Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Li Hanxiao was a soldier in his previous life, and he knows what it means that "the power of role models is boundless"!

&34;Boom!&34;

The poisonous fire exploded on the left flank. He yanked the reins and charged into the inferno. The heat made his faceplate burn, but he saw two soldiers carrying an unconscious soldier back on a wooden plank.

The moment they saw Li Han smile, their eyes welled up with tears, as if they had a thousand words to say, but in the end, they could only utter two words: "Chief!"

"Retreat quickly, I'll cover the rear!"

These moments of sharing life and death have already etched the phrase "sharing joys and sorrows" into the very essence of Liangshan Marsh.

To them, Li Hanxiao was not a high and mighty chieftain, but their good elder brother, and these people were also Li Hanxiao's good brothers.

So even if that so-called "dragon banner pressing down" pressed down on Li Hanxiao's Liangshan Marsh, so what?

How can your occasional act shake the bond of sharing joys and sorrows from beginning to end?

After saying this with a smile, Li Han activated the Great Celestial Immortal Technique, and with a single move, he pierced through the flying divine weapon that was rushing towards him with his three-pointed double-edged sword.

The Great Celestial Immortal Technique and the Innate Pure Qi erupted simultaneously in an instant, directly shattering the flying divine weapon against his body.

Suddenly, three divine soldiers darted out from the front. The moment he swung his sword in a sweeping motion, Li Hanxiao suddenly realized why his subordinates were never moved by his willingness to risk his life.

His three-pronged dagger shattered a fire gourd. He saw the "High" flag fluttering on the north slope, and his veins bulging as he suddenly released the reins. Amidst a hail of arrows, he roared, "Fire the horn!"

He brandished his sword and roared, not to show off his power, but to tell his brothers who had fought valiantly: the retreat route was open.

"There were no generals at Liangshan Marsh, only foot soldiers leading the way."

Li Hanxiao said with a self-deprecating smile, then continued to raise his sword to block the flying divine soldiers, while at this moment, the troops on "Leopard Head" Lin Chong's side also began to leave the battlefield.

When Red Hare, carrying Guan Sheng with his "Great Saber," broke through the encirclement and reunited with Lin Chong with his "Leopard Head," the two fierce generals of their time looked at each other and smiled.

Behind them, laborers helped the wounded soldiers fight and retreat. Li Hanxiao was a one-man army, but the others were not idle either. The cooks swung iron pots at the pursuers, and even the most timid clerks threw poison fire with inkstones.

This is the true meaning of "coming from the masses and going to the masses," not a solitary legend embellished in history books, but an indomitable torrent forged by millions of ordinary people.

Those emperors sitting on the dragon throne will never understand: when leaders and soldiers eat from the same pot and wrap themselves in the same blanket, a power that is more powerful than any talisman will naturally grow in the army, far surpassing the so-called "dragon banner pressing down".

"Chief! Brother! Wu Er is with you!"

At this moment, Wu Song, who had already retreated with the troops, turned around and ran back to Li Hanxiao's side, wielding his big stick and smashing it at the enemy.

"Brother Wu Song, what are you doing?"

Li Han smiled and asked Wu Song.

"Wu Er owes Brother a life; he will live and die with Brother!"

Wu Song's words were absolutely resolute and left no room for doubt.

Wu Song's shout also stopped the retreating Liangshan bandits.

"With the total death!"

"Leopard Head" Lin Chong also shouted loudly and turned around to rush back.

"Not bad!"

"The Flower Monk" Lu Zhishen also turned around.

"Come on, everyone!"

With Guan Sheng, the "Great Saber," raising his arm in a rallying cry, the Liangshan army, which had been somewhat demoralized by the Flying Divine Soldiers and the troops of Gaotang Prefecture, turned back and began to face the enemy head-on.

"you……"

Seeing that they weren't leaving, Li Han smiled and wanted to say something, but the words stuck in his throat.

