Chinese Drama 2019

 

Novoland: Eagle Flag (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

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  Novoland: Eagle Flag poster

  Genre: Wuxia, Historical Costume Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Action, Adventure

• Release Date: 16 July 2019
• Origin: China;  Part of the Novoland series
• Cdrama: 70 Episodes

Cast:

• Liu Haoran as Asule/Lu Gui Chen
• Song Zu’er as Yu Ran
• Chen Ruo Xuan as Ji Ye
• Li Guang Jie as Xi Yan
• Maggie Jiang as Gong Yu Yi
• Lu Yan Qi as Su Ma
• Zhang Zhi Jian as Lei Bi Cheng
• Shawn Wei as Baili NIng Qin
• Yang Le as Lu Ying Yang
• Angel Wang as Su Shin Qin
• Xu Qing as Grand Princess Bai Ling Bo
• Zhang Feng Yi as Ying Wu Yi
• Zhang Jia Yi as Baili Jing Hong
• Liu Qiu Shi as Baili Yin
• Dong Yong as Lu Song
• Ken Chang Bai Yi
• Amy Chen as Bai Zhou Yue
• Yang Xin Ming as Da He Sa (Shaman)
• Huang Yi as Baili Yu
• Feng Hui as Ji Qian Zheng (Ji Ye’s Father)
• Liu Yue as Luo Zi Yan
• Fan Jin Wei as Ji Chang Ye

There are rumours that Novoland: Eagle Flag is airing tonight, 16 July 2019.

Episode 1

30 July 2019:  I have just started episode 1 today and I have to say I am sold.  It has the feel of Ever Night.

Anyway, the episode started with the massacre of the Zhenyan tribe.  Every single soldier of the tribe was killed and then their bodies were left tied to poles in the centre of their community.

The leader was the adoptive father of Lui Gui Chen.

Lui Gui Chen who is called Asule meaning longevity escaped from the mass killing by hiding under a house with his two adoptive sisters.

The rest of the tribe, including Lui Gui Chen and his sisters, were rounded up by the soldiers.  Lui Gui Chen put up a fight to protect his sisters.

He then woke up inside a carriage tended by a servant.  He was told that he was the crown prince of the grassland of Northern Capital.

The maid told him of his sad story.

Apparently, when he was being born, the people were entreating the Emperor to kill the baby because it was foretold that the child will bring chaos to the grassland.

The Empress begged the Emperor not to harm her baby.

The Emperor told the Empress that the baby was born dead.  It had no pulse.

The Empress was absolutely devastated.  She cradled her lifeless baby and then she stabbed herself to death.

The baby suddenly came alive.

The Emperor secretly gave the baby to a shaman to pass to his cousin from the Zhenyan tribe.

Then several years later the tribe was gone.

Asule met the Emperor his father.   He refused to acknowledge him as his father.  He said that his father was dead.

The Emperor told Asule that he is the crown prince.  Apparently, the law of the grassland was that the youngest son inherits the throne/title.

The Emperor said to Asule to apologise to him and he will allow Asule to keep all the remaining women and children of the Zhenyan tribe including Su Ma, his sister.

Asule did not reply.

Asule was still a young boy and rather weak.  The people were questioning whether he was suitable to be the future Emperor.  He has not experienced fighting and did not know how.

The Emperor said that it was getting harder to get up in the grassland of the Northen Capital.  If it was not raining, it was snowing.  They can’t have a regular source of food supply, which causes a constant battle between the people.

He sent an ambassador to the Eastland to negotiate about food supply.

It was a success.  The ambassador came back with a representative from the Eastland group to negotiate a deal.

Eastland said that they can send as much rice as the Northern Capital wanted but they had to comply to two requests.

First, they need 1000 tiger horses which Northern Capital is renowned.    Second, they want a prince to train on their culture and governance.  This prince will be married to one of their princesses as a marriage alliance.

Asule has at least four older brothers who were coveting the thrown.

Episode 2

The Eastlander commander chose the crown prince to marry their princess.

