Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 143 Li Hanxiao encounters bandits after leaving Qinyuan, and the fourth general of Baodu sla

Meanwhile, Li Hanxiao persuaded Bian Xiang to join Liangshan Marsh. Bian Xiang joined somewhat confusedly and was very cautious in front of everyone. However, he found that everyone treated him very well and was very sincere. They did not look down on him because he had been turned by the enemy.

When they fought in the restaurant earlier, Bian Xiang had given "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu a beating, causing him internal injuries. He was a little afraid of being retaliated against later...

Especially "Iron-backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi. Bian Xiang was originally worried because he was a former subordinate of Shan Shiqi, who was his father's killer. He was afraid that this young man might do something to him. However, Shan Shiqi did not have any excessive opinion of him.

Of course, this was also the result of Li Hanxiao personally doing ideological work with "Iron-backed Wolf" Shan Shiqi, making him understand that the culprits were those three bosses. As for the others, they were either accomplices or coerced. As for Bian Xiang, he did not participate in the actions that led to the destruction of his family, so Shan Shiqi had no reason to hate him.

This was also the solid foundation that Li Hanxiao had laid at Liangshan Marsh. Firstly, there was no discrimination against new members, especially those who had surrendered and been captured from hostile forces. Discrimination was not allowed, including the prohibition against arbitrarily mistreating prisoners. This united front policy was something Li Hanxiao specifically instructed.

After all, Li Hanxiao knew that as Liangshan Marsh grew stronger, it would inevitably absorb many people from the original hostile forces. If there was internal discrimination against such people, the internal situation would fall apart first. If internal unity was not maintained, there would be a constant danger of internal strife.

Therefore, Li Hanxiao told everyone that no matter what faction a person belonged to or what he did before, as long as he joined Liangshan Marsh, everyone would be brothers. Even if there were past grudges, they should find a way to resolve them peacefully, instead of stirring up trouble from within and without and causing unrest in the stronghold.

Secondly, there was a spontaneous respect among the people of Liangshan for those with skills. After all, they were people from all over the country, from all walks of life, and all had their own unique skills. It was normal for those with skills to be respected and those without to be looked down upon.

In this environment, everyone strives for excellence. Those with skills strive for excellence, while those without skills quickly practice. The competition is healthy, with everyone comparing, learning, catching up, helping, and surpassing each other, and the results are very good.

Bian Xiang's strength was evident to everyone. Even Shi Xiu, the "Desperate Saburo" who was injured by him, didn't say a word. In Shi Xiu's opinion, Bian Xiang was simply better than him. He was just not as skilled as Bian Xiang, and he needed to practice more. It had nothing to do with Bian Xiang.

After learning all this, Bian Xiang was deeply moved and finally understood what it felt like to be truly respected as a "person"...

Li Hanxiao and his group traveled quickly for another two days and were about to leave the territory of Qinyuan County, Weisheng Army. However, just as they were about to leave, they discovered something amiss on the road.

It was still noon when Li Hanxiao and his group reached a high slope. In the distance, they saw a green mountain that looked like a calf. Li Hanxiao asked Bian Xiang what the mountain was called.

"This is Baodu Mountain."

Upon hearing this, Li Hanxiao realized that this place was the place where Tang Bin and his three companions, known as the "Mountain-Pulling Warriors," had established themselves as mountain kings in the original novel. The mountain was indeed well-formed, with lush trees, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and very suitable for ambushes. If they were to conquer Shanxi in the future, this place would be a must-contest location.

Just as Li Hanxiao was sighing, he suddenly noticed that countless plumes of black smoke were rising from the foot of Baodu Mountain. At first, there was only one plume, but then a large area rose up one after another, directly blackening half the sky.

"Hey, why is there suddenly black smoke rising from the foot of this mountain!"

"Blue-faced Beast," Yang Zhi asked curiously.

"It must be noon, and everyone in the village will be cooking!"

"Golden Retriever," Duan Jingzhu said, trying to sound clever.

Bian Xiang scoffed at the guy's self-righteousness and explained to him, "Every family here eats steamed buns and noodles. The steam from the steamer is white, how can it be so black? It's obviously the smoke from burning something!"

"Perhaps the rice was burnt..."

Duan Jingzhu, nicknamed "Golden Retriever," muttered under his breath...

Li Hanxiao looked at the amount of black smoke. It was so huge that even a small-scale wildfire wouldn't produce this much smoke. If rice were to burn, how much smoke would this amount produce!

So Li Han smiled and asked Bian Xiang, "Bian Xiang, are there any villages or towns there?"

"Yes, there is a Luoguo Town at the foot of Baodu Mountain, with a population of over a thousand."

Bian Xiang replied.

"Are there any powerful figures around here?"

Li Hanxiao continued to ask.

"The chieftain means..."

Shi Xiu, the "Desperate Saburo," understood what Li Hanxiao meant. Since there were villages and towns there, and there was such a large amount of black smoke and fire, Li Hanxiao must suspect that someone was committing murder and arson there!

"Oh! There really is one! I heard that a group of bandits recently came to Baodu Mountain!"

