Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 126 A Couple's Dream of Love, A Hero's Journey to the West

Li Hanxiao originally intended to see Li Shishi after finishing his business, but Wen Huanzhang called Li Hanxiao away to discuss matters after his departure. This back and forth dragged on until evening.

The night at Liangshanbo was unusually bleak; it was a midsummer night, yet even the chirping of insects could be barely heard.

Inside the Hall of Righteousness and Brightness, the pine resin torches crackled, casting a long shadow of Li Hanxiao.

The waning moon hung obliquely over Liangshan Marsh, and the lights in the Zhengda Guangming Hall remained burning all night. After the leaders had dispersed and were packing their belongings, he leaned alone against the vermilion railing, gazing at the bamboo grove behind the southeast corner of the mountain. The night wind carried a few leaves across his brow, but it could not sweep away the tender feelings between his brows.

Li Han smiled as he pondered how to tell Li Shishi, and also considered what would happen to her if something went wrong...

Thinking about it again, Li Hanxiao couldn't figure it out, so he could only go to Li Shishi's place first.

Squeak—

The bamboo door opened slightly, and Li Hanxiao pushed it open and entered. In the warm yellow candlelight, a figure in pure white appeared. Li Shishi stood in front of the steps, a silver hairpin in her hair trembling slightly. She held a bowl of hot soup and stood under the eaves. Looking at Li Hanxiao who had just entered, she smiled slightly, and the steam rising from the soup bowl blurred the vermilion mark between her eyebrows.

"What's keeping you so busy today? Come and have a taste of the soup!"

Li Hanxiao took the soup and drank it all in one gulp, but couldn't taste the saltiness. He had been standing in the dew for a long time, and his outer garment was soaked. Li Shishi noticed this and said, "The dew is heavy at this hour, young master, don't you even have a cloak? Quickly take it off and put this on!"

Li Shishi hurriedly returned to the house, carrying a dark cloak in her arms. She handed it to Li Hanxiao, whose throat bobbed as she reached out to take the still-warm cloak. The mink collar was embroidered with two swallows, the stitches fine and dense, suggesting it was recently made. It fit her perfectly, neither too loose nor too tight, making Li Hanxiao imagine her at night, working by lamplight...

"Today, there are some things I need to tell you..."

After thinking for a moment, Li Hanxiao told Li Shishi everything without hiding anything from her.

"This... Young Master is a man of great loyalty and righteousness, as Shishi naturally knows. But is Young Master truly willing to abandon the mountain stronghold for a mere roughneck?"

She stood by the window, her fingertips almost digging into the carved window frame. Naturally, she didn't want Li Hanxiao to put herself in danger, but she could only offer token advice. After all, she knew that even Wen Huanzhang couldn't persuade Li Hanxiao, so she probably couldn't either...

Li Han chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Hey, when I broke through the four passes, I was still a rough and unruly man of the martial world, my true nature unchanged, only now you're by my side... This journey to Tongguan involves eight hundred post stations, I'm not afraid, I'm just afraid that if I don't return, what will you do...?"

Before Li Hanxiao could finish speaking, her jade-like finger was already touching his lips. Li Shishi suddenly stood on tiptoe, stopping Li Hanxiao from saying anything more.

"Don't tell...don't tell...my husband is a god descended from heaven, nothing will happen to him..."

Li Shishi's eyes were filled with tears, and her voice trembled.

The sudden sound of the clapper ripped through the tenderness, and Li Hanxiao abruptly pulled her into his arms. The evening breeze rustled through the bamboo forest, concealing the gradually damp marks on her shoulders.

"When I return, I will greet you with a grand wedding procession of ten miles of red bridal attire."

"Alright, I'll wait, but... how about we don't leave tonight..."

Li Shishi looked up at Li Hanxiao.

"how?"

"I... want to leave you a bloodline..."

Although Li Shishi kept comforting Li Hanxiao, saying that he would definitely return safely, the outcome was still uncertain...

"This……"

Before Li Hanxiao could say anything, Li Shishi, seemingly out of nowhere, found the strength to forcefully press Li Hanxiao onto the bed.

