Outlaws Of the Marsh - FLORIDA CRISIS SIMULATION X€¦ · Outlaws of the Marsh presents a snapshot of a historical moment in time through the eyes of a small rebel force that sought

Outlaws Of the Marsh

Outlaws Of the MarshPage 1

Esteemed Delegates,

My name is Charles Sherwood, and it is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the ninth installment of the Florida Crisis Simulation’s Outlaws of the Marsh committee. I am a fourth-year Chinese and Political Science double-major from just south of Jacksonville, Florida. In my three-plus years of college experience Model UN has been a constant presence, and I have been involved in every iteration of FLCS since I entered college—climbing from staffer, to crisis coordinator, to now having the wonderful opportunity to contribute my own committee to the FLCS legacy. Outside of Model UN, I mostly spend my time reading up on obscure pieces of history, Chinese culture, and obscure pieces of Chinese cultural history.

This committee will follow one of these pieces of obscure cultural history—obscure in the West, that is. The tale told in the novel “Outlaws of the Marsh”, and which committee will follow, is one that has been told and retold throughout China and East Asia since almost as early as the events themselves happened. The novel follows the various adventures of 108 outlaws who band together against the corruption of the collapsing Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) over the last decade of its existence. The outlaws came from a wide variety of backgrounds—some were military and civil officials who were ousted by corrupt rivals , but others were Daoist priests, fishermen, and bandits. They all, however, agreed to band together under the slogan “替天行道“, or roughly “Act on Heaven’s behalf”. Originally based out of the obscure hills and marshes of Liangshan, in modern-day Shandong Province, the 108 outlaws and the forces they led would use a mix of clever tactics and impressive heroics to defeat army after army sent by the Northern Song. In the end, the Liangshan heroes of the novel received an amnesty, becoming a legitimated army that would fight to stop the gradual collapse of the Northern Song from both external invasion and internal corruption and rebellion.

Although the course of these outlaw’s history and story has been carved into a set mythos for centuries, that does not mean that you as delegates have a sure path forward—although the outlaws were unified in the wide purpose of acting on “Heaven’s behalf”, there is much room for significant debate and compromise on just what this “Heaven’s behalf” is. This committee was formulated with the purpose of giving delegates a chance to face issues and push for change from a unique perspective—as outlaws, delegates begin committee seeking to reform a society that they have been explicitly banished from, with all the benefits and drawbacks that perspective might bring. Throughout the novel the outlaws who are vastly different in background, attitude, and perspective, manage to overcome almost impossible odds through camaraderie and clever planning. It is my hope that delegates, through skilled debate and well-researched plans, will not only pull of legendary feats just as grand as those of the original Liangshan outlaws, but that they will surpass the novel’s example by prevailing in changing the world around them on “Heaven’s behalf”, whatever committee decides this might mean.

If you have any further questions about the committee, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. Best of luck, I can’t wait to meet you all!

Sincerely,

Charles SherwoodDirectorAll Men are Brothers: Outlaws of the Marsh


A Brief Introduction to Chinese PronunciationThis committee takes place within the Chinese-speaking world and delegates will inevitably have to deal with various Chinese names while in committee. Thus, it would be useful to understand the basics of Chinese romanization and pronunciation to avoid potential confusion both during research and during committee.

First, it’s important to understand that there are two primary ways to transliterate Chinese words. The first, more modern and popular system is the Hanyu Pinyin system used by the People’s Republic of China. The second system is the older Wade-Giles system, which is the most common form used in Taiwan and is also used in older sources from before the popularization of Pinyin. Committee will operate using Pinyin as its standard, and this background guide - with the exception of maps from Wade-Giles using sources - exclusively uses Pinyin. However, in the course of outside research delegates might encounter Wade-Giles and should at least be aware of the distinction.

For Hanyu Pinyin, pronunciation is largely straight-forward except for a few tricky word-startings. The trickiest to pronounce are as follows: zh- is pronounced similar to the English j-, x- is pronounced similar to sh, q is pronounced similar to ch, z- is pronounced similar to ds in ‘seeds’, and c- is pronounced similar to ts in ‘cats’.1

Wade-Giles, sadly, has many more tricks to it and may include inconsistencies, particularly in older sources. The most important things to know are as follows: usually p- is pronounced like English “b” while p’- is pronounced “p”, ch- is pronounced like English “j” while ch’- is pronounced like English “ch”, k- is pronounced like English “g” while k’- is pronounced like English “k”, t- is pronounced like English “d” while t’- is pronounced like English “t”, and hs- is pronounced similar to English “sh”.

Chinese names are written with family name first, personal name last. So, for example, with the name “Song Jiang”, the family name is Song. It is also worth noting that Chinese dynastic names are unrelated to the surname of the ruling family, so the Song dynasty, for example, is not ruled by people with the surname Song - the imperial clan’s surname is in fact Zhao.

Outlaws of the Marsh: The Novel

“In the past, the Chinese had Three Old Dreams:

They dreamed of having a Decent Ruler — a Good Emperor — one who had a meaningful and positive response to the problems they faced. A ruler who was beneficent to all;

They dreamed of Untainted Officials. Even if they couldn’t have a truly Good Emperor, they would dream about there being at least one unsullied official, one who was clean and who had the personal daring to give voice to the concerns of the common people when addressing the ruler; an official who had the courage to challenge the Emperor;1 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/readpinyin.html, for even more on pronouncing Pinyin: https://re-sources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/pronunciation/Pinyin_quick_start_guide


They dreamed that if there was no hope for even one Untainted Official there would be a heroic Knight-errant, someone who could seek revenge on their behalf.” - Wang Ke’er, “Mother China, a Fatherland for Two Millennia”.2

This committee is based on one of the “Four Classic Novels” of Chinese literature, variously translated into English as All Men are Brothers, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Water Margin. Although authorship of the novel is unclear, the original is generally ascribed to writers Shi Nai’an (1290-1365) and Luo Guanzhong (1330-1400) from the late-Yuan, early-Ming period of China.3 There have been many different editions over the centuries, ranging from 70 to 164 chapters, adding or removing different parts of the overall legend. This committee is inspired by the 100-chapter edition translated by Sidney Shapiro, which can be found in its entirety online through Project Gutenberg.4

This novel centers around a group of 108 outlaw chieftains and their followers who are based out of Liangshan Marsh, near the western border of modern-day Shandong, at the end of the Northern Song period (960-1127) of China. The novel is considered one of the earliest examples of the Chinese Wuxia (武侠, usually translated as “martial hero” or “knight-errant”) genre of fiction. In the modern day, it has evolved and proliferated throughout the world, including in the form of the modern-day kung fu movie. Classic Wuxia revolves around heroes who obey a code of personal chivalry revolving around righting wrongs, fighting for righteousness, bringing retribution onto others for past misdeeds, and repaying debts owed.

Wuxia novels like Outlaws of the Marsh also include the concept of the jianghu (江湖, literally “rivers and lakes”) which refers to a sub-society that exists in parallel with the mainstream, sedentary society of dynastic-era China. The world of the classic jianghu includes not just merchants, wandering craftsmen, and vagabonds but also bandits, outlaws, and rebels who live beyond society’s laws. In Wuxia novels, the jianghu is usually populated with a society of knight-errants who, in the process of following their personal code of chivalry, have come into conflict with the government or society at large. In Outlaws of the Marsh, this society is regularly referred to as the “gallant fraternity” and exists as a loose network of individuals who recognize each other’s chivalry and martial talent.

In Outlaws of the Marsh, the 108 chieftains and their host of outlaws are all members of this vaguely defined “gallent fraternity”. From a wide variety of backgrounds ranging from minor officials and local elites to beggars and pirates, all 108 of the outlaw chieftains came to join the Liangshan outlaws in part due to their own personal moral convictions. Some joined after perpetuating revenge-killings in order to right a perceived injustice, while others joined after offering assistance to other outlaws and themselves becoming implicated in their crimes. Still more joined when, after initially opposing the Liangshan outlaws, they discovered that

2 Translated at http://chinaheritage.net/journal/mother-china-a-fatherland-for-two-millennia/ 3 https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/07/the-story-of-water-margin-%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B8%E5%82%B3/4 Link to this edition: http://www.self.gutenberg.org/eBooks/WPLBN0002827907-Outlaws-of-the-Marsh-Water-Margin-by-Naian-Shi.aspx?


they too shared the same code of chivalry and desire to right the wrongs they saw around them in Chinese society.5

The novel itself is based off historical events, and many of the characters - both hero and villain - appear in historical records of the time. Many of the events that occur in the novel, such as the decay from within of the Song government, the Fang La rebellion, and fighting along the Song’s northern frontier, also have a basis in the historical reality of the time. Thus, Outlaws of the Marsh presents a snapshot of a historical moment in time through the eyes of a small rebel force that sought to change the society from which its members have been made outcasts.

At the same time, though, Outlaws of the Marsh combines this historicity with aspects of Chinese folklore and elevates the heroics of the outlaws to a mythic status. The novel begins not with the gathering of the Liangshan outlaws, but rather with the story of a Song dynasty official accidentally releasing 108 demon spirits previously trapped by a Daoist priest.6 It is later revealed in the novel that these 108 demon spirits were reincarnated on Earth as the 108 bandit chieftains of Liangshan as punishment from Heaven for some unexplained evils, and that only by enforcing Heaven’s will would they earn redemption. The individual heroes of Liangshan are regularly portrayed as having abilities well beyond those of regular men, reenforcing this spiritual originn- some are strong enough to uproot entire trees, while others are capable of fighting off dozens of men at the same time.

