枪炮侯

Hou Jiuman (played by Ni Dahong) grew up in an environment where the family made guns and cannons. He bent on defeating the Western powers through his skills. By chance, he was named "Marquis of Gun Pao" by Cixi, but the Qing court did not grant him funding. In order to raise funds, Hou Jiuman did not hesitate to use various methods to raise money, but he insisted not to harm the interests of the people. In the process, he also fell into a tortuous emotional experience. He originally had a married wife, Hou Shi (played by Zhao Jing), but the Empress Dowager Cixi (played by Lu Zhong) forced him to marry an "eyes and ears" Arsalan (played by Yang Xue) as the main family. Because he still loves Hou Shi in his heart, Hou Jiuman played a trick, first divorced Hou Shi, married Arsaran, and then married Hou Shi back

Hou Jiuman's four children have their own destiny. The eldest son followed the Empress Dowager Cixi and became a conservative official; the second son joined the Boxers and fought for national independence; the third son went to Japan to study and was influenced by Western civilization and became a modernist thinker; the fourth son was a hero in troubled times , engaged in underground activities, secretly supported the revolution, and finally made outstanding contributions to the country in the Revolution of 1911. While his children were going their separate ways, Hou Jiuman was also working hard for his dreams, and finally succeeded in creating a batch of advanced weapons, which made important contributions to the country's modernization.