THE YANG'S SAGA (1985)

CAST

  Lau Tak Wah
as Yang Yin Chiu

Leung Chiu Wai
as Yang Yin Ji

Wong Yat Wah
as Yang Yin Tak

Miu Kiu Wai
as Yang Yin Fai

Tong Chun Yip
as Bat Wong
  Lau Ka Ling
as Princess Chai

Tsang Wah Sin
as Do Gum Ngo

Jie Ling
as Yang Ng Leung

Kung Chi Yan
as Yang Sei Leung

Chic Mei Chun
as Ching Ling
  Chow Yan Fat
as Liu Dong Kwun

Chong Ching Yee
as Cocubine Poon

Au Yeung Pai San
as Yang Dai Leung

Yeung Pan Pan
as Yang Bat Mu

Chow Hoi Mei
as Yang Gow Mu

SERIES REVIEW

SUMMARY

The emperor's death is clouded with suspicion. Two generals on horseback ride through the capital to inform the common folk of the Emperor's death. Meanwhile in the heavens the eight deities make their way to see the Emperor of the Heavens. Two of the deities, Hon Jong Ling, and his pupil Jiu Dong Kwun are playing chess unaware of the latest incident. Jiu Dong Kwun makes a move and wins the chess game much to the disappointment of his master who has lost many consecutive times to his cunning student. Suddenly another deity arrives to interrupt them and soon the others arrive. Together they head towards the royal court of the heavens.

Soon the spirit of the Northern Sung Emperor arrives at the royal court demanding justice against Jing Hong Ji. The Northern Sung Emperor accuses his own brother of murder to gain the throne for himself. Upon hearing this the Emperor of the Heaven sends a deity to help lead the Liao Dynasty to crush the Sung Dynasty as punishment for Jing Hong Ji's crimes. The female deity accepts her mission and soon descends the earth. Upon hearing the Emperor's orders Kwan Ying, the goddess of mercy steps in to persuade the Emperor not to be so ruthless with the Sung Dynasty. The Emperor laughs as he was not prepared to allow the Sung Dynasty to be destroyed. The Emperor sends another four deities to earth to help protect the Sung Dynasty against the Liao Dynasty.

Jiu Dong Kwun is not pleased with the Emperor of the deities as his methods of conflict resolution was to create more conflict. Being a cunning person, Jiu Dong Kwun, attempts to foil the Emperor's plans by sending two more deities to help the Liao Dynasty against the Sung Dynasty. Meanwhile, Ting Pang San, accidentally injuries an evil deity before descending down to earth to help the Sung Dynasty. The evil spirit is extremely angry and pursues after Tin Pang Sang eager for revenge. Tin Pang Sang would become General Yang whilst the evil spirit became his bitter rival on earth Minister Poon.  At the same time Liu Jan Ji visits his girlfriend before descending to earth to help the Sung Dynasty. Liu Jan Ji was unwilling to go and requests his girlfriend to follow him. They are discovered and Liu Jan Ji's girlfriend is sent down to earth as punishment for having an affair with Liu Jan Ji.   

The common folk gather infront of General Yang's house to celebrate his birthday upon his return to the capital. Minister Poon arrives back at the capital also and is jealous of General Yang. Minister Poon has always been a bitter rival of General Yang. Upon returning home General Yang is greeted by all his sons, daughters, and daughters in law. Each married couple greets General Yang, and wish him a happy birthday. By the time it was Yang Yin Tak's turn to wish General Yang a happy birthday he was out of ideas and had nothing to say. Old lady Yang then added that as a birthday wish, Yang Yin Tak, could have wished that his two younger brothers and sisters could get married, and that General Yang would have a grandson. As Yang Yin Tak finished, the youngest sister discovered that Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji were not amongst them.

