Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

"Stop! Old man, we're not bad people!"

Li Hanxiao climbed out of the tunnel and stopped the two men. He then grabbed "street rat" Zhang San and pulled him out of the tunnel.

Upon closer inspection, Instructor Zhang recognized him. He had seen Zhang San before. Back then, Lin Chong had entrusted Lu Zhishen to take care of his family. Before Lu Zhishen fled Tokyo, he often sent people to deliver some money to Instructor Zhang's family. Zhang San had come several times and met Instructor Zhang.

"Isn't this Master Lu's young buddy?"

Instructor Zhang recognized Zhang San, which made things much easier. Zhang San stepped forward to greet him, "Instructor Zhang, hello old man! This is a friend of Instructor Lin and Master Lu. He learned that Gao Yanei was plotting something sinister, so he came to rescue you from the city!"

"Oh! I'm so confused, so confused. May I ask where my son-in-law is now? Gao Yanei said he died in Cangzhou?"

Instructor Zhang was also unaware of Lin Chong's current situation. Gao Yanei only said that Lin Chong was dead and kept pressuring his daughter to remarry.

"Alas, that old scoundrel Gao Qiu set fire to the hay storage in Cangzhou, intending to burn Instructor Lin to death. Fortunately, Instructor Lin escaped and killed those villains. Now he has gone to Shandong and, through the introduction of Master Chai Jin, has joined the Liangshan outlaws. I am here today to rescue Instructor Lin and his family from the city."

Although Li Hanxiao said that, Instructor Zhang was still very wary of him, because Gao Yanei had used all sorts of coercion and enticement methods recently, and he was not sure if the person in front of him was an actor hired by Gao Yanei.

Li Hanxiao could see Zhang Jiaotou's wariness, and couldn't help but laugh, "As expected of a senior, you are indeed wary of others. That's understandable. However, Jiaotou, if you don't trust me, after I send you out of the city, I will tell you to leave on your own. You can go and find Jiaotou Lin yourselves and then you will know whether what I said is true or false."

Instructor Zhang looked at Li Hanxiao again. Although he still had some doubts, he saw that Li Hanxiao was upright and honest, and with Zhang San and Li Si as witnesses, he finally believed him and nodded, saying, "Wait a moment, I'll have my daughter get ready."

Although Instructor Zhang knew that even if he found a son-in-law after leaving the city, he would still have to become an outlaw, he still felt that this was better than suffering such humiliation in Tokyo.

Before long, Instructor Zhang packed his valuables and, along with Madam Lin and the maid Jin'er, went to the backyard.

"This is my husband's friend? This humble concubine greets you!"

Lin Niangzi stepped forward and greeted Li Han with a smile. Then she asked about Lin Chong's whereabouts. She had so much to say that she couldn't finish asking him, which showed how affectionate the couple was.

"Sister-in-law, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but if we delay any longer, we might be discovered. Instructor Zhang, quickly take your sister-in-law out of the tunnel. My men are waiting for you there!"

Li Hanxiao urged them to leave this troublesome place. Besides Instructor Zhang and his daughter, there was also a maid named Jin'er who followed them. She was a servant girl bought by Instructor Zhang's wife before her death, and she was basically the same as Lin Niangzi's sister. She also went with them.

After passing through the tunnel, Ma Lin had already bought a carriage there. He welcomed Instructor Zhang and his family onto the carriage and took them directly back to Li Shishi's courtyard, where they stayed for the time being.

"Didn't you say you'd send us out of the city?"

When Instructor Zhang saw that they didn't go directly through the city gate, he became somewhat wary.

"Old Instructor, how do you think you and your daughter will get out of the city through the city gate? Don't be impatient for now. I plan to leave the city through this Ghost Fanlou. Don't suspect anything!"

Li Hanxiao knew that apart from the corroborating evidence from Zhang San and Li Si, he had no other evidence to prove that he knew Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen, so it was normal for Instructor Zhang to be so wary of him.

Instructor Zhang thought it made sense. Gao Yanei had already notified the soldiers guarding the city gates not to let him and his daughter leave the city. If they wanted to leave now, they could only go underground if they didn't go to heaven.

Moreover, he felt that even if following Li Hanxiao was risky, he had to try. If he stayed here, his family would be destroyed sooner or later. He was too old to protect his daughter. If he could escape Gao Yanei's clutches, he would brave any danger. Staying in Tokyo would only mean waiting to die.

Li Hanxiao also explained Lin Chong's situation in detail to Instructor Zhang and Lin's wife. After listening, Lin's wife burst into tears, and Instructor Zhang also sighed, lamenting Lin Chong's unfortunate fate.

At this time, Wen Huanzhang also brought back two people.

One of them was Ling Zhen, the "Thunderbolt".