The Emperor dissuade the commander saying that the crown prince is still a young boy and weak.  He is not suitable and to prove his point, he invited the commander and his people to a hunting expedition.

They went hunting for the ferocious white wolves.

It went rather more frightening than expected.  The soldiers were overwhelmed by the CGI wolves.  The lead wolf walked away.

The emperor timely remembered that his youngest son, the crown princes was unprotected at the camp.  He raced into the camp and was able to fight off the king wolf who was about to jump for the kill into Asule.

The wolf was too strong that the emperor ended on the ground almost beaten.

Asule picked up his Dapi machete and went for the wolf almost cutting him in half lengthwise.  He then fell into a dead faint.

He was in a coma for a month.

They found out that Asule as a terminal illness caused by blood synopsis (whatever that is).  He was not going to live past 20 or 24 max.  He is already 18, almost 19.

Finally, Asule woke up and met up group of black robe monks who follow the god panda (?).  They seemed to protect Asule, being a gift from god.  They also said that Asule was dead from birth.  He was now only living with his yin, his yang had been long gone.

The Eastlander commander still wanted the crown prince to be the groom and initiated the plan to get moving with the crown prince.

The Emperor was adamant but Asule said that he was willing to go to Eastlander.

The Emperor was really sad that Asule was going.  He mentioned to Asule that he was like his mom.

Asule remarked that the Emperor never mentioned his mother before.

The Emperor said that he will tell him a secret.  Never ever mention the closest person to you to anyone being it is your achilles’ heel.

The Emperor said to Asule that when he reached Eastlander he had to change his name to LV Gui Chen.

They left immediately the next morning.  Su Ma went too.

It was a long trek, they were three-quarters of the way when they were attacked by a tribe with alien/terminator masks.  Fireballs were thrown at them and poor SuMa died protecting Asule.  This was such a tragic scene.

Episode 3

Gui Chen’s arrival to the capital was hectic to say the least.

The niece of the state preceptor at that moment was pretending to be a boy, was playing truant and became embroiled with thievery and fighting with a mercenary, Ji Ye who was hired as a bodyguard of a noble.

Ji Ye was tasked to take the seal back from the boy/YuRan, who snatched it.

Ji Ye and Yu Ran were climbing and running all over the place and ended up falling in the passing carriage of Gui Chen.

They did not know that he was the arriving crown prince.

At the palace, Gui Chen was introduced to the princess, who liked him to start with because he looks handsome but noticed that he can barely hold himself.  He looked sick.

She then learned that he had been sickly since he was a child.

She then refused to marry him.

Gui Chen was really feeling ill and can’t take all the controversies and arguements inside so he walked out straight into the arms of Yu Ran.

He threw up blood all over her.

The state preceptor, Gong Yu Yi was called to treat Gui Chen.  She told the king that Gui Chen was stable but she reckoned that Gui Chen will not live past his 20th birthday.

The King had a second thought.  He said he cannot let his favoured daughter to suffer widowhood fairly early on her marriage.

But at the same time, he needs a male heir from the crown prince of the Northern Capital so he could conquer the world.

Episode 4

Poor Yu Ran, she was blamed for the collapsed of the crown prince.  She was made to copy a number of scriptures as a punishment.

She was so annoyed, she went to see the still sleeping crown prince.  She was just about to make a little revenge punishement when she noticed that he was crying in his sleep.

She softened a bit and whispered to him that he is too weak for the spoilt princess.

Meanwhile, Ji Ye was at their family shine when a mysterious black-cloaked man appeared.

The man immediately noticed the family spear which had been passed to Ji Ye.

Before they could talk more, Ji Qianzheng, Ji Ye’s father appeared and noticed their auspicious guest, who is the god of Polaris, the lord of the vast land, the leader of Tianqu.

Tianqu is an organisation that ensures the safety and well being of mankind. Everlasting the Eagle Flag (whatever that means)! 🙂

The Mysterious man asked why Ji Qianzheng had suddenly disappeared from Tianqu.

