Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 112 Unfurling Banners, Three Villages Take Over the Territory, A Lone Army Wields Iron Rods

Once the common people have land and there are no villains oppressing them, their lives will suddenly become much better. At this time, if Li Hanxiao tells them that the government army is coming and they don't have enough people or soldiers, not only will the government army take back everything they have gained this time, but they will also have their original possessions taken away in the end.

What will they do? Naturally, they will fight tooth and nail to take it back! To protect what they have now.

In a small-scale peasant society, there are indeed many instances of "everyone sweeps the snow from their own doorstep and doesn't care about the frost on others' roofs." However, if their own interests are infringed upon, they will spare no effort to stop and resist, after all, the knife has already fallen on their heads.

Do you think Li Hanxiao and his team will lack manpower?

Besides, Li Hanxiao's acquisition of Dongxi Village, Xixi Village, and Huandao Village also had a deeper meaning.

For this reason, Li Hanxiao summoned Wen Huanzhang to the Hall of Righteousness and Brightness for discussion. Li Hanxiao also spent an entire night making a sand table model of the terrain near Liangshan Marsh for visual reference.

It is said that Li Hanxiao, the master of Liangshan, sat upright on the tiger-skin chair in the center of the Zhengda Guangming Hall, looking at the vermilion markings on the sand table that meandered like dragons—the waterways of the three villages of Dongxi, Xixi, and Huandao were all outlined with fine red sand, which were connected to the central water model.

The young chieftain gently stroked the bronze and gold-inlaid ruler at his waist, the inscription "Deep dredging of the beach and low construction of the weir" faintly visible on it.

This is the water measuring instrument passed down by Li Bing, the governor of Shu County during the Qin Dynasty. It was used by the Li family when they were in charge of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System for generations. When it was passed down to Li Hanxiao, the instrument had already been in use for two years. Not only was it not damaged, but it was also as good as new.

After Li Hanxiao came into this world, he studied the great works of his ancestors, seven or eight out of ten of which were masterpieces on water conservancy, but they were unknown to others. As the saying goes, "If you read three hundred Tang poems, you can recite them even if you can't compose them." Li Hanxiao also learned water conservancy by heart and became a master in this field.

"Strategist, please take a look."

Li Hanxiao traced the three tributaries on the sand table with his fingertips. "If you ask me why I'm going to take Dongxi Village, Xixi Village, and Huandao Village, besides for the sake of troops and supplies, there's another reason. The strategist wrote 'On the Yi River' back then, and his achievements in water conservancy are no less than mine. Now, with this sand table in front of me, it's as if the real mountains and rivers are clearly visible. If someone were to build a dam here to block the Dongxi River, divert the Xixi River to the canal, and then intercept the water upstream of Huandao Village..."

Li Han laughed as he spoke, then suddenly grabbed a handful of cinnabar, letting the crimson sand slip through his fingers into the water model: "In less than three months, the eight-hundred-mile-long lake will be three zhang (approximately 10 meters) shallower!"

Wen Huanzhang's relaxed brows suddenly stopped, then furrowed into a knot. He realized the seriousness of the situation and felt that he, as the strategist, had failed in his duty, failing to see such a major hidden danger. Cold sweat broke out on his back.

He was shocked to realize that the seemingly ordinary stream in the three villages was actually the lifeblood of Liangshan. Back when this place was the Juye Marsh, a vast marshland, who would have thought that this mighty water would dry up like a dried-up marsh!

As he smiled, Li Hanxiao took out a scroll of "Minjiang Engineering Map" from his bosom. The parchment scroll was marked with vermilion marks such as "building weirs to impound water" and "constraining water to attack sand," which were the secret water control techniques of Li Bing during the Qin Dynasty.

But this young man, who seemed unlikely to have much knowledge of hydraulic engineering, pointed his finger at the sand table of Dongxi Village: "The gravel layer in this riverbed is seven feet two inches thick. A trapezoidal intercepting weir should be built—six zhang wide at the top for a horse walkway, and eighteen zhang wide at the bottom, rammed earth, and the water-facing side should be lined with fish-scale stones using glutinous rice mortar."

The strategist Wen Huanzhang observed intently. On the sand table, contour lines were inlaid with copper wire. The model of the Dongxi River contained hidden secrets. Under the water, the "deep shoal" area was marked with celadon shards, and the "low weir" location was outlined in red paint on the riverbank. This exquisite detail was the result of Li Hanxiao's secret dispatch of "Living Yama" Ruan Xiaoqi to lead a team to dive and measure for three months after he joined Liangshan.

It turns out that he had already made long-term plans and arrangements for water conservancy, but only brought it up recently.

The crucial position of Xixi Village lies here.

