 In the mid-1830s, a natural disaster strikes the city of Nantong, tarnishing most of the city's rice fields.Running out of food supply, city mayor Hong Chi-wing (Wong Wai Leung) decides to use the city's military food supply to feed the people.A few days after the disaster, an official from Beijing arrives to the city to check the military supply, and upon seeing empty trailers, he sentences the Hong family to death.