At once General Yang asked his two servants for an explanation and discovered that his two youngest sons were out hunting. Meanwhile Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji had caught what they thought was large bear in a trap. When they released the trap they discovered that it was a girl. Immediately Yang Yin Ji decided to tease the girl. As Yang Yin Chiu went to help the young girl back on her feet he was taken by her beauty and immediately fell in love with her. Suddenly three other men emerged from the bushes. They were the three sons of Minister Poon. Upon seeing the three men Yang Yin Ji turned away in disgust. In was then that the two Yang brothers discovered that the girl that they had caught in the trap was infact Princess Chai. Upon this discovery, Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji, formally introduced themselves. Upon discovering who they were Princess Chai immediately fell for Yang Yin Chiu, whom he had heard many stories about.

The Poon brothers escort the Princess back to the palace after the greeting. The eldest Poon son was obsessed with Princess Chai and attempted to persuade his sister who had become on of the Emperor's Concubines to help him arrange a marriage. Concubine Poon added a few friendly words to the Emperor and the Queen who then tried to persuade Princess Chai. As they were talking Bat Wong arrived to ask whom Princess Chai had wanted to marry. At once Princess Chai informed the Queen and Bat Wong that she wanted to marry Yang Yin Chiu. But in order to determine whether Yang Yin Chiu loved her in return she decided to open a contest where she would toss a red flower into the crowd and the recipient would be her husband. To ensure that Yang Yin Chiu would be at the contest the Queen obtained an order from the Emperor.

One the day of the contest Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji showed up with another general. Soon the three Poon brothers arrived with the eldest taking part in the contest. As the crowd was complete Bat Wong welcome the contestants and laid down the rules for the contest. Watched by the Emperor, the Queen, and Concubine Poon, Princess Chai walked up to a high tower and began swing the red flower in the air. The contestants below watched on realising that only a person with top kung fu would be able to take possession of the red flower. Above Bat Wong laughed and suggested that those who were not interested in the contest to leave. At once Yang Yin Ji was getting bored and wanted to leave. His General companion followed him. As they walked away they were surprised to see Yang Yin Chiu still standing in the contest with the eldest son on Minister Poon. At once the two men raced and fought each other to obtain the flower.

Yang Yin Chiu was ambushed and fell off the wall but received a push from Yang Yin Ji. At once Yang Yin Chiu resumed the contest with Poon. They fought and each had hold of the red flower. As they reached the ground both had torn the red flower in half. Since both men had hold of the red flower Princess Chai decided to introduce another contest. She would marry the man who found the other half of a matching bracelet. In the process she secretly revealed the hiding place to Yang Yin Chiu who went with Yang Yin Ji to locate it. The three Poon brothers followed them. Whilst Yang Yin Chiu was searching for the bracelet in the bottom of the river, the Poon brothers attacked Yang Yin Ji. Luckily for Yang Yin Ji, Do Gum Ngo, was passing through dressed as a man. She helped him fend of the Poon brothers until Yang Yin Chiu re-emerged having located the bracelet.

With Yang Yin Chiu back the Poon brothers were defeated and kicked into the river where they were drowning. Having found what he needed to marry Princess Chai, Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji parted company with Do Gum Ngo and returned to the palace. As they left two deities sent by Jiu Dong Kwun arrived to save the Poon brothers. The two deities informed the brothers that the Poon family were to help the Siu family of the Liao Dynasty to invade China. Having been rescued the brothers returned to inform their farther of the news. At once Minister Poon laughed and began to work on a plan to kill the Emperor. Meanwhile the deities went to the Liao Dynasty and offered to help the Queen invade China and rule the world. At once the Queen made the two deities her Generals and proceeded to make plans to attack China.

Meanwhile Yang Yin Chiu and Princess Chai got married. On their wedding night Poon sent a hitman to kill Yang Yin Chiu. Luckily for Yang Yin Chiu, he had pretended to be drunk so he could get away from his brothers to return to his wife's company. When he was ambushed he still had the strength to defend himself and defeat the hitman. Having failed the hitman killed himself but Yang Yin Chiu suspected that it was Poon's doing, but General Yang declined to take any action believing Minister Poon's family was innocent.

