Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Sun Li's face was even more ashen than a purple eggplant. Of course, he was somewhat coerced into joining Liangshan.

"Chief Li, I wonder if there will be an opportunity for me to show my skills on Liangshan Mountain..."

After a while, Sun Li gradually accepted the fact that he was going to join Liangshan and asked Li Han with a smile.

"Of course I do. I will do whatever it takes, no matter how capable you are."

Li Han smiled and replied.

“Brother Sun Li, aren’t I also on Liangshan? You’re not being wronged. I’ve heard that Liangshan is full of famous figures in the martial arts world: Lin Chong, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards in Dongjing; Lu Zhishen, the ‘Flowery Monk’ who killed Zhen Guanxi with three punches in Weizhou City; and Wu Song, the Second Brother Wu, who killed a white tiger with his bare hands on the back of Liangshan a few days ago. Chief Li is also far superior in both literary and martial arts. I sparred with him, and he broke my Qin family’s double-edged sword. It’s not a waste for you to be associated with such people!”

Qin Zhi, known as "Golden-Faced Buddha," and Sun Li, known as "Sickly Yuchi," were on good terms. Qin Zhi knew Sun Li's flaws: he was arrogant and overconfident. So Qin Zhi poured some cold water on him.

Sun Li was later portrayed as having martial arts skills that could supposedly defeat Lu Zhishen and Lu Junyi, but in reality, his martial arts skills were only at the level of the Earthly Fiends. He had no notable achievements. His fight with "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu was a pre-arranged feigned defeat. The author even claimed that Shi Xiu's martial arts skills were no worse than Sun Li's.

When fighting Hu Yanzhuo, nicknamed "Double Whip," he stepped forward and fought against Hu Yanzhuo with a single whip for thirty rounds before being overwhelmed. In reality, Hu Yanzhuo was not only physically injured at this time, but many of the Earthly Fiends could also achieve this feat. "Hairy Star" Kongming could fight Hu Yanzhuo for twenty rounds before being captured alive, and later "Tiger-Slaying General" Li Zhong could also fight Hu Yanzhuo for twenty rounds and escape unscathed.

Previously, Huyan Zhuo had fought Lin Chong for more than fifty rounds, and then fought Hu Sanniang, nicknamed "One-Zhang-Qing," for nearly twenty rounds. In contrast, Sun Li was at ease and his mentality was not affected. He simply went to fight normally. Even though Huyan Zhuo was being beaten like a whirlwind, Sun Li still had to fight him for thirty rounds. However, Sun Li did not gain any advantage in those thirty rounds.

Then there's the story of the conquest of Liao and the killing of Kou Zhenyuan, which was praised by later readers. Many people saw the exciting description of the battle and said that Kou Zhenyuan was very strong. However, Kou Zhenyuan's strength was not defined in the original work. If we were to talk about his strength, we could only consider him to be on the same level as his partner "Li Jinwu" Li Ji. This guy was cracked open by "Thunderbolt" Qin Ming in just a few rounds!

Finally, his biggest blunder was the Battle of Shezhou, where he ganged up on Wang Yin.

After Lu Junyi broke through the city, Wang Yin, the Minister of War, broke out of the siege. His spear skills were unpredictable, and he killed Li Yun and Shi Yong one after another. In the end, he was surrounded by four generals, Sun Li, Huang Xin, Zou Yuan and Zou Run, but they could not force him to finish him off.

Moreover, the original text states that Minister Wang "fought bravely against four generals without fear," meaning that these four were no match for Wang Yin. They couldn't defeat him in a group fight, and one of them might even die.

But then Lin Chong joined the brawl, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. The original text says, "Lin Chong is also a skilled fighter," and then Wang Yin died.

Lin Chong was good at fighting, while the four generals, including "Sick Yuchi" Sun Li, were not. This is the difference between those who are good at fighting and those who are not.

Lin Chong was not the final straw that broke Wang Yin's back, but rather the biggest variable that turned defeat into victory.

If Lin Chong hadn't joined the group, Wang Yin would have faced no pressure against the four generals and might have even broken through. However, with Lin Chong's arrival, the situation changed drastically. It's the same difference between the Heavenly Stars and Earthly Fiends, and between the Five Tiger Generals and the Lesser Tiger Generals.

Sun Li's martial arts skills are not top-notch on Liangshan now. He may be dissatisfied, or he may consider himself superior, but he has to endure it. That's how overwhelming their strength is.

Originally, when he sparred with "Golden-Faced Buddha" Qin Zhi in Dengzhou, he was even unable to defeat Qin Zhi, who did not even use his family's secret technique, the "Letting Go Continuous Mace".

Qin Zhi wanted to tell him not to be so arrogant, because there are always mountains beyond mountains, skies beyond skies, and people beyond people.

Upon hearing this, Sun Li was speechless. He had thought that few could rival his skills on Liangshan, but he hadn't expected there to be so many amazing people around, and he was no match for them at all.

