tavern with two ninjas to inquire about the whereabouts of Chen Jiugong. Yu Huan told her that Chen had passed away for years. Tomoko did not believe that, so she stayed in the tavern and waited for an opportunity to investigate.

A government troop, who went to the Yiwu Silver Mine to collect silver, was waylaid by Otsuka, Koizumi and a dozen Japanese pirates. All the officers and soldiers were killed, and the Silver Transfer Token came into the possession of Japanese pirates. Otsuka, Koizumi and the Japanese pirates put on the clothes of the government troop, and disguised themselves as the government troop. Otsuka and his men came to Feng' s third senior fellow apprentice Wu Weizhong, and asked to rent horse-trailers from Wu. Although Wu had penetrated their disguise, he pretended to promise with great readiness, and called his fellow apprentices together secretly to talk over the countermeasures.

Otsuka and his men then went to the Auspicious Tavern for drinking and dining. Qi Jiguang and Yuan Yang just came back from the temple at that time. Koizumi saw Yuan Yang and molested her. Qi thought them were real government troop, so he rebuked Koizumi severely as an assistant regional commander of Ming dynasty. Otsuka didn't want to be exposed, so he asked Koizumi to make apology to Qi; Koizumi had to do as told. Otsuka dared not to stay long, so he hurried off with his party. Otsuka looked so familiar to Qi, but he could not remember where he had seen him before.

That night, in the backyard of the tavern, Yuan Yang was carrying a bamboo basket, in which there was drink and food; she walked towards a room in the corner. Yuan Yang came into the room, and the door was closed immediately. Tomoko and the two ninjas were all in nocturnal clothes, and snooped in the dark. Tomoko was overjoyed, because she thought Chen Jiugong hidden in that room certainly. Tomoko stole into that room after Yuan Yang left, but she found that the room was just a hall for holding memorial service, in which tablets of Yuan Yang’s parents were consecrated. Tomoko saw that Chen Jiugong had died, so she thought Wang Zhi would be dead as well. She sneaked into the room of Qi Jiguang and hoped to kill him to avenge Wang Zhi.

Qi had just come back from the county yamun and ran into Yuan Yang. She told Qi that her father Chen Jiugong was still alive and lived in seclusion in a secret place. He was falsely declared to be dead for he did not want to be disturbed by people. Yuan Yang agreed to take Qi to see her father the next morning. Tomoko hid on the beam of the room; when she heard that Chen Jiugong had not been dead yet, she temporarily quenched her longing to kill Qi Jiguang. Then Feng Ziming, Lou Nan, Wang Rulong, Ye Dazheng, Wu Weizhong, and Mao Zigao came into the room; Yuan Yang left. The six fellow apprentices sensed that there were other people in the room. The six laid siege to Tomoko; she was outnumbered and fled injured. Lou Nan, Wang Rulong, Ye Dazheng, Wu Weizhong, and Mao Zigao chose a direction to chase. Lou Nan came into a forest, and finally caught up with Tomoko. However, he was enchanted by the beauty of Tomoko, and let her go.

The following day.

Yuan Yang and Qi drove a skiff and embarked on the journey for Chen Jiugong. Neither of them realized that Tomoko had clung on the bottom of their skiff. A snake swam on the body of Tomoko, but she kept her body unmoved, which reflected the bloodiness and pertinacity of a ninja. Yuan Yang and Qi went ashore, and came to the place where Chen Jiugong lived. It was at the foot of a hill and beside a stream, boasting beautiful scenery; there was a lone tomb, beside which was a crude cottage. Chen Jiugong lived here and accompanied his beloved dead wife.

Tomoko and the two ninjas tracked down them, and Tomoko kidnapped Chen Jiugong. Though Qi Jiguang had struggled to kill the two ninjas, Tomoko hostaged Chen Jiugong and fled at last. Yuan Yang was stabbed by a ninja in the fight, whose sword had been dipped into virulent poison. Qi Jiguang brought Yuan Yang back to the tavern. It was easy to cure the sword wound, but difficult to antidote the poison.

Back to Otsuka and his party, they dressed up as government troop of Ming Dynasty, and came to Yiwu Silver Mine to collect silver with the six horse-trailers rent from Wu Weizhong. The drivers of the six horse-trailers were Feng Ziming, Lou Nan, Wang Rulong, Ye Dazheng, Wu Weizhong, and Mao Zigao. The Japanese pirates were still kept in the dark. Government soldiers in the mine saw that there were no familiar faces in the government troop, but the Silver Transfer Token was genuine, so they had to open the door of silver vault. Otsuka got the silver successfully and swaggered off. However, the horse-trailers were driven to different roads at the fork; only by then did the Japanese pirates feel deceived, and came hurriedly chasing after the horse-trailers. Feng Ziming, Lou Nan, Wang Rulong, Ye Dazheng, Mao Zigao, and Wu Weizhong gave full play to their own superior skill, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese pirates. Otsuka was killed, but Koizumi escaped. Wu Weizhong proposed to share the silver, which was opposed by the other five. Wu Weizhong was pervaded by his fellow apprentices finally, and they returned the intact silver to the Silver Mine.