Shortly after the marriage the Emperor received news of the attack from the Liao Dynasty. Minister Poon was ordered to lead the troops to defend the Sung Dynasty. Minister Poon accepted and wanted his son to be the General leading the attack with him since General Yang declined through his old age. However General Yang requested that any of his seven sons could help Minister Poon in battle. Minister Poon declined despite the fact that his youngest son was too young and would not be respected as a leader by many of the soldiers. So Justice Pao stepped in with an idea of holding an open tournament were the youngest Poon was to accept challenges from anyone who wanted the position. Justice Pao thought that if young Poon could pass the test he would have earn the position. Minister Poon only agreed when General Yang promised and took an oath that his seven sons would not challenge Poon for the position.

Upon returning home General Yang, informed his sons of the situation and did not allow them to compete against Poon. All of his sons except for Yang Yin Ji, accepted his decision. Yang Yin Ji remained behind to attempt to convince his farther. Yang Yin Tak remained behind also in an attempt to calm his brother down. As they were talking two of the Generals arrived back to inform General Yang that they had run into a group of mountain robbers who had stolen all of there treasure. At once Yang Yin Tak and Yang Yin Ji went to confront the mountain robbers to regain the treasure. Along the way Yang Yin Tak heard the cry for help and stumbled across and old monk at the bottom of the mountain. He attempted to help carry the monk up the mountain on his back but the monk was too heavy.

The monk then informed Yang Yin Tak that he did not posses the strength to carry him. The monk thanked Yang Yin Tak for attempting to help him and handed him a parcel. The monk informed Yang Yin Tak that the parcel might one day save his life and asked him to seek the others to help him. Yang Yin Tak then returned to the main group to lend a rope to lower it down to the monk. However by that time the monk had mysteriously disappeared. Yang Yin Tak was puzzled by had no time to reflect on the situation and continued on his mission. Soon they located the mountain robber's hideout but no one was around. Moments later an old lady entered the cave and took them along another path where they ran into Do Gum Ngo once more. Do Gum Ngo's men tried to capture Yang Yin Ji but they were defeated. Yang Yin Tak then requested Do Gum Ngo to take him to see their leader. Do Gum Ngor agreed only on the condition that Yang Yin Ji was the one to go along alone with her.

Yang Yin Ji accepted as Yang Yin Tak followed closely behind. In the process Yang Yin Tak was captured. Yang Yin Ji met with the leader of the Mountain robbers only to discover that the leader was a lady and that Do Gum Ngo was a female. At once he was forced to marry Do Gum Ngo. Upon discovering that Yang Yin Tak had been captured Yang Yin Ji had no choice but to marry. That evening Do Gum Ngo drugged Yang Yin Ji so he could not escape. Luckily for them Yang Yin Tak's men managed to locate them and free Yang Yin Tak. In return Yang Yin Tak freed Yang Yin Ji and together they escaped having recovered the treasure whilst all of the mountain robbers were drunk. As they escaped Do Gum Ngo could have fired an arrow at them but she declined allowing them to escape.

The next day General Yang went to visit Justice Pao, so Yang Yin Ji, escaped from the house despite his elder brother's efforts to lock him up inside. Yang Yin Ji went along with one his General friends to watch the contest between Poon and the common folk. Poon taunted the common folk and was behaving in an arrogant manner, which did not please Yang Yin Ji. One common folk Chow Ling challenged Poon and was ambushed with a poison dart during the contest. At once Yang Yin Ji was furious, so he stepped out to challenge Poon. During the fight the eldest Poon attempted to ambush Yang Yin Ji with a poison dart. Yang Yin Ji caught the poison dart and kicked the youngest Poon from the platform. Poon fell and hit his head on a lion statute and died. At once Yang Yin Ji became shocked and ran away from the scene and returned home.