As the night deepened and the dew grew heavier, the incense in the gilded incense burner was nearly exhausted, and the remaining smoke wove a fine net on his iron armor.

Li Shishi knelt before the embroidery frame, oblivious to the silver needle pricking her fingertips. The blood-red twin lotus blossoms on the plain silk seemed to weep and lament...

The day was up, and Li Hanxiao was about to lead his troops on their journey.

Outside, the neighing of warhorses suddenly arose. Li Hanxiao was now fully clothed, while Li Shishi removed her family heirloom jade hairpin. She then inserted the hairpin into Li Hanxiao's hair ornament, the gold-inlaid jade hairpin tip engraved with tiny characters: "When you return, this hairpin will serve as our marriage certificate..."

On the Golden Beach Water Village, Li Hanxiao and his group were being seen off by the other leaders who stayed behind. They then crossed the water and set off.

This time, whether they were infantry leaders or cavalry leaders, they all rode horses. Even "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen rode a big white horse.

"Chief, which way should we go, heading straight for Guanzhong?"

"Blue-faced Beast" Yang Zhi asked Li Han with a smile.

"I will take the Hebei East Road at full speed and pass through Daming Prefecture first. I still have some things to do. Once I finish them, I will immediately take the Hebei East Road to Yongxing Army Road."

The "circuit" that Li Hanxiao mentioned is similar to a province. In the early Song Dynasty, in order to abolish the real power of the military governors, the territory was divided into several circuits.

In the third year of the Zhidao era, it was established as fifteen routes, including Jingdong, Jingxi, Hebei, Hedong, Shaanxi, Huainan, Jiangnan, Jinghu South, Jinghu North, Liangzhe, Fujian, Xichuan, Xiaxi, Guangnan East, and Guangnan West.

In the fourth year of the Xianping era, Xichuan Road was divided into Yizhou and Zizhou Roads, and Xiaxi Road was divided into Lizhou and Kuizhou Roads. In the fourth year of the Tianxi era, Jiangnan Road was divided into Jiangnan East and West Roads. In the fifth year of the Xining era, Jingxi Road was divided into North and South Roads, Huainan Road was divided into East and West Roads, and Shaanxi was divided into Yongxingjun and Qinfeng Roads.

Later, Hebei Road was divided into East and West Roads, and Jingdong was divided into East Jingdong Road and East Jingdong Road. In the fifth year of Chongning, Kaifeng Prefecture was upgraded to Jingji Road.

In the fourth year of the Xuanhe era, the Song and Jin dynasties reached an alliance, stipulating that after the destruction of the Liao dynasty, the Song dynasty would receive Yanshan Prefecture and Yunzhong Prefecture. However, the Song dynasty only redeemed seven prefectures: Yanjing, Zhuo, Yi, Tan, Shun, Jing, and Ji. The previous agreement was thus abandoned.

After the Southern Song Dynasty moved south during the Jianyan era, it established sixteen circuits: Liangzhe East, Liangzhe West, Jiangnan East, Jiangnan West, Huainan East, Huainan West, Jinghu South, Jinghu North, Jingxi South, Chengdu Prefecture, Tongchuan Prefecture, Kuizhou, Lizhou, Fujian, Guangnan East, and Guangnan West. In the first year of the Jiading era, Emperor Ningzong of Song changed it to seventeen circuits, dividing Lizhou into East and West circuits.

The administrative divisions and local political system of the Song Dynasty emphasized internal affairs over external ones, with a highly centralized government. While this avoided the fragmentation of the Tang Dynasty by regional warlords, it resulted in limited local resources and left the Song Dynasty vulnerable to enemy control throughout its existence.

The place where Li Hanxiao and his group are now located, Jizhou Prefecture, is actually Jingdong West Circuit. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Jingdong West Circuit included four prefectures—Yingtian Prefecture, Xiqing Prefecture, Xingren Prefecture, and Dongping Prefecture; as well as five states—Xuzhou, Jizhou, Shanzhou, Puzhou, Gongzhou, and Guangji Army. It roughly included northern Jiangsu Province, central and western Shandong Province, eastern Henan Province, and a small part of Anhui Province today.