The other person, whom Li Hanxiao did not recognize, was a man about seven feet tall, with a purplish-brown face, thick eyebrows, and large, round eyes. He was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, and had a rather fierce appearance.

"My lord, this is Brother Ling Zhen. His surname is Si and his given name is Xingfang. He is from Kuizhou and is a fellow townsman of Shu with you. He used to serve as Chengxin Lang in Dongjing City. He is a man of unparalleled martial arts skills, but he has not been promoted for a long time and is very frustrated."

Li Hanxiao was extremely surprised. He never expected that he would actually encounter Fang La's Marshal Si Xingfang in Tokyo!

Even more unexpectedly, someone with such talent could only obtain a minor official position as a Chengxin Lang in the capital city of Tokyo.

The Song Dynasty established fifty-three ranks for military officials. The fifty-second rank was Chengxin Lang, which replaced the old three-rank official position. It was a ninth-rank military official, a minor official with only three to five subordinates. It was hardly an official position, not even as good as the head of the horse-riding squad in the yamen.

"If we don't even use such talented people, I think the Song Dynasty is doomed!"

Li Hanxiao couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, mixed feelings).

According to Wen Huanzhang's description, Si Xingfang originally had an older brother, Si Xingyuan. This older brother, like the famous "Blue-Faced Beast" Yang Zhi, became a Palace Attendant, which should have been a promising career.

Unfortunately, his brother was one of the ten officials who, like "Blue-Faced Beast" Yang Zhi, were tasked with escorting the birthday tribute for the imperial court. As a result, all ten of them lost their boat in the Yellow River and the tribute of flowers and stones was lost.

Si Xingyuan was more unlucky; he was on the boat at the time, the boat capsized and sank, and he went down with it to become fish food...

Although the charges against these ten officials were later dropped, it still had a great impact on the administration. Gao Qiu disliked these ten officials who had messed up their duties and tried every means to dismiss them from their posts and never employ them again.

It was because of this incident that Si Xingfang was implicated. His brother died, but he didn't. Gao Qiu couldn't take his anger out on his brother, so he took it out on him. As a result, he was demoted from the position of seventh-rank Wuyi Lang in the Palace Marshal's Mansion to a tiny, insignificant position of ninth-rank Chengxin Lang.

The reason is that the "flower and stone tribute" that Si Xingyuan was escorting originally included some strange stones and artificial mountains that Gao Qiu had spent over 100,000 taels of silver to build for Emperor Daojun in Jiangnan. He originally intended to use them to curry favor with Emperor Daojun, but the 100,000 taels of silver went down the drain and sank into the Yellow River to decorate the River God's water palace. Gao Qiu didn't even hear a sound. How could Gao Qiu not hate the Si brothers?

That's not all. Knowing that Si Xingyuan had offended Grand Commandant Gao, the people in the Palace Guard, driven by a desire to curry favor with the Grand Commandant, conspired to ostracize and bully Si Xingyuan, even delaying his salary payment for half a year.

Si Xingfang was furious. His brother had died while on official business for the court, and not only did the court not offer any compensation, but it also dismissed him from his post and even implicated him as a family member. How could he not hate the court?

Perhaps for this reason, in the original story he eventually joined Fang La in Jiangnan and became one of the four marshals under Fang La, the Protector of the Nation, and together they rebelled against the imperial court.

However, this time Wen Huanzhang went to see him a few years before Fang La's uprising. Wen Huanzhang had met Si Xingfang and his brother once when he was imprisoned for a crime. They admired Wen Huanzhang for speaking up for the people, so they took care of the guards in prison and did not mistreat him. Therefore, they had some relationship.

When Wen Huanzhang approached Si Xingfang to persuade him to join the rebellion against the Song Dynasty, it took almost no effort. With just a few words, Si Xingfang, whose dissatisfaction with the Song Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, decided to follow Li Hanxiao and others in the rebellion.

"Si Xingfang has met Brother Li. My brother died serving the court, but Gao Qiu framed me. This is intolerable! I hate that old traitor to the bone and am willing to follow my brother to plot great things!"

Si Xingfang wasn't particularly bright, but with Wen Huanzhang's recommendation and praise for Li Hanxiao, he came.

However, although he wasn't very bright, his martial arts skills were quite good. In the original novel, Si Xingfang was a fierce general who could kill Liangshan's "Winged Tiger" Lei Heng in thirty rounds, and his strength was no less than that of the Five Tiger Generals of Liangshan.

"Brother Si Xingfang, we will definitely fight our way back to Tokyo and tear that old traitor Gao Qiu to pieces. In fact, there has been an opportunity to take revenge on that old traitor Gao Qiu recently. I wonder if you dare to do it?"