Soon news arrived that Yang Yin Ji had murdered Poon. Upon hearing of the news Yang Yin Ji's eldest brother allowed him to leave. When General Yang returned he was furious that Yang Yin Ji was allowed to leave the house in the first place to kill Poon. At once he punished his eldest son and sought to punish all the others until Yang Yin Ji returned. Still outraged General Yang requested his daughter in law to bring his sword so he could personally kill his Yang Yin Ji. Finally Princess Chai entered to calm General Yang down with her royal sword, by ordering him to have Yang Yin Ji brought before the Emperor. Yang Yin Chiu and Princess Chai then sought the help of Justice Pao and Bat Wong. Both agreed to help. Unfortunately Concubine Poon reached the Emperor before Bat Wong. Concubine Poon persuaded the Emperor to help her have Yang Yin Ji killed for murdering her youngest brother.

The next day Yang Yin Ji was brought before the royal court. Yang Yin Ji pleaded his case that Poon had ambushed Chow Ling breaking the rules of the contest, and that he accidentally killed Poon in rage. However with Concubine Poon, Minister Poon and all the relatives pleading there case the Emperor ordered to have Yang Yin Ji sentenced to death. Minister Poon did not finish there however, he stated that General Yang had broken his oath and that all of the Yang family should be sentenced to death also. The Emperor agreed despite the protest from Bat Wong and the others. On the day of execution Do Gum Ngo arrived with the band of mountain robbers to attempt to rescue Yang Yin Ji. They were captured, and Do Gum Ngo took her place with the Yang family to be executed as he was Yang Yin Ji's wife. Yang Yin Ji was taken by the act and fell in love with Do Gum Ngo.

He called her wife as they awaited execution. Suddenly a General on horse back rode by to prevent the proceedings. Followed by Justice Pao who was guarded by Cheung Lo and Jiu Foo. The Emperor hand granted Justice Pao jurisdiction to handle the case to uncover the truth behind Poon's death. Justice Pao determined that Poon had used a poison needle to ambush Chow Ling thus breaking the rules of the contest. Justice Pao also determined that Poon died through head injuries sustained from hitting the lion statute, which was accidental. Yang Yin Ji was not charged with murder and was set free much to Minister Poon's disgust. Shortly after being released Yang Yin Ji decided to marry Do Gum Ngo. Having been freed of the charge of treason, the Emperor decided to send General Yang to help Minister Poon confront the Liao Dynasty forces.

The Emperor decided to grant Minister Poon control of the entire army however and he decided to plot for his revenge. First he convinced the Emperor to go away from the capital to marry royalty of Liao origin to insult the Liao Dynasty. The Emperor took up the suggestion without realising that it was a trap. Before going off to war General Yang received a visit from the renowned sage, Gwai Guk Chi, who informed them in a simple rhyme that "Seven Yang's head off to battle, only six will return". Not knowing the nature of the rhyme, General Yang, requested Gwai Guk Chi, to inform him which one of his sons were to die. Gwai Guk Chi refused to reveal further information and headed off. General Yang was concerned but not phase as long as his sons died to protect the Sung Dynasty. Together they went to arms against the Liao Dynasty and surrounded them.

Queen Siu of the Liao Dynasty sent a small force to confront them, and collaborated with Minister Poon to kill the Emperor who was marrying a Liao royalty nearby. At once Queen Siu forces surrounded the Emperor, who was busy drinking. At once General Foo Yin, escaped from the castle to contact help from General Yang. Yang Yin Ji was dispatched immediately to save the Emperor. When Minister Poon discovered that General Yang had sent his seventh son Yang Yin Ji to rescue them he laughed as he wanted to avenge the death of his youngest son. Yang Yin Ji defeated the forces from the East gate and demanded that Minister Poon to open the gates to allow him entry. Minister Poon declined sending him to the South gate. Yang Yin Ji was furious but left with no choice he fought and defeated the Liao forces at the South gate. Still Minister Poon refused entry, sending him to the West gate. Tired and hungry Yang Yin Ji fought on and defeated the forces at the West gate.

