China's Legendary Female Hero (and it wasn't Mulan)!

Hey guys, welcome to Off the Great Wall. I'm Mia. I'm Felicia. So everyone's heard of Mulan, China's superhero female warrior. Thanks to Dizzy. But did you know that hundreds of years before Mulan, there was another famous female Chinese warrior who accomplished even more? Yeah, her name was Mu Guiyin and she wasn't just a warrior, but a general in charge of an entire army. So inside China, Mu Guiyin is pretty well known and she's been the subject of Chinese operas, classical dance, TV shows, and even slot machines. Whoa, that's crazy. But you know what's even crazier? Her life story. That's right. So this is during China's Song Dynasty about a thousand years ago. Mu Guiyin was a teenager whose father was a bandit who ruled the Mukou Fortress. So naturally, Mu Guiyin started learning Chinese martial arts from a young age. So one day, this young man named Yang Zhongbao comes looking for her. Yang is the son of a general in a long line of generals and his father had sent him on a journey to find a semi-mystical item called the Dragon Taming Wood at the Mukou Fortress. So he gets there and demands the Dragon Taming Wood, but Mu Guiyin is like, no, no way. So she fights him, beats him up, and then take him hostage. But that's not even the weird part. The weird part is that after keeping him hostage for a while, she starts to fall in love with him. Oh, it's like reverse Stockholm Syndrome. Yes. I guess he must have been reading. Anyway, she falls in love with him and then demands to marry him, which he eventually accepts. I mean, talk about tiger lady. Meow. Yeah. And then Yang Zhongbao tells the father, the general, that he's going to marry this bandit's daughter. He gets really mad and then orders his son to be executed instead. But Mu Guiyin comes to his rescue and she challenges the father to a duel and also defeats and captures him. Wow, hectic. So General Yang pretty much has no choice but to let Mu Guiyin marry his son. Yep, that's the story of their marriage. But they don't exactly live happily ever after because at this point in history, the Song dynasty is actually being attacked by the army of the Liao dynasty. Yep, and the Liao army has this thing called the Heavenly Gate Formation of 72 moves that's considered invincible. Okay, so long story short, Mu Guiyin proves herself in battle and is quickly promoted to general. It helped that the Liao army had already killed most of the Yang family's generals. So let's say there were plenty of job openings. That's harsh. So General Mu Guiyin devises a plan to defeat the Heavenly Gate Formation. Now instead of attacking directly, she first sends soldiers to burn the Liao army's food and disrupt their supply lines. You can't do anything without food. And then she instructs her men how to defeat each of the 72 formations using a secret countermeasure that she knows. And boom, takedown. And you know what's crazy? She did all this when she was just 19 years old. 19? When I was 19, I was just complaining about homework and my mom not cooking my food. And boys, I don't know. Me either. Anyway guys, that's just a summary of her two life stories. But there's a lot more. Lots. Yeah, so let us know in the comments what you think about this cool chick called Mu Guiyin. And if you want to learn more about her, thanks for watching Off The Grid. Well guys, and we will see you soon. Bye!