Like the novel Outlaws of the Marsh, this committee will be a mix of fact and fiction. The background of committee is derived not just from the events of the novel, but also from the real historical context in which the novel takes place. Delegates will be faced with historical realities of the time, but will also encounter or themselves employ mythical elements - whether it be magic, superhuman strength, or the intercession of Heaven itself.

Outlaws of the Marsh: The Characters“Reader, don’t be alarmed, for in what follows thirty-six stars of Heavenly Spirits come to earth and seventy-two stars of Earthly Fiends appear among men. Valiants hide in strongholds, heroes gather in the marshes. - Shi Nai’an, “Outlaws of the Marsh.” Chapter One.

The Liangshan OutlawsThe group followed in Outlaws of the Marsh is based on a real historical rebellion that occurred near the end of the Northern Song dynasty. The rebellion is first recorded in 1119, when emperor Huizong ordered the arrest and execution of a rebel leader named Song Jiang based in the region of Liangshan. Despite these orders, the rebellion spread eastward to embroil much of Jingdong (modern-day Shandong) and would only be suppressed in late 1121.

5 For short summaries of the events of each of the 100 chapters, see here: https://www.poisonpie.com/words/others/somewhat/outlaws/text/outline.html 6 The title of Chapter 1 of Outlaws of the Marsh is illuminating in this regard: “Zhang the Divine Teach-er Prays to Dispel a Plague; Marshal Hong Releases Demons by Mistake”


While the novel The Outlaws of the Marsh gives a detailed account of the rebellion’s leadership - the 108 chieftains - it does not provide the context for why so many commoners were willing to follow them into the mountains and hills of Liangshan. The Northern Song dynasty of the time had many policies unpopular with the peasantry of the region, and was renowned for the high level of corruption within the government’s bureaucracy. In particular, the region of the insurrection was one where government policy led to significant tracts of land being seized by the government, with the former owners forced to become tenant farmers. Likewise, the Northern Song government declared all bodies of water in and around Liangshan Marsh (within a roughly 800 li or 250 square mile area) as “government owned”, requiring any locals using those waters to pay a heavy tax for its use.7 This, combined with other heavy taxes imposed by the Song state and inflated by officials grafting additional wealth, created a deeply resentful and impoverished local population that would supply the rebellion with its rank and file. 8

The novel The Outlaws of the Marsh then gives us a detailed account of the leadership. As mentioned above, the 108 bandit chieftains that make up the leadership of the rebellion are the earthly reincarnations of 108 demon spirits. Throughout the novel they are called the “108 Stars of Destiny” and are further split into 36 higher “Heavenly Spirits” and 72 lower “Earthly Fiends”. Although the bandit chieftains are given formal rankings under this system, they seldom use their rank and instead treat each other by and large as equals.

The band of outlaws that the 108 outlaw chieftains lead is the successor to a long tradition of banditry in the region. Liangshan, a lawless borderland isolated from the outside by marshes and mountains that were difficult to navigate, was historically a hotspot for bandits, outlaws, and other criminals and exiles. The original Liangshan outlaw band as described at the beginning of the novel is a small group of petty bandits run by a man named Wang Lun. There was continual friction between Wang and the more chivalrous members of the band, until in chapter 19 of the novel Wang Lun was killed after he refused to allow Chao Gai - a well respected member of the gallant fraternity - to join. Afterwards, he was replaced by Chao Gai. The Liangshan outlaw band would grow rapidly under Chao Gai’s leadership, attracting most of the men and women who would make up the “108 Stars of Destiny”. Chao Gai would die in chapter 60, during a Liangshan assault on a local village.9 After his death, the leadership of the band was passed to Song Jiang-- originally a county clerk renown throughout the jianghu for his generosity-- who made it his personal mission to steer the Liangshan outlaws towards fighting for a righteous cause.

In chapter 71 of the novel, Song Jiang would lead the outlaws in holding a grand assembly to swear eternal loyalty and fraternity to each other, as well as declaring the mission of the Liangshan outlaws as seeking to enforce Heaven’s will, in the summer of 1121.10 Accompanied 7 Baidu Baike: The Song Jiang Uprising (百度百科—宋江起义) 8 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 1 pg. 626-6279 For summary of the chapter: https://www.poisonpie.com/words/others/somewhat/outlaws/text/out-line.html#60 10 “Outlaws of the Marsh” pg. 725 “...fourth lunar month, in the second year of the Xuan He Period…” http://www.self.gutenberg.org/eBooks/WPLBN0002827907-Outlaws-of-the-Marsh-Water-Margin-by-Naian-Shi.aspx?


by large religious sacrifices, the 108 outlaws were each given an assigned duty at this assembly as leader of some part of the Liangshan encampment - some as infantry and cavalry leaders, others as scouts or guards, and a few as administrators or supply chiefs. The grand assembly, marking the unification of the outlaws and the adoption of a larger mission to “Right wrongs in accordance with heaven”, is taken as this committee’s starting period.

The Liangshan outlaws swore to “serve our country in righteous loyalty, act in Heaven’s behalf, defend our borders and secure our people.”11 Although they often act as bandits, they do so within the bounds of their code of chivalry. “Ordinary travellers and merchants were not molested. But if they encountered a high official, they lightened his coffers of their gold and silver. Not a member of his family was left alive” - in essence, acting as a Chinese Robinhood.12 Under the leadership of the 108 outlaws, the Liangshan outlaws toed the line between bandits, rebels, and heros.

Yet, despite a unified moral code, the Liangshan outlaws were also a diverse group with a wide variety of viewpoints spanning the vague sub-societal world of the jianghu. In the novel, the main issue that divides the outlaws is that of amnesty. The outlaws on the whole agreed that the Northern Song government is corrupt and broken and that something needs to be done. However, some believe the fault lays directly at the feet of the emperor while others believe it is the fault only of his corrupt officials. Those who believed in the purity of the emperor - particularly Song Jiang - pushed for the Liangshan outlaws to seek a general amnesty, thus allowing them to join the government and weed out corruption from the inside. Others, however, blamed the emperor as well as his officials and believed working with the Song government in any way would only lead to future betrayal.

In the lead-up to the committee’s beginning point, the Liangshan outlaw group grew to become a sizable force capable of threatening local Song forces. The Liangshan outlaws have not only been able to fend off three imperial assaults on their base in Liangshan, they have also been able to launch counterattacks and rescue missions throughout Song China’s north-east. Just prior to the beginning of committee, the Liangshan outlaws launched their most daring assault yet, managing to successfully capture the wealthy city of Daming (The northern capital, see below: Geography of Song China). Although the Liangshan outlaw band is irregular and lacks any official count of permanent troops, the outlaws have in the past managed to marshal together up to 20,000 troops for their campaigns.

Outlaws of the Marsh: The VillainsIn the widest sense, the villains of Outlaws of the Marsh could be taken as being the Song dynasty government and the Song society itself. The novel portrays the Song government as being deeply corrupt from top to bottom, with only a few virtuous men within the government acting as exceptions. In portraying the corruption of Song society, the novel focuses in particular on the “Four Treacherous Ministers” who were closely trusted by Emperor Huizong and wielded the most power and influence within the empire.

11 Ibid. 72512 Ibid. 725


Emperor Song Huizong: Being the emperor of China since 1100, Huizong holds an ambivalent position both within Outlaws of the Marsh and in Chinese historiography. Huizong, the eleventh son of emperor Shenzong, only came to power as a result of his older brother’s early and heirless death. In traditional Chinese historiography, Huizong would later come to be seen as embodying the apex of “wen,” or refinement of culture, over “wu,” the arts of war.13 Huizong would serve as a largely hands-off monarch, delegating broad powers to his own ministers while dedicating most of his time to painting, calligraphy, and other aesthetic pursuits.14 Huizong relied heavily on his close ministers and, as such, was largely kept blind to the problems facing the empire. Thus, in Outlaws of the Marsh, Huizong is portrayed as both a victim and an enabler of the corruption of his ministers. At the same time, Huizong’s own policy initiatives were not without fault, and would lead to much suffering within the empire. Huizong is also highly superstitious and is a devout member of the Daoist faith, spending much of his time patronizing Daoist mystics.

Premier Cai Jing: The right-hand to Emperor Huizong, Cai Jing is a clever man who rose out of a period of intense court factionalism at the beginning of Huizong’s reign. Through a mix of cunning and brutal suppression of rivals, he established himself as Prime Minister in 1102. He would proceed to build a massive patronage network of loyal officials, maintaining his position as the preeminent leader of the Song civil government for the length of Huizong’s reign.15 As the head of the Song bureaucracy, Cai has turned a blind eye to official’s corruption as long as they are loyal to him and has encouraged Huizong to keep his hands out of the government.

Cai Jing has a personal vendetta against the outlaws of Liangshan. The outlaws have previously led a heist to steal from a caravan ladened with gold being sent to Cai Jing, and in their counterattacks against local Song forces the Liangshan outlaws have ousted Cai Jing’s son-in-law, the governor of Daming.

Marshal Gao Qiu: Gao Qiu is sometimes considered the primary antagonist of Outlaws of the Marsh. Originally a street hooligan from the capital city of Kaifeng, Gao Qiu became a retainer for Prince Duan (the future Emperor Huizong) after displaying his skill at ball games. As a retainer, Gao would personally serve Duan and become extremely close with him. When Duan mounted the throne, he had Gao Qiu, his trusted companion, appointed commander of the Imperial Guards - a force numbering around 300,000 men centered around the capital of Kaifeng.16 Gao Qiu is a deeply corrupt official who has used his position to benefit himself and his family at the expense of the strength of his military force. He is also extremely petty and has abused his powers to take revenge on those who he perceives as having slighted him - including some of the 108 “Stars of Destiny”.

