Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Li Hanxiao was surprised that such a short-lived event had already spread so widely in the martial arts world, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "How did you know about this?"

Liu Tang smiled and said, "I am known as 'Red-Haired Devil' Liu Tang. I often travel around the martial arts world. Brother Li's matter has brought honor to our fellow outlaws. Everyone says that others used to think of us outlaws as just roughnecks, but Brother Li was able to display his talents in such a place. This is a refined matter. It has greatly enhanced the reputation of our fellow outlaws. You also beat up that wicked Gao Yanei. Recently, your reputation in the outlaw world has been thunderous!"

Li Han was speechless. He hadn't expected that his rise to fame would be due to this incident, which was quite unexpected...

"Brother Liu Tang, I heard from Brother Zhu Gui about how you were arrested by the police. Why would a fine man like you pretend to be the nephew of that Chief Chao?"

Li Han smiled knowingly and asked the question. Liu Tang sighed and said, "Alas, brother, I've learned some news in Daming Prefecture about a fortune-making scheme. I wanted to find a reputable hero to help me seize it, so I came to find Chao Gai of Dongxi Village. I've heard he's an excellent man, so I thought I'd ask him to help cover it up. Who would have thought..."

"The wealth you're talking about must be the birthday gift that Liang Zhongshu of Daming Prefecture gave to his father-in-law, Grand Tutor Cai."

Li Han's witty remark startled Liu Tang, who stood up in surprise.

"How did my brother know?"

Li Han smiled and pressed Liu Tang into his seat. "What's so difficult about that? Grand Tutor Cai's birthday is fixed. Every year around this time, this birthday tribute is sent. It's just that the people escorting it are different each time. And you got the information from Daming Prefecture, so I guessed it that way."

Upon hearing this, Liu Tang gave a thumbs up and said, "Impressive, impressive, truly a master. Brother, it is about the birthday tribute. I have learned that Liang Zhongshu of Daming Prefecture in Beijing has purchased 100,000 strings of gold, pearls, treasures, and toys to send to Tokyo to celebrate the birthday of his father-in-law, Grand Tutor Cai."

"This fellow also sent 100,000 strings of gold and jewels last year, but he was robbed halfway there and no one has caught him yet. This year, he has again bribed 100,000 strings of gold and jewels and is arranging to set off soon, in time for his birthday on the fifteenth of June. This time, he has found a powerful escort, a descendant of the Yang family generals for nine generations, a descendant of General Yang, the 'Blue-Faced Beast' Yang Zhi. I think this is ill-gotten wealth, so what's wrong with taking it? But I alone cannot obtain such wealth. Now that I have been saved by you, brother, how about I repay you by offering you this wealth?"

As Liu Tang spoke, he bowed, and Li Hanxiao quickly helped him up, saying, "Alright, alright, Brother Liu Tang, please rise. Your intelligence is indeed important. I wonder if you would be willing to join me on Liangshan this time, to act on behalf of Heaven, and to sit in a chair as well?"

"Oh dear, it would be my greatest wish to join my brother in upholding justice, but I dare not ask!"

Liu Tang was a well-known figure in the martial arts world before, and his skills were quite good. However, he had always been a drifter, an unemployed vagrant. Joining Liangshan was a very good choice for him personally, especially since Li Hanxiao had saved him.

"Alright, alright, we're brothers from now on!"

Before Li Han's joke had even finished, Liu Tang said with a face full of indignation, "But I have something else to say, and I must ask you to help me!"

Seeing his annoyed expression, Li Hanxiao understood that if he didn't help him with this matter, the "Red-Haired Devil" wouldn't truly submit. So he said, "Brother, that damned leader arrested me without even asking what happened, treating me like a thief. He hung me up all night and sent me to the prefectural government to ask for a reward. On the way, he even had me beaten several times. I swear I won't be a man if I don't avenge this. Please, brother, give me a knife so I can take revenge!"

Li Hanxiao understood; Liu Tang was furious and wanted to seek revenge on Lei Heng.

Lei Heng is indeed highly problematic in this matter. Even if Liu Tang was lying naked in the Lingguan Hall sleeping, which doesn't seem like a good person, he can't just arrest someone randomly. After all, he only suspects someone, and he has no evidence to prove that Liu Tang is a thief. This would be a false accusation. Since he couldn't catch the thief, he just randomly found someone to take the blame.

In other words, what's the difference between this and killing innocent people and claiming credit for them? If Liu Tang were sent to the prefectural government, he would be beheaded!

Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable for Liu Tang to want revenge.

"How about this, Brother Liu Tang? I know this guy, he's known as 'Winged Tiger' Lei Heng. He's the infantry captain in charge of Yuncheng County. He'll definitely be going down to the countryside to catch bandits again in the next couple of days. How about we ambush him and give him a good beating to vent your anger?"

