Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

"Oh my, what merit does Wang Dingliu have to be so highly regarded by Chief Li? Just tell me, as long as my father and I can do it, we'll go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Wang Dingliu smiled like Maitreya Buddha, and Old Man Wang also came over and said, "Yes, it's our good fortune that Liuzi can be with you great heroes! I'll go kill some chickens and ducks to serve Chief Li with his wine!"

After saying that, the old man went straight to catch the chicken. Li Hanxiao tried to stop him, but the old man was unhappy and had no choice but to let him kill it.

"Do you know An Daoquan, the 'miracle doctor' in Jiankang Prefecture?"

Li Han smiled and asked Wang Dingliu.

"This man is the foremost physician in Jiankang Prefecture, his medical skills are divine. What, brother, do you have some ailment you wish to seek his treatment for? Too late! An Daoquan is probably already dead!"

This "lively and quick-witted old woman" Wang Dingliu's words were always shocking, startling Li Hanxiao. Li Hanxiao quickly asked, "What? Did An Daoquan suddenly fall ill, or did something happen to him?"

Although it's true that nothing is more coincidental than a story, Li Hanxiao's coincidence this time was too much, as he happened to be there right when An Daoquan got into trouble!

"He's not sick, but he offended someone and got arrested. I heard he was beaten for two or three days, and I guess he's almost beaten to death!"

Wang Dingliu said in a low voice.

"Who did it? And why was he arrested?"

"It was that bastard Zhu Mian's son, Zhu Ruxian, who did it, because that 'miracle doctor' An Daoquan killed one of Zhu Ruxian's concubines!"

Li Hanxiao found Wang Dingliu's words somewhat unbelievable. He had no doubt that Zhu Ruxian could do something like hanging An Daoquan up and beating him, but he was somewhat skeptical that the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan could actually kill someone.

After all, the medical skills of "miracle doctor" An Daoquan are almost comparable to those of a god. Could it be that Zhu Ruxian's concubine has contracted an incurable disease that An Daoquan cannot cure?

"That's impossible! An Daoquan is known as a miracle doctor, how could he not cure it?"

Li Han smiled in confusion.

“Brother, this matter has spread throughout the vicinity of Jiankang Prefecture. To say that An Daoquan killed the person would be somewhat unfair to him. Brother, please let me explain slowly.”

Wang Dingliu, known as "Living Flash Granny," then vividly recounted the events to Li Hanxiao and the other two.

It turned out that Zhu Ruxian had a favorite concubine who suddenly fell ill with a terrible disease. She couldn't gain weight no matter what she ate, and she became increasingly thin, pale, weak, short of breath, and emaciated.

Actually, this illness was quite contagious. It was because the concubine loved to eat raw fish slices, which were called "kuai" in ancient times. The phrase "kuai zhi ren kou" (meaning "popular food") originated from this. Because she ate so much raw fish, the parasites in the raw fish meat took root and sprouted in her body, causing her to contract a parasitic disease.

Although this ailment is not considered a difficult disease in modern times, it was obviously difficult to treat in ancient times. Zhu Ruxian consulted several doctors but failed to cure his concubine's illness. In the end, he invited the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan to treat her.

For the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan, this ailment was easy to solve. He took the woman's pulse and knew that she had a large number of parasites in her abdomen. He told Zhu Ruxian that the ailment was very serious and that strong medicine was needed to treat it.

What potent medicine did the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan prescribe? It was two ounces of realgar, calcined and taken internally.

After being calcined, realgar becomes as poisonous as arsenic. The "miracle doctor" An Daoquan instructed the concubine not to eat for three days, but to drink water. After three days, she was to take two ounces of calcined realgar at once to save her life.

Although Zhu Ruxian was a spoiled brat, he knew that realgar, after being calcined, became arsenic, which was poisonous. So he questioned the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan. The "miracle doctor" An Daoquan patted his chest and said that as long as you took the medicine according to his method, you would be cured and no one would die.

Zhu Ruxian was skeptical, but after sending An Daoquan away, three days later, her concubine died of poisoning. Enraged, Zhu Ruxian ordered her men to arrest the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan and beat him severely.

"Could it be that his prescription is ineffective?"

"A workaholic?" Shi Xiu asked.

"That's what Zhu Ruxian thought, but after An Daoquan learned the truth, he said that the fault did not lie with him, but with Zhu Ruxian not administering the medicine to the concubine according to his method."