Bian Xiang understood Li Hanxiao's concerns and quickly said something.

"Who is it?"

Li Han asked with a smile.

"I heard it was a hunter from Qinyuan County in the Weisheng Army named Tian Hu, also known as the 'King of Justice'. He originally rebelled and occupied the mountains in the area, but later built up his power. He himself is not here; these people were sent by him to occupy the mountains and plunder."

"So it was Tian Hu..."

Li Han smiled to himself, "That makes sense. Although the other three of the Four Great Bandits only truly appeared in the original Water Margin novel during the Lantern Festival when they caused chaos in Tokyo, it doesn't mean they didn't do anything before that."

In the original novel, Tian Hu from Hebei, Wang Qing from Huaixi, and Fang La from Jiangnan also developed alongside Liangshan. When Liangshan was thriving, they gradually expanded their influence by invading and occupying prefectures and counties. Among them, the earliest to establish power was "Prince Jin" Tian Hu.

Tian Hu was originally a hunter from Qinyuan County, Weisheng Prefecture. He was quite strong, skilled in martial arts, and specialized in associating with ruffians. Later, he occupied Hebei and became king, becoming one of the four great bandits.

Tian Hu's success was actually due to a combination of favorable timing, location, and popular support.

The area around Weishengjun is surrounded by mountains, making it easy for outposts to gather. There are countless natural strongholds and hiding places that can be occupied. In addition, the harvest in Hedong is poor, and there are frequent floods and droughts year after year. The people are poor and the people are exhausted, so it is natural that people are restless.

Tian Hu was not a peaceful fellow. He wanted to take advantage of the chaos to start a rebellion, so he seized the opportunity to gather desperate people, fabricate rumors, incite the ignorant masses, and directly led them to become outlaws.

His rise to power was actually quite unexpected. At first, he could only plunder some property and was at most a bandit. Later, he invaded prefectures and counties, and the government troops dared not confront him, so they directly rebelled.

Tian Hu was just a hunter, yet he was able to act so rampantly because of this corrupt world. Civil officials wanted money, and military generals were afraid of death. Although there were soldiers in various prefectures and counties for defense, they were mostly old and weak, or they were imposters, embezzling funds. In reality, there was only one soldier enlisting in the army, but the officers above him used the names of three people. In the end, he could get two or three more soldiers' pay. Or he would force idle people to pay a dozen or so taels of silver to buy a substitute, so that he could get some food and pay.

When it comes to roll call and drills, the number of people might not match up. What to do then? Just spend some money to hire someone to answer the call. But when the battle finally comes, even if you manage to gather all these people together, none of them have ever trained for a single day.

This is the serious flaw in the military system of the Song Dynasty. It was a case of mutual deception between superiors and subordinates, which was unbreakable. The country spent a lot of money, but it was of no use at all. How could the problem of redundant soldiers in the Song Dynasty not get worse and worse?

If only a few people did this, it would be fine. The key is that this custom was the same in almost all the local militias in the Song Dynasty. Everyone did it this way. All the soldiers in a prefecture or county were recruited in this way. There were 3,000 soldiers officially registered, but when it came to the actual battle, only a little over 1,000 could be gathered, and most of them were old, weak, sick, or disabled.

Even the young ones, they knew nothing of fighting. They were all haphazard and incompetent. As soon as they saw dust rising and cannons roaring ahead, they wished their parents had given them two more legs. After all, they usually hired people to go and train in their place, and they had never trained even once. They didn't know how to cut with a knife, how to stab with a gun, where to shoot with a bow, or how to protect themselves with a shield. They didn't know to advance when they heard the drum or retreat when they heard the gong. All they knew was eating, drinking, and having fun, and they were afraid of death!

Tian Hu was currently in the early stages of his career. Li Hanxiao asked Bian Xiang for details. Bian Xiang said that at the time, there were several officers who led some troops to pursue and suppress Tian Hu. Those local officers were somewhat capable, but their useless soldiers were a hindrance. They dared not go forward in battle, only knowing how to be afraid of death, running around aimlessly, making a show of force, and even killing innocent people to claim credit. Even if Li Hanxiao led such troops, he probably wouldn't be able to win the battle. In the end, they were defeated by Tian Hu. The local military administration of several prefectures and counties was directly destroyed by Tian Hu, and they had no ability to resist.

Li Hanxiao estimated that it was around this time that Tian Hu gained the ability to capture the prefecture and then began to grow stronger. After all, he had killed the local military officer, and the soldiers were leaderless and were mostly the same kind of people. They probably surrendered before the battle even started.

In this situation, the people will only resent the government more and more, and turn to bandits to avoid the government troops. It is a vicious cycle. Otherwise, in the original story, Tian Hu would have occupied five prefectures and fifty-six counties in Shanxi and built up his power.

Tian Hu's rebellion had its own fertile ground: natural disasters, poverty, people's desire for change, and the spread of rumors. He also had geographical advantages, and more importantly, the corruption of the court and government officials, their oppression of the good and their killing of innocent people to claim credit, etc., which led to the court being "unpopular and isolated."

