Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

"The road is wide open, let each go their own way. We are just merchants passing through. If there's nothing else, we'll be on our way!"

Li Hanxiao didn't really want to provoke "Tianmu General" Peng Qi. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. This was Peng Qi's territory, and as the militia commander, Peng Qi could mobilize troops. If a conflict broke out, the risk would be considerable.

"Merchants? Many merchants travel the world carrying swords for self-defense, but none are as well-equipped as yours, and they certainly wouldn't dare to hunt down a tiger. Where are your goods?"

Peng Qi, the "Heavenly Eye General," already harbored eighty percent suspicions. He gripped his three-pointed, double-edged sword, seemingly ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

Seeing this situation, Li Hanxiao realized that it would be difficult to resolve the matter peacefully now. So he whispered to Wang Yin, "When the fighting starts, attack them with all your might. If even one of them manages to escape, none of us will get out of here!"

"rest assured!"

After receiving Wang Yin's affirmation, Li Hanxiao suddenly whistled, and a hawk immediately swooped down from the sky to peck at Peng Qi's eyes.

Birds of prey like eagles, falcons, and hawks fly so fast that humans can't keep up with their speed. Seeing that he was about to be blinded by an eagle's beak, Peng Qi immediately rolled off his horse to avoid it, causing the "Heavenly Eye General" Peng Qi to tumble off his horse like a somersault.

Li Hanxiao immediately led Wang Yin to charge forward and launched an attack on Peng Qi's companions. Li Hanxiao used his golden bow and silver bullets to knock the enemies off their horses, while Wang Yin charged forward with his steel spear, taking down seven or eight of them. Ou Peng and his henchmen swarmed in and wiped out Peng Qi's dozen or so followers in an instant.

After Peng Qi, the "Heavenly Eye General," got up, he was completely stunned. He had only thought that these people were not good people, but he never expected that they were so powerful in combat.

"You, you dare to lay a hand on court officials!"

Peng Qi, the "Heavenly Eye General," roared in a fit of impotent rage.

"So what?"

Li Han smiled and spread his hands at him, looking extremely arrogant, before raising his three-pointed double-edged sword and slashing at Peng Qi.

Both men used three-pointed double-edged swords as weapons, but their strength differed greatly. Li Hanxiao's powerful slash sent Peng Qi staggering back two steps.

"you……"

Peng Qi, the "Heavenly Eye General," felt the power of Li Hanxiao's strike and began to doubt his master.

We're using the same weapons, so how come his swordsmanship is so much better than mine? Could it be that my master is holding back something from me?

Before he could think, Li Hanxiao's blade came again. This time it was "Erlang Slaying the Dragon". The two three-pointed double-edged blades collided together, directly cracking Peng Qi's tiger's mouth, and blood immediately flowed out.

"You dare call yourself 'General of Heavenly Eyes'? You're a disgrace to the True Lord!"

Li Hanxiao couldn't resist making a sarcastic remark, while Peng Qi's hand was already so weak that he could barely grip the three-pointed double-edged sword. Li Hanxiao then used the move "Chasing the Wind and Catching the Moon" to flick the three-pointed double-edged sword upwards. Peng Qi immediately tried to press down with his sword, but this was exactly what Li Hanxiao wanted. With a flick of the tip of his sword, Peng Qi was disarmed and his three-pointed double-edged sword flew out of his hand.

"brush!"

The three blades on Li Hanxiao's treasured sword instantly pressed against the neck of "Tianmu General" Peng Qi, and the outcome was decided.

"Brother, what should we do with this scoundrel!"

Wang Yin asked while wiping some blood off the steel gun.

"Killing him might attract attention, and releasing him might not be enough to stop us. We'll tie him up, gag him, hide him in the car, and make our next move once we're out of Yingzhou!"

Li Han gave the order, and the rest of the men dug pits and buried the corpses. They took the horses for themselves and tied up "Tianmu General" Peng Qi like a crab, hiding him in the cart. The group traveled day and night, heading straight for Tokyo. They left Yingzhou in just one day.

Even when the officials discovered that the local militia commander was gone, they had nowhere to look for him.

As for Peng Qi, the "Heavenly Eye General," Li Han laughed and said that killing him would not be difficult. However, considering that he also used a three-pointed sword and had the nickname "Heavenly Eye General," and was somewhat related to Erlang Shen, the True Lord, he decided not to kill him out of respect for the True Lord.