Marshal Yang Jian: Yang Jian is a court eunuch who, because of his almost innate ability to understand Emperor Huizong’s thought process, has been able to ingratiate himself with

13 Cambridge History of China Volume 5, Part 1 pg. 556.14 Ibid. pg. 559-56015 Ibid. pg. 559-56016 Most of Gao Qiu’s story can be found in Chapter 2 of Outlaws of the Marsh.


the emperor and earn a number of important duties and titles. In particular, Yang Jiang was made responsible for overseeing civil affairs in the Song’s north east (Jingdong, Hebei, and Huinan regions - see below “Geography of Song China). In this position, Yang would work to suck the region of tax revenue without regard for the people - not only raising taxes on regular land, but also forcing peasants to rent out useless land from the government and imposing a boat tax on fishermen. Thus, he is responsible for many of the policies that have created peasant unrest in the region. Yang is also the Imperial Tutor, responsible for educating the crown prince.17

Chancellor of Military Affairs, Tong Guan: Tong Guan, like Yang Jian, is a court eunuch and close advisor to Emperor Huizong. Tong Guan began his career as an apprentice to a leading eunuch general and, in the 1100s, would lead a number of victorious battles against one of the Song’s northern enemies-- the Tanguts-- earning himself the trust of Emperor Huizong. As Chancellor of Military Affairs, Tong is the highest military official of the empire. In 1119, Tong Guan led a disastrous military invasion of Tangut territory, losing most of the forces he commanded. Yet, he was able to use his power within the imperial court to falsify claims of military success and cover up his massive loss of troops.18

Geography of Song ChinaNational Geography

China at the beginning of committee is under the Song Dynasty, near the end of what is now called the Northern Song period (960-1127). The most significant regions of the empire can be said to be centered around two rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, with the massive Grand Canal linking the two. The Yellow River and its valley have generally been considered the traditional heartland of Chinese civilization, while the Yangtze only came to prominence within a few centuries prior to the Song dynasty’s foundation. The Song empire does not control much of China’s traditional northern territory, including the region of modern-day Beijing, and its northern boundary with the Liao empire lies in the plains that stretch across northern China, lacking any natural defensive boundaries.

Politically, the Song dynasty is subdivided into circuits and then further into prefectures and counties. The prefectural subdivision is the

17 Baidu Baike: Yang Jian; Northern Song Dynasty Court Eunuch 百度百科-杨戬（中国北宋时期宦官）https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%9D%A8%E6%88%AC/7334989 18 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 1, pg. 231-232


primary territorial division, wherein each prefecture has its own court-appointed military, fiscal, judicial, and supply officials to manage the prefecture’s affairs. Besides the regular prefecture, there are also “Capital Prefectures,” recognized as such due to their wealth, and “Military Prefectures,” which maintained larger garrisons and are focussed more heavily on defense and rebel suppression. The circuit level, rather than acting like a state, is a loose unit whose officials are responsible for inspecting prefectures and coordinating cross-prefectural projects and military actions.19

At the county level and below (villages, townships, etc.), most positions are filled not by court-appointed officials, but rather by local elites pressed into service. The burden of county-level administrative posts is rotated among the wealthiest families of the county; the posts are not just unpaid, they also regularly require the official who holds the post to pay out of pocket for job expenses. As a result, county-level administration is controlled by often-reluctant (and sometimes even resentful) local elites who are required by law to fulfill local tasks for the prefect.

The Song dynasty maintains four capitals. They are labelled on the map as Beijing, Dongjing, Nanjing, and Xijing, and they mean North, East, South, and West capital respectively. The primary capital and place where the emperor resides is the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng. This city lies near the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yellow River and is home to over 1 million people-- making it the largest city in the world. The capital region, centered around Kaifeng, is where almost the entire strength of the Song empire is concentrated. Besides the sprawling royal palaces, the capital region is dotted with imperial treasury stockpiles and maintains a garrison force of over 300,000 men to defend the court and its wealth.

The Neighborhood of LiangshanThe Liangshan outlaws are based primarily on Mount Liang, which is at the northern edge of the Liangshan Marsh and gives the marsh its name (“shan” meaning mountain). Liangshan Marsh is located in the north-eastern corner of Yan Prefecture, on the border between the Jingdong East and Jingdong West circuits. This region has long been known as a wasteland subjected to minimal government control. The region of Jingdong itself

- roughly modern day Shandong - is part of the Chinese cultural and religious heartland. Two prominent pilgrimage sites for Chinese religion, for example, are within the same Yan Prefecture as Liangshan. In southern Yan, the county of Xianyuan is known as the birthplace of Confucius and, besides housing a large Confucian complex, is also the home to Confucius’ 19 http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/song-admin.html


descendants. Meanwhile, the northeastern border of Yan touches Mount Tai, one of the five Sacred Mountains of China and a center of Daoist religious worship sometimes visited by the Emperor and his high officials.

Mount Liang, as described in Outlaws of the Marsh, is in a very advantageous defensive position, ringed by outer mountains that limit any attackers to one of six passes. As for the marsh, although it is connected to the Yellow River and thus to the capital of Kaifeng, the waterways around Mount Liang branch off and twist in every direction. These branches are characterized by an almost constant mist, making the area hard to navigate for those unaccustomed to the region. Thus, previous assaults by local prefectural forces have faced massive defeats at the hands of the Liangshan outlaws, even when heavily outnumbering them.

Besides Liangshan itself, by the beginning of committee in early 1121, the outlaws have already begun to extend outward into neighboring regions as a result of retaliation campaigns against prefectural forces sent against them. The Liangshan outlaws have ended Song government control over the northern half of Yan, the northern prefectures of Ji, Zi, and Qing, and have penetrated just north of Jingdong West circuit to take Daming, the northern capital. However, they have not established any alternative governmental structure in these regions, instead leaving them in local control while carting the loot from government treasuries and official’s houses to their stronghold on Mount Liang.

The Spiritual World of Outlaws of the MarshImportance of Religion in Outlaws of the MarshThe world of Outlaws of the Marsh is one infused with myth and legend, where religious and spiritual forces come alive, and is largely defined by the widely varied religious beliefs of the time. As mentioned previously, the novel’s main protagonists - the 108 Liangshan outlaws - are themselves reincarnations of demons previously trapped by a Daoist master. Even further, Daoist masters appearing throughout the novel are ascribed with actual magic, described variously as being able to “ride the clouds and mist”, “summon the wind and bring the rain”, and summon lightning and fearsome beasts. In regards to Buddhism, the other major religion of the time, Buddhist monasteries appear prominently throughout the novel and, in chapter 90, are shown to be capable of performing divinations to predict the future. Likewise, one of the 108 “Stars of Destiny” meets his end not in battle, but by meditating and “transcending into space,” achieving Nirvana. Finally, a Chinese folk deity known as the “Mystic Queen of Ninth Heaven” appears to Song Jiang and guides him towards becoming the leader of the Liangshan outlaws.

In much the same way as other rebellious forces throughout China’s history, the Liangshan outlaws use religious language and claims to back the righteousness of their cause. At the Grand Assembly where the 108 outlaws united, a massive Daoist ritual was conducted that revealed a stone tablet with mystic writing. When deciphered, the tablet listed the names of the assembled outlaws as well as the words “Act in Heaven’s Behalf” and “Complete Loyalty and Righteousness”.20 Likewise, during Song Jiang’s encounter with the Mystic Queen, it is 20 Outlaws of the Marsh, ch. 71, pg. 715


revealed to Song that he - and implicitly, the remainder of the Liangshan outlaws - had been banished to earth by the Jade Emperor as punishment for some undescribed crime, and could only redeem themselves by enforcing Heaven’s justice.21 Thus, the Liangshan outlaws cause and its legitimacy is deeply entwined with the world of Chinese religion.

Religious Landscape of the Late Northern SongBy the time of the late Northern Song, China’s religious-philosophical landscape (it is hard to separate one from the other in the Chinese context) was defined by a rich mixture of Buddhism and Daoism. These beliefs operated across a landscape dotted with localized folk deities that provided a rich array of gods, cults, sects, and religious practices that were not necessarily in competition with each other. Thus, it is useful to think of the average Chinese of this time not so much as practicing one particular religion, but rather as existing at the center of a wide array of beliefs, rites, texts, artifacts, and religious organizations that could be picked and chosen from as needed by circumstance.

Localized folk religion, as practiced by the majority of Chinese, largely revolved around local and regional deities that, when sacrificed to or prayed to, might provide some form of blessing or service to the worshipper or the local community. The astounding array of these kinds of gods is evidenced in a policy of the Northern Song to officially honor important local gods - over a period from 1075 to 1126, the Song state would honor over 10,000 distinct local gods from throughout the empire.22

Thus, a layperson with any sort of problem in life could consult a wide array of religious options - from shrines, to local deities, to Daoist and Buddhist temples. Any of these sources could be consulted by the layperson for charms, amulets, spells and incantations, divinations, exorcisms of wicked spirits, rituals for rain and good harvest, and any number of other religious services.