What right do you have to blame your brothers who are willing to live and die with you?

"Alright! Let's wipe them out together!"

Although Li Hanxiao said this, he still looked at the brothers around him with some worry. He had the Great Celestial Immortal Technique and the Innate Pure Qi, so he had no problem dealing with the flying divine weapons and Gao Lian's demonic arts, but most of the people present did not have this ability.

After this battle, it is still unknown who among my comrades will survive and who will perish. There may be more than half of them killed or wounded, or even less than one in ten. All sorts of scenarios are possible.

Thinking of this, Li Hanxiao sighed and began to chant as he fought.

Amidst the smoke and fire, a metallic chant suddenly rang out, drowning out the battle's roars. Li Hanxiao cleaved three flying divine soldiers in two with his three-pronged dagger, the blood-stained blade carving a silver river in the poisonous flames: "With the people united as one, even mountains can be shaken!"

The laborers who were dragging the wounded soldiers back suddenly stopped. They saw that the chieftain's iron armor had been charred black by the poisonous fire, yet he remained as firm as a rock in front of the enemy lines.

Suddenly, Bian Xiang, the "Giant Spirit God," swung his great axe, smashing the attacking flying divine soldier, sending him staggering: "Only loyalty and righteousness can soar to the heavens!"

The poisonous fire illuminated half the sky, and "Leopard Head" Lin Chong's eighteen-foot spear suddenly turned back.

As his iron cavalry trampled the burning banners, he let out a long roar and added the third line: "My lord is as loving as my parents!"

The entire battlefield seemed to be set ablaze by divine fire. The soldiers who had already retreated through the mountain pass turned their spears around, with the lame carrying broken spears and the one-armed biting steel knives.

The clerk Chen Wenruo, inkstone in his left hand and paper cutter in his right, ran through the pool of blood, shouting: "I have violated military law, and am no longer free!"

Li Hanxiao's eyes welled up with tears, and his three-pronged dagger swept across the curtain of fire: "The orders are clear, the rewards and punishments are announced!"

He saw Cheng Da, the "Three-Strike Axe" with his body wrapped in bandages, snatch the war drum from the drum and bugle corps and beat it with his severed arm, creating a thunderous rhythm.

"Even if it means facing fire and water, I dare not linger!"

More than two thousand bloodied throats roared in unison, their fury reaching the heavens.

"The Flower Monk" Lu Zhishen used his iron staff to smash burning grain carts into the enemy ranks, while "The Pilgrim" Wu Song used his iron cudgel to carry a corpse as a shield as he charged forward.

Bai Sheng, nicknamed "White Day Rat," who was dispatched with the army but did not participate in the battle, was a person in charge of intelligence. He was usually the most timid person, but he also wielded his sword and attacked.

Those ruffians brought out by Li Hanxiao from Tokyo City all rushed forward, including Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu, and Zhao Liu, and used lassos to strangle the flag bearer of Gaotang Prefecture, tearing the "Gao" banner surrounded by the Gaotang Prefecture troops to the ground.

The poisonous fire reached its peak at this moment, and thirty flying divine soldiers stacked into a fire tower rushed over. Just as Li Hanxiao was about to activate the Great Grade Celestial Immortal Technique, he suddenly saw countless stones slashing out from the side - it was the laborers who had just retreated returning, picking up stones, and smashing them down on the flying divine soldiers!

"Soaring Eagle" Li Ying's throwing knife got stuck in a crack in the divine weapon's neck armor. He wielded both hands, each strike deadly. Several soldiers nearby grabbed the enemy and even bit him with their yellow teeth, shouting: "Kill!"

Li Hanxiao's treasured sword suddenly shone brightly, cleaving through the wall of poisonous fire. The Liangshan soldiers advanced in formation to the rhythm of "Triumphant Song," a sound even more inspiring than war drums.