However, on second thought, since there are so many capable people on Liangshan, it also shows that Liangshan has a bright future, and I can look forward to following them.

"I never knew there were so many heroes at Liangshan Marsh. I, Sun Li, have been blind to their worth. Please forgive me, Chief Li!"

Sun Li said.

“Commander Sun, there’s no need for such formalities. From now on, we’ll all be brothers. I’ve heard that you have a senior brother named ‘Iron Rod’ Luan Tingyu, who is now a military instructor at Zhu Family Village in Dulonggang, Yunzhou. I wonder if you still have any contact with him?”

Li Han asked with a smile.

"Ah...yes, my senior brother and I studied under the same master when we were young, but we haven't been in touch for many years. Back then, we agreed to serve the country, but he was greedy for comfort and wealth. Later, he became the head instructor of the Zhu Family Village, helping them to bully their neighbors. He was rich but heartless. I despise him, so we haven't been in touch for many years."

Sun Li sighed. He and Luan Tingyu, the "Iron Cudgel," originally learned their skills at the Shaolin Temple. Later, when they were young, they participated in the imperial army that conquered the Hehuang region. In the army, they met Zhou Tong, the "Iron Arm" hero from Shaanxi, who was a teacher of the Heavenly Dynasty. Zhou Tong instructed them in martial arts, taught Sun Li the "Divine Spear" technique, and showed him how to use a pistol in his left hand and a whip in his right, creating a unique whip-spear combination technique. As for Luan Tingyu, he taught him a flying hammer technique and a staff technique.

After Sun Li made meritorious contributions in this battle, he was appointed to Dengzhou. Luan Tingyu did not make any contributions and felt that the court was unfair, so he left the army and went to Zhujiazhuang. The two people parted ways in two days.

"We, Liangshan Marsh, act on behalf of Heaven. We must do great things: kill corrupt officials and eliminate local tyrants and evil gentry. Zhu Chaofeng and his three sons from Zhu Family Village have committed numerous evils on Dulonggang, oppressing their neighbors and committing all sorts of crimes. They are local tyrants. Not to mention the common people, even the nearby Li Family Village and Hu Family Village have suffered from their bullying. Sooner or later, I will lead my troops to wipe out this place. I hope that Commander Sun can discuss with me in detail about Luan Tingyu's skills and the military tactics he prefers in the future."

Li Hanxiao had long wanted to take action against the Zhu Family Village. In the original novel, the Zhu Family Village was a powerful local strongman with several thousand soldiers and mountains of grain, enough to sustain Liangshan Marsh for several years.

However, Li Hanxiao also investigated the reputation of the Zhu Family Village. Since such a big conflict arose over a chicken in the original story, Li Hanxiao felt that the Zhu Family Village was somewhat unlucky.

Later, Li Hanxiao's investigation revealed that the Zhu Family Village was indeed no good, just as described in the original novel.

In the original work, the author did not portray the Zhu Family Village as a good place. Moreover, the villagers later demolished the village. In the 120-chapter version, a sentence was added: "The locals hated the local tyrants for their oppression." "Firstly, the Zhu Family Village deserved to be defeated, and secondly, their evil deeds were beyond measure. The villagers had long been unaware of this." "The villagers themselves demolished the Zhu Family Village and turned it into a wasteland."

The village's armed forces were actually a product of Wang Anshi's reforms, and Zhu Chaofeng, the head of Zhujiazhuang, was actually Zhu Baozheng of Zhujiazhuang.

According to the Baojia system in the new law, every household was required to select able-bodied men to form local militia. Among the Song Dynasty's military system, the local militia was the weakest in terms of combat effectiveness, consisting of the Imperial Guard, the Xiang Army, the Fan Army, and the local militia.

The Zhu Family Village legally possesses its own armed forces in a certain region, which essentially brings disaster to the local people and makes them like local tyrants.

According to investigations, the Zhu Family Village had never done anything good in the surrounding area. They engaged in large-scale land annexation, oppressed the people, raped women, lent money at exorbitant interest rates, took a cut of the land, demanded repayment of ten times the amount borrowed, forced buying and selling, rented land in name only, engaged in large-scale buying and selling, used large-scale weighing scales to impose exorbitant taxes, and forcibly conscripted tenant farmers to perform unpaid labor for the Zhu Family Village. In order to collect rent, they violently beat at least a dozen people to death every year.

Zhu Long, the eldest son of the Zhu Family Village, was nicknamed "Zhu the Mule" by the people of Dulonggang. Why? Because he was extremely lecherous, a martial artist, and full of energy. He had several wives and concubines, but that wasn't enough. He frequently went out to seduce women, forcibly taking women from the countryside. If he took a fancy to someone, whether she was a young woman or a married woman, he had to have her. This caused immense suffering to the people, leading to the destruction of families and even death. Afterwards, he would simply give them a sum of money and waive their rent for a year to settle the matter. It is said that some people who were dissatisfied reported him to the authorities, and as a result, their entire families were killed at his hands.

