Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

These more than a thousand scholars began to wash their clothes and bodies, but it was clear that most of them had never washed their own clothes before. It took them more than half an hour to finish washing their clothes...

Li Hanxiao stood with his hands behind his back on the beach, looking at the group of disheveled but proud young people.

The sunset dyed the water blood-red, and the scholars' clean robes fluttered in the wind, much like banners torn apart by war.

Sprinkle some minced ginger into the porridge to help them dispel the cold.

Li Hanxiao suddenly turned his head and gave an order, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough to reach the ears of the scholars in the front row.

Several young people who were stiffening their necks and preparing to give impassioned speeches felt their Adam's apples bob, and their bones, which had been chilled to the bone, suddenly remembered the taste of warmth.

The bandit leader before them, who had killed without hesitation, didn't seem like the ruthless bandit they had imagined.

But it's common for young people this age to have a rebellious streak. The first to speak was a young man with a mole between his eyebrows, his hair half-undone, his neck stiff as he said, "Kill me if you want! Why imitate Xiang Yu and show womanly mercy!"

However, the stomach doesn't lie; the round-faced boy beside him was staring at the bubbling porridge pot, his own rumbling stomach clearly audible.

Li Hanxiao picked up a wooden spoon and stirred the rice porridge, the amber-colored ginger shimmering in the twilight: "Three months ago, Qingzhou suffered a severe drought. I heard that Prefect Murong Yanda of Qingzhou exchanged disaster relief grain for Guanyin clay. Guanyin clay—exchanging children for food—this is just a sentence in history books, but have any of you ever tasted the clay? Have you ever personally witnessed children being exchanged for food?"

He suddenly scooped up a spoonful and poured it back into the pot, "The rice in this porridge comes from the thousand acres of fertile land outside Jeju City that were annexed; the firewood for cooking this porridge was taken from the beams of the villas of high-ranking officials in Tokyo. All of this was obtained through my rebellion, yet it truly saved the common people. And what about the court officials you see, like Murong Yanda?"

"What difference does it make whether one does things for the people? Didn't Robber Zhi also perform acts of chivalry back then?"

Li Hanxiao's words immediately caused a stir among the crowd.

A hoarse voice sneered from the northwest corner: "Those who are clever with words and flattering in appearance are rarely benevolent!"

“Heresy!”

Before he could finish speaking, he was drowned out by a chorus of coughs—a dozen or so scholars were secretly bringing their frozen hands close to the steam rising from the porridge pot.

"The imperial court is the rightful successor bestowed by Heaven; this is treason!"

The voices rose and fell, and when it came to verbal attacks and written criticism, these scholars were the best at it.

"When the emperor was forced to wear the yellow robe at Chenqiao Post Station, wasn't the founding emperor also a traitor of the previous dynasty? If he hadn't betrayed the orphaned and widowed Chai family, how could he have been forced to wear the yellow robe?"

Li Hanxiao suddenly raised his voice, startling several egrets in the reeds. "Shang Tang imprisoned him at Xia Terrace, King Wen was detained at Youli—weren't they both, in your words, acts against Heaven? But weren't they both in accordance with the will of the people, eliminating cruelty and tyranny?"

Li Han strode through the crowd, the jade pendant at his waist clanging against his armor. "Gentlemen, have you ever read the saying, 'The people are the most important, the state comes second'? When the court has become a traitor to the people, upholding the Way of Heaven is the truest loyalty!"

The young man with his hair tied up, who had started the argument, suddenly fell silent. These sharp-tongued young people seemed to have lost their voices for a moment, not knowing how to respond...

As the sun finally sank into the water, the torches lit by the henchmen lit up one after another. Li Hanxiao took off his scarlet cloak and threw it to the shivering round-faced boy. When he turned around, his armor reflected the firelight, making him look as if he were wearing the sunset.

"Look!"

As Li Hanxiao pointed, the eight-hundred-mile stretch of reeds bowed low in the wind, as if heaven and earth were echoing: "Gentlemen, can you see the refugees in these marshes? They are not thieves, but descendants of Yan and Huang driven to desperation by oppressive government! Your erudite writings cannot save the crying infant in a woman's arms; your treasured books of sages cannot stop the tax-collecting thugs of corrupt officials!"

Li Hanxiao's voice suddenly softened: "The true path of sages lies not in the golden palaces of Bianliang, but in the cooking smoke of the common people. Throughout history, the world has been a cycle of division and unification, and the Song Dynasty's fate has run its course. The people are suffering, so why can't I rebel against the Song?"

"Here, have some porridge!"

As Li Han smiled, he served a bowl of porridge to the leading scholar.

The scholar held the porridge in his hands with trembling hands. The aroma of rice spread in the night breeze, just like the Laba porridge his mother cooked.