DaoismDaoism is a religious tradition native to China which also served as an umbrella for many of the folk religions practiced throughout the empire. Founded by the semi-mythical figure of Laozi during the Warring States Period of China, Daoism has both a philosophical and a religious component to it. In a philosophical sense, Daoism is focussed on following the “Dao”, or “way”, an indescribable and spontaneous natural flow of the universe. In a religious sense, Daoism, due to its emphasis of a non-humanized notion of the “Way” rather than any primary deity, is a pantheistic religion that allows for adaptation of any number of other deities. Thus, under the umbrella of Daoism there are various sects with different interpretations of the hierarchy of deities. Daoism includes under its umbrella many other aspects of Chinese cosmology - all things are qi, a perpetually transforming and cycling between yin and yang and the Five Phases of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.

Daoism during the Song Dynasty is characterized by a model of Heaven and spiritual existence that in many ways paralleled the Song-era bureaucracy. The hierarchy of the Daoism 21 Outlaws of the Marsh, ch. 42, pg. 43022 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 2, pg. 613


pantheon in most mainstream sects reflects the notion of a “Heavenly Bureaucracy”, wherein a supreme ruler - the Jade Emperor - leads a vast bureaucracy of heavenly clerks, guards, and servants. The notion of Heaven as a deified force - such as in the Mandate of Heaven and in the Liangshan Outlaw’s claim to represent Heaven’s will - refers to this bureaucracy in the broadest sense.

BuddhismOriginating in India, Buddhism has at times received official imperial patronage and at times been persecuted by the government as a foreign religion. Despite such sporadic suppression, Buddhism in the early Song thrived. During the early Song, monasteries were major centers of wealth that enjoyed imperial patronage in exchange for services such as annual prayers for the emperor. Starting in the 1070s, however, the Song imperial court pulled back its efforts to patronize and influence Buddhist institutions.23 Under emperor Huizong, Buddhism has been specifically targeted as part of Huizong’s pro-Daoism campaigns. Despite a decline in imperial support, Buddhism has maintained a key place in the hearts of the average layperson of the empire. This is evidenced partly in the widespread belief in the notion of reincarnation and karma that has become the prevailing image of afterlife for the average Song peasant, even among non-Buddhists.24 Multiple members of the Liangshan outlaws have previously patronized Buddhist monasteries or, as wandering members of the jianghu, sought brief refuge in the safety of said monasteries.

Historical Background: China up to Emperor Huizong

Early Dynasties: Xia to HanChina has a long dynastic history, with the earliest believed to be the semi-mythical Xia dynasty whose founding has been dated back to around 2070 BC. This dynasty and the one following it, the Shang (roughly 1600 - 1050 BC), were based around the Yellow River valley that formed the nucleus of Chinese civilization.

Following the Shang dynasty was the Zhou dynasty (roughly 1050 BC - 256 BC). After 771 BC, Zhou dynastic authority eroded and the nobles under them acquired de facto independence, eventually leading to a period of unrest where states only nominally loyal to the Zhou dynasty fought for hegemony. This period saw Chinese civilization expand rapidly beyond the Yellow River valley and bore witness to China’s two most famous philosophers, Confucius and Laozi - the founders of Confucianism and Daoism respectively.

The Zhou were also notable for introducing a system of dynastic legitimacy that would become known in Western writings as the “Mandate of Heaven”, whereby their usurpation of power from the Shang was framed retroactively in moralistic and religious terms. The last Shang king was portrayed as cruel, corrupt, and hedonistic, and his excesses led “Heaven” to confer legitimacy upon the Zhou to overthrow him and bring about a new, morally upright dynasty. At the same time, because legitimacy was derived from Heaven, natural disasters as well as astrological events such as solar eclipses could be interpreted as signs that Heaven 23 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 2, pg. 596-824 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 2, pg. 596


was dissatisfied and that its Mandate might pass to another dynasty. This notion of “Heaven” imparting divine authority and exerting its will through natural phenomenon would define how both the emperor and rival claimants to power could claim a legitimate right to rule.

After the Zhou came the Qin (221 BC - 207 BC), who ended the Warring States period. Along with unification, the Qin eliminated the Zhou’s feudal system of nobles and replaced it with a centralized, bureaucratic government that would serve as the basic model for all future dynasties. Although the Qin established a unified empire that would last in some form for centuries afterwards, the Qin dynasty itself would fall almost as soon as its first emperor died. The new dynasty that rose in its place, the Han (206 BC - 220 AD), maintained and improved upon the new bureaucracy set up by the Qin. The Han dynasty would go through a slow collapse starting around 92 AD, as palace eunuchs, consorts, and other court factions increasingly began to influence and control the emperor. Despite this, the Han overall have been considered a golden age in Chinese history - such that in modern times “Han Chinese” is the proper name of the Chinese ethnicity.

The Period of DisunionIn 184 AD, peasants responded to a series of famines, floods, and Han misrule, with a rebellion led by a millenarian Daoist sect called the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The full suppression of this rebellion would take years and allow various military men to assemble armies personally loyal to them. These armies would soon lead to the Han court being held captive by various different warlords, until finally in 220 AD the Han emperor was done away with altogether. Thus, began the Three Kingdoms period, ushering in an era of political fracturing that would last with only brief interruption until 589 AD.

The Three Kingdoms period (220 - 280AD) began when the various warlords who rose to power after 184 AD coalesced into three empires claiming the Mandate of Heaven - Cao Wei, Han Shu, and Dong Wu - that would exist in a state of almost constant warfare until China’s reunification in 280 AD. The Three Kingdoms period has been glorified in Chinese folklore as one filled with heroes and villains, and many of the ideals upheld by the Liangshan outlaws and other members of the jianghu - such as their insistence on an oath of brotherhood-- have their origins in famous stories of this time.

Ending the Three Kingdoms period was the brief reunification of China under the Jin (265 - 420 AD). Although it lasted until 420 AD, the dynasty quickly suffered a massive succession crisis and civil war, leading to what is known as the “Sixteen Kingdoms and Five Barbarians” and “Northern and Southern dynasties” periods starting in 304 AD, during which the north was a highly unstable region controlled by a number of mostly non-Chinese states.

This long period of disunion would be brought to an end by the Sui dynasty, which reunified China starting from the north in 577. The Sui would undertake massive construction projects while also leading a series of mostly disastrous campaigns against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo between 598 and 614 AD. As a result, the Sui became embroiled in rebellions, among which the rebellion of Li Yuan - who took the capital in 617 - proved the most successful,


leading to Li successfully claiming the Mandate of Heaven and establishing the Tang dynasty in 618.

The Tang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) is often considered to be the high point of dynastic China. Not only is the Tang dynasty taken as a golden age of Chinese culture, the Tang Empire marked the greatest political influence a Han Chinese empire would hold. During the first half of the Tang Empire, it would project its power far into

Central Asia along the Silk Road, while also establishing a sphere of influence over much of East Asia.

In 755, a half-Sogdian, half-Turk Tang commander declared himself emperor of the Yan Dynasty and eventually took the capital, forcing the imperial court to flee south. The rebellion would last until 763, spanning the rule of three different Tang emperors, and would lead to the rise of strong military governors, particularly in the empire’s north-west. Over the next century and a half, the Tang would suffer a slow decline as they lost control of border regions and became internally fractured while influential military governors operated with only nominal subservience to the imperial court. These governors would gradually grow stronger, coming to dominate the court and forcing the emperor to serve as little more than a figurehead. Eventually, a prominent military governor executed the Tang emperor and took control of the remnants of the imperial court, declaring himself emperor in 907.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms PeriodWith the fall of the Tang came a period of extreme political upheaval and division called the “Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms” period. Spanning from 907 to 979, this period - as the name implies - involved the rise and fall of multiple Chinese polities in a relatively short period of time. In the north, the “Five Dynasties” were a succession of states controlling most of northern China, suffering from continued intervention and even invasion from the ethnic-Khitan Liao dynasty of the far-north. The “Ten Kingdoms” of the south, though more politically fractured, did not face such outside intervention and were generally more stable than the larger states rapidly supplanting themselves in the north.

Rise of the SongIn 960, the last of the Five Dynasties, Later Zhou, suffered a political coup. The brilliant commander Zhao Kuangyin, who had risen through the ranks in battles against Later Zhou’s rival states, eventually rose to become a military governor and commander of the palace guards. The emperor of Later Zhou died in 959, leaving his seven-year-old son on the throne and the palace vulnerable to political coup.


As it was written in later Song histories - probably in an attempt to legitimize Song rule - in 960 Zhao Kuangyin was leading a force to combat a supposed Liao-Khitan invasion when his troops witnessed two suns fighting in the sky. A learned man accompanying the troops identified this as a sign that the Mandate of Heaven was being transferred to Zhao Kuangyin. A few days later Zhao, drunk in his tent, was forcibly urged by his soldiers and officers to take up the imperial mantle. Once Zhao accepted the position, he marched on the capital of Kaifeng with almost no resistance and installed himself as Emperor Taizu of Song.

As emperor of the newly established Song dynasty, Taizu and his successor Taizong would gradually conquer the smaller states surrounding Song. Taizu and his successors, mindful of the manner in which the Song dynasty came to power, took care to appease and limit the power of the military. In one much-told story, after becoming emperor, Taizu invited all of his military officers to a banquet where he lavished them with gifts and convinced them to retire in exchange for extensive land grants and retirement benefits.