After the victory, Yang Yin Ji, was exhausted as were his troops. On one knee Yang Yin Ji pleaded with Minister Poon to allow him entry. Still Minister Poon refused sending him to the North gate. In the cover of darkness Yang Yin Ji fought on bravely, until finally help arrived from General Yang. His six brothers came to his aide and fought off all the Liao forces. Once the Emperor was safe Yang Yin Ji attempted to convince the Emperor that Minister Poon had deliberately tried to kill him. The Emperor did not believe him much to his disgust. Having failed to kill the Emperor, Queen Siu, then worked on another plan. She invited the Emperor to meet at a remote location to discuss a peace treaty. General Yang was suspicious of the motive and requested the King and Bat Wong that his seven sons go in their place in disguise. The Emperor was pleased with this suggestion.

General Yang's two eldest son dressed as the King and Bat Wong to greet the Liao Emperor. The other brothers, Yang Yin Fai, Yang Yin Tak and Yang Yin Ji went along to protect their elder brothers. Yang Yin Chiu stayed with General Yang with forces close by to provide support in case of trouble. At the peace meeting General Yee Lan attempted to kill the eldest Yang brother but his sword was blocked by Yang Yin Ji. Having failed the Liao Emperor then approached them to apologise for General Yee Lan's actions with a drink. The two eldest Yang brothers took a drink and became poisoned. At once Yang Yi Ji went to capture the Liao Emperor to demand the cure. Unknown to them it was Queen Siu who held power and Liao Emperor was killed by his own men. The Yang's then became surrounded by the Liao forces. During the struggle to contact help, the two eldest Yang brothers were killed.

Yang Yin Ji and his third eldest brother struggled on. Yang Yin Ji fought with the Liao forces pursuing them to allow the third eldest Yang to light a fire to signal for help. Shortly after lighting the fire the third eldest Yang was killed attempting to contact help. Yang Yin Tak fought on bravely but he too was surrounded and was about to be struck down. The parcel which the monk had presented to him earlier blocked the blow that was to take his life. The monk arrived instantly and saved him from the battlefield. Meanwhile Yang Yin Fai was having his own problems. He was surrounded by the forces lead by the two Liao Princess. Fortunately for Yang Yin Fai one of the Liao Princesses had fallen for him and continued to deny he sister from killing him by blocking her blows. Yang Yin Tak was grateful by the gesture but he was captured and taken alive.

Yang Yin Ji battled through and fought his way back to the castle. Yang Yin Ji was in such a hurry to lend more forces to rescue his brothers that he overlooked the fact that Minister Poon had betrayed them. In his haste to return to battle, he took a drink of poison wine and was captured. Yang Yin Ji was then tied to a post and arrows were fired at him. He did not die however as he was protected by mystic powers. Minister Poon was shocked that he was still alive after waves after waves of arrows were fired. Finally Minister Poon took the arrow himself and fired at Yang Yin Ji who still did not die. Suddenly the heavens opened up and Minister Poon received advice to cut Yang Yin Ji's forehead. With this advice Minister Poon approached Yang Yin Ji and cut away his forehead. Yang Yin Ji screamed out in pain as waves of arrows were fired at him again. This time the arrows penetrated through his body and Yang Yin Ji was slained.

Meanwhile General Yang and Yang Yin Chiu became surrounded by Liao forces. Yang Yin Chiu then departed from his farther to contact help. Whilst Yang Yin Chiu was gone the Liao forces attacked General Yang once more. General Yang was defeated but managed to escape to an old temple. Grieving for all his sons slained in battle and thinking that all of them had died, he took his own life. Yang Yin Chiu returned to the castle only to be stopped by two Generals who informed him that his family had been betrayed by Minister Poon. The two Generals also informed Yang Yin Chiu that his mighty brother Yang Yin Ji had been slained by Minister Poon. At once Minister Poon's forces attempted to capture Yang Yin Chiu who managed to escape to an old temple. There he stumbled across the body of his farther, General Yang. At once Yang Yin Chiu grieved and vowed to avenge his father's and brother's death.