Ji Qianzheng said that he felt betrayed and disappointed that when his father, Ji Lan, who was the leader of Tianqu at that time was imprisoned, no one tried to help out.  They were left all alone.  So he packed up his family and had lived a nomadic life ever since.

The Mysterious Man said that if that was the case then there was no need to keep the Tinqu signet ring anymore.

Ji Qianzheng does not want his legal son to join and die because of Tianqu so he threw the ring into the fire.

But Ji Ye’s saw it and fished it out as soon as his father had left.

He said to the mysterious man that he was the son of a concubine and was treated very differently from his sibling.

He was given the spear so that he gets to fight while his brother was brought up to be a scholar.  His father would not allow Ji Ye to enter the library to learn.  He begged the leader of Tiianqu to be trained in the use of the spear.

The crown prince had gotten better and was given a welcoming feast.

That same day, Yu Ran had been officially adopted by the king and made a princess.

The king had told the crown prince that his new intended is Princess Yu Ran.

Before he could say anything, Yu Ran said that she does not want to become a princess jut to marry anyone, she then stropped off.

Episode 5

Yuran refused to marry the crown prince despite her aunt, Gong Yi Ye using emotional blackmail on her.  That she owed it to her country, blah blah blah.

Gong Yi Ye is a winged being from the Yu tribe of Qingzhou, whose people are supposed to have pure blood and the most beautiful women.

To make her point, Yuran went to see the crown prince and made him promised to advise the King that he does not want to marry Yu Ran.

The Crown Prince agreed immediately which rather worried Yu Ran.

War is brewing.  The alien masked being are killing people.

Ji Ye overheard his father, Ji Qianzheng, told his wife that he was sending Ji Ye to fight.  If he excels, it would be a credit to their family and if he dies, he died in battle.  His wife was very happy with this news.

The aggrieved Ji Ye found YuRan in the middle of cheating her way into dice games.

He tried to take her away but she declined his help until she was chased by the men who played strip-roll-a-dice with.

Ji Ye and Yu Ran started a rather uneasy friendship.  He confessed to her that he wanted to join the military but not just as one of the soldiers.  He had a big ambition.  He wanted to be a general or at least to become an assistant general and not just a foot soldier.

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Asule, YuRan and Ji Ye visited a Ghost market.  They ended up in an antique shop ran by a midget who invited them to see what in their psyche by looking into a conch mirror.

Asule had a peaceful image of his to ‘sister’ Suma and Qin.  They told him to look after himself.

YuRan had a giggly time watching her sweet friendship with Asule and Ji Ye unfold before her eyes.

Ji Ye had a rather mysterious image.  He saw someone standing on a precipe on a great boulder and he had wings.

Li and Chenyue had bonded together their strong army to go into war against the prosperous but weakened Xiatang.

The king had tasked General Xi to gather an army for the battle against the LI and Chenyue’s combined forces.

Ji Ye was rather intrigued and happy to hear from the king himself that those who would excel during the battle will be handsomely rewarded and their rank will escalate depending on who they kill.

Poor YuRan dawned on a soldier’s uniform and was ready to go as well but both Asule and Ji Ye dissuaded her.

YuRan quickly saw their logic and decided to stay put where she was but she told them to be very careful and come back safe and sound.

It did not start well with Xiatang.

The Li-ChenYue had already attacked before Xiatang could even regroup.

Episode 11

Wow! Wow! Wow

The fighting scene was spectacular.  Excellent cinematography.

Ji Ye was desperate to go up in rank and despite being exhausted from the battle, he continued to break into the inner circle of the Li-Chen Yue.

Asule let saw him riding towards the heavily manned inner domain.  Asule cut himself off from his shackle with the formidable Iron Futu and gave chase to Ji Ye to assist and protect him as he had promised with YuRan.

Ji Ye went who he thought was Commander Li.  He was quickly surrounded when Asule turned up as well.  The were both in the midst of the soldier with their hostage who happened to be the daughter of Commander Li.

Commander Li told him that Ji Ye had guts even he was rather foolhardy.  He told Ji Ye that if can take three machete cut from him,  he will let Ji Ye live and leave.

Ji Ye agreed.