Li Hanxiao planned to find a way to persuade this guy to surrender later, but this matter couldn't be rushed. After all, he was a court official, and his mind could not possibly change so quickly.

After crossing Yingzhou, Tokyo City was within reach. Following his previous plan, Li Hanxiao arranged all matters and instructed everyone to set up camp away from Tokyo City while he led Wang Yin and Ma Lin into the city.

Wang Yin was an assistant, and he needed someone skilled in martial arts to accompany him. Ma Lin was chosen because he had visited Tokyo when he was a lowly servant and knew the way well, so he was asked to go along as a guide.

The three of them concealed their personal weapons, and Li Hanxiao, accompanied by his hawks and hounds, disguised himself as two servants to accompany the young master, and headed into the city.

The prosperity of Tokyo cannot be fully described in words. A painting like "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" or a book like "The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor" cannot capture even a fraction of its splendor. Only those who experienced it firsthand can truly understand.

Looking at the city of Tokyo, Li Han couldn't help but sigh. Tokyo, whose name is Bianshui and whose prefecture name is Kaifeng, borders the barbarian lands of Wu and Chu and connects with the lands of Qi and Lu. In the past, when the Duke of Zhou established the state, Bi Gonggao changed it to the capital. In the Spring and Autumn Period of the Jin Dynasty, King Hui of Liang called it the State of Wei. The ancient city has a new look, with layers of reclining oxen and towering tigers. Outside, there are thousands of mountains and rivers, and inside, there is a magnificent and beautiful landscape.

Just looking in from the outer city, one can see thousands of doors and households, with couplets shining brightly; the three markets and six streets are filled with people in fine clothes, carved eaves reflecting the sun, painted beams soaring like clouds, and houses with three tiles and two rooms, all occupied by young masters and princes; the brothels and pleasure quarters are full of beauties of all shapes and sizes, truly the best place in the world!

"I've never seen a city like this before in Jiangnan!"

Wang Yin couldn't help but sigh, while "Iron Flute Immortal" Ma Lin said, "Brothers, in this Tokyo, if we're talking about the place that men would most cherish, it has to be the Imperial Fragrance Pavilion. It's said that in the old days, it was the place that Liu Yong, also known as Liu Sanbian, frequented. Today, I've also heard that the Emperor often goes there. Even heroes like you two would be worn out by those delicate fingers. If you two are interested, how about I take you there?"

Li Han laughed and teased, "You, Ma Lin, so you used to be a playboy too. Tell me, did you have any lovers among those women?"

"Hehe, a young man who isn't a bit of a playboy is wasting his youth. Brother, a man and a husband, this isn't anything special, is it?"

Ma Lin also started grinning.

"No rush into the city, Ma Lin. Do you know where Anren Village is outside the city?"

Li Hanxiao didn't come here to visit prostitutes; he came to find talented people. The first person he wanted to find was Wen Huanzhang, a schoolteacher living in Anren Village outside Tokyo.

"This... I've never been there before, let me go and inquire."

After saying that, Ma Lin went to inquire and soon found out the route. He then led Li Hanxiao and the other person towards Anren Village.

“Brother, I have already inquired and found out that this Wen Huanzhang is no ordinary person. Back then, he took the imperial examination and, because of his outstanding talent, he could have been selected as the top scholar. However, during the reign of the late Emperor Zhezong, the Neihuangkou dike was breached, and the late emperor changed the course of the river three times. Therefore, during the palace examination, he did not take the two essays, but wrote an essay entitled ‘On Changing the River’. This essay shocked the court and the public. In it, he criticized the court for forcibly changing the course of the river, which would cause harm for thousands of years. He also offered a strategy for river management, saying that the court should either dredge, store, constrict, release, divide, or combine the river, build dikes to constrict the water according to local conditions, use water to fight sand, send out river boats with iron brooms attached to the sterns to move the boats, stir up the silt at the bottom of the river, and use the power of the water flow to send the silt to the deep sea to clear the silt and manage the river. If the river is forcibly changed, it will be a waste of manpower and resources, and will eventually lead to the breach of the dike.”