Yang Yin Fai was taken back to see Queen Siu, who offered to make him his son in law. Initially Yang Yin Fai was against the idea, but after some thought he decided to marry Ching Ling, the Liao Princess who had saved his life. Yang Yin Tak was taken back to a monastery to heal his wounds by the monk. The Liao forces soon caught up however. In order to save his life Yang Yin Tak decided to shave his head and dress up like a monk. When the Liao forces searched the monastery they did not recognised Yang Yin Tak and left. Little did Yang Yin Tak realised that he was now to become a monk forever. The monk informed Yang Yin Tak that his secular life had ended. It was the will of the Heavens that his life was taken at the battle but the monk had intervene to save his life. By ending his secular life taking on the name of Fat Ching, meant that Yang Yin Tak would be lost to the world forever.

Yang Yin Tak was shocked at first but agreed that the monk was right. However he was not yet ready to give up on protecting his country and his family. The monk agreed and handed Yang Yin Tak a wooden pole, to use to help him defend both family and country. With that Yang Yin Tak ventured back into the world as monk, Fat Ching. News of General Yang's death and the death of his sons soon reached Lady Yang who was shocked to discover the news. Initially she thought that only one of her sons were to die but now all of them had perished. Soon lady Yang recovered only to suffer a second insult. Minister Poon had written a letter to the Emperor accusing General Yang of collaborating with the Liao Dynasty. At once the Emperor ordered to have the entire Yang family executed for treason.

Soldiers soon surrounded the house and captured all of the Yang family except for Princess Chai, and Do Gum Ngo. It was too much for Lady Yang to handle as her sons had died to protect the Sung Dynasty only to be accused of treason. She passed out. Meanwhile Bat Wong and General Foo Yin pleaded with the Emperor not to execute the Yang family without a fair trail. The Emperor agreed and allowed a trail to take place. Soon Yang Yin Chiu returned to inform the Emperor that Minister Poon had collaborated with the Liao Dynasty, and murdered the mighty Yang Yin Ji. At once Concubine rushed in the royal court and accused Yang Yin Chiu of lying. With no proof the Emperor decided to lock up Yang Yin Chiu until Yang Yin Ji's body was found. It was up to Princess Chai and Do Gum Ngo to locate the body.

They walked passed the beach were Yang Yin Ji was slained and Do Gum Ngo noticed an aspiration of Yang Yin Ji. She began digging furiously on the spot until a deity came pass to expose Yang Yin Ji's body. At once Do Gum Ngo pleaded with the deity to restore Yang Yin Ji to life, but she refused. The deity the informed Do Gum Ngo that she and Yang Yin Ji were both deities sent down to earth as punishment for having an affair. Yang Yin Ji was now to resume his duties in heaven as Jiu Yan Ji as he was before. However Do Gum Ngo was sentenced to remain on earth for another 30 years before being allowed to return to heaven to reunite with Jiu Yan Ji. With this the deity disappeared. Do Gum Ngo then presented the body to the Emperor. Bat Wong removed one of the arrows and noticed that it was one of Minister Poon's arrows.

At once the Emperor ordered for the capture of Minister Poon. Young General Foo Yin was sent to capture Minister Poon and managed to out smart him in handing over the military order insignia. Once the military order insignia was in General Foo Yin's hands he ordered for the capture of Minister Poon. Poon's two sons managed to escape and Minister Poon was brought before the Emperor, who was going to pass the trail over to Justice Pao. But Concubine Poon rejected the idea accusing Justice Pao of being biased towards the Yang family. Justice Pao then thought of a clever idea to expose Concubine Poon by handing the case over to a minor official, Justice Kau Jan. Concubine Poon laughed and thought that she could easily bribe Kau Jan and sent one her eunuchs to see him. Kau Jan did not take the bribe however and was most displeased by Minister Poon's behaviour. During the trail Concubine Poon continually tried to disrupt it from occurring until Bat Wong exposed her tactics. The Emperor was the forced to hand full jurisdiction over to Justice Kau Jan.

