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水浒传
Toward the end of Northern Song Dynasty, the government was deeply corrupted. The oppressed people finally rebelled. A hundred and eight men and women fought against the government and took their last stand in a place called Liangshan.
Toward the end of Northern Song Dynasty, the government was deeply corrupted. The oppressed people finally rebelled. A hundred and eight men and women fought against the government and took their last stand in a place called Liangshan.
Song Jiang and Chao Gai met each other and developed a strong mutual respect. Gongsun Zheng instigates the Three Ruan brothers to intercept the birthday tribute. Together with Wu Yong , and and Liu Tang, they pledge brotherhood with Chao Gai to restore the tribute back to the people.
In the capital, Martial Master Lin Chong witnessed the righteous Shi Jin punishing some petty thieves. He taught him genuine skills and found out they had a mutual acquittance in Wang Jin, who has Shi Jin’s master. Sadly, he passed away before they could reunite. Lin Chong was appointed as the new military commander, but unfortunately his wife’s beauty attracted the lascivious attention of the ruling High Marshals’ son, Gao Yanni.
Shi Jin encounters Lu Da, a local officer and mistakes him for a brutish lout. Fortunately, the tavern owner explained that Lu Da was a righteous albeit coarse officer. Lu Da discovered a peasant singer lamenting how the local bully, Zheng Guan Xi, planned to seize her for his concubine and usurp their property. Enraged, Lu Da vows to intervene
Lu Da scrapped together some silver to help the peasant lady Jin pay off her debts. He then took upon himself the role to of “mediator “and subjected the bully Zheng to a humiliating three rounds of mincing pork in various difficult and almost impossible ways. Initially obliging, the butcher eventually lost his temper and his life when he came to blows with Lu Da.
Lin Chong’s woes with the magistrate, Gao Qiu continue to worsen with the unrepentant son pursuing and outraging his wife’s modesty. Lu Da must flee after killing Zheng, and heads into Wu Tai Monastery to hideout as a monk, changing his name to Lu Zhi Sheng. However, he is unable to give up his drinking and fighting and earns the ire of the other monks.
Lin Chong meets a sword peddler and in a stroke of luck, purchases a valuable sword. The High Marshal, fearing his martial prowess, pretends to cosy up to him by punishing his son, and invites him to the residence for a banquet. When Lin Chong brings his sword into the White Tiger hall, which is forbidden, he is captured and sentence to death.
In a drunken fit, Lu Zhi Sheng beat up the monks and destroyed the temple guardians. Elder Zhi Zhen accompanied him down the mountain, where a monk’s staff and knife was forged for him. The Elder then taught him the staff technique and wants him to sojourn to the Xiangguo Temple. Meanwhile, Lady Lin tries to sell off her possessions to get Lin Chong leniency. Instead of death, he was exiled to a distant prefecture .
Gao Qiu’s evil henchman, Lu Qian plots to have Lin Chong killed en route to his place of exile. He met Lu Zhi Sheng performing his staff technique and overcame with admiration, sparred with him and forged a friendship. Lu promised to look after Lady Lin. However, she had got wind of the plot for Lin Chong’s escorts to kill him and sent him to protect Lin Chong. Arriving in time to prevent the assassination, he personally escorted Lin Chong to Cangzhou.
Lin Chong survived the journey but had to suffer the indignities of prison life as he did not have enough money to bribe the guards. He managed to meet up with a friend Chai Jing in the forest outside camp, who was more than happy to help Lin Chong with his “expenses”. However, Chai’s martial arts master was jealous of Lin’s prowess and reputation and challenged him to a duel.
When Master Hong could not defeat Lin Chong on his own, he ganged up with some villagers to kill him. Lin Chong easily defeated them with his staff. All the guards and the villagers were impressed, and Lin Chong had an easier time in the camp. Meanwhile, Lu Zhi Sheng sought shelter at a dilapidated temple and found out their current state of distress was due to the machinations of an evil priest and Taoist monk. After he was rescued from near starvation by Shi Jin, he avenged himself on these two tormentors and rescued the temple’s occupants from their evil influence.
Lu Zhishen passed through Peach Blossom Village and learned that a bandit chief planned to abduct Old Master Liu’s daughter. He disguised himself as the girl, ambushed the bandit Zhou Tong, and drove him off, later forcing the Peach Blossom Mountain bandits to abandon the marriage plot when their leader Li Zhong recognized Lu Zhishen. Disdainful of Li Zhong’s greed and criminal ways, Lu Zhishen refused to join them and left. Meanwhile, at Cangzhou’s penal camp, Lin Chong was warned of a murder plot tied to Gao Yaonei. While guarding a fodder yard in a snowstorm, Lin dreamed of his wife and awoke in sorrow.