Li Hanxiao suddenly pulled out a bronze ruler inlaid with gold, its markings on the Twenty-Eight Mansions accurate to the minute. He measured a river bend on the west side of the model: "The curvature here conforms to the Pythagorean theorem's 'three-four-five' rule. If a diversion dam is built to guide the water flow, it can prevent siltation for a hundred years."

As he spoke, he inserted the end of the ruler into the sand table, which revealed half of a water conservancy project diagram—the sluice gate was made of the wood from the huangchang ticou of Han tombs, the weir body imitated the structure of the Hangou Daiyan, and the water diversion point subtly corresponded to the orientation of the Big Dipper.

"I truly admire the chieftain's profound wisdom and foresight. It seems that the chieftain comes from a family with a long history of learning. Compared to the chieftain, my humble knowledge of water conservancy is like a firefly compared to the bright moon!"

Wen Huanzhang was dumbfounded and couldn't help but sigh. In the thousands of years of Chinese history, there have been very few water conservancy facilities that have been able to maintain their function for thousands of years and still benefit the local area. Dujiangyan is one of the best among them. Its builders, Li Bing and his son, were the ancestors of Li Hanxiao. With such a family tradition, how could Li Hanxiao not understand the supreme method behind it?

"If we build water conservancy projects but fail to defend this village and it is instead occupied by the enemy, they can then use the water conservancy projects to attack us!"

Wen Huanzhang was worried about this matter, but he never expected that Li Hanxiao had already anticipated it. He roared, as if he was sending a message to someone. Suddenly, the sound of water roared outside the village. It turned out that the "self-breaking dam" that Li Hanxiao had ordered people to build in the past few days had been successfully tested.

This ingenious device uses bamboo cages filled with stones as its framework, and is filled with clay mixed with broken porcelain. Under normal water levels, it is as stable as Mount Tai. If an enemy poisons the water or diverts the flow, simply removing the key bamboo pins will cause the dam to automatically collapse and release the floodwater. Previously, Li Hanxiao sent "Nine-Tailed Turtle" Tao Zongwang and a group of people to divert a stream in the back mountain, using this "self-collapse dam" to store water and form a barrier lake in the back mountain. Now that the water has been stored enough, it is just right to destroy this "self-collapse dam" and guide the excess water down the mountain, forming a flowing stream that is easy to draw water from.

"Wow! What a masterpiece!"

Wen Huanzhang was no ordinary man; how could he not see that this thing was indeed powerful? It turned out that this thing was originally a water conservancy facility created by Li Bing when Qin general Sima Cuo entered Shu and destroyed the Shu and Ba kingdoms during the reign of King Huiwen of Qin. However, the people of Ba and Shu were no match for the fierce Qin army. Although they lost their country and land and their army was wiped out, they broke up into small groups and secretly poisoned the water or destroyed the water conservancy facilities. Li Bing was forced to come up with this "self-collapse dam" as a way to deal with it.

"I think this matter should be handled sooner rather than later. First, send three detachments of troops down the mountain to occupy the three villages, with grain and rice to appease the people. Also, bind the local tyrants, corrupt officials, and gentry, and put them on a public trial in front of the people. Kill those who deserve to die, and distribute their property and land to the people to win their hearts. Furthermore, have Tao Zongwang take charge of water conservancy matters, starting with Xixi Village, to carry out water conservancy projects!"

Li Hanxiao's words were absolutely right; he had thought of everything. Wen Huanzhang, on the other hand, felt somewhat ashamed, as he hadn't thought of that ahead of time. That day, the "Nine-Tailed Turtle" Tao Zongwang led two hundred mountain soldiers skilled in water engineering to Xixi Village.

These men carried not only steel knives at their waists, but also level compasses, water-probing iron rods, and other items. The "water-dividing fish mouth" at the shallow part of the stream flowing past the Dragon King Temple at the village entrance had been quietly widened by three feet, subtly corresponding to the number of the Twenty-Eight Mansions—this is the essence of Li Bing's Six-Character Formula, "The water-dividing fish mouth determines the fate of heaven and earth."

Tao Zongwang, the "Nine-Tailed Turtle" craftsman, started work quickly and completed half of the task in half a day. He is now leading his men to bury the "Stone Rhinoceros to Suppress the Water".

The stone beast is hollow inside, with a bronze toad-shaped dew-collecting plate inside. At midnight on the first and fifteenth of each month, moonlight shines through the holes in the beast's eyes onto the bronze plate, allowing one to read the water level markings on the plate's surface.

What's even more ingenious is that the animal's hooves conceal a mechanism that triggers a bell alarm when the water level exceeds the warning line. Once the alarm is triggered, the soldiers on the dam immediately activate the "self-collapse dam," ensuring absolute safety.