Partially a result of the continual obsession with preventing strong military power from concentrating in anyone but the emperor’s hands, the Song dynasty - even at its strongest point - has traditionally been considered one of the weakest dynasties of Chinese history. The Song’s territorial reach was less than that of any other major Chinese dynasty, and it would suffer various defeats at the hands of the Liao and Western Xia to their north.25 This, combined with the inauspicious start of the dynasty through a palace coup against a child emperor, would serve as a constant source of humiliation for the dynasty - though not enough for any attempts of military reform to be successfully pushed.26

On the other hand, the Song dynasty was also a time of untold government power in many ways. In order to maintain a massive army that averaged at approximately one million men, the Song government maintained a highly efficient extraction state almost from the beginning. Modern estimates have it that the Song collected anywhere between 13 and 24 percent of national income as taxes, compared to the 6 to 8 percent collected by the later Ming and Qing dynasties.27 This impressive tax extraction power would allow the Song to maintain a significant - if overall ineffective - military, but would also give Song officials abundant opportunities to skim taxes for their own personal wealth. Further, the Song dynasty would become seen as a high point of China’s technological and cultural advancement-- in particular, widespread use of the printing press and the first military use of gunpowder both occurred under the Northern Song.

25 Cambridge History of China Volume 5, Part 2 pg 1-226 Cambridge History of China Volume 5, Part 1 pg. 2827 Cambridge History of China Volume 5, Part 1 pg. 23-4


The Song Dynasty under Huizong (r. 1100 - 1126)

Civil Policies under HuizongEmperor Huizong, originally a passionate painter and calligrapher who did not expect to ascend to the throne, has dedicated his personal pursuits almost entirely to the cultural and religious aspects of the empire. He is obsessed with enhancing the Song dynasty’s legitimacy by emphasizing the role of emperor as “Son of Heaven” and center of the empire.

In pursuit of cultural legitimacy, and with some level of greed, one of Huizong’s most impactful personal policies has been the establishment of the so-called “flower and rock network”. This is a massive transshipment network running along the Grand Canal, Yellow River, and Yangtze River that exists for the sole purpose of shipping aesthetically pleasing rocks, exotic trees and plants, and masterworks of art to be placed in Huizong’s palaces and pleasure gardens.28 This network has required a massive output of labor and, by imperial decree, is funded by the local circuits and prefectures through which the convoys pass, placing a massive strain on the populations along China’s critical waterways.29

Emperor Huizong, as a devout Daoist, also launched a massive pro-Daoism campaign starting in 1106. The campaign was launched with an order to every prefecture to send Daoist magicians and hermits to the imperial court to provide spiritual support to the dynasty. Among those sent to the capital, one Daoist theorist named Lin Lingsu has provided Huizong with the revelation of the “Divine Empyrean.” This revelation has revealed that Huizong is supposedly the eldest son of the Jade Emperor, and that he has been delegated control of earth on Heaven’s behalf. This revelation has been accompanied with orders from Huizong for new temples of the Divine Empyrean - centered around divine images of the emperor - to be constructed in every prefecture.30 Further, Huizong has sought to suppress the Buddhist religion in favor of his Daoist faith, requiring Buddhist monks to adopt Daoist titles and outfits.31

Huizong has also signed off on a number of harmful reforms by his Premier, Cai Jing. Most notable of these reforms are Cai’s efforts to extract ever greater amounts of revenue and resources from the people - eventually reaching heights unseen even under previous Song emperors. National salt and tea monopolies have been substantially expanded, while new agricultural surveys that uncovered previously untaxed farmlands bring in more revenue to the state.32 It is well acknowledged, even within the court, that most local administrators have accepted large bribes from wealthy landlords in order to keep their land untaxed, leaving the brunt of the new tax burden to those peasants who can not afford a bribe.33

28 Ibid. pg. 60429 Ibid. pg. 604-530 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 2, pg. 60631 Ibid. pg. 60732 Ibid. pg. 59033 Ibid. pg. 591


In regards to education, Cai has replaced the rigid civil service examinations based on Confucian classics. Under this new system civil servants who wish to enter government service must either go through a newly established school system or have a recommendation from a current official.34 This system is exploited by Cai to pack the bureaucracy with members of his own patronage machine.

Military under HuizongIn order to defend its large northern border, which lacks any natural boundaries, the Song had to maintain a massive standing army. The Song military, unlike the military of previous dynasties, was a paid professional army - rather than one composed primarily of civilian militias. From a population of about 100 million people, the Northern Song were able to finance a standing army of approximately one million soldiers by spending roughly 80% of its entire state budget annually on the military.35

Despite the sheer size of the Northern Song military, Song dynasty obsession with preventing any situation reminiscent of the fall of the Tang - wherein strong military officials gained autonomy and toppled the empire - meant that the military was kept in check even at the expense of efficiency and defensive power. About half of the army was regularly garrisoned in or near the capital rather than along the northern border, for example.36

In part because the Song did not control the horse-producing areas of modern-China’s north and in part because of court negligence, the Song military also suffered a distinct lack of a strong cavalry force. At a time when cavalry was nearing its apex of power on the battlefield, as evidenced by the later Mongols, the Northern Song was regularly unable to provide between 30 and 40% of its enlisted cavalrymen with horses.37

Though lacking in horses, the Northern Song were the first to use gunpowder in any significant military capacity. Gunpowder of the time was crude and had less explosive power than the powder of today. It was used primarily for flame-producing weapons and as a means of dispersing smoke, lime, and poisonous gases. In this capacity, gunpowder was used as a supplement to non-gunpowder weapons rather than as an alternative to those weapons. Under Huizong, gunpowder was primarily used in the production of bombs that would be thrown from specialized catapult units - the world’s first artillery. Further innovation in the usage of gunpowder would only come later during the Southern Song.38

Under Huizong’s most trusted military officials, Tong Guan and Gao Qiu, the Song military’s already weak organization and leadership fell into a deep decline. Through the combined corruption of Tong Guan and Gao Qiu, approximately one-third of personnel on military registers were actually vacancies - that is, one-third of the troops paid for by the empire did not actually exist. This allowed others to skim the money being spent to “supply” the

34 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Part 1, page 57135 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 1, pg. 28-2936 http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/song-admin.html 37 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 1, pg. 235.38 Ibid, 237.


nonexistent troops.39 At the same time, Gao Qiu and Tong Guan filled leadership positions based on patronage and loyalty rather than military skill and routinely prevented any reports of military defeat from reaching the imperial court.

The Northern Barbarians“That year the king of the Liao Tartars dispatched his armies over the mountains. First they occupied nine border prefectures. Then, in four columns, they swept down and pillaged Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei.”

- Shi Nai’an, “Outlaws of the Marsh” chapter 83. While barbarians - that is, non Han Chinese - have been a constant presence and threat along the northern borders of China since the times of the Han Dynasty, the threat and influence of these groups has only grown over the past centuries. The northern borderlands of China were inhabited by a wide mix of people, including Mongolian, Turkic, and Tungusic ethnic tribes, among others. Chinese dynasties from the Han onward generally attempted to employ a strategy of “using barbarians against barbarians” whereby they sought to play northern tribes against each other in hopes of preventing them from forming a powerful tribal coalition.

During the late Northern Song, the northern borderlands were controlled primarily by two powers - the Khitan Liao dynasty and the Western Xia.

The Western Xia (982 - 1227) were a group of Tangut origin. The Tanguts were a semi-nomadic people, settled in the region of modern-day Gansu, that were influential power-brokers in the region starting around the time of the An Lushan rebellion. Though initially the Tanguts swore fealty to the Song empire, in 981-2 a succession crisis within the ruling clan of the Tanguts split the clan into a pro-Song and anti-Song faction. While the pro-Song faction resettled in the interior of China, the anti-Song faction would move northward and, purged of its more Chinese elements, establish an independent state.40 The newly established state, called Western Xia by the Chinese, would rapidly expand westward over the period from 982 to 1137, controlling a multiethnic empire that lay along a key stretch of the Silk Road. The Xia would be in bitter conflict with the Song dynasty for much of the 11th century, but had remained mostly at peace by the time of committee.41

The Khitan rose to prominence in the 800s and, by the beginning of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, were a formidable force in the north able to exert great influence on the fractured states of China’s north.42 In 936, the Khitan provided assistance to a military governor rebelling against the Later Tang dynasty (the second of the five dynasties). When that governor succeeded in his rebellion and established the Later Jin, he was forced to cede the so-called “Sixteen Prefectures” to the Khitan. These sixteen prefectures, encompassing a region around modern Beijing, northern Hebei and Shanxi, gave the Khitan control of all

39 Ibid. pg. 23140 Cambridge History of China Volume 6, pg. 16841 Cambridge History of China Volume 6, pg. 15542 Cambridge History of China Volume 6, pg. 53


the strategic passes that traditionally defended northern China from nomadic incursions and eliminated any natural barrier between them and China’s northern plain.43

When relations between the Later Jin and Khitan soured, the Khitan were able to use these sixteen prefectures as a foothold from which to launch an invasion and, over the course of three years, wreck havoc throughout northern China. In 947, the Khitan ruler declared the foundation of the “Greater Liao” dynasty, though the Khitan forces would withdraw back north soon after looting the Later Jin capital of Kaifeng.44 From this point onward, the Khitan rulers generally regarded their neighbors to the south as targets from which to extract vast riches through raiding and tribute, rather than as being worth the hassle of governing.

Ever since the founding of the Song empire, relations between the Song and Liao have been very tense. The Song emperors have almost uniformly sought to reclaim the “Sixteen Prefectures” under Liao control, while the Liao have sought to cripple the Song’s ability to seize back these regions and earn guarantees of ownership. Over the century and a half between the Song’s founding and the beginning of committee, Song policy has wavered between seeking to aggressively seize back the lost prefectures and seeking to reduce military defense costs by exchanging tribute and other concessions for peace guarantees. Thus, up to Huizong’s reign very little territory has been formally exchanged between the Song and Liao.However, massive amounts of money and manpower have been expended along the Song-Liao border as the two states have continued to negotiate fruitlessly over tribute sizes, demilitarization of borders, and recognition of territorial ownership.