"Originally, An Daoquan said that after the three people had been starving, they should take the medicine all at once. The person should starve for three days so that the worms in their stomachs would also starve for three days. Only by taking the medicine all at once could the medicine be maximized and the disease be eradicated. The reason why the concubine was pale and thin and on the verge of death was because the food she ate was eaten by worms. An Daoquan prescribed the medicine and dosage according to the number and size of the worms. Starving the person for three days meant that the worms would also starve for three days. Only by taking the medicine at this time could all the worms be poisoned to death at once. However, Zhu Ruxian thought he was being clever and was afraid that something would happen. He gave his concubine the medicine in two doses. The first time, some worms were indeed expelled. Seeing that it was effective, he ordered her to take the medicine again. The second time, she died. According to that divine doctor An, the worms also learned their lesson. Some of them had already died from the medicine, and the rest naturally avoided the medicine. The medicine was absorbed by the person. It would be strange if she didn't die."

After Wang Dingliu finished speaking, everyone suddenly realized what was going on. Shi Xiu said, "So, it really wasn't that Doctor An's fault."

"Yes, in theory, it was Zhu Ruxian's own cleverness that led to his downfall. But Zhu Ruxian didn't care about the cause and effect. He just said that if the poison had already killed people by taking it in two separate doses, wouldn't the poison be even stronger if it were taken all at once, and people would die even faster? He completely ignored Doctor An's explanation, grabbed him and beat him severely. I heard that he has been beaten for two days. No one in the government or the city dares to ask about it. He's probably about to die!"

After Wang Dingliu finished speaking, Li Hanxiao slammed his hand on the table and said, "This Zhu Ruxian is a spoiled brat who thinks he's so clever, yet he takes his anger out on An Daoquan and treats human life like dirt. He's a beast! His father is a big beast, and he's a little beast. He's not even human!"

Originally, Li Hanxiao wanted to use a trick to lure the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan out of Jiankang Prefecture and then abduct him to Liangshan. Now, he didn't need to go through all that trouble. He could just go and rescue him directly. Maybe if he arrived too late, the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan would have been beaten to death.

Zhu Ruxian did provide some convenience to Li Hanxiao and his group, but this convenience came at the cost of the suffering of "miracle doctor" An Daoquan.

This time, we need to find a way to save that "miracle doctor" An Daoquan, and also steal that "ten-foot black" precious horse.

"Originally, we came here to invite this Doctor An to join us, but we didn't expect him to encounter such a humiliating situation. Now we can only try to save him first!"

Li Han smiled and said to Wang Dingliu, the "lively and flashy old woman".

"Since that's the case, if we can save him, Chief Li will be his savior, and he should repay the favor by joining Liangshan Marsh. However, rescuing someone from Zhu Ruxian's manor won't be easy..."

Wang Dingliu, nicknamed "Living Flash," looked troubled. According to his explanation, Zhu Ruxian had imprisoned "Divine Physician" An Daoquan in his manor outside the city and tortured him. The Zhu family's manor outside Jiankang Prefecture was extremely large, with winding and difficult-to-find roads. Moreover, it had a large number of servants. Not counting the servants, there must have been at least a hundred guards, soldiers, and runners. Furthermore, it was said that Zhu Ruxian had two experts protecting him. It would be difficult to snatch someone from the Zhu family manor and escape unscathed.

"Brother, do you know anything about those two experts?"

Li Hanxiao felt much more at ease after hearing what "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu said, because although according to "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu, there were quite a few permanent residents in the Zhu family manor, there were only about a hundred people with combat capabilities.

With the martial arts skills of Li Hanxiao, Qin Zhi, and Shi Xiu, even without Wang Dingliu's help, it wouldn't be impossible for them to wipe out all these people.

However, the only variable in this situation should be the two bodyguards of Zhu Ruxian. Fighting against experts is different from fighting against Qing soldiers. It is very likely that the two of them can hold off two of Li Hanxiao's combatants. The remaining person will face a hundred or so people, which will put a lot of pressure on him.

"I've heard of those two bodyguards of Zhu Ruxian. One of them is named He Conglong. He is a Baiyue from Jiaozhi. It is said that he knows the martial arts of the local mountain tribes, which are different from those of the Central Plains. It is said that he can kill tigers and leopards in the mountains. A few years ago, he was arrested by the court for participating in a barbarian rebellion. Later, Zhu Mian knew that this guy was skilled in martial arts and released him from the death row to become his son Zhu Ruxian's bodyguard."

Li Hanxiao knew that He Conglong was a leader under Fang La in Jiangnan in the original novel. He held the official position of Imperial Guard Instructor and once led 10,000 Imperial Guards to resist Lu Junyi. However, he was later captured alive by "Jade Kirin" Lu Junyi, and his fate was not explained.