The young man with his hair tied up, who had just said, "I would rather die than eat food offered with contempt," finally accepted the earthenware bowl, and a single hot tear fell into the porridge.

"As you eat and listen to me, do you all know how the phrase 'investigating things' is originally interpreted in the *Great Learning*?"

Li Hanxiao knew that to completely convince them, he had to use magic to defeat magic.

Mr. Yangming, the rest is up to you!

The scholars looked at each other in bewilderment. They had been familiar with Zhu Xi's collected annotations since childhood, but had never delved into the original meaning of the ancient texts.

A scholar in blue robes took out half a scroll of the Book of Rites from his sleeve. It was unexpected that he could bring a book with him to the battlefield!

He recited, trembling: "The extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things; when things are investigated, knowledge is extended..."

话音未落，李寒笑已用剑尖在沙地上划出篆体&34;格&34;字：&34;此字从木从各，非朱子所谓&39;穷究&39;之意，实乃&39;正木使合规矩&39;！&34;

He suddenly snapped off a crooked reed, the cut as clean as if measured with a ruler, "just like this reed—to make arrows, one must first correct their shape; this is the true essence of investigating things!"

"In addition to investigating things, you must also investigate people. People also need to correct their mistakes. If you want to become true people, you need to correct your mistakes."

"Have you ever considered this? Cheng Yi's 'investigation of things to extend knowledge' didn't clearly define what to investigate: was it the coarse rice mixed with sand in the common people's pots, or the wine and meat in the mansions of the wealthy in Bianliang?"

As Li Han smiled, he pointed to the people still clearing land on the hillside and said, “Many of them are not farmers by origin, but they are willing to develop calluses on their hands and get covered in mud. If no one were to devote themselves to farming, where would you get your food and clothing? You recite the poem every day, ‘Who knows the hardship behind every grain of rice on the plate?’ But the author of this poem was a great traitor. Why is that? Because his words and deeds are inconsistent. So you also need to correct your mistakes. If you don’t put your words into practice, how will you know whether you are the benevolent and righteous gentlemen you talk about?”

The young man with his hair tied back suddenly narrowed his eyes, the book in his hand clattering to the ground. He abruptly rushed out of the crowd, pointing at the henchmen measuring fields in the distance: "So you're having soldiers help refugees reclaim wasteland, and that's...that's investigating things?"

"Exactly! Investigating things is also investigating oneself."

"Then what about your so-called 'unity of knowledge and action' and your attempt at reconciliation?"

Li Han smiled and used the tip of his sword to draw silver marks on the mudflats. Where mud flew, the two characters "知行" (knowledge and action) were carved in regular script.

束发青年死死盯着石上刻痕，喉结上下滚动：&34;依足下之见，这&39;知&39;与&39;行&39;……”

"Take a physician, for example! If one only memorizes the *Qianjin Fang* (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces) but dares not taste hundreds of herbs, even if one can recite the *Huangdi Neijing* (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) backwards, how can one cure the immediate chills and fever? Coptis chinensis can clear heat and dry dampness, but it needs to be combined with licorice to harmonize it—this is true knowledge gained through practice! Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, which was his practice!"

"Investigating things to acquire knowledge" refers to thoroughly investigating the principles of things in order to gain knowledge.

"Knowledge" mainly refers to a person's moral consciousness and thoughts. "Action" mainly refers to a person's moral practice and actual actions.

From the perspective of moral education, Wang Shouren strongly opposed the disconnect between knowledge and action in moral education, as well as "knowing but not acting." Morality is the guiding ideology for human behavior, and acting in accordance with moral requirements is the effort to achieve "conscience."

The intentional activity generated under the guidance of morality is the beginning of behavior, and behavior that conforms to the requirements of moral norms is the completion of "conscience".

Wang Yangming's invaluable spiritual nourishment, which would have been available centuries later, has been brought to fruition by Li Hanxiao in this era...

Did Confucius merely engage in theoretical discussions during his travels throughout the states? No, he truly put his teachings into practice. Theory learned from books is ultimately superficial; one must experience it firsthand!

The young man with his hair tied up suddenly knelt on the ground, his ten fingers digging deep into the soil: "But...but the sages say..."

"Even the classics were written by people!"

The clanging sound of Li Hanxiao sheathing his sword startled him. "If King Yu only studied the book of abdication, how could he have dredged the nine rivers? If Zhuge Liang only studied military strategy, how could he have created the wooden ox and flowing horse?"

He unbuckled his jade belt buckle and removed the bronze ruler from his waist. "This is the water measuring ruler used by my ancestor, Li Bing, the governor of Shu Commandery during the Qin Dynasty. Without their tireless efforts day and night, how could he and his son have built the Dujiangyan Irrigation System and transformed Chengdu into the Land of Abundance? You have truly put this into practice, achieving unity of knowledge and action, and thus you will know what the true path of the sages is!"