Zhao Dahe saw the head of Otsuka, and thought it was Wang Zhi; he was overjoyed and reported the victory to the court. Yan Song sent his son Yan Shifan to Zhejiang to bring the head of Otsuka to the capital as soon as he received the report from Zhao Dahe.

Chen Jiugong was brought to the headquarters of Japanese pirates by Tomoko. Chen refused to treat Wang Zhi; he would rather to die with Wang. However, when he learned that Yuan Yang had been poisoned by the unique poison of Japanese ninja, which could only be antidoted by him, he hesitated. He failed to save his wife eighteen years ago, so now he could not leave her daughter to die. However, as he cured Wang Zhi, Wang reneged on his promise and refused to let him go.

Wang Zhi and Koizumi contrived to rob Yiwu Silver Mine again. Tomoko kidnapped Yan Shifan, and used him as a live silver transfer token. Koizumi led the Japanese pirates, sent Yan Shifan under escort, and came to the silver mine. Officials in the mine had no other choice but only to allow the Japanese pirates to take away the silver. All the miners were extremely angry, while the pirates were highly pleased. On their way back, they encountered Qi Jiguang, Feng Ziming and his five fellow apprentices.

Qi rescued Yan Shifan firstly, and then escorted him to return to the county Yamun. Qi Jiguang implored Yan to stay in Yiwu and direct the fighting, but Yan dared not to stay in Zhejiang any longer and fled to the capital immediately. Feng Ziming and his five fellow apprentices stayed and fought against the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates were defeated. Feng and his party let Koizumi go deliberately; they followed the tracks of Koizumi to find out the locality of Japanese pirates' headquarters. On their way to track Koizumi, the six witnessed the miseries caused by the Japanese pirates to the people in the coastal area, which made them extremely angry. Lou Nan took out the paper and pen to record the atrocities of Japanese pirates via painting to let more people know.

Yuan Yang became increasingly feeble; she knew that she did not have many days left, so she embroidered the war flag, which she wanted to send to Qi Jiguang as a surprise, day and night. Yu Huan pitied and loved her younger sister, so she helped Yuan Yang with the embroidery.

Koizumi returned to the headquarters of Japanese pirates alone, which made Wang Zhi become really angry. Feng Ziming and his five fellow apprentices grouped into two, and attacked the headquarters of Japanese pirates under the cover of night; one group, consisting of Ye Dazheng, Mao Zigao, and Wu Weizhong, came to rescue Chen Jiugong, while the other group, consisting of Feng Ziming, Lou Nan, and Wang Rulong, came to assassinate Wang Zhi.

Chen Jiugong was imprisoned; the doctor harbored guilt in his bosom, so he release Chen secretly, but was found by the Japanese pirates. The doctor was killed by the Japanese pirates, while Chen Jiugong was rescued by Ye Dazheng, Mao Zigao, and Wu Weizhong duly. Feng Ziming, Lou Nan, and Wang Rulong came to assassinate Wang Zhi, but were besieged by the pirates. Lou Nan was surprised to discover the true identity of Tomoko, and Tomoko took advantage of the opportunity to backstab Lou. Lou Nan took out the paintings, which he had painted all the way, from his pocket, and gave them to Feng Ziming before his death. Feng Ziming and Wang Rulong carved out a way, and came to join Ye Dazheng, Mao Zigao, Wu Weizhong, and Chen Jiugong under the mountain.

Wang Zhi sent Tomoko to assassinate Qi Jiguang. Yuan Yang sacrificed herself to shield an arrow for Qi in order to rescue Qi. After a fierce fighting, Tomoko was killed. Yuan Yang was buried beside the tomb of her mother. Yu Huan offered the war flag embroidered by Yuan Yang in front of her tomb.

Thanks to the mobilization of Chen Jiugong, the recruitment of government troop went smoothly. The paintings of Lou Nan were posted on the doors of county yamun, on which were all depicted with the atrocities committed by the Japanese pirates, which had been seen by Lou Nan on his way to the headquarters of Japanese pirates: Japanese pirates killed people; Japanese pirates set fire to houses; Japanese pirates raped women; Japanese pirates abused people; Japanese pirates dug graves; Japanese pirates tied baby to the bamboo, and watered the baby with boiled water, the baby cried while the pirates clapped and laughed. The civilians gathered in front of the paintings and were all filled with righteous indignation.

Chen Jiugong, Feng Ziming, Ye Dazheng et al were delivering speeches in different places of Yiwu city to called on people to join the government troop and fight against the Japanese pirates together. People gathered and moved in the courtyard of county yamun to sign up for military service.

The newly recruited soldiers lined up on the training field. Qi Army had been established formally, ready to chase the Japanese pirates and annihilated them. Qi Jiguang mounted to the platform, raised the sword, and said: "no matter how far away, who dares to offend mighty Han will be put to death". All the officers and soldiers drew the swords and hailed with one voice: "no matter how far away, who dares to offend mighty Han will be put to death".

The swords shone in the training field, and the flag of Qi Army danced in the wind.

Tag:film,the,magnificent,seven

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