Li Han laughed and said he would beat Lei Heng up, but that clearly didn't appease Liu Tang. Liu Tang was still fuming and said, "Brother, if you ask me, I'll just take him down with one slash of my broadsword!"

“No, firstly, this man’s territory is close to ours, and Liangshan has not yet grown strong. If he dies near us, we will be too suspicious and may be summoned by the government. Secondly, this man is quite a figure, well-known far and wide, and has some skills. In the future, if Liangshan wants to grow stronger and conquer prefectures and cities, we can capture him and make him work for Liangshan. He is a talent. It is better not to kill him.”

Hearing Li Hanxiao's words, Liu Tang nodded repeatedly, "Since you want to take this person in, and he'll be our brother from now on, then beating him up like this probably isn't quite right..."

Li Han sneered, "Haha, fine, fine, one thing at a time. All the brothers who come to my Liangshan must abide by the rules, act uprightly, walk straight, and be honorable. How can we allow such an act of killing innocent people and claiming credit? Let's beat him up first to teach him a lesson, so that he won't break the rules when he comes to the mountain in the future. I will have to behead him according to military law!"

"Brother, you've thought of everything so thoroughly! I'm truly impressed!"

Liu Tang was deeply impressed by Li Hanxiao. Seeing that he had nothing else to do, Li Hanxiao sent someone to fetch weapons and horses, and also gave Liu Tang a broadsword and a horse, preparing to go and cause trouble for Lei Heng.

"Brother, are we going alone? Don't we need to bring some men?"

Liu Tang asked.

“Revenge is a personal matter, what’s the point of others getting involved? You just go and take your revenge, I’ll hold off the rest. Even if it’s a thousand or two soldiers, you and I can fight our way in and out seven times over.”

Li Hanxiao patted Liu Tang on the shoulder. For some reason, Liu Tang felt that Li Hanxiao's words were full of heroic spirit, which made him want to follow Li Hanxiao.

Li Hanxiao and Liu Tang then left Liangshan Marsh, covered their faces, and headed towards Yuncheng County. Lei Heng patrolled the countryside every night to catch thieves. Since he came yesterday, he would definitely come again today. Moreover, Liu Tang was kidnapped on the way, and the officials were all gone, so he had to come out to patrol even more.

As Li Hanxiao had predicted, not only did "Winged Tiger" Lei Heng lead a dozen or so constables out of the county government office, but even the cavalry commander "Beautiful Beard" Zhu Tong led a dozen or so constables, one heading east and the other west, to search carefully.

It seems that Liu Tang was indeed kidnapped during the day and the escorting officials went missing, which put them on high alert. They came out at night to search and see if they could catch the thieves.

Lei Heng, nicknamed "Winged Tiger," led his team westward to search. Li Hanxiao and Liu Tang had been watching this closely, waiting for the group to reach a deserted place before making their move.

Lei Heng, nicknamed "Winged Tiger," sat dejectedly on his horse. The county had set a quota for the number of thieves that had to be captured. Zhu Tong was lucky enough to catch a few cattle thieves and complete his mission.

He didn't encounter any thieves and thought he could just grab Liu Tang and get away with it. But then, not only did Liu Tang escape, but the guards escorting him also disappeared, and it suddenly became a major case!

Although Li Hanxiao did not kill those officials, he had Zhu Gui drug them and then put them in a donkey cart to be sent out of Jizhou Prefecture. He estimated that they would not remember anything when they woke up, and it would take at least half a month to find them.

Just then, Li Hanxiao and Liu Tang were waiting in the woods. Liu Tang was about to rush out when Li Hanxiao blocked him.

"First, let me knock those officials unconscious with a slingshot. They have a hard life too, with elderly parents and young children to support. It's not good to kill them."

As Li Hanxiao spoke, he picked up the golden bow and silver bullets, slightly loosening the tension on the bowstring so that the silver bullets wouldn't be powerful enough to kill anyone. Then, with a "whoosh," he fired the silver bullets, hitting the back of the heads of the two constables.

"Pfft!"

The two men were knocked unconscious on the spot and collapsed to the ground. Lei Heng, who was on horseback, saw this and couldn't help but curse, "Useless! You can even fall down on flat ground! Get up at once!"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Hanxiao fired two more silver bullets, knocking the two men to the ground.

"Damn it! Enemy attack! An ambush!"

Lei Heng realized something was wrong and immediately held his broadsword horizontally in front of him, searching for the enemy in his surroundings.

However, in the pitch-black wilderness, even with the moonlight, the visibility was too low to see anything clearly. In that short time, Li Hanxiao fired two more silver bullets, knocking the two men down.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

Lei Heng understood that the enemy was in the shadows while they were in the open, and that staying any longer would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army. So he spurred his horse forward and led his constables to flee.