Hebei East Circuit included three prefectures—Daming Prefecture, Kaide Prefecture, and Hejian Prefecture; eleven states—Cang, Ji, Bo, Di, Mo, Xiong, Ba, De, Bin, En, and Qing; five military districts—Deqing, Baoshun, Yongjing, Xin'an, and Baoding; and fifty-seven counties, encompassing parts of southern and eastern Hebei Province, Shandong Province, and parts of Henan Province north of the Yellow River.

Li Hanxiao chose to take the Hebei East Road because he wanted to visit Zhou Tong and the young Yue Fei on his way to Daming Prefecture. He was also carrying the Liquan Divine Spear on his back, which he had prepared for Yue Fei...

If anyone could resist the Jin Dynasty in the future, it would be Yue Fei. Li Hanxiao naturally hoped to build a good relationship with him. If he could recruit him to his own cause in the future, it would be like turning something rotten into something magical, a gift from heaven!

However, Li Hanxiao thought that Yue Fei had been influenced by the feudal ideology of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism since childhood, and winning him over would not be a matter of a day or two, and would probably be very difficult.

Historically, Yue Fei was filled with the foolish loyalty that "if the emperor commands a subject to die, the subject must die; if the father commands a son to die, the son must die." Otherwise, he would not have ended up in such a tragic state as being falsely accused and implicated at Fengbo Pavilion.

Now, let's meet first, build a good relationship, and visit each other often in the future. We should try to get rid of these outdated ideas from Yue Fei's mind. Li Hanxiao believes that Yue Fei, who was bound by feudal outdated ideas in history, did not unleash his full potential. If he could get rid of those things, then he would truly be able to spread his wings and soar to the heavens!

If Yue Fei could be spared from this injustice and truly achieve his goal of storming the enemy's capital, Li Hanxiao would be very happy to see it...

As for Hedong Road, it refers to the Shanxi region. In the third year of the Zhidao era of the Song Dynasty, Hedong Circuit was renamed Hedong Road. Its territory bordered Changshan Mountain to the east, the Yellow River to the west, Dizhu Mountain to the south, and Yanmen Pass to the north. It encompassed the entire area south of the Great Wall and north of Wenxi County in present-day Shanxi, and the area north of Jia County in Shaanxi. Its capital was Bingzhou (present-day Yangqu County, Shanxi), and it governed seventeen prefectures including Bing, Dai, Xin, Fen, Liao, Ze, Lu, Jin, Jiang, Ci, Xi, Shi, Lan, Xianfa, Feng, Lin, and Fu, as well as six armies: Pingding, Huoshan, Dingqiang, Ninghua, Kelan, and Weisheng. It also included the Yongli and Datong Supervisory Offices.

In the original novel of "Water Margin", this area should belong to Tian Hu of Hebei. He later raised a rebellion in this Shanxi region and eventually became one of the four major bandits, ruling over a region.

Li Hanxiao chose to go through Shanxi and then Shaanxi mainly because they couldn't go through Henan. They were already on the wanted list there because of the kidnapping of "Tianmu General" Peng Qi and the abduction of Gao Yanei in Dongjing City, so going through Henan would probably be impossible.

Secondly, there are many heroes and outstanding figures in Shanxi. Tian Hu raised the banner of rebellion in Shanxi and took the title of "King of Jin". He had many capable people under his command, such as the national advisor "Illusionary Demon Lord" Qiao Daoqing, "Divine Steed" Ma Ling, prime minister "Sai Shibing" Bian Xiang, fierce general "Dragon Slayer" Sun An, and Shan Shiqi, as well as "Qiong Arrowhead" Qiu Qiongying. Most of them were from Shanxi.

The current "Prince of Jin," Tian Hu, has not yet raised the banner of rebellion and is probably still an ambitious hunter in the mountains. Therefore, the people under his command in the original "Water Margin" are also in a state of being without a leader.