Upon hearing that Wen Huanzhang had such a remarkable achievement, Li Hanxiao and Wang Yin were astonished. Li Hanxiao was particularly impressed, exclaiming, "This article is truly a timeless masterpiece! Wen Huanzhang's article is a plea for the lives of millions of people along the Yellow River. This is what a true scholar is all about!"

Unlike Li Hanxiao, Wang Yin looked worried and said, "But this gentleman has offended his superiors, I'm afraid his fate will be..."

"That's right, he's slapping the late Emperor in the face. The late Emperor Zhezong was furious and stripped him of his official titles and wanted to kill him on the spot. It was only thanks to the old Grand Tutor Han Zhongyan's guarantee that he was eventually banished from the city and never allowed to work again. As a result, he has never been able to recover. As a result, people didn't listen to him. After the Yellow River changed course three times, it breached its banks and flooded about 30 million acres of fertile land. This caused widespread suffering on both sides of the Huai River, displaced millions of people, and led to a plague outbreak in several prefectures and counties, turning them into dead cities."

After Ma Lin finished speaking, Li Hanxiao and Wang Yin both sighed deeply. Li Hanxiao even pointed at Tokyo City and cursed angrily, "If all the civil and military officials in the court could be like Mr. Wen, our China would be invincible in the world. How could we be so humiliated by foreign tribes from all sides, even losing the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun... These incompetent officials are really... sigh..."

"Brother, shall we go to Anren Village now?"

"No, you must go into the city immediately and find me the original text of his 'Discourse on the Yi River' at various academies and other places. I want to read it thoroughly and memorize it first..."

Anren Village, the village's first school.

Wen Huanzhang, dressed in Confucian robes, was lecturing to the air in an empty school.

"In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, its name is Kun. Kun is so large that no one knows how many thousands of miles it spans; it transforms into a bird, its name is Peng. The back of Peng is so large that no one knows how many thousands of miles it spans..."

"Therefore, those who are capable of serving in one official post, whose conduct is exemplary in one village, whose virtue matches that of one ruler, and who govern one state, all regard themselves in this way. Yet Song Rongzi still laughs at them. Moreover, he is neither encouraged by universal praise nor discouraged by universal condemnation. He is clear about the distinction between internal and external affairs, and understands the boundaries of honor and disgrace. That is all. He is not concerned with worldly matters..."

"If one rides the true course of Heaven and Earth, and controls the transformations of the six qi, to roam the boundless realm, what would he need to rely on? Therefore it is said: The perfect man has no self, the divine man has no merit, the sage has no name..."

He used to teach at the Anren Village School, where he could still get some students to attend his classes and receive a small fee. However, recently he has stopped teaching Confucianism and started teaching Laozi and Zhuangzi instead.

Although the emperor was fond of Taoism, the imperial examinations still relied on Confucianism and Mencius' teachings, so these farming families did not allow their children to study Taoism.

"Oh, Kunpeng... Oh, Kunpeng... When will Kunpeng soar high in the sky..."

Wen Huanzhang's sighs seemed to be directed not at Kunpeng, but at himself...

"The hermit of Qinglian said, 'The roc rises with the wind in a single day, soaring straight up ninety thousand miles,' but I have heard of Huanzhang..."

Wen Huanzhang paced back and forth in the school, and couldn't help but sigh.

At that moment, he noticed someone walk into his school and stand opposite him.

Their eyes met several times in a short period of time. Wen Huanzhang was no ordinary man. Although he could tell from the other man's eyes that the man seemed to want to talk to him about something, he ignored him.

But the man began to recite a passage.

"Some things must be learned from the ancients, while others must be adapted to the present; some things require distinguishing between past and future, while others require simultaneous action. The current breach of the river's course is not its inherent nature. It is like a person being bound by their temperament and blinded by customs, leading to unrestrained behavior and wrongdoing, and then claiming that their nature is inherently evil. Is this truly the case? Confucius, in his commentary on the Book of Changes, said: 'The way of Heaven diminishes the full and increases the humble; the way of Earth changes the full and flows to the humble.' Water, being attached to the earth, must change its course by flowing from fullness, and benefit must return to humility. Fullness is rising and obstruction; humility is emptiness and downward flow. Therefore, water flows downward in all things. Mencius's discussion of water deeply understood Confucius's principles of the Book of Changes. Therefore, those who are good at managing water only prevent its changes when it is full and guide its flow when it is humble. Water will then naturally find its nature. Is it truly a scourge to the world?"