Meanwhile, two elite troops were dispatched to guard the Dongxi Ferry and the pass of Huandao Village. In Xixi Village, in addition to Tao Zongwang, "Moyun Jinchi" Ou Peng was stationed. Following Li Hanxiao's orders, he distributed grain to appease the people and began to purge the local tyrants and evil gentry.

In Dongxi Village, Liu Tang, the "Red-Haired Devil," was stationed there. He had previously driven away the brothers Zhang Bofen and Zhang Zhongxiong. Although Chao Gai, the "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King," was injured, it was not a big deal. He did help Liu Tang with some work. However, Lu Hui, the "Yin-Yang Hand," was seriously injured in the arm and was sent back to the mountain stronghold for treatment by Shi Yong, the "Stone General." Li Hanxiao also transferred Zhu Jing, the "Sky-Drilling Spear," to Chao Gai's manor for service.

While Liangshan Marsh was making a big move, let's leave that aside for now and turn to the government office in Jizhou. Zhang Shuye stared at his two sons sleeping soundly on the bed, crushing the porcelain bowl in his hand to pieces.

Zhang Bofen, his left arm wrapped in blood-soaked burlap, clashed with Chao Gai, the "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King," and suffered an arm injury.

Zhang Zhongxiong's chest and abdomen were bare, wrapped in strips of cloth and bandaged with wound medicine. He had been injured by Lu Hui's "Yin Yang Hand" double-headed snake spear in Dongxi Village a few days ago. Fortunately, the wound was not very deep, otherwise it would have been difficult to treat and might have cost him his life.

"Sir, our scouts report that the bandits have made another move!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuye hurriedly returned to the front hall, only to learn that Li Hanxiao had sent troops to occupy the three villages. Prefect Zhang slammed his gavel on the blue brick floor: "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are subjects of the king! How dare these Liangshan bandits occupy villages and seize strongholds! How audacious! Immediately summon the newly appointed military commander, Zhang Bao!"

Zhang Shuye was furious, because the bandits of Liangshan Marsh had openly occupied state land. It was already easy to deal with them since they were just living in the marsh, but now that they had the intention to annex state land, how could this not be serious?

However, both of his powerful sons were injured. It was not a good idea to confront Liangshan Marsh head-on. He had to find another way. He could not fight them directly, but he also had to find a way to stop them. Otherwise, what would become of the court's face and dignity?

Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," stood aside without saying a word. He knew that Zhang Shuye did not trust him and even asked him to invite Song Jiang, the "righteous protector," to serve him. Wu Yong only wanted to be the top dog under Zhang Shuye. Therefore, he not only did not correct any mistakes Zhang Shuye made, but also watched coldly. He waited until Zhang Shuye hit a wall and suffered a bloody defeat before he remembered Wu Yong's merits and came to him for advice, treating him as an honored guest.

After Zhang Bao was promoted, Zhang Shuye thought he should also be given a formal official position, so he promoted him to be the instructor of the Jizhou Prefecture and to train the troops.

The newly appointed military commander was practicing martial arts in the training ground. He wielded a nine-foot-long iron staff with the force of wind and thunder. It was one of the seventy-two unique skills of Shaolin Temple, widely known in Dengfeng, Henan Province, namely the "Subduing Demon Staff Technique".

"Instructor Zhang, the master summons you!"

Upon hearing the summons, Zhang Bao knelt on one knee and slammed his iron rod into the ground, shattering a three-foot-long blue brick into pieces. He then put away the iron rod and went to see Zhang Shuye.

Upon seeing Zhang Baofu, Zhang Shuye sighed inwardly: "This man's strength is comparable to my two sons, and his martial arts are not weak. He might be able to avenge my sons' defeat. However, we must outsmart him, not attack him head-on. We need to use a clever strategy to thwart the Liangshan bandits' attempt to occupy the villages and towns, while avoiding further losses."

Zhang Shuye reasoned that since these bandits had gone down to the villages and towns, they would not be too heavily guarded, and their troops would be scattered and few in number. If elite troops were to launch a night raid on the villages, catching the bandits off guard, killing one of their generals, and then quickly retreating, it would avoid the loss of soldiers and generals, and also deter the Liangshan bandits.

Even if the bandits were enraged and wanted revenge, Zhang Shuye was certain they wouldn't dare to approach Jizhou City to attack it. After this incident, they would never dare to invade villages and towns again. After all, with the treasures before them, if the imperial army were to launch another night attack on them, they would certainly not receive any help.

Wu Yong, the "wise strategist," smiled without saying a word, sitting on the mountain watching the tigers fight.

Therefore, at midnight, Zhang Bao obeyed the order and led two hundred elite soldiers, who were gagged, to Xixi Village.

As Zhang Bao watched the outline of Xixi Village gradually emerge, he and the others hurried forward. When they reached the village entrance, they suddenly heard a flapping sound from the group—it was a newly recruited Hebