Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 157 Wang Shunchen downplays the main issues, the Manichaean uprising in Jiangnan

Upon closer examination, Li Hanxiao's seniority isn't actually that different from Liu Chenxiang's; they're of the same generation, even though Li Hanxiao is a bit younger...

"Thank you, Auntie!"

Li Hanxiao and Xu Guanzhong bid farewell to the Third Holy Mother. With a flash of light from the Third Holy Mother's Lotus Lantern, the two arrived at the foot of Mount Hua. It was very convenient. Seeing that it was getting late, climbing down Mount Hua in the dark would be quite dangerous!

Li Hanxiao held the small jade bottle given to him by the Third Holy Mother and thought to himself that childbirth for women in ancient times was exactly the same as passing through the gates of hell. Because medical conditions were backward in ancient times, once a woman suffered a massive hemorrhage, she was basically beyond saving.

The bottle of Heavenly Fragrance Jade Dew given by the Third Holy Mother is also a good thing for saving lives.

Li Hanxiao and Xu Guanzhong immediately went to the vicinity of Shaohua Mountain that night. When they arrived at the foot of Shaohua Mountain, they were shocked to find it was full of soldiers. The area was packed with them, with layers upon layers of troops, making it completely impenetrable.

Moreover, Li Hanxiao and Xu Guanzhong also found the others who had arrived earlier and had been waiting on the outskirts all day.

"The Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen told them that when "White Flower Snake" Yang Chun arrived first, there were no soldiers surrounding him, and he successfully went up the mountain.

As a result, when they arrived here during the day, they found that Shaohua Mountain had been completely surrounded by the Western Army!

They inquired around the area and learned that Wang Shunchen had personally led his army to surround Shaohua Mountain, but instead of attacking, his intentions were unclear.

This is terrible! They can't go up the mountain, so they have no way of knowing the specific situation on Shaohua Mountain!

Xu Guanzhong told Li Hanxiao that he could go up there; he could use magic to fly up under the cover of night and even bring someone with him.

However, this person must be a cultivator, because ordinary people who have not undergone cultivation are too heavy to carry with their magic!

As mentioned in "Journey to the West," when Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrived at the Blackwater River, Tang Sanzang asked his three disciples to carry him across. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing all said it was impossible. Zhu Bajie even said, "It's not easy to carry. If I'm carrying him on a cloud, I won't be able to leave the ground even three feet away. As the saying goes, carrying a mortal is as heavy as a mountain. If I'm carrying water, I'll fall into the water myself."

There was no other choice but to take Li Hanxiao and fly up the mountain. After all, Li Hanxiao had now cultivated the Great Celestial Immortal Technique and was considered a cultivator. Xu Guanzhong couldn't carry the others either!

So Xu Guanzhong used his magic to summon a dark cloud under the cover of night, and secretly took Li Hanxiao on a ride straight to Shaohua Mountain.

Fortunately, it was dark, and Xu Guanzhong summoned a dark cloud, so the two of them were not discovered and were able to successfully ascend Shaohua Mountain.

When the henchmen of Shaohua Mountain discovered a cloud floating in the sky with two people on it, they immediately went to summon the three leaders, "Divine Strategist" Zhu Wu, "Leaping Tiger" Chen Da, and "White Flower Snake" Yang Chun.

Yang Chun, nicknamed "White Flower Snake," recognized Li Hanxiao and his companion and immediately informed Zhu Wu and Chen Da. The three of them then went forward to greet Li Hanxiao and his companion.

"Brother Zhu Wu, what's going on with the government troops down the mountain?"

Li Hanxiao didn't waste any more words. They had already seen it from the foot of the mountain. There were at least 10,000 government troops at the foot of the mountain. They could flatten Shaohua Mountain three times over!

Time is tight and the task is heavy; we can't afford to waste any more time on red tape.

"Chief Li, although they did not attack the mountain, they did shoot a letter up here with arrows. Please take a look, Chief Li!"

Zhu Wu, the "Divine Strategist," took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Li Hanxiao. Li Hanxiao took it and read it. The letter stated that at noon the next day, Shi Jin, the "Nine-Tattooed Dragon," would be released back to Shaohua Mountain.

Li Hanxiao was stunned. He wondered what was going on. Wang Shunchen had finally captured "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin, but now he had released him.

Li Hanxiao immediately inquired about what this "divine strategist" Zhu Wu had been doing during this period of time.

Zhu Wu wasn't stupid; he had some ruthless methods. After "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin was captured alive, he immediately sent men down the mountain to secretly kidnap the son of the Huazhou Prefect and bring him up the mountain. He also told Wang Shunchen that if "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin died, or if the government troops attacked the mountain, they should kill the hostage.

This tactic had always worked before, preventing them from succeeding, but today they suddenly surrounded Shaohua Mountain and even shot this letter upwards, leaving them completely bewildered.