Originally, Wen Huanzhang didn't care much about this uninvited guest, but as the uninvited guest continued to recite these words, Wen Huanzhang became increasingly excited. His eyebrows trembled as if he were shaking. He couldn't help but walk forward quickly and look at the person. It turned out to be a young man in his twenties, bathed in the sunlight shining in from outside the door, his whole body radiating light.

"Who are you, Your Excellency? And how do you know my 'Discourse on the Yi River'?"

At this moment, Wen Huanzhang's heart, which had long been dead, seemed to show signs of coming back to life.

“I am Li Hanxiao, a descendant of Li Bing from Guankou, Xichuan. I have met Mr. Wen. Mr. Wen, I know about this article. Why do you seem so surprised?”

The newcomer was Li Hanxiao, and Wen Huanzhang's voice was trembling as he said, "More than ten years, more than ten years, I never thought anyone would still remember this article..."

"Mr. Wen, what a fine article! It will surely be passed down through the ages! I believe that not only I will remember it, but every conscientious descendant of the Yellow Emperor will remember this article!"

Li Hanxiao stepped forward and grasped Wen Huanzhang's hands. At this moment, large tears were streaming down Wen Huanzhang's cheeks, and his eyelids were tightly closed like those of an oyster clinging to its shell.

"A timely rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a foreign land, the wedding night, and passing the imperial examination—I think none of these four great joys can compare to the joy of today. Mr. Li, please!"

Wen Huanzhang pulled Li Hanxiao into the school, his attitude extremely friendly.

At this moment, Wen Huanzhang absolutely regarded Li Hanxiao as a close friend. Although they had only just met, no one had given him such certainty in the past ten years. His heart was like a butterfly's cocoon, which had been sealed tightly, but suddenly light shone in.

Wen Huanzhang excitedly picked up the kettle and searched everywhere for tea leaves, wanting to make Li Hanxiao a cup of tea. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find even a speck of tea. After all, his life hadn't been good, and tea hadn't been a part of his life for a long time.

"A guest came and offered tea instead of wine, but ridiculously, I'm out of tea leaves..."

Li Hanxiao could see that Wen Huanzhang was struggling financially. To avoid embarrassing him, Li Hanxiao poured two glasses of water for himself, picked up one, and said, "Sir, the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, but its value lies in mutual understanding. Now that we have met, even plain water has a thousand flavors, indescribable. Please drink to your heart's content!"

"Exactly! Exactly! Wonderful! Wonderful! Please!"

Li Hanxiao skillfully defused Wen Huanzhang's embarrassment with words, and even brought the two closer together with a glass of water.

"What brings Mr. Li here?"

When Wen Huanzhang inquired about Li Hanxiao's purpose, Li Hanxiao did not hide anything and said directly, "I wish to raise an army against the Song Dynasty, pacify the world, rebuild the universe, recover Yan and Yun, and subdue the barbarians. However, to accomplish this great undertaking, I need the help of a capable person. Therefore, I have come here to invite you, sir, to come out of seclusion and become my strategist, just as Emperor Zhaolie visited Zhuge Liang three times."

Upon hearing this, Wen Huanzhang was so startled that he spilled the water in his cup. He quickly regained his composure and asked, "I am but a poor scholar, a former convict, weak and unable to even kill a chicken, let alone drink a cup of wine. Why does Mr. Li want me to be your strategist?"

"You possess talent and wisdom, as evidenced by your 'Discourse on the Yi River'; you are virtuous, unafraid of the powerful and influential, as evidenced by your resolute defiance of superiors; you are principled, even when imprisoned, you never begged for mercy or admitted your mistakes; you are filial, for I heard that your father wished for a bowl of meat soup before his death, but your family was destitute, so you cut off a piece of flesh to serve your father, comparable to Wang Lang lying on ice and Meng Zong weeping over bamboo shoots; you are righteous, for I heard that your friend Ge Erlang died of illness, and although you were poor, you supported his parents until their death; you are benevolent, for you opened a school, and children who could not afford to study but wished to learn to read and write could also audit your classes. If such a benevolent, righteous, wise, courageous, virtuous, and magnanimous person could assist me, it would be my greatest fortune!"