Despite the available evidence Minister Poon did not admit to killing Yang Yin Ji and collaborating with the Liao Dynasty until Kau Jan tricked him into thinking that he had obtained an order from the Emperor to kill him. Thinking that he was to be executed Minister Poon admitted to the charges. Instead of killing him, Kau Jan, decided to banish Minister Poon from China. This opened the door for Yang Yin Chiu to take revenge personally whilst at the same time expose the two Poon son's who had managed to escape. As Minister Poon was being taken away from the capital, Yang Yin Chiu, waited for him along the journey. At once he demanded the Generals to move away so he could avenge the death of his farther and brothers. The Generals obliged and moved away.

Yang Yin Chiu then charged at Minister Poon, who was saved by General Yee Lan. Soon the other two Poon sons emerged from the bushes with Liao forces. Yang Yin Chiu was caught of guard until, Fat Ching, arrived to save him. With Fat Ching's help, Yang Yin Chiu, killed both Poon brothers and then speared Minister Poon to death. Having gotten revenge Yang Yin Chiu made a move to greet his brother Yang Yin Tak. Fat Ching turned Yang Yin Chiu away stating that Yang Yin Tak's secular life had ended and now that he was Fat Ching. Before leaving Fat Ching instructed Yang Yin Chiu not to inform Lady Yang that they had met so that they wouldn't have to worry about him. After killing Minister Poon, Yang Yin Chiu, gave himself up to the Emperor who wanted to execute him. But when news arrived that Liao forces were attacking once more Yang Yin Chiu was spared and sent back to deal with them.

By this time the deity Liu Dong Kwun decided to join forces with Queen Siu, and planted a trap for Yang Yin Chiu who was captured in the evil trap. Finally Lady Yang and all of the Yang females on the request of Bat Wong and with the advice of Gwai Guk Chi, sought to rescue Yang Yin Chiu. They obtained the help of Hong Jong Ling the deity who advised them that they had two obtain another two powerful weapons to defeat the spell which trapped Yang Yin Chiu. One of the weapons was the wooden stick which belonged to Fat Ching, formerly Yang Yin Tak. The other weapon was old General Yang's sword which was now in the possession of Queen Siu. Upon hearing that Yang Yin Tak was still alive Yang Ng Leung decided to find him. At once Fat Ching rejected Yang Ng Leung's love stating that his secular life was over. However he did offer to help free Yang Yin Chiu from the evil spell.

Meanwhile Yang Bat Miu, went to the Liao palace in an attempt to steal General Yang's sword. She was spotted by rescued by Yang Yin Fai who had now become a Liao Prince. At once Yang Yin Fai offered to help and created a diversion to steal General Yang's sword from Queen Siu and presented over to Yang Bat Miu. Later in the evening Yang Yin Fai decided to convince his wife Ching Ling to allow him to leave for three days to return to his mother's side. Ching Ling agreed and Yang Yin Fai returned to the camp, were he had to explain his actions to his wife, Yang Sie Leung. When Queen Siu discovered that Yang Yin Fai had left she sent Ching Ling to recapture him. Subsequently Ching Ling ran into and battled with Yang Sie Leung, and was captured. But Yang Yin Fai begged his wife to spare Ching Ling's life on the condition that she was bearing his child. Upon hearing this Yang Sie Leung ran out and allowed Ching Ling to live.

