Wen Tianxiang was a famous general in the late Southern Song Dynasty. His heroic deeds were sung by the world. However, his wife and daughter ended up very tragic and were forced to become prostitutes. At that time, the Queen Mother Xie of the Southern Song Dynasty surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty with her young emperor, but Wen Tianxiang refused to surrender and supported Emperor Gong's younger brother as emperor in the south. This began a three-year anti-Yuan struggle, and was finally captured by Zhang Hongfan in Guangdong. Zhang Hongfan knew that Wen Tianxiang was very famous among the people, so he treated him politely at first.
Wen Tianxiang had a wife and a concubine. These two gave birth to two sons and six daughters for Wen Tianxiang, but the fate of these six children was quite tragic. Of Wen Tianxiang's two sons, one died early and the other disappeared during the war. Four of the other six daughters died in several battles. When Wen Tianxiang was arrested, only his two daughters were left by his side. Wen Tianxiang's wife, concubines and two daughters were captured and sent to Dadu to work as prostitutes.
In prison, Zhang Hongfan tried his best to get Wen Tianxiang to surrender, but Wen Tianxiang refused. At this point, Zhang Hongfan came up with a plan to let Wen Tianxiang's daughters, who were working as prostitutes in Dadu, write letters to Wen Tianxiang in order to soften Wen Tianxiang's will. Wen Tianxiang was heartbroken after receiving the letter. But he still stuck to his beliefs. Even if his flesh and blood were separated, he would rather die than surrender.
Later Zhang Hongfan asked Wen Tianxiang to write a letter to another minister asking him to surrender. Wen Tianxiang refused, and only wrote an eternally famous poem "Crossing the Lingding Ocean" to express his intention, "After a hard encounter, fight. Stars are falling all around. The mountains and rivers are broken, the wind is flying, the rain is falling, and the beach is full of fear. Who has never died in life?" Then Wen Tianxiang went to justice bravely.