The second son, Zhu Hu, was not a womanizer. In addition to practicing martial arts, he also liked hunting. He often took his hunting dogs out to chase wild animals. On Dulonggang, I trampled on the fields and even drove wild animals into farmers' fields while hunting, destroying all their crops. As a result, his family either starved to death or was driven to their death because they could not repay their high-interest loans.

Zhu Biao, the third son, was the most hated. He was known as "White-faced Tyrant." He was domineering and arrogant, spoiled since childhood, and extremely proud. He didn't care about the lives of his tenants. He was the one who forced rent payments and lent money at exorbitant interest rates. His subordinates had a long history of bloodshed.

Originally, their power was limited to Zhujiazhuang, but they continued to expand their influence. Now, Dulonggang could no longer satisfy the Zhu family's appetite, so they began to expand to both sides, preparing to gradually annex Hujiazhuang to the west and Lijiazhuang to the east.

As for the Hu family village, Zhu Chaofeng adopted the method of marriage alliance because the Zhu family village was the most powerful of the three villages. Therefore, they used high pressure to force Hu Taigong to arrange a marriage between his daughter "One-Zhang-Qing" Hu Sanniang and his third son Zhu Biao, intending to take over the Hu family village's foundation in the future.

The Hu Family Village is the weakest and has no choice but to rely on the Zhu Family Village. The Li Family Village in the east is headed by "Soaring Eagle" Li Ying, who is extremely wealthy and has unfathomable martial arts skills. Although the Zhu Family Village does not dare to directly clash with him, they have long been secretly developing a power struggle with him.

Basically, those were the kind of local tyrants and evil gentry who were so wicked that killing them would be the only way to appease public anger.

Li Hanxiao knew their methods very well. They were undoubtedly landlords who swallowed up all the small farmers' land through land consolidation, forcing the self-cultivating farmers to become tenant farmers, otherwise they would starve to death without land to cultivate, and then suffer all kinds of oppression from those bastards from Zhujiazhuang.

Therefore, their attack on the Zhu Family Village can be considered to be from a moral high ground, with a legitimate reason for their actions.

Li Han smiled and thought that after eliminating the Zhu Family Village, he could also find a way to absorb the power of the Hu Family Village and the Li Family Village. The Hu Family Village was originally coerced by the Zhu Family Village, so after the Zhu Family Village lost control of them, they were not having a good time without a backer.

As for Li Family Village, it's a bit more difficult. "Soaring Eagle" Li Ying is extremely wealthy and knows how to make money. There's absolutely no need for him to go to Liangshan and hang out with Li Hanxiao. He can live a peaceful life as a rich man and doesn't need to cause trouble.

However, regardless of the difficulty, all of this is contingent on Li Hanxiao being able to conquer Zhu Family Village before he can have a chance to annex these two villages as well. Otherwise, it's all just wishful thinking.

"Ah...this..."

Sun Li, nicknamed "Sick Yuchi," hesitated upon hearing Li Hanxiao's words. Although he had severed ties with Luan Tingyu, nicknamed "Iron Rod," for many years and no longer had any contact with him, they were still fellow disciples and shared a bond from learning from the same master.

Sun Li didn't really want to harm his senior brother.

“The Zhu Family Village has harmed the people, so I must take it down. But if Teacher Luan has not harmed the people, I will not harm him. I respect capable people the most in my life. If I capture Teacher Luan, I will persuade him to come to Liangshan with me and join us in this righteous cause. What do you say?”

Li Hanxiao's statement was, in effect, a promise to "Sick Yuchi" Sun Li that he would not harm "Iron Rod" Luan Tingyu's life.

Sun Li thought for a moment. Although he was now following Li Hanxiao to become a mountain king, Li Hanxiao kept saying that Liangshanbo acted on behalf of Heaven and would not harm the people. This was rare. Moreover, his rescue of the "One-Horned Dragon" Zou Run, whom he had just met, was also very loyal.

Therefore, Sun Li, also known as "Sick Yuchi," chose to believe Li Hanxiao's words.

Furthermore, upon closer reflection, he realized that this "Iron Rod" Luan Tingyu was a teacher in Zhu Family Village, advocating for the Zhu family. These Zhu family members were rife with evil and harmed the people, committing almost every imaginable atrocity. Although they did not appear to have broken the law, they were actually no better than robbers.

If Luan Tingyu stayed with them, he would be criticized behind his back. It would be better for him to go to Liangshan and work with Li Hanxiao. At least he could put his efforts into something practical and do something for the people.

"Well... never mind. Anyway, I know his martial arts skills best, and I know his military strategies very well. Since Chief Li has already made such a promise, a man's word is his bond. I trust you, so how about I tell you all this?"

Sun Li clapped his hands, his eyes becoming much more determined. He finally made up his mind. He also hoped that he and his fellow disciples could join hands to do something great in the future, just like the great vow they made when they were young, to do something real for the people of this land. Even if they were to be shattered to pieces, their lives would be worthwhile.