This makes people very confused about his strength, because there is no clear record of his combat performance. If you say he is weak, Fang La has many experts under his command. The four marshals are all more powerful than the last. The chief instructor of the Imperial Guard by his side is also a close bodyguard. If it were Cao Cao, he would be on the level of Dian Wei or Xu Chu. If Fang La had a useless person by his side, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Conversely, even considering his only defeat to "Jade Kirin" Lu Junyi, it's still impossible to deduce his strength level. Normally, losing to "Jade Kirin" Lu Junyi isn't shameful, because all 108 heroes of Liangshan, plus other non-magic generals among the Four Great Bandits, met the same fate when facing Lu Junyi alone—either captured alive or killed. Lu Junyi's fighting power is simply too heaven-defying!

Even a master like Li Tianrun, the "National Protector Marshal" under Fang La, was killed by the serious Lu Laoye in just thirty rounds. He Conglong definitely couldn't beat him.

The author did not specify how many rounds it took for He Conglong to be captured by Lu Junyi. If it was only one or two rounds, his strength was probably not that high. If it was twenty or thirty rounds, He Conglong would at least have the skills of Li Tianrun. If it was more than fifty rounds, He Conglong would be a top-level master.

Unfortunately, none of these descriptions were available. Li Hanxiao could only deduce that Zhu Mian was a man of the world, and the fact that he recognized He Conglong's skills and appointed him as a bodyguard was a form of recognition. Therefore, Li Hanxiao estimated that this man's martial arts skills must be at least those of a typical Liangshan hero, otherwise he wouldn't have caught Zhu Mian's eye.

Judging from this man's martial arts skills, at least "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu would not be able to defeat him quickly. Li Hanxiao and "Golden-Faced Buddha" Qin Zhi could defeat him, but Li Hanxiao could not make a conclusion about his true strength. They would have to see the actual situation.

"There is another person, a Tibetan monk from Tibet named Ramayana. He is said to be one of the eight great Vidyarajas of Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism, one of the eight top masters in Tibet. He is known in the martial arts world as the 'Vajrapani Bodhisattva.' It is said that he once supported a tribal leader in Tibet in an attempt to unify the various Tibetan tribes, but the plot was exposed, and he fled to Han China alone. Later, he became a guest of honor of Zhu Mian. It is said that he practiced some kind of 'joyful meditation,' which is the sexual technique of the Han people. He also knows how to make medicine and is greatly loved by Zhu Mian and his son."

After listening, Li Hanxiao roughly understood the guy's background. In fact, the Tubo Dynasty no longer existed, but the Han people of the Song Dynasty still preferred to call the Tubo people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that.

As early as 877 AD, an uprising broke out in the Tubo Kingdom. The rebel leader Xubudaze and three others led their army to capture Qiongjie in the south of the mountains. They dug up and destroyed many of the tombs of the Tubo Dynasty's successive Zanpu (kings), and the funerary objects were divided among the leaders. This peasant and slave uprising, the most widespread and largest in Tubo history, directly led to the demise of the once-powerful Tubo Dynasty.

After the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty, a fragmented situation arose with many large and small regimes, including four royal families. Starting in the 11th century, the Song Dynasty distributed bows and arrows and other weapons to Tibetan tribes in the Hexi Corridor and other areas, and recruited Tibetan archers to establish a military system similar to the Song Dynasty's militia among the Tibetans in order to jointly defend against the invasion and harassment of the Western Xia. Song general Wang Shao extensively developed land in the area of ​​present-day Linxia and Lintao in Gansu, recruiting more than 30 Tibetans to engage in cultivation, and still regarded them as Tubo people.

It seems that this "Vajrapani Bodhisattva" should be the leader of a certain sect in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. He wanted to support one of the four royal families and unify Tibet, but he failed.

Li Hanxiao was very clear that Tibetan martial arts were particularly unique, known for their considerable power and great mystery. During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Tibetan Tantric monks participated in the Manchu conquest of China and were granted the title of National Preceptor. During the Qing dynasty, they served as palace guards and participated in the martial arts examinations. They learned from and referenced the routines of various schools and gradually changed them into flexible rather than rough and hard wrestling movements, but ultimately they could not be integrated into the various martial arts schools in the Central Plains.

During the Song Dynasty, there was not much interaction between Chinese martial arts and Tibetan martial arts, and neither side was familiar with each other. However, Li Hanxiao understood that these Tibetan monks usually had some unique skills in martial arts, especially since this Tibetan monk could also make medicine. He might also be able to use poison, and he was not just good at making those aphrodisiacs.