"Leave? Do you think you can leave?"

Li Han sneered and fired three silver bullets, which struck Lei Heng's horse simultaneously. Although these silver bullets were not sharp weapons like arrows, their force was extraordinary. The horse was in pain and reared up, throwing Lei Heng off its back.

"These beasts have rebelled!"

Lei Heng, nicknamed "Winged Tiger," possessed extraordinary strength. With a single flip, he landed steadily, but the horse, injured, ran away. Lei Heng lost his mount and had to stand back to back with the others.

"Who dares to attack the officers! How dare you! Hiding like a coward, do you dare to come out and fight Commander Lei!"

Lei Heng roared, trying to lure the enemy out, but Li Hanxiao ignored him and fired silver bullets in quick succession, knocking all the constables to the ground unconscious.

Seeing that only Lei Heng was left, and the remaining officials were all unconscious and lying on the ground, Lei Heng also became a little nervous, and his palms were sweating as he gripped his broadsword.

"Brother Liu Tang, charge!"

Li Han gave the order, and Liu Tang immediately spurred his horse forward, rushed to Lei Heng's side, jumped off his horse, and attacked Lei Heng with a slash from above.

Lei Heng raised his broadsword to block the attack, took a step back, and demanded, "Who are you, and how dare you attack an official?"

"Attack a government official? I dare to kill you!"

Without further ado, Liu Tang unleashed his skills, his broadsword flashing with feints and real attacks as he launched three consecutive strikes at Lei Heng.

Lei Heng was also a master of the broadsword. He could tell from this move that his opponent's swordsmanship was extraordinary. He was taken aback and used his own skills to slash his broadsword, creating a white light to block Liu Tang's attack.

"Look at the knife!"

Liu Tang was extremely aggressive, swinging his broadsword in a wide arc, delivering a powerful "Splitting Mount Hua" strike that left Lei Heng struggling to parry and almost completely overwhelmed.

Lei Heng thought to himself that this man's swordsmanship was no less than his own. If he were to be suppressed by him, he would lose his head sooner or later. So he used his broadsword to deflect Liu Tang's swordsmanship and leaped forward, jumping a full ten feet away, thus creating distance between them.

"No wonder it's called the winged tiger; if this were the Olympic long jump, the gold medal would be a piece of cake!"

Li Han smiled at Lei Heng's excellent jumping ability and couldn't help but sigh.

After Lei Heng created some distance, he was no longer suppressed by Liu Tang. In the original story, he was slightly inferior to Liu Tang in skill and was at a disadvantage in the fight with the broadsword. At this moment, he could only fight with all his might.

"what!"

Lei Heng leaped forward again, using his speed to swiftly swing his blade at Liu Tang, aiming to use his jumping ability to increase the speed and agility of his attack and dodge.

It has to be said that Lei Heng's move was extremely fast. Liu Tang did not expect him to have such a powerful burst of energy, so he had to quickly lower his head and dodge the attack.

Nevertheless, several strands of his hair were cut off by Lei Heng's blade, but he was not far behind, sweeping the hilt of his broadsword upwards and striking Lei Heng squarely in the abdomen.

The two sides separated immediately after the initial contact. Liu Tang touched the stubble of his cut hair, and his wariness of Lei Heng increased even more.

After landing, Lei Heng quietly rubbed his abdomen. That blow from the hilt of the knife was quite solid; luckily, he was physically strong, otherwise he would have suffered internal injuries.

"Come again!"

Liu Tangfei ran over and displayed his swordsmanship. His simple swordsmanship seemed mad, insane, and fierce, yet it was also quite disciplined. It wasn't just random fighting; it was indeed a skillful swordsmanship.

"Could this be the Chaos Cloak?!"

Lei Heng was startled. When Liu Tang used this sword technique, his moves were almost unpredictable, making it impossible for him to defend against. It also reminded him of the legendary "Chaotic Cloak Sword Technique," which was extremely similar to the essence of the sword technique of the person in front of him.

"You do have some knowledge!"

Liu Tang was surprised that Lei Heng could recognize his swordsmanship. He thought to himself that this man was quite knowledgeable and not as useless as he had thought.

The two were locked in a fierce battle with broadswords, neither gaining the upper hand. Li Hanxiao watched from the woods, when he suddenly noticed a fast horse galloping from the east, carrying a man who also held a broadsword.

Li Han smiled and saw that this person had a face like a red date, phoenix eyes, silkworm eyebrows, and a beautiful beard that reached his belly, just like Lord Guan in the Guandi Temple.

"Zhu Tong!"

Upon seeing his appearance, Li Hanxiao knew that this man was Zhu Tong, the "Beautiful-Bearded Gentleman" who was the head of the cavalry in Yuncheng County. But he had just led his men eastward, so how did he end up here now?