There was no way to reverse the decline of the court; it was not something that could be done overnight. The tide had turned and the situation was irreversible, and any attempt to turn the tide would be futile.

Since the emperor was incompetent, the ministers were also incompetent and corrupt. Anyone who dared to disobey the emperor's will was asking for trouble. Therefore, no minister dared to raise any objections. The four treacherous ministers controlled the government, flattering the emperor and bullying the people, manipulating the emperor at will. The emperor was happy to let them play him, turning the emperor and his ministers into the culprits who brought disaster to the country and its people.

The officials below are either civil officials who only know how to amass wealth or military officials who only know how to fear death. It's no wonder the country is doomed!

Li Hanxiao naturally had no good feelings towards Tian Hu. If he were really someone who rebelled against the tyranny of the Song Dynasty, Li Hanxiao might have thought more highly of him. However, after this guy rebelled in the original story, he committed all sorts of evil deeds against the people under his jurisdiction, harming and cheating them, which was even worse than the Song Dynasty.

Some people may think that Tian Hu is a "dragon slayer who ends up becoming a dragon himself," but in reality, he was never a "dragon slayer" from beginning to end; he was just a dragon himself.

“If they burn, kill, loot, and bully the people, we have no choice but to go and save them and act on behalf of Heaven. We can’t just talk about it. Bian Xiang, you know the way well, take me to see. Commander Lu, Commander Yang, Xie Zhen, Xie Bao, you all come with me to see! Mr. Xu, you take the brothers and follow behind, heading towards Baodu Mountain.”

Logically speaking, Xu Guanzhong knows magic, so wouldn't it be great if he flew over and took down these guys? However, magic is not all the same. The powerful magic of the Jingming Sect that Xu Guanzhong practices requires setting up an altar and performing rituals in advance, or preparing talismans and magic tools. Otherwise, if he just forcibly casts it, it won't just be a matter of consuming mana, but rather consuming all his mana. Rather than letting Xu Guanzhong go over, it would be better for Li Hanxiao and the others to go and take a look first.

"it is good!"

Bian Xiang and the others agreed and followed Li Hanxiao on horseback straight to Luoguo Village.

Although it was already late August and autumn was just around the corner, the lingering heat of late summer meant the weather remained scorching, with the sun blazing down on the golden wheat fields of Luoguo Village.

Chu Heng, one of Tian Hu's men, planted his triangular iron spear in the scorched earth and grinned maliciously as he watched the black smoke rising from the village.

Another of Tian Hu's men, Fang Qiong, was galloping in front of the army with an iron spear carrying a swaddled baby on it. The baby's cries mingled with the mother's heart-wrenching screams, but they came to an abrupt halt in the dust kicked up by the horse's hooves—the tip of the spear, splattered with brains, had pierced through the earthen wall of the thatched hut.

Following the example set by the leaders, the bandits below also followed suit. One of the bandits raised a hammer and grinned as he smashed an old man's head to pieces.

The ghost-head knives drew scarlet arcs in the rising sun, and three old men fell to the ground, blood spurting more than ten feet high from their necks.

These bastards rampaged through the village, their horses' hooves crushing the drying grain into dust, which mixed with human blood and solidified into dark red mud on the ground.

Fang Qiong and Chu Heng were the "Four Mighty Generals" under Tian Hu in the original novel. They were four fierce generals under Niu Wenzhong, a general under Tian Hu. Now, the other two, An Shirong and Yu Yulin, did not follow Tian Hu.

These two men, Fang Qiong and Chu Heng, were known as "Niwei General" and "Biaowei General". Fang Qiong, the "Niwei General", was quite skilled in martial arts. In the original story, he fought against "Sick Yuchi" Sun Li. After more than thirty rounds, he gradually lost strength. When his subordinate Zhang Xiang saw that he was not doing well, he shot and killed Sun Li's horse with an arrow. Sun Li jumped off his horse and fought on foot, but he still could not defeat him.

Seeing that Sun Li had not been hit by an arrow, Zhang Xiang joined forces with Fang Qiong to attack Sun Li. Qin Ming blocked Zhang Xiang's advance and engaged in battle. Sun Li wanted to return to his formation to change horses, but he was entangled by Fang Qiong and could not break free. Hua Rong then fired a sneak arrow at Fang Qiong, who was hit by the arrow, fell from his horse, and was killed by Sun Li.

Overall, this person's strength should be considered quite good among the Earthly Fiends.

As for "General Biaowei" Chu Heng, in the original story, when Xie Zhen and Xie Bao attacked the city with ladders, he and the Northern Army, who were both exhausted and afraid from being harassed by the Song army, dared not fight and fled down the city. He fought with Xie Zhen and Xie Bao for more than ten rounds before being killed.

The four generals were evenly matched. It seemed that it took Jie Zhen and Jie Bao twenty rounds to kill one of them, and none of them were stronger than Sun Li. However, at this moment, the two of them were not using their preferred weapon, the steel fork, but rather the unskilled broadsword.

With the force Li Hanxiao brought, these two people are more than enough to kill them, and even take out the one or two hundred henchmen they brought with them.