The long term stalemate has only recently come to a potential turning point. In 1115, the Jurchen, a vassal tribe of the Liao, rebelled against their Khitan overlords and established their own dynastic state, Jin, in modern-day Manchuria. Under their leader Wanyan Aguda, the Jin quickly won a number of decisive battles against the Liao. Various other vassal tribes of the Liao, only loosely loyal and seeing an opportunity to profit from Jin ascendence, flocked to the Jin side and have allowed for the rapid rise of the only recently-founded Jin state. Thus, as of 1121, the Jin have captured Liao’s capital and have sent the remainder of the Liao onto the defensive.

Within Huizong’s court, it is believed that the Jin-Liao war will be the perfect opportunity to seize back the Sixteen Prefectures, which by this point have been under barbarian rule for over 200 years. Thus, an agreement between the Song and Jin has slowly been forged over a period from 1118 to 1120, by which the Song will transfer their annual tribute payments from the Liao to the Jin and will undertake joint military action to seize back the Sixteen Prefectures. At this time, however, a large contingent of the Song army that would have been dedicated to war with Liao has been sent south to suppress a peasant rebellion there (see: Fang La Rebellion).45 Further, although the Liao have been greatly weakened, the structural weakness of the Song military - especially the lack of strong cavalry - might doom any effort to defeat even the weakened Liao forces.

43 Ibid. pg. 7044 Ibid. pg. 73-7445 Cambridge History of China volume 5 Pt. 1, pg. 627-630


The Fang La Rebellion“Oh, you don’t know? A bandit there [south of the Yangzi] named Fang La has rebelled. He’s occupied eight prefectures from Muzhou [Mu Prefecture] to Runzhou [Run Prefecture] and twenty-five counties. He calls this territory a nation.”

- Shi Nai’an, “Outlaws of the Marsh” chapter 90

The circuit of Liangzhe, centered around the delta of the Yangtze River in Southeast China, has become the commercial and agricultural center of the empire. At the same time, however, its distance from the capital of Kaifeng and the traditional center of Chinese civilization in the Yellow River valley

means that the Yangtze is still considered something of a political backwater by the court. Under Huizong, the region’s economy has been disproportionately sapped by the imperial court. Not only has it faced the brunt of increased agricultural and tea taxes, it has also been the central point of extraction for the “flower and rock network”.46

Out of this region, a wealthy landholder named Fang La, whose plantation had been seized by government officials, built an underground network of dispossessed commoners in the provincial borderlands of Mu Prefecture - an area heavily affected by the tea tax. Espousing a millenarian religious ideology that combined aspects of Buddhism and Daoism with Manichaeism - a religion of Persian origin officially persecuted since the Tang dynasty, but practiced in secret by many in Liangzhe - Fang began gathering radical religious followers and preaching that the path to salvation would be cleansed with the blood of imperial officials and soldiers.47

Fang La and his sect began a guerilla campaign in the backwaters of Mu in 1119 and, in late 1120, arose into open revolt seizing cities throughout the region. Fang La’s forces have quickly swelled and, facing lightly garrisoned but wealthy cities, swept through Liangzhe and the neighboring circuit of East Jiangnan while absorbing thousands of both opportunists and new believers alike.48 Fang La has recently declared himself the “Sagely Lord” and take on the regnal title of Emperor Yongle, asserting a direct challenge to Song hegemony as the potential leader of a new dynasty.

46 Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Pt. 1, pg. 62347 Ibid 623-448 Ibid 624


The imperial court has only recently taken decisive steps to address the crisis in its south. With Fang La’s rebellion having already engulfed almost all of Liangzhe circuit, 150,000 troops intended for fighting the northern Liao have been earmarked to be sent southward to suppress Fang La’s forces. Although Fang La’s forces are generally ill-equipped, the leaders of his army match the herculean strength and martial ability of some of Liangshan’s strongest men and the most fervent of his believers are capable of perpetuating a guerilla war that could go on for years after any initial suppression.

Matters of Concern for the Grand Assembly of Mount LiangshanWelcome, brothers. Though we are all of different origins - soldiers, fishers, petty functionaries - thanks to the protection of Heaven and Earth we brothers have gathered here on Mount Liangshan and formed a heroic host. Though from the manifold paths of society, we have all seen and felt the oppressive corruption that has taken root. It is by Heaven’s will that we have been gathered, and it is Heaven’s will that we must now go forth and right the wrongs we have encountered. We stand at a moment where our society is on the brink. The emperor has been misled and distracted by his ministers, leaving the empire to rot from within as those selfsame ministers abuse their power and bleed the people. At the same time, the situation with the barbarians to the north has become ever more complex, with the inept ministers at court continually bungling our diplomacy and our haughty military officials wasting grain and men only to pay us back with national embarrassment.

As we gather under the banner of “Right wrongs in accordance with Heaven”, we must keep in mind the challenges that we will face as we further define and pursue that goal. We live in a dangerous time, but also a time of opportunity, and it is our duty to use everything in our power to seize that opportunity and use it to the benefit of the people.

Governing the LandOur recent efforts against local prefectural forces have forced the Song officials out of various towns and villages beyond our rural stronghold, including the northern capital, Daming. The people of these lands have long suffered under the yoke of corrupt officials who bled them dry and rejected the advice of honorable men. It is our duty to ensure that, wherever these officials have been forced out, benevolent and just rule takes its place. Though we are but humble outlaws, we must do our best to provide comfort and stability to those who have fallen into our care.

Song Dynasty RetaliationWe wish the best for His Highness, Emperor Huizong, and humbly beseech him for amnesty to serve under him as righteous defenders of the Empire. Yet the emperor, who has been blinded by his officials and does not see the truth on the ground, has placed his trust in corrupt advisors who seek to wipe out our righteous band of men. We, in the past, have repelled large Song forces with the help of Liangshan’s defensive terrain, but as long as the emperor sees us as a threat, we will likely face fiercer and fiercer assaults from his corrupt officials. The Song forces we have faced up to now have, regardless of size, been ill-led and of poor morale. We can not ensure it will always be this way, especially as we expand into less defensible areas and are perceived as a greater and greater threat to the Song court’s corrupt existence.


Fang LaWord throughout the imperial capital is that most of the South has been brought to turmoil by a rebellion against corruption perhaps not too dissimilar from our own. It is rumoured that the imperial court is planning to send a massive force to suppress this rebellion. Should this be true, we may be able to use this far-off rebellion to our advantage. On one hand, we might be capable of reaching our own accord with the so-called “Sagely Lord” of the southern rebellion, uniting to end the corruption of the Song and to liberate the emperor from his corrupt officials. On the other hand, we may be able to use this potential departure of significant military forces from the north to our advantage - whether we launch our own offensive to free the people, or whether we use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the imperial court.

The Northern ThreatWhile there is great turmoil to our south, we must also keep a close eye on ever-changing events in the north. Though the Liao Khitans, who have long harassed the northern border of our civilization, seem to be collapsing, that does not mean that we can breathe easy. As the Khitan collapse, it is always possible that an even greater threat to the Chinese way of life might rise in their place - whether it be the so-called Jin or some other barbarian force. Word in Kaifeng is that imperial forces intend to march against the Liao and seize back the Sixteen Prefectures. We might find it to our advantage to offer support against the Liao in exchange for amnesty. Or, we can play with fire and seek to reach our own accord with the barbarians of the north for the eventual benefit of the empire.

ConclusionWe, the gallant heroes of Liangshan, have gathered under Heaven to right the wrongs that we have seen and experienced under the corrupt ministers of Huizong. Though our force is small, we hold the favor of Heaven and the unity of brotherhood. The dangerous and ever-changing world around us offers a myriad of opportunities to those, like us, willing to boldly seize opportunities wherever they come. In today’s world, it is possible that we 108 heroes, with the support of our meagre force of bandits, may rise to be a force that can shake all under Heaven with its might and bring an end to the corruption of Song officialdom. From this day onward, should any of us act in a deliberately unvirtuous manner or act against our vow of loyalty to the country and its people, may Heaven and Earth scourge them and may their spirit forever be sunken in the depths.