Later Fat Ching returned but turned his back on the entire family when the called him Yang Yin Tak. At once he stated that his secular life was over. With Fat Ching's help they managed to rescue Yang Yin Chiu from the evil spell. Upon being rescued the Yang family pursued Queen Siu who attempted a hastily escape.

She became surrounded by Fat Ching, Yang Yin Fai and Yang Yin Chiu. Her Generals battled with the three men as Queen Siu attempted to escape through another path which was blocked by Lady Yang and all of the Yang females. Yang Yin Chiu, Yang Yin Fai and Fat Ching killed all of the Liao Generals and made an attempt to kill Queen Siu when Ching Ling intervened and begged Yang Yin Fai to have mercy. Whilst they were discussing the situation, Liu Dong Kwun arrived and one of his men threw and axe at Yang Yin Fai. Ching Ling blocked the blow and died.

Before dying she begged Yang Yin Fai to have mercy on Queen Siu. Suddenly Liu Dong Kwun attacked the Yang family with another spell until, his master Hon Jong Ling arrived. Hon Jong Ling came to collect his student and forced him to leave immediately with him. With that Hon Jong Ling, Liu Dong Kwun and the two other deities helping the Liao Dynasty left. Queen Siu was about to be slained when Hon Jong Ling informed them that the attack on the Sung Dynasty was Heaven's will. With this Queen Siu and her daughter escaped. As Queen Siu escaped Yang Yin Fai carried Ching Ling's body away. He would decide to leave the family shortly afterwards. Fat Ching was being followed by Yang Ng Leung. Once again Fat Ching insisted that his secular life was over and continued to walk away. Soon he disappeared as Yang Ng Leung stood with tears in her eyes. Following the victory against the Liao Dynasty the Yang family received promotions from the Emperor. Lady Yang was grateful but decided that it was time to retire from the military service. Yang Yin Chiu stayed with the family vowing to protect the Sung Dynasty but agreed to take his mother back to her home town since China was at peace once more.   

RATING (7)

"The Yang's Saga", was the only series that featured nearly all of the talented actress and actors in one series. However at six episodes there was nearly no enough screen time for all of them. Some actress only spoke one or two lines. This was the most disappointing thing about "The Yang's Saga". The characters were not really that well developed except for Yang Yin Chiu and Yang Yin Ji. There was not enough time to develop the relationship between each of the Yang couple's either. The comradely between the Yang sons could have been further developed so that each Yang had a distinctive personality. 

A six episodes the series moved at a fast pace and plenty of action. Like all political and war stories back stabbing and betrayal is high on the agenda with the Emperor made to look like a puppet of powerful figures in the royal court. The plot was interesting enough although it could have been further developed in some parts to extend the series.  The end of the series was poor to say the least.

It was difficult to gauge the acting as each of the "5 Tigers", depicted the characters that they have portrayed the most throughout their acting career. For example Tony Leung played someone who liked to stuff around an awful lot at the beginning. Miu Kiu Wai played someone who was in conflict like he has always done. Tong Chun Yip played a noble personality which is typical of his acting career. Felix portrayed someone who would end up as a monk. Finally Andy Lau was the typical charming hero he always is.

As a standpoint this series good enough to be enjoyed time and time again. The colourful costumes and the array of actress and actors together in one series alone warrants viewing by all HK Entertainment lovers. 

WONG YAT WAH AS YANG YIN TAK

In this series Felix Wong received less screen time than Andy Lau, Tony Leung and Kent Tong. His character is similar to the ones he has portrayed before. However he did not receive enough screen time for the audience to gauge Yang Yin Tak's unique personality. Having said that Yang Yin Tak seemed to be a more serious and proud type of character than Yang Yin Ji and Yang Yin Tak.  However it is always difficult to judge actors in series such as this were actors and actress do not get enough screen time to demostrate thier talents.  Towards the end of the series Felix looked like Hoi Juk from the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils all over again.  Apart from that Felix look noble and heroic. It was not surprising also to see Felix take up the blue costume either since it is his favorite colour.

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