The Long Ballad

Envoys from the Ashina Tribe comes to Chang'an to meet with Tang Dynasty's Crown Prince Li Jian Cheng to compete in Cuju and discuss their inter-marriage. Li Chang Ge is the Crown Prince's daughter, Princess Yongning. Disguised as a man, she accidentally meets Ashina Sun, prince of Ashina Tribe, and even plays with him in Cuju.

Not pleased with Chang Ge disguising as a man, the Crown Princess decided to send Chang Ge to Biyong Hall. Chang Ge can tell that her mother behaves differently from usual. She can tell that something is not right. Chang Ge feels strange when she realizes that the direction that the cart heading towards is not leading to Biyong Hall. She goes back home and witnesses the most horrible thing ever.

After her family is killed, Chang Ge is on the run. At this point, she doesn't trust anyone, even Le Yan and Shu Yu. She had an opportunity to sneak into Prince of Qin's Manor to assassinate him, but she failed in her attempt, and was detained as a result. Will she be able to escape?

With the Crown Prince's token missing, Li Min Shi orders Changge's capture alive. However, Du Ruhai wants her killed. Ashina helps Changge escape by hiding her in a jewel-laden cart, fooling Hao Dou's search. Delivered to the forest, Changge flees, with Hao Dou and Wei Shuyu in pursuit. Shuyu is reminded of the grave consequences of being linked to the Crown Prince's assassination.

Ashina Sun rescues Li Chang Ge and finds out the she's a girl. Each with their own plans, they still end up in the same place, Youzhou. Meanwhile, His Majesty wants Princess Yong'an to intermarry with the Ashina Tribe.

With no one to trust, Li Chang Ge plans to meet the Prince of Lujiang to hopefully join hands with him and retaliate against Li Shi Min. However, she runs into Ashina Sun again and the two realize they're staying at the same inn. Ashina Sun hatches a plan against Wang Jun Kuo and gives him an offer to submit to the Ashina Tribe. He promises that the tribe will unconditionally support him.

Li Chang Ge has no other choice but to depend on Li Yuan to go against Li Shi Min. However, Li Yuan seems to have other thoughts in mind. Meanwhile, Young Khan forces Ashina Sun out of Youzhou to have a deal with Li Yuan's general, Wang Jun Kuo.

As Prince of Lujiang and Wang Jun Kuo have submitted to the Ashina Tribe, Li Chang Ge now has two parties chasing after her for the Crown Prince's seal. Knowing Prince of Lujiang's plans to hand Youzhou over to the Ashina Tribe, Chang Ge desperately seeks for reinforcements to save Youzhou before Ashina Tribe's army arrives.

With the Crown Prince's seal in hand, Li Chang Ge tries to convince Shen Gu to leave Youzhou and join forces with her. However, as a general of Tang, Shen rejected Chang Ge's offer. After knowing Wei Shu Yu's true motive, Li Chang Ge decides to draw lines with him. While waiting for Wei Shu Yu to return, Li Le Yan is kidnapped by a human trafficker.

Disguised as a man again, Li Chang Ge has come to Shuozhou as Shen Gu suggested. To her surprise, this supposedly mundane and desolate war zone is peaceful and prosperous. She bumps into Dou, and together, they decide to convince Gongsun Heng, the prefecture governor of Shuozhou, to start a revolt against Prince of Qin.

The Ashina Tribe's Tu Ka She, who desperately wants to win against Ashina Sun, leads a surprise attack on Shuozhou in hope to be the one to claim success for the tribe. Chang Ge is furious with Gongsun Heng when he refuses to listen to her warning of the surprise attack. However, when the governor returns with a victory, she realizes he is indeed someone she can trust.

After Gongsun Heng is detained by Sima Tu, Imperial Guard Wang goes to Governor's Manor to collect the command token. Through Elder Qin's delaying tactics, he is able to temporarily stop the command token from being taken away. Then Li Chang Ge comes up with a very risky plan to save Gongsun Heng and stop the Ashina Tribe's Bear Army from taking over Shuozhou.