Heaven examine us, and find us not lacking. - Song Jiang, leader of the Liangshan Outlaws


Bibliography

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Wang, Jeffrey. The Story of Water Margin. Library of Congress International Collections Blog, 2017. Accessed at: https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/07/the-story-of-water-margin-%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B8%E5%82%B3/


Positions:

Positions: All positions are based on characters from the novel “Outlaws of the Marsh”, and further information related to these characters might be found by looking up their names in the novel itself - which is linked in full above. It is worth noting that even when it is not explicitly mentioned below, each of the 108 “Stars of Destiny” - even those with non-combatant positions - were competent fighters in their own right. Vanguard Infantry Chieftain Li Kui, The Black Whirlwind (李逵)From a small town on the border of Yi and Mi prefectures, east of Liangshan, Li Kui is known as the Black Whirlwind because of his dark complexion and berserker style of combat. Li Kui was originally a prison warden in the city of Jiangzhou in southern China, where he met and befriended Song Jiang. When Song Jiang - before becoming leader of the Liangshan Outlaws - was arrested and sentenced to death, Li Kui charged the execution ground and went on a murderous rampage. Although Li Kui is well known for his quick temper, he is fiercely loyal to Song Jiang, the leader of the Liangshan outlaws. He holds a great sense of self honor and opposes any actions that could be interpreted as himself or the Liangshan outlaws capitulating. As one of Liangshan’s infantry leaders, he heads an elite unit of shield-bearing infantry that have gained a reputation for being able to cut their way deep into enemy lines without significant losses. Whenever Li Kui fights, he enters into a murderous rampage and can no longer distinguish between civilians and enemy combatants. Extremely powerful when in his berserker state, Li Kui, if left unchecked, can almost single-handedly wipe out an entire village. As such, he is feared not just by his enemies, but by the populace at large and even some of his closest allies. Infantry Chieftain Wu Song, The Tiger-Fighting Hero (武松)Wu Song is from Xing prefecture, near the northern border. Wu Song is renown for his martial prowess, having earned his nickname and initial fame by drunkenly wrestling a man-eating tiger to its death. Wu Song became an outlaw when he avenged his elder brother, who was poisoned by his adulterous wife who subsequently ran off with a prominent local merchant, by carrying out a series of revenge-murders. He initially led his own band of outlaws from a base at Mount Twin Dragons, but upon hearing of the outlaw forces gathering at Liangshan and having previously made friends with both Chai Jin and Song Jiang, Wu Song decided to become a subordinate chieftain. He is extremely suspicious of the Song government, believing it to be completely corrupted from the Emperor to the county officials. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Wu Song is an infantry leader well respected among his peers and much beloved by his subordinates, most of whom personally followed him from Mount Twin Dragons. Wu Song has also been called “the Pilgrim” because he disguised himself as a Buddhist pilgrim to escape the law and, even after joining Liangshan, continued practicing Buddhist habits. Wu Song is a specialist in a variety of martial arts and is one of the only living masters of the “Drunken Eight Immortals” style of boxing, and as such is renowned throughout the jianghu as undefeatable in hand-to-hand combat.


Infantry Chieftain Lu Da, The Tattooed Monk(魯達)Also called Lu Zhishen or “Sagacious Lu”, Lu Da originally served as commander of a garrison in the far northwestern corner of Song China before accidentally killing a man in a brawl. While on the run, Lu Da was given assistance by a woman he had once saved and was inducted into a prominent Buddhist monastery. Unable to keep to Buddhist tenets, after going on a drunken rampage Lu Da would be transferred to another monastery to help defend it from bandits. There, he met and became sworn brothers with Lin Chong. When Lin Chong was arrested and exiled by Marshal Gao Qiu, Lu Da would help him escape punishment and accompany him to join Liangshan. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Lu Da serves as an infantry captain leading a large but less well trained and equipped force of spearmen. Lu Da is renowned for his extreme strength - his weapon of choice is a 100-pound iron staff, and he has been witnessed uprooting trees with nothing but his own strength. Lu Da is extremely suspicious of the Song dynasty and believes any agreements with the government will inevitably lead to betrayal.

Cavalry Chieftain Lin Chong, The Panther Headed (林沖)Born and raised in Kaifeng, Lin Chong originally served as a cavalry instructor for the Imperial Guards in Kaifeng. While serving in the capital, the son of Marshal Gao Qiu became obsessed with Lin Chong’s wife. As a result, Gao Qiu conspired to have Lin Chong framed and exiled for the crime of bringing a weapon into the Imperial palace. After escaping from the prison wardens escorting him to jail, Lin Chong would eventually make his way to Liangshan, becoming one of the earliest of the 108 Stars of Destiny to become based there. Lin Chong would be the one to kill the original Liangshan chieftain and have him replaced with Chao Gai, ushering in the massive growth of the Liangshan outlaw forces under Chao’s leadership. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Lin Chong is the leader of Liangshan’s main cavalry unit, which he has personally trained into a highly-skilled and disciplined force. Lin Chong has a deep and personal resentment towards Gao Qiu, and has sworn to avenge the wrongs done to him by Gao and his lackeys.

Vanguard Cavalry Chieftain Hu Sanniang, “Ten Feet of Steel” (扈三娘)Daughter of a village head in a small village on Lone Dragon Ridge, near Liangshan Marsh, Hu originally fought against the Liangshan outlaws in defense of her village. In doing so, Hu showed her skill with the lasso by capturing one of the Liangshan heroes - Wang Ying - and going on to attempt to capture Song Jiang himself. In her pursuit, Hu ended up isolated and was captured by the Liangshan outlaws. While Hu was being held captive by the outlaws, her entire family was slaughtered in a rage by Li Kui. With nowhere left to go and having been treated well under Liangshan captivity, Hu agreed to join the outlaws and marry the outlaw Wang Ying, whom she had previously captured. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Hu serves jointly with her husband Wang as a vanguard cavalry general. Although their force is small, it is exceptionally brave and specialized in raiding deep into enemy territory, disrupting enemy supply lines, and capturing enemy generals.

Treasury Chieftain Chai Jin, The Little Whirlwind (柴進)From Cang Prefecture near the northern border, Chai Jin is a descendant of the penultimate emperor of the Later Zhou dynasty, the dynasty that the Song succeeded, and as such is a bearer of the “Wrought Iron Pledge” blessing given to his clan after the dynastic transition,


which makes him immune to prosecution by the Song government. Before Chai himself joined Liangshan, he used his iron pledge to give shelter and funds to other prominent members of the jianghu such as Lin Chong and Wu Song, who were on the run from the Song government. Eventually, while Chai Jin was protecting Li Kui from arrest, local officials finally decided to illegally breach the iron pledge and the heroes of Liangshan were forced to come to Chai’s rescue and break him out of prison. Chai Jin is well trained in both martial and scholarly arts, including Daoist fortune telling, and because of his generosity is extremely well respected throughout the jianghu. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Chai Jin serves as one of the two chief accountants and is in charge of tracking Liangshan’s income, maintaining the treasury, and ensuring it is kept well supplied with necessities. Weapons Stockpile Chieftain Li Ying, The Striking Hawk (李應)Nicknamed both for his hawkish appearance and his exceptional accuracy with throwing daggers, Li Ying was originally a wealthy and well respected local squire who headed a small village on Lone Dragon Ridge, near the Liangshan outlaws base. Li Ying assisted one of the Liangshan heroes who had been captured by a neighboring village, but in doing so sparked a small turf-war between the villages. The Liangshan outlaws came to Li Ying’s assistance and, in an effort to recruit Li Ying, staged his rescue from “law enforcers” who were really just fellow outlaws in disguise. Although Li Ying eventually learned of the ruse, by that point he had already come to believe in the righteousness of the Liangshan outlaws and opted to stay. Li Ying is one of the two chief accountants and is charged with managing and expanding Liangshan’s stockpile of weapons and armor. Li has many connections among the rural communities in the neighborhood of Liangshan, and maintains a small personal militia from his home village to guard the weapons stockpiles.

Intelligence Chieftain Zhu Gui, The Dry Land Alligator (朱貴)Originally a trader who travelled throughout Jingdong, Zhu Gui suffered huge losses in his business and agreed to join a small band of outlaws based at Liangshan Marsh-- becoming the third of the 108 Stars of Destiny to join. When the group was smaller, it was Zhu Gui’s job to serve as a point of contact between the Liangshan bandits and the outside world and to mark targets for robbery. Despite his long tenure as an outlaw hiding in plain sight, Zhu Gui’s skill at blending in with his surroundings and evading notice means that he has never been labelled an outlaw by the local government. Because of this, along with his skill at gathering intelligence, Zhu Gui has been appointed the chief intelligence officer of the Liangshan outlaws. In this capacity, he owns and operates a system of taverns and inns along the pathway between Liangshan and the Song capital of Kaifeng. Through these businesses, Zhu runs a ring of spies that keeps him well informed on events throughout the empire.

Poisons Chieftain Sun Erniang, The Female Yaksha (孫二娘)Also known as “Sun the Witch”, Sun Erniang is well trained in martial arts and bears the appearance of a Yaksha, a type of Buddhist nature-spirit, which regularly unsettles and disorients her opponents. Before joining the Liangshan outlaws she and her husband Zhang Qing ran a tavern where they would poison travelers, rob them of their goods, and then cook them into meat buns to serve to customers. She and her husband decided to follow Wu Song when he was fleeing to join the Mount Twin Dragons outlaw band, which eventually merged


with the Liangshan group. Sun specializes in the creation and application of poisons and operates a small tavern to the west of Liangshan, along the route to Kaifeng, from which she brews her poisons and uses them on incoming threats. Sun’s husband, known as “Zhang the Gardener”, is in charge of Liangshan’s farming plot and is a sworn brother of Lu Da and Wu Song.

Scouting Chieftain Gu Dasao, The Female Tiger (顧大嫂)From Dengzhou, a city near the tip of the Shandong peninsula, Gu Dasao rejected the traditional role of housewife and became renowned as a skilled polestaff user capable of taking down any man - including her husband, Sun Xin. Gu and her husband ran a tavern in Dengzhou when two local heroes - Xie Zhen and Xie Bao - were arrested on false charges. With the help of her husband, her brother-in-law Sun Li, and the jailor Yue He, Gu led a prison break that resulted in the entire group joining up with the Liangshan outlaws. Gu currently runs a tavern to the east of Liangshan along with her husband Sun Xin, and is charged with scouting out information coming from the rest of the Shandong peninsula. Gu also runs a small band of women skilled in disguising themselves as commoners or refugees and infiltrating enemy positions, but who are also well trained in martial arts.

