Datang Youxia Zhuan

"Datang Youxia Zhuan" redirects here. For the television series of the same Chinese title, see Paladins in Troubled Times.

Datang Youxia Zhuan
Author(s)	Liang Yusheng
Country	China
Language	Chinese
Genre(s)	Wuxia
Publication date	January 1, 1963
Media type	Print
Followed by	Longfeng Baochai Yuan

Datang Youxia Zhuan
Traditional Chinese	大唐游俠傳
Simplified Chinese	大唐游侠传
Literal meaning	Story of the Wandering Hero of Great Tang
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Dà Táng Yóu Xiá Zhuàn Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Daai6 Tong4 Jau4 Haap6 Zyun6

Datang Youxia Zhuan is a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng. It was written between January 1, 1963 and June 14, 1964. The novel is the first part of a trilogy, and is followed by Longfeng Baochai Yuan and Huijian Xinmo.

Plot

The story is set in the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. The emperor appoints the incompetent Yang Guozhong as chancellor out of nepotism because Yang's cousin, Yang Yuhuan, is the emperor's favourite concubine. The Tang government gradually sinks into corruption under Yang Guozhong's ineffective leadership and Yang's supporters dominate the political arena. The power hungry barbarian An Lushan wins the emperor's trust through flattery and the emperor promotes him to the rank of jiedushi of Fanyang. An Lushan wields great military power in his hands and secretly builds up his forces in preparation for a rebellion.

In the jianghu, the outlaw lords Dou Lingkan and Wang Botong compete fiercely with each other for the position of chief of the wulin (martial artists' community). Dou Lingkan and his brothers have the support of Duan Guizhang, a renowned swordsman who is also Dou's brother-in-law. On the other hand, Wang Botong cooperates with An Lushan to achieve his goal, while recruiting several pugilists to serve him and sending his children to be tutored by martial arts exponents.

Duan Guizhang maintains a close friendship with a former government official called Shi Yiru. Their wives give birth to a boy called Duan Keye and a girl named Shi Ruomei respectively. An Lushan sends his men to bring Duan Guizhang to meet him but Duan was not in then, so Shi Yiru went in place of him. Shi Yiru is held hostage in An Lushan's residence and Duan Guizhang and Dou Lingkan's godson, Tie Mole, go to rescue him. They fail and Shi Yiru dies while Duan Guizhang is severely wounded. They are saved from An Lushan's men by Nan Jiyun and Huangfu Song.

Kongkong'er, one of Wang Botong's lackeys, shows up and steals the baby Duan Keye, in order to force Duan Guizhang not to side with Dou Lingkan. Subsequently, Dou Lingkan is slain by Wang Botong's daughter, Wang Yanyu, in a fight and loses his title of chief of the wulin. Tie Mole escapes amidst the chaos with Nan Jiyun's help and vows to avenge his godfather. Duan Guizhang sends Tie Mole to learn martial arts from a reclusive master. Seven years later when Tie Mole has achieved a certain level of prowess in his skills, he returns to civilisation, only to find himself stranded in the chaotic situation of the An Shi Rebellion.

Tie Mole has a series of adventures, including undermining An Lushan's rebellion force by capturing Wang Botong's mountain stronghold and exposing the truth behind a 20-year old mystery and clearing Huangfu Song's name. Tie Mole finds himself entangled in a complex love triangle with Wang Yanyu and another maiden called Han Zhifen. He saves the emperor and flees with the imperial forces after the capital cities Luoyang and Chang'an fell to An Lushan's rebel forces. He is also involved in the historical incident at Mawei courier station, when the discontented soldiers killed Yang Guozhong and demanded that the emperor put Yang Yuhuan to death. The famous Battle of Suiyang is also featured in the novel in the later chapters and many heroes sacrifice themselves in the battle. Tie Mole, Han Zhifen and others continue their heroic legacy by recruiting heroes to help in suppressing the rebellion.

Characters

Main article: List of Datang Youxia Zhuan characters

• Tie Mole (鐵摩勒) - son of Tie Kunlun and godson of Dou Lingkan. He travels with Han Zhifen and Han Zhan to help Xin Tianxiong's volunteer army fight the rebels.

• Nan Jiyun (南霽雲) - a famous pugilist from Weizhou nicknamed "Nan Ba" (南八). He is killed in the Battle of Suiyang.

• Xia Lingshuang (夏凌霜) - daughter of Leng Xuemei. Her biological father is actually Huangfu Hua, but she never knew the truth as her mother refused to let her know. She is highly skilled in swordplay and appears to help the other protagonists in the nick of time when they encounter trouble. She marries Nan Jiyun and gives birth to a pair of twin boys. She is said to be pregnant with a third child near the end of the novel. She survives the Battle of Suiyang and dedicates her life to raising her children and Duan Keye.

• Wang Yanyu (王燕羽) - daughter of Wang Botong. She has a crush on Tie Mole and saves him from death a few times. Tie Mole sees her as his sworn enemy because she killed his godfather but becomes reluctant to kill her as he has also developed feelings for her.

• Han Zhifen (韓芷芬) - Han Zhan's daughter. She inherits her father's powerful dianxue techniques. She falls in love with Tie Mole and marries him eventually.

• Duan Guizhang (段珪璋) - a famous swordsman from Youzhou. In his younger days, he offended An Lushan and was forced to go into hiding after An Lushan rose to power. He passes his swordplay manual to Tie Mole. He dies in the Battle of Suiyang.

• Dou Xianniang (竇線娘) - younger sister of the five Dou brothers and wife of Duan Guizhang. Her prowess in martial arts complement her husband's swordplay techniques. She is severely injured during the Battle of Suiyang. Before her death, she entrusts her son to Xia Lingshuang's care and tells him about his fiancee (Shi Ruomei).

Adaptations

In 2008, the novel was adapted into a Chinese television series titled Paladins in Troubled Times by producer Zhang Jizhong. It starred Victor Huang, Shen Xiaohai, He Zhuoyan, Liu Tianyue, TAE and Lu Chen.

External links

• (Chinese) Datang Youxia Zhuan on Baidu Baike
• (Chinese) Plot summary of Datang Youxia Zhuan on tieba.baidu.com