When the last flying warrior was simultaneously pinned to the scorched earth by twenty spears, Gao Lian's flag officer suddenly noticed that in the eyes of those Liangshan bandits, whose bodies were charred black, a light more terrifying than the flames of talismans flickered.

This is not some kind of sorcery, but the karmic fire of millions of people united in heart and mind.

"I report to Heaven and Earth above, and save the common people below!"

Li Han smiled and pointed his sword at the fleeing soldiers of Gaotang Prefecture. More than two thousand wounded figures pressed down on them like a landslide and a tsunami.

Behind them, three scribes rewrote "Acting on behalf of Heaven" in blood on the charred military flag; the characters were crooked but powerfully penetrating the cloth.

"Kill all the traitors, and you will not fail the people!"

Li Hanxiao and the others stepped forward together, and the soldiers of Gaotang Prefecture and Jizhou Prefecture were unable to resist them. Gao Lian's three hundred flying divine soldiers lost at least one hundred and eighty or ninety of them to the mortal Liangshan soldiers, and more than a thousand soldiers of Gaotang Prefecture were also killed.

The Jeju soldiers on the city walls were too frightened to pursue, and the Liang family army in Rencheng County also dared not give chase.

After this battle, storytellers in Jeju City always liked to say: the rebellious flag of Liangshan that day was not embroidered, but formed by the blood seeping from thousands of wounds.

When the chieftain and the stableman wield their weapons together, even a celestial being could not break through this Great Wall of flesh and blood.

On the battlefield where the smoke of battle had cleared, Li Hanxiao stood alone on horseback amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The setting sun gilded his blood-stained cloak with a crimson gold, and his three-pointed sword was covered in dark bloodstains that had already scabbed over. It wasn't that he didn't want to clean it, but he simply didn't have the mood for it.

The routed soldiers of Gaotang Prefecture retreated three miles away but still dared not raise their bows—they saw that god-like man bending down to pick up half of the Liangshan battle flag and gently wrapping the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

"Take the brothers home."

His voice was hoarse, like a rusty knife scraping bone, but the two thousand remaining soldiers could hear it clearly.

As the last body was lifted onto the cart, Li Hanxiao suddenly mounted his horse and slowly made his way through the pile of corpses, dragging his three-pointed dagger behind him.

The sound of the blade scraping through the scorched earth startled Gao Lian's vanguard battalion, causing them to retreat three hundred paces.

"Jeju soldiers, Gao Lian, you old dog, listen up!"

He suddenly reined in his horse and let out a long neigh, his voice echoing across the land: "Li is here! Who dares to pursue me!"

Beihai Salu Ziren stood up, crushing the broken arrows scattered on the ground.

Five miles away, under the banner of Gaozi, the three commanders exclaimed in surprise at the same time, as if they had seen something extraordinary.

Later, they swore oaths and told their soldiers that they had truly seen the phantom of Erlang Shen appear behind the rebels that day...

On the way back to the mountain, Li Hanxiao personally carried the young soldier's body at the front, blood flowing down his armor and into his boots, leaving a trail of blood-red lotus flowers on the stone steps...

Before the Hall of Righteousness and Brightness, nearly three thousand remains were covered with tattered flags. He suddenly removed his helmet, revealing his face burned by poisonous fire. Protected by the Great Celestial Immortal Technique, he was mostly unharmed, but the fate of his brothers who had closed their eyes was entirely different…

At this time, all the members of Liangshan were here, and the families of those who died in battle were also notified to come here.

"This battle cost me two thousand seven hundred and thirty-two brothers..."

As Li Han laughed, he suddenly knelt down, his knee slamming onto the bluestone slab with a clear, dull thud.

"It was Li Hanxiao's misjudgment of the enemy and his poor command."

With a second muffled thud, Li Hanxiao knelt down, kowtowing to the families of the victims, and swore in blood, "Today, Li Hanxiao swears in blood that he will take Gao Lian's head to offer as a sacrifice to the flag!"

"No, Chieftain!"