Naval Chieftain Li Jun, The River Dragon (李俊)Raised along the Yangtze river of southern China, Li Jun would earn his nickname “River Dragon” due to his unmatched prowess in underwater combat - in the water not only is he exceptionally fast and strong, he can also hold his breath for far longer than a normal human being. Li Jun was originally a smuggler and a pirate along the Yangtze who deeply admired the stories he heard of the chivalrous men on the jianghu. After having the chance to meet Song Jiang and other future Liangshan outlaws in person, Li Jun helped ferry them to Liangshan and decided to stay. Li is one of the leaders of the Liangshan flotilla and specializes in marine and underwater guerilla combat. He is in charge of operating the smaller and faster vessels of the Liangshan fleet, mostly repurposed fishing vessels, which he has in the past used to encircle, board, and capture far larger Song vessels. He is close friends with Li Li, a fellow Liangshan outlaw who used to collaborate with him in picking targets for piracy. Naval Chieftain Ruan Xiao’er, The Star Who Stands His Ground (阮小二)A fisherman before joining the outlaws, Ruan is a leader of the Liangshan flotilla specializing in navigating and commanding ships, a key attribute in the convoluted waterways that surround the marsh. He is in charge of the larger but less numerous vessels of the Liangshan fleet: most of which are vessels that have been captured during previous Song efforts to suppress the outlaws. His two younger brothers, Ruan Xiaowu and Ruan Xiaoqi, are also members of the Liangshan outlaws. He and his two brothers, who serve as his subordinates, are all experts in swimming and underwater combat. Ruan and his brothers maintain close contact with the people of their native village of Shijie, just south of Liangshan, and have many connections among the fisherman community of Jingdong. Artillery Chieftain Ling Zhen, The Heaven Shaking Thunder (凌振)Before becoming an outlaw Ling Zhen served as an artillery officer in Kaifeng and was renowned as the top artilleryman of all China. Ling Zhen was originally sent to suppress the Liangshan


outlaws by the Song dynasty but, when defeated and captured by the outlaws, was convinced of the worthiness of their cause. Ling Zhen is well versed in military tactics, as well as archery, pyrotechnics, and chemistry. As a Song officer, Ling was at the forefront of experimenting with new military applications of gunpowder - including primitive bamboo firearms known as fire lances. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Ling is in charge of pyrotechnics, firearms, and artillery. In this capacity, Ling runs a small gunpowder manufacturing operation, as well as a personal workshop for building and testing improved forms of artillery and firearms. He also maintains and commands a small force of specialized bomb-throwing catapults and fire-lancers. Daoist Magician Gonsun Sheng, The Dragon in the Clouds (公孫勝) Gongsun was born in Qizhou prefecture, one of the Sixteen Prefectures under Liao control. At an early age, Gongsun apprenticed himself to Daoist Master Luo and moved with him to the city of Daming. While living in Daming, Gongsun heard of an expensive gift being shipped to Prime Minister Cai Jing and helped arrange a robbery with what would later become one of the core groups to form the Liangshan outlaws. Gongsun briefly left Liangshan to continue his studies under Master Luo, but returned when the Liangshan outlaws were struggling to overcome government forces backed by Daoist magic. A lifelong practitioner of the Daoist arts, Gongsun maintains a small Daoist shrine in Liangshan with his apprentice, Fan Rui, and regularly uses his magical powers to assist the Liangshan outlaws in battle. Gongsun is known to be able to conduct Daoist ceremonies to summon wind and rain and is also said to be able to ride clouds, shoot lightning, and summon fearsome illusions.

Stables and Livestock Chieftain Huangfu Duan, the Purple Bearded Count (皇甫端)From the city of Youzhou - modern-day Beijing - Huangfu Duan is of half-Khitan, half-Han Chinese descent. Huangfu served as a veterinarian in Dongchang, a city to the east of Liangshan Marsh, where he became locally renowned for his ability to treat any disease in horses and was even rumored to be able to bring horses back to life. When the Liangshan outlaws invaded Dongchang, Huangfu’s close friend Zhang Qing “the Featherless Arrow” joined them and recommended Huangfu as a valuable possible member. Thus, after Dongchang fell to the outlaws, Huangfu reunited with Zhang and began working for the outlaws. Huangfu is in charge of caring for Liangshan’s horses and livestock, is fluent in the Khitan language, and through his Khitan father has some minor contacts among the Liao barbarians to the north.

Bodyguard Chieftain Lü Fang, the “Little Marquis of Wen”, (呂方)From the city of Tanzhou, near modern-day Changsha, Lü is said to be a descendent of the legendary Lü Bu of the Three Kingdoms period. Lü originally made money as a medicine peddler in Jingdong East but, after losing most of his original funds, decided to become an outlaw until he could afford to return home to Tanzhou. Lü quickly became the leader of his own outlaw band based at Mount Duiying and built up a reputation as an unparalleled fighter. Lü’s bandit group merged with Liangshan when a band of Liangshan outlaws stumbled upon Lü engaging in a one-on-one duel with fellow bandit Guo Sheng and, impressed by their abilities, invited them to Liangshan. Lü, along with his now-close friend Guo Sheng, is responsible for the central camp force that serves as Song Jiang’s bodyguards and as the


guards for Liangshan’s mobile HQ. A deep admirer of his legendary ancestor, Lü rides a large horse named Red Hare and wields a long spear called Sky Piercer - just as Lü Bu did - and seeks to emulate his ancestor’s famous martial feats.

Relations Chieftain Song Qing, the Iron Fan (宋清)The younger brother of Song Jiang, Song Qing managed the Song family properties in Yuncheng County, south-west of Liangshan, while Song Jiang pursued his career as a scholar-official and made connections throughout the jianghu. When Song Jiang joined the Liangshan outlaws and rose to become their head, he brought Song Qing and his family to Liangshan in order to ensure their safety. As a chieftain, Song Qing has been assigned the position of banquet supervisor. Besides putting on feasts for the Liangshan outlaws, this entails the important tasks of wining and dining local elites and of receiving and caring for emissaries sent for negotiations - thus making Song’s position more akin to that of a diplomat responsible for relations both within and outside the Liangshan camp. Besides his official position, Song Qing is also in charge of managing the Song family household in Song Jiang’s stead. While others have sometimes considered Song Qing a man of little personal ambition, he has in the past put himself at great risk in order to support his elder brother’s ambitions and raise the prestige of the Song family as a whole.

Justice Chieftain Pei Xuan, the Iron Faced Magistrate’s Clerk (裴宣)Born in Jiangzhao Prefecture, near the former Tang dynasty’s capital of Chang’an, Pei was raised to be an expert in both martial arts and law. As an adult, Pei Xuan served as a magistrate’s clerk. In this capacity, Pei passed judgement on local cases in Jiangzhao and earned a reputation for being a stern judge who always enforced laws by-the-book, regardless of social status, threats, or bribes. Because of his incorruptibility, Pei was a thorn in the side of local corrupt officials, so he was framed by the corrupt prefect of Jiangzhao and forced into exile. While being escorted into exile, Pei was rescued by a small group of outlaws in Jingdong, who later elected him as their leader and followed him to join the larger Liangshan outlaw group. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Pei has been made the chief justice of Liangshan’s loose justice system. He runs a courtroom in Liangshan’s central camp, where he hears cases from Liangshan’s outlaws and from local people who have complaints against the outlaws. Pei can decide not only punishments including the death of the criminal and his entire family, but also confer titles and monetary rewards for acts of virtue and bravery. Throughout his career Pei has always morally upright and deeply opposed to government corruption in any form.

Defense Chieftain Tao Zongwang, the Nine Tailed Turtle (陶宗旺)Born to a peasant family in Guangzhou (not to be confused with the modern-day Guangzhou), in modern day south-eastern Hunan, Tao’s family suffered from heavy and unlawful taxation from local officials. Seeking a way out, Tao joined a band of outlaws based at Mount Yellow Gate, south of Liangshan, and eventually became one of its four leaders. When Song Jiang and a group of Liangshan outlaws rode through the area, Tao and his fellow leaders met with them and were so impressed that they requested to merge their own bandit group into Liangshan. Tao is in charge of constructing and maintaining defence infrastructure at the outlaw base of Liangshan, as well as in outlaw-held territories. He is a sworn brother of the


other three original bandit leaders of Mount Yellow Gate - Ou Peng, Ma Lin, and Jiang Jing - and is a deep admirer of Song Jiang. Thievery Chieftain Shi Qian, the Flea on a Drum (時遷)From the city of Gaotang, north of Liangshan, Shi Qian grew up in poverty. A small and thin man, Shi eventually spun his small stature into a career for himself as a burglar and tomb raider. During a tomb robbery, Shi overheard two men - Yang Xiong and Shi Xiu - discussing joining the Liangshan outlaws and, with ambitions to become more than a petty thief, asked to go along with them. On their journey, Shi Qian stole a rooster from an innkeeper, resulting in the three men being imprisoned at the Zhu Family Village until being rescued by the Liangshan outlaws a few weeks later. As a chieftain of Liangshan, Shi Qian leads his own group of thieves that specialize in infiltrating cities and committing acts of thievery and arson. An exceptional thief, Shi Qian is extremely agile - he can climb almost any wall and jump almost any gap, skills he regularly uses to run atop the roofs of enemy cities and cause havoc with his band of men.

Documents

Outlaws Of the Marsh - FLORIDA CRISIS SIMULATION X€¦ · Outlaws of the Marsh presents a snapshot of a historical moment in time through the eyes of a small rebel force that sought