Li Chang Ge has to be the leader of the army as Governor Gongsun sustains injuries in the battle at the East Gate. In the battle, Li Chang Ge and Ashina Sun confront each other. Ashina managed to evade being hit by Li Chang Ge's arrow, but Li Chang Ge was shot by Ashina's arrow. Li Change Ge refused to succumb and the Eagle Army chose to retreat in the end. Dou volunteers to send the message.

As the war between Shuozhou and the Ashina Tribe continues, Tu Ka She uses Dou as a bargaining chip to threaten Li Chang Ge to open the city gate. However, he fails and ends up ruining Ashina Sun's attack plan instead. Knowing very well that prolonging the war will only cause harm to Shuozhou troops and citizens, Gongsun Heng proposes a deal to Ashina Sun.

In exchange for the lives of Shuozhou's citizens, Gongsun Heng must sacrifice himself. His sacrifice and the things that happened afterwards make Chang Ge realize a lot of things. Meanwhile, Ashina Sun comes up with a way to protect Chang Ge's life.

Princess Yong'an is missing in action and her father send people to look for her in secret. On the other hand, Li Chang Ge is captured by Ashina Sun. Ashina Sun wants her to survive so that she can avenge Gongsun Heng and people in Shuozhou. After listening to Ashina Sun, Li Chang Ge found the courage to live.

Li Chang Ge offers to be Ashina Sun's advisor and promises to fulfill three of his wishes. In exchange, he has to let her leave the grasslands after that. The Great Khan makes a sudden visit with She Er, who tries to accuse Ashina Sun for betraying the Ashina Tribe. However, Chang Ge thinks on her feet and turns the tables.

Li Chang Ge saves a female slave, who falls for her, not knowing that she's a woman as well. Because of an incident, Mu Jin finds out that Shi Si Lang is a woman and that her real name is Chang Ge. Meanwhile, Li Le Yan experiences a lot of hardships while working in the textile workshop.

Mu Jin brings Mimi to the Central Plains for shopping. In the market, Mimi runs into Le Yan who is selling fabrics. After leaving Le Yan's stall, Mimi found that she has lost the pouch given by Li Chang Ge. She goes back to the stall and sees that Le Yan has the exact same pouch as she does. She misunderstands that Le Yan has stolen her pouch and forcefully snatched Le Yan's pouch.

Both Hao Du and Chang Ge go to Yunzhou to find Le Yan, only to find out that she has already left for Luoyang. Chang Ge returns to the grasslands and realizes Ashina Sun has been ordered to go south to attack the Tang Dynasty. As the Ashina Tribe closes in on Chang'an, Li Shi Min is pressured to think of way to fight back despite Tang's severe lack of military power.

Emperor Li Shi Min wants to form an alliance with the Ashina Tribe. On the surface, Great Khan agrees. However, he has other plans. After Chang Ge finds out Great Khan's plan, she placed herself in harm's way to protect her nation as well as the Eagle Army.

Chang Ge is captured by the Young Khan and is kept as his slave. The Young Khan notices that Ashina Sun cares about Chang Ge and hence, he tortures Chang Ge with the intention to annoy Ashina Sun. In the royal court, Chang Ge meets up with General Luo Yi who is captured by the Great Khan.

Princess Yicheng saves Chang Ge and comes up with a plan to help her save General Luo Yi. Through Chang Ge's close contact with Princess Yicheng, She Er accidentally finds out that Chang Ge is a woman. Meanwhile, Ashina Sun plans to get Chang Ge back through a duel.

Chang Ge decides to stay in the royal court to rescue Luo Yi with the help of A Yi Er and Shi Ba. She Er finds out about the plan and he leads a troop to stop them. Ashina Sun comes to their rescue, but they all soon find out it's a setup and faces She Er.