Lin Chong is framed by Grand Marshal Gao, who covets Lady Lin and schemes to have Lin Chong killed. After being transferred to guard the fodder yard, Lin Chong narrowly escapes death when it is set on fire. Hiding in the Mountain God Temple, he overhears Lu Qian and Fu An confess their plot and learns the truth. Enraged, Lin Chong kills them and becomes a wanted man. Unable to return home, he refuses Chai Jin’s shelter and heads for Liangshan. However, the jealous chieftain Wang Lun refuses to accept him.
After Du Qian and Song Wan intercede, Wang Lun agrees to accept Lin Chong only if he proves loyalty by killing someone. Lin Chong hesitates to harm innocents and finally encounters Yang Zhi, fighting him to a standstill. Yang Zhi refuses to join the outlaws and leaves. In the capital, he is rejected by Gao Qiu, kills the bully Niu Er by accident, and is exiled. Governor Liang Zhongshu pardons him, recognizes his martial skill, and retains him as a constable. After defeating several challengers and drawing with Suo Chao, Yang Zhi is entrusted with escorting a birthday tribute.
Yang Zhi agrees to escort the birthday tribute after Liang Zhongshu promises him future honors. To avoid bandits, he disguises his soldiers as merchants and tightly controls the escort, breeding resentment through harsh discipline. Chao Gai and Wu Yong plot to seize the tribute, using Bai Sheng as bait despite his unreliability as a gambler. After mishaps at a gambling den, the plan is salvaged. In extreme heat, Yang Zhi rests in a grove, where Chao Gai’s group pose as traders and Bai Sheng appears as a wine seller. Though the soldiers crave wine, Yang Zhi suspects a trap and forbids it.
Unable to endure the heat, Xie Duguang and the soldiers insist on buying wine despite Yang Zhi’s objections. Chao Gai and Wu Yong feign drinking first, luring the soldiers to buy the drugged wine, which knocks everyone unconscious. The birthday tribute is seized, and Chao Gai is acclaimed leader of the seven. Xie Duguang and the guards flee and frame Yang Zhi, who despairs but is dissuaded from suicide by Gongsun Sheng. He Tao is ordered to solve the case, arrests Bai Sheng, and under torture learns the conspirators’ names. Unaware of Song Jiang’s ties to Chao Gai, He Tao asks him to deliver the arrest warrant, allowing Song Jiang to secretly warn them to escape.
County Magistrate Shi Wenbin ordered Lei Heng and Zhu Tong to help He Tao capture Chao Gai and his men. Song Jiang secretly guided Zhu Tong to lead them along an unguarded path, allowing Chao Gai to escape. He Tao, frustrated, later attempted to capture the Ruan brothers on Liao’erwa Lake, but they used their swimming skills to subdue his troops. Chao Gai spared He Tao’s life and fled with his men to Liangshan. Wang Lun refused to harbor them, but Lin Chong, impressed by Chao Gai and Wu Yong, threatened action. During a banquet, Lin Chong killed Wang Lun and proposed Chao Gai as Liangshan’s new leader, securing everyone’s respect.
A new clerk, Zhang Wenyuan, arrives in Yuncheng, and Song Jiang kindly lends him money. On his way, he meets Yan Po and her daughter, Yan Xijiao, a talented singer who secretly admires him. Xijiao, determined to win Song Jiang, lures him to a tavern and publicly declares her love. To protect her reputation, Song Jiang reluctantly agrees to take her and her mother to the Wulong Courtyard as concubines. Though he cannot marry her, he preserves her honor by making them sworn siblings. Despite initial resistance, Xijiao complies, and they share an intimate night before Song Jiang departs for work.
Yan Xijiao grew increasingly lonely and restless while waiting for Song Jiang at the Wulong Courtyard. Despite her efforts to greet him and gain his attention, he remained preoccupied, leaving her frustrated. Over time, she noticed Zhang Wenyuan passing by and, after teasing him, eventually engaged in a secret affair with him. They devised a signal using a red silk scarf for their clandestine meetings. Meanwhile, Lei Heng, having heard rumors about Song Jiang, warned Zhang Wenyuan to be cautious, adding tension to the secret liaison. Yan Xijiao’s loneliness and desire drove her into this illicit and risky affair.
Song Jiang initially refused to believe the warnings about Yan Xijiao, but her secret meetings with Zhang Wenyuan became too frequent to ignore. Her mother and friends tried to intervene, and Zhu Tong and others forced Zhang Wenyuan to confess, yet Song Jiang surprisingly released him. Later, Song Jiang encountered Liu Tang, who delivered gifts and letters of thanks from Chao Gai and the outlaws; Liu Tang urged him to join them, but he refused. Confronting Yan Xijiao about her affair, she admitted it defiantly. After disputes over marriage terms escalated, Song Jiang, in a fit of rage, killed her, shocking her mother.