Lu Zhishen, the "Flowery Monk," slammed his iron staff into the ground with a thud, causing the candlelight on the incense table to flicker wildly. With Lu Zhishen's shout of "Kneel!" two thousand remaining soldiers knelt down in unison, their armor clashing like crashing waves.

Meanwhile, the families of the deceased also knelt down silently.

Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," threw his eighteen-foot spear to the ground: "It's my fault... for failing to breach the city in time! We were the first to suffer heavy losses..."

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng also placed his Green Dragon Crescent Blade on the brick and wept bitterly, saying, "It's not the chieftain's fault... I, Guan, failed in my duty as the rearguard!"

Even Bian Xiang, the "Giant Spirit" who had been poisoned by toxic fumes, broke free from An Daoquan, the "miracle doctor" who was examining his pulse, and roared while supporting himself on one arm: "If anyone should kneel... it's me, Bian Xiang, who should kneel! I was the first to encounter that government army, and the first to retreat..."

Li Hanxiao was about to speak when he suddenly felt his palm being grasped by a pair of small hands—it was the son of "Drilling Spear" Zhu Jing.

Zhu Jing brought his three-year-old son with him when he went up the mountain, but now, he will never see his son again...

"Uncle, where's my dad...?"

The child's words were like a knife to Li Hanxiao's heart. Hu Sanniang, nicknamed "One-Zhang-Qing" from the crowd, noticed Li Hanxiao's discomfort and immediately rushed over to take the child away...

As the waning moon rose over the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness, more than two thousand wounded figures still knelt in the square.

Li Hanxiao removed his armor and let his hair down, holding the list of the fallen. He personally wrote memorial tablets for each of the fallen soldiers and placed them in the Hall of Righteousness and Brightness...

In the pine forest behind the mountain, eight hundred cypress coffins were arranged in a square formation. This was the largest number that all the craftsmen on the mountain could hastily complete.

Li Hanxiao, barefoot and with disheveled hair, dressed in mourning clothes for his brothers, leaving bloody footprints on the gravel road.

But the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan, holding a medicine bowl, stood in front of the woodpile: "Chief, the poisonous fire has penetrated to the marrow; it truly cannot be touched, and cannot be buried in the ground..."

An Daoquan told Li Hanxiao that if the corpses burned to death were buried, they would produce corpse poison, polluting the soil and causing a plague...

To avoid a catastrophe on Liangshan Marsh, the only option was to cremate them...

Although he had consulted with the family and received their permission, Li Hanxiao was still deeply saddened.

At midnight, a bonfire was lit in Wushu. Li Han smiled and opened a jar of old wine, spilling the liquid on the ground. He then shouted, "The first bowl is a toast to our fallen brothers!"

Strong liquor was poured into the fire, and the roaring blue flames seemed to echo with the neighing of warhorses...

"The second bowl is offered to our kinsmen who have died in the line of duty!"

The wine mist exploded into golden lotuses when it met fire.

"The third bowl is offered to the loyal and righteous spirit of Liangshan!"

As the flames engulfed the coffin, a southeast wind suddenly rose, carrying ash and sparks that swirled into the air, transforming into countless fireflies.

"Look! The brothers have gone to Heaven to file a complaint!"

"The Flower Monk" Lu Zhishen pointed at the starry sky and laughed, his face streaked with tears. Then he put his hands together and began to chant scriptures.

"This oath is sworn by the sun and moon! If Li Hanxiao cannot kill Gao Lian in this lifetime to avenge his brothers, may heaven and earth not forgive him!"

Li Hanxiao suddenly grabbed the three-pointed double-edged sword, cut his palm, splattered the blood on the ground, looked up at the billowing smoke, and solemnly swore an oath.

"I swear I will not be a human being if I do not kill Gao Lian! I swear I will not be a human being if I do not kill Gao Lian!"

The other leaders echoed their sentiments, and at this moment, the fighting spirit and hatred of everyone at Liangshan Marsh reached their peak...