Dragon Blade (film)

In northwest China, 48 BC (50 BC on screen in the English version), a security company under Han China's current government called The Silk Road Protection Squad is committed to stopping battles and promoting the idea of peace. Huo An (Jackie Chan), the captain, successfully averts a battle. The group returns to their unnamed home city, where Huo An's gentle Uyghur wife Xiuqing (Mika Wang) serves as a schoolteacher for orphans. However, the government uncovers evidence that someone in the group is corrupt, causing the entire group to be sentenced to construction work at Wild Geese Gate, a ruined fortress. Once they arrive, the group pays respects at the shrine of a fallen Chinese general. They originally were child-slaves of Han descent, but the general had later rescued them.

Not long after, Wild Geese Gate is threatened by a legion from the Roman Empire in need of water and supplies, among which is a blind boy named Publius (Jozef Waite). After a stale-mated duel between Huo An and Lucius (Cusack), the Roman general, the latter agrees not to assault the city in return for being let inside. The legion uses its superior engineering skills to speed up the construction work, an act which boosts the morale and happiness of the inhabitants, who are divided among several different ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Uyghur, and Turkic. Huo An returns the favor by sending men to assist Lucius's envoys in reaching the Parthian Empire. A celebration is later held and Huo An is made an honorary centurion.

Lucius reveals that he and Publius are fleeing from Publius's brother Tiberius (Brody), a corrupt soldier who murdered their father, a Roman consul, and blinded Publius so Tiberius could become consul. As Tiberius approaches with 100,000 soldiers, Huo An insists on helping Lucius, pointing out that Tiberius is a threat to the Silk Road in its entirety. Shortly after Huo An leaves to find reinforcements, the corrupt group member from earlier sends Chinese soldiers to murder Xiuqing and attack Wild Geese Gate. The legion is imprisoned in the non-Chinese trading city of Kroran, where Tiberius has chosen to camp. Tiberius proceeds to murder Publius.

Huo An and the few loyal Chinese soldiers travel to Kroran, pretending to surrender, but once they are inside, they destroy the Roman legion's cages. Huo An breaks into Lucius's special solitary cell, but is unable to free him. A fire breaks out, whereupon Lucius calls out to Huo An to 'take me home', and Huo An shoots an arrow to kill Lucius before the fire gets him. As Huo An's and Lucius's soldiers are surrounded, the armies of several other nations arrive and fight against Tiberius, including the Indians, Han, Uyghurs, and Turkics, all of whom are determined to preserve the Silk Road's safety. However, even their combined forces are unable to gain the upper hand. Finally, the envoys from earlier return with a massive host of Parthians, who had signed a special treaty with Publius's father and who intend to avenge his memory. Tiberius's soldiers lose their will to fight. Huo An challenges Tiberius to a duel and kills him.

Upon hearing about the bravery of Lucius's legion, the Chinese emperor grants them the right to establish their own city, which they choose to name Regum. They accept Huo An as their commander, and Huo An, in turn, honors the deceased Roman general by relocating the shrine to that city. As the centuries go on, the city fades from collective memory. However, in the modern day, a team of Asian American archaeologists stumble upon the site and uncover the dual Chinese and Latin inscriptions.

Marcus Licinius Crassus invaded Parthia in 53 BC, but most of his entire army was destroyed. The historian Homer H. Dubs speculated in 1941 that Roman prisoners of war who were transferred to the eastern border of the Parthian empire might later have clashed with Han troops there.[34] Similar claims, and even a Roman force defecting to China, have been made since. These include a supposed Roman town near modern Liqian. But most historians do not accept this.[35]

The first undisputed contact was much later, in 161 AD. An embassy from Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius or his successor Marcus Aurelius reached the Chinese Emperor Huan of Han at Luoyang.

• Daqin (ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire)
• Jackie Chan filmography
• Sino-Roman relations
• The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines
• The Great Wall, a film about a group of mercenary soldiers from Europe who wind up in China during the Northern Song Dynasty

• Dragon Blade at IMDb
• Dragon Blade at Metacritic
• Dragon Blade at Rotten Tomatoes