Li Hanxiao was also confused about what was going on. The most likely explanation was that they wanted to exchange the son of the Huazhou Prefect by releasing Shi Jinlai, the "Nine-Tattooed Dragon".

Everything will have to wait until we meet "Nine-Dragon" Shi Jin tomorrow, otherwise we won't be able to understand what's going on.

The next day at noon, as instructed in the arrow scroll, Li Hanxiao, along with Xu Guanzhong and the three leaders of Shaohua Mountain, led their troops to wait in battle formation halfway up the mountain. The Song army below the mountain did indeed bring "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin.

After such a long period of recuperation, Shi Jin, nicknamed "Nine-Dragon," had recovered from his arrow wound. At this moment, he was being bound by two soldiers and pushed towards the Shaohua Mountain stronghold.

Wang Shunchen personally came to the front of the battle and shouted a message. Li Hanxiao looked at him from afar and saw that he was indeed a man with a broad back and a wolf's waist, truly extraordinary.

"Listen up, bandits on the mountain! We're releasing your leader this time, or we'll raze your Bird Mountain stronghold to the ground!"

What do you want to say?

Zhu Wu, the "Divine Strategist," asked loudly.

Wang Shunchen said, "I've already told you about the Nine-Tattooed Dragon!"

As "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin arrived at the entrance of Shaohua Mountain Stronghold, "Leaping Tiger" Chen Da led a group of men to snatch him back to the stronghold and immediately closed the gate.

"Brother Shi Jin, you're finally back! This is Brother Li Hanxiao, the leader of Liangshan Marsh. He's led his men here to rescue you!"

"Divine Strategist" Zhu Wu introduced Li Hanxiao directly to "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin. Upon seeing Li Hanxiao, Shi Jin was overjoyed and immediately bowed, saying, "I am deeply grateful to my brother for coming to my rescue!"

"Brother, please rise quickly. I didn't know you could be released. I only brought some capable brothers to break you out of prison, but we don't have enough men. Shaohua Mountain is surrounded now, and we really don't have enough!"

Li Hanxiao never expected things to change to this extent.

"Brother, it's like this, please let me explain slowly!"

Shi Jin, known as "Nine-Dragoned Man", then recounted his situation after being taken away by Wang Shunchen.

It turned out that when he was captured by Wang Shunchen, Wang Shunchen had tried to persuade him to surrender. However, a couple of days later, he heard that Zhu Wu and his men had gone down the mountain and kidnapped the son of the Huazhou Tongpan, which led to a stalemate.

For more than half a month, almost a whole month, Wang Shunchen hesitated to kill Shi Jin, fearing that the people of Shaohua Mountain might break into the prison cart and kidnap him.

As a result, just one day earlier, the prefect of Huazhou took the initiative to find Wang Shunchen and asked him to lead troops to attack Shaohua Mountain.

Upon hearing this, everyone was astonished. It is said that even tigers do not eat their cubs, but this Prefect of Huazhou is truly ruthless. This is putting righteousness before family, even more so than when Bao Longtu wrongly executed Bao Mian.

"Good heavens, is he really his biological father? This child must have had the worst luck in his family to be born into such a family!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Da, nicknamed "Leaping Tiger," couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Unexpectedly, Shi Jin, nicknamed "Nine-Dragon," immediately replied, "Don't tell me, brother, you're absolutely right. That little guy you tied up on the mountain really isn't the Huazhou Prefect's biological son!"

"what?!"

Amidst the murmurs of doubt from the crowd, all three leaders of Shaohua Mountain stood up.

"Not their biological child?"

"The strategist Zhu Wu asked in disbelief."

"Yes, the prefect of Huazhou only found out a couple of days ago that his precious son was actually born from his wife's affair with a stable boy. He was furious because the child had been kept from him for so many years. Since the child wasn't his biological son, he didn't care anymore and directly wanted Wang Shunchen to send troops up the mountain. He would feel relieved if that bastard died!"

Li Hanxiao listened to "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin's explanation, still somewhat confused, and couldn't help but ask "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin, "Brother Shi Jin, this doesn't make sense. If Wang Shunchen listened to that Huazhou prefect, why didn't he kill you first and then raise troops to attack the mountain? Why did he release you?"

"Nine-Dragon" Shi Jin said with an awkward smile, "To be honest, I am quite ashamed. Originally, Wang Shunchen was planning to kill me first, just as Chief Li said, but he changed his mind because of a letter from my master!"

"Your master? Instructor Wang Jin?"

Li Hanxiao certainly knew who Shi Jin's master was.

"That's right. Back then, I was looking for my master in Guanzhong, but I couldn't find him. It turned out that my master had gone to Yan'an Prefecture to seek refuge with General Zhong, and under his protection, he became a military instructor. In the last two days, he saw my file and wrote a letter to Wang Shunchen to plead for me."

Speaking of Wang Jin, the master of "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin, he was also a hidden master in "Water Margin".

Wang Jin was not among the 108 heroes, nor did he join the Liangshan outlaws. Furthermore, he was originally an instructor of the Imperial Guards in the capital, an official figure who probably rarely traveled the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world), hence he had no nickname.

Of course, he may have had a nickname, but it is not mentioned in the book because he is not a main character. He is the master of "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin. The book begins by telling his story. He was forced away by Gao Qiu, passed through Shi Family Village, taught Shi Jin martial arts, and then went to Yan'an to join General Zhong. After that, he was not mentioned again in the book, and Shi Jin could not find him when he went to look for him.

Although he only had one achievement—easily defeating Shi Jin, the "Nine-Tattooed Dragon," who had not yet learned martial arts—his strength lay in his teaching ability. Within six months, he taught Shi Jin all eighteen martial arts skills.

Everyone should know what half a year means. If you were to practice martial arts, someone with less talent probably wouldn't even be able to stretch their muscles. However, Shi Jin, nicknamed "Nine-Tattooed Dragon," became a first-class master in just half a year. With this skill, he later became one of the eight vanguard commanders of the Liangshan cavalry.

This also shows just how powerful and skilled Wang Jin was. If he didn't have enough strength to support him, he wouldn't have been able to teach such a powerful disciple as "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin.

One can even imagine that if Wang Jin had taught "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin martial arts for another six months, Shi Jin's martial arts skills would have improved even further.

Therefore, Wang Jin's plea made Wang Shunchen reconsider. Now, with his military strength, it would be no problem for him to wipe out Shaohua Mountain. However, he thought again that Wang Jin had written that his disciple, "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin, was also a capable person. If he could contribute to the court, it would be a good thing.

Therefore, he had the idea of ​​"recruiting them to the government." In his view, if he could recruit the bandits of Shaohua Mountain to the government, that would be a great thing.

Therefore, he summoned Shi Jin, nicknamed "Nine-Dragon," in advance and told him that he could let him return to Shaohua Mountain, but at the same time he would send troops to surround Shaohua Mountain stronghold. He would give Shi Jin one day.

If Shi Jin, nicknamed "Nine-Tattooed Dragon," is willing to surrender to the imperial court, then all the past transgressions can be forgiven. However, if Shi Jin remains stubborn and unwilling to surrender after a day, the imperial court will definitely lead its troops to attack the mountain and wipe out the Shaohua Mountain stronghold.

Wang Shunchen was making preparations for both possibilities.

Because at that time, a peasant uprising broke out in the Jiangzhe area during the Song Dynasty.

It was not the well-known "Fang La Rebellion" led by Fang La, who came from a family of lacquer garden owners, in Qingxi County, Muzhou, in October of the second year of the Xuanhe reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty.

It was an uprising launched by another organization, the Manichaean forces.

In the Jiangnan region of the Song Dynasty, Manichaeism was prevalent and had many followers. The Song government referred to these followers as "eating vegetables and worshipping the demon" based on their vegetarian diet and worship of Mani Buddha.

As is well known, Fang La was also part of this force, but the current Fang La has not yet succeeded in developing, and is instead initiated by the current leading figures in Manichaeism.

The "Eating Vegetables and Serving the Demon" religion developed from the doctrines of Manichaeism, founded by the Persian Mani.

Its doctrine proclaims "two doctrines and three phases," where "two doctrines" refers to the struggle between the forces of light and darkness, and "three phases" refers to the three stages of the struggle. It believes that light will always triumph over darkness, and therefore requires every believer to stand on the side of light and fight against the forces of darkness. Believers worship the sun and moon, practice vegetarianism, advocate frugality and proper funerals, and advocate that those who join the religion help each other and be equal to one another, without any distinction of rank.

This simple, combative doctrine was more readily accepted by peasants suffering in dire straits, becoming an ideological weapon to mobilize and organize them to participate in the struggle.

In fact, this is what later generations called the "Ming Cult". Now, tens of thousands of Manichaean followers led by Mu Dan, the local Manichaean leader, have started an uprising in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The imperial court has issued an order to send the Western Army to suppress the uprising.

This Mu Dan's ancestor was Mu Yi, the leader of the Ming Cult. Mu Yi was a leader of a peasant uprising at the end of the Later Liang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties period, and was from Chenzhou.

He once used the Ming Cult to organize the masses, claiming that his teachings were superior and calling himself the Superior Sect. Initially, he had a thousand followers and attacked and occupied nearby villages and communities. In the autumn of the sixth year of Zhenming, his followers grew stronger and repeatedly defeated the Later Liang army. His influence spread to the three prefectures of Chen, Ying and Cai, and he was elected as the emperor.

He was later defeated by the combined attack of Liang Jin's army and troops from several prefectures, and he and more than eighty others, including Dong Yi, were captured and killed.

Therefore, his descendants are extremely influential and have a strong appeal among Manichaeans.