Li Hanxiao was referring to the kidnapping of Gao Yanei.

"Dare! Why not!"

Upon hearing that the target was Gao Qiu, Si Xingfang immediately perked up. He straightened his back and practically gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and swung his fists whenever he heard the name "Gao Qiu," filled with hatred to the core!

"Alright, this matter still needs careful planning..."

The day after Li Hanxiao and his men dug a tunnel to rescue Instructor Zhang's family, the Imperial Guards sent by Gao Yanei to keep watch noticed something was wrong. Usually, Instructor Zhang's maid, Jin'er, would go out to buy groceries, but she hadn't been seen leaving the house by nightfall.

Moreover, the daily routines of having lights on after dark and emptying the chamber pot have all disappeared, leading them to wonder if the person is even home.

So they sent two men over the wall to check, and sure enough, the place was empty; they didn't know when the people had run away.

Although Li Hanxiao and his men dug a tunnel to get in, they had those hooligans fill it in when they left, so the Imperial Guards didn't know they had dug a tunnel to escape.

However, despite keeping watch on the streets day and night, they still couldn't spot Instructor Zhang and his family. Unable to figure out how they had escaped, they had no choice but to rush to the Commander's Mansion to report to Gao Yanei.

Originally, this "playboy" had been beaten black and blue and had three teeth broken by "Iron Flute Immortal" Ma Lin with a carrying pole. He was recuperating in the palace general's mansion, but when he heard that Instructor Zhang's whole family had run away, he immediately couldn't sit still.

"You bunch of useless trash! Useless trash! How could you let them get away! Good-for-nothings, good-for-nothings, hiss..."

Enraged, Gao Yanei grabbed his belt and began whipping the kneeling imperial guards, unleashing a torrent of curses. But when he opened his mouth wide, his teeth were pulled, and he gasped in pain.

“Young master, please calm down. I ask you, have the guards at the gate seen Instructor Zhang and his family leave the city?”

Li Yuhou, who was serving nearby, quickly helped Gao Yanei sit down and asked the imperial guards on his behalf.

“Young Master, Commander, the guards at the four gates did not see them leave the city.”

Li Yuhou's eyes darted around, and he turned to Gao Yanei with a fawning smile, "Young Master, that's good. As long as they haven't left the city, things will be much easier. First, order the soldiers at the four gates to be on high alert and prevent them from leaving the city. Then, search for them within the city. The Grand Commandant can spread the word that anyone who reveals their whereabouts will be richly rewarded!"

"Yes, a huge reward! A huge reward! Whoever can bring Lady Lin to me will be rewarded with a thousand gold pieces!"

Gao Yanei shouted louder, and his toothache flared up again, causing him to fall backward and lie back on the bed...

The day after Gao Yanei began spreading the word throughout the city and launching a massive search for Lin Niangzi, a rogue came to the commander's mansion, claiming to have news about the Zhang family.

Gao Yanei met with this rogue immediately. This rogue was none other than Li Si, the "Green Grass Snake" sent by Li Hanxiao.

"Quickly, tell me, where is Madam Lin?"

When Gao Yanei saw "Green Grass Snake" Li Si, he was like an opium addict, his eyes practically turning red.

“Young master, young master, I found the father and daughter in a dilapidated house in the east of the city. That night, I was wandering around the street and saw some lights in the house. I knew it was a haunted and abandoned house that no one usually went there, so I went to investigate.”

"When I approached, I saw a man and two women in the courtyard. The man was old, and one of the women looked like a married woman, while the other was a maid. I overheard them talking about leaving the city to find a husband or son-in-law, but I didn't pay much attention to it. This morning, I saw the missing person notice posted by the magistrate on the street, and I felt that I had seen these three people before. After thinking about it carefully, I realized that the three people I saw last night were none other than Instructor Zhang and his daughter in the portrait posted by the magistrate. So, while it was still early and they were asleep, I risked my life to steal a piece of jewelry from their courtyard without disturbing them."

Li Si, nicknamed "Green Grass Snake," opened his palm. Gao Yanei looked closely and saw that it was a jade hairpin belonging to Lin Niangzi, inlaid with pearls, and quite gorgeous.

Back when he first met Lady Lin at the Yue Temple, Lady Lin was wearing this hairpin, which Gao Yanei remembered vividly.

Upon seeing the jade hairpin, Gao Yanei recognized it at a glance. With this, Gao Yanei had no more doubts. He patted "Green Grass Snake" Li Si on the shoulder and said, "Good lad, you've got it. From now on, you'll follow me, and I guarantee you'll live a life of luxury. Quick, take us to find Lady Lin!"

As Gao Yanei spoke, he kept replaying Lin Niangzi's appearance in his mind, and his mouth was practically watering. The sight of him was simply hilarious.