If Li Hanxiao could foresee some of the problems in Shanxi and bring them under his command, it would be a good thing, saving them from being wasted by Tian Hu. In Liangshan, the current "Mountain-Pulling Warrior" Tang Bin, "Mountain-Shaking Warrior" Wen Zhongrong, "Mountain-Moving Warrior" Cui Ye, "Mountain-Splitting Warrior" Nie Gong, "Sky-Drilling Spear" Zhu Jing, and "Yin-Yang Hand" Lu Hui are all generals of Tian Hu in Hebei in the original novel. As a result, Li Hanxiao intercepted them in advance.

Since he had already intercepted the enemy, Li Hanxiao might as well go all the way and leave Tian Hu with absolutely nothing. This is because Tian Hu's group has the lowest cohesion among the four major bandits. Tian Hu himself is cruel and ruthless, but he has the strongest military force and may have the support of the Jin Kingdom behind him.

His subordinates basically surrendered decisively as soon as they were captured, and there was a serious shortage of military commanders.

In the original novel, when he was defeated by Song Jiang and lost several cities, he wanted to defect to the Jin Dynasty. It is very likely that he had already been in cahoots with the Jin Dynasty, or even that his power was the result of investment from an external ethnic group.

Fortunately, Song Jiang killed him beforehand, otherwise it would have been hard to guarantee that this kid wouldn't become a "traitor" and a collaborator!

Why keep people like that around to aid and abet evil? Take them all in!

However, all of this must be done extremely quickly, otherwise by the time Li Hanxiao reaches Guanzhong, the body of "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin will probably already be buried and decomposed... These things are just incidental, the main task is still to rescue "Nine-Tattooed Dragon" Shi Jin.

These tasks can even be primarily completed on the way back.

The last place is Yongxingjun Road in Shaanxi. As an administrative division name in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was established in the second year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty by separating the eastern part of Shaanxi Road. Its seat was Jingzhao Prefecture, which was formerly Chang'an and later Xi'an, the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties.

Its territory roughly encompassed the area east of present-day Huanxian, Qingyang, and Ningxian counties in Gansu Province, and Changwu, Wugong, and Huyi districts in Shaanxi Province; south of Mizhi and Wuqi counties in Shaanxi Province; north of Zhen'an, Shanyang, and Shangnan counties; southwest of Wenxi County and Hejin City in Shanxi Province; and west of Sanmenxia City in Henan Province—which was not a small area.

This place was a military stronghold and the main base of the Western Army. From the time of Emperor Taizong of Song to Emperor Yingzong of Song, the relationship between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty was based on a defensive policy in the face of the Western Xia's active attacks. The Song Dynasty dispersed its troops on the border with the Western Xia in order to achieve a comprehensive defense against the Western Xia's offensive. This also led to the weakness of the Northern Song Dynasty's northwestern border defense forces being not concentrated, and the Song Dynasty was always at a disadvantage in terms of military strength.

The border towns of Huanzhou, Dingbianjun, Qingzhou, Bao'anjun, Yan'anfu, and Suidejun along the Yongxing Army Road are located along the Hengshan border between the Song and Xia dynasties. When Emperor Shenzong began his campaign against the Western Xia, the border defenses in these areas were constantly changing in order to capture Hengshan. In particular, the location and number of fortifications along the border changed during the reigns of Emperors Shenzong, Zhezong, and Huizong. The number of Western Army troops in this area was also astonishing. It can be said that when Li Hanxiao and his group went here to rescue people, they were truly going into a dragon's den or a tiger's lair.

However, Lu Zhishen, the "Flowery Monk," pointed out a weakness of their Western Army: the frequent rotation of the Western Army's generals' garrisons.

Unless you're fighting or defending on the front lines, you have to rotate every now and then. Although back then, considering the drawbacks of the civil-military system and the special circumstances of the Northwest, the Song court appropriately delegated power to local authorities, forming three model armies: the Zhe Family Army, the Yang Family Army, and the Zhong Family Army. The Western Army's generals were hereditary, ensuring its combat effectiveness and cohesion. However, this only represented a small part of the Western Army. Under such a system, most soldiers and officers were unfamiliar with each other.