Although the two sides had different positions, in Li Hanxiao's eyes, they were not the useless people Zhang Zhongxiong described. These young scholars were full of vigor, like the rising sun, with their own ideals and infinite possibilities. This world belonged to them as well as themselves.

“Zhang Zhongxiong said you are all useless and trash. I don’t see it that way. The world belongs to you and to us, but in the end, the world belongs to the young. You are all young people. I can’t beat you by much. Young people are full of vigor and vitality, just like the rising sun. You are in your prime and your future is limitless. Our hopes are placed on you. The people live in peace and the country is stable. It all depends on how you do it and how you do it right!”

When Li Hanxiao said these words to them, his letter was filled with deep emotion. He believed that the younger generation is the hope of a country, and this will never change.

His kindergarten teacher had heard similar things, and some people called them "good-for-nothings" and regarded them as useless.

But there was one... He once said that he regarded Li Hanxiao and his group as the sun at eight or nine in the morning, and he said, "The world belongs to you..."

Although that happened in another world... Li Hanxiao still remembers it vividly...

Young people who are not recognized are like these scholars in front of me; they've had enough of being met with cold words and criticism. But if you say they are the sun...

A woman adorns herself for the one who appreciates her, and a man will die for the one who understands him!

"You said...you said we are..."

Some of the scholars were already sobbing uncontrollably. The imperial court and government officials called them useless and discarded them like worn-out shoes, while the bandits and robbers said they were the future of the country...

My God, either they've gone mad, or the world is just wrong!

You are so wrong!

Moreover, China has a long history of repressive education, with fathers being the guides for sons and rulers for subjects. No matter how well they do, they will never receive recognition or reward.

To be honest, this was truly the first time in their entire lives that someone had acknowledged and praised them...

This situation is truly unbearable!

"Your words about investigating things to acquire knowledge and unifying knowledge and action contain philosophical principles that are no less profound than those of a sage. And yet, and yet, you think so highly of us... It is a disgrace to the nation for someone like you to be a thief..."

The leading scholar burst into tears.

"If others look down on you, then of course you can't look down on yourselves!"

"If you ask me, you are like the rising sun, your path is bright, like a river emerging from its hidden source, flowing into a vast ocean..."

When Li Hanxiao affirmed them, he quoted from "A Discourse on Young China": "The rising sun shines brightly, the river emerges from its hidden source and flows into a vast ocean, the dragon soars from the abyss, its scales and claws flashing, the young tiger roars in the valley, all beasts tremble in fear, the eagle tests its wings, the wind and dust rise, the rare flower is in its first bloom, resplendent and magnificent, the sword is sharpened, its edge gleaming, the sky is blue, the earth is yellow, spanning a thousand ages, encompassing the eight directions, the future is like the sea, and the days ahead are long." to encourage them.

Although "Ode to Young China" is quite different from the popular writing style today, its catchy and inspiring nature is undeniable!

Li Han smiled at the scholars before him and said, "I suppose you're still wondering what's going on? Let's make a bet. You stay on my mountain and truly practice the unity of knowledge and action for a month. After a month, I guarantee you'll see how the annexed land is returned to the farmers, and you'll participate in compiling the 'Water Margin Chronicle,' a true record of the people's suffering in my Liangshan Marsh. If, at that time, you still think I'm a thief, and that my Liangshan Marsh doesn't deserve the title of 'Acting on Behalf of Heaven,' I'll personally sail you back to Jizhou to take the imperial examinations!"

"But if you are on my mountain and truly see that I am fighting for the people, I want you to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, to join my Liangshan Marsh. Perhaps I am not as good at teaching as the old Confucian scholars who spout classical phrases, but I can teach you some unique skills!"

Li Han smiled as he looked at the young people in front of him. "How about it? Dare to try? Are you afraid I'll kill you?"

“No, you are a contemporary master no less than the sages of antiquity, and we naturally admire you. We are willing to make a pact with you, for a gentleman's word is his bond—”

"Hurry up and whip your horse!"

Li Hanxiao had essentially made an agreement with these scholars.

They were extremely excited. Ever since they started school, they had always believed that there was only one path in the world, and there was only one path in front of them.

Now they see a path they've never seen or known before—in reality, they don't know that there were no paths in the world originally; it's only when many people walk on them that they become paths.

As the first light of dawn appeared in the east, a chorus of chanting rose from Duckbill Beach, gradually coalescing into a torrent: "The sky is blue as its canopy, the earth is yellow as its foundation… The future is as vast as the sea, and the days ahead are long!"

The rising sun shone on the faces of these scholars who were still carefully savoring the "Ode to Young China" they had just heard, while the banner of "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" was unfurling in the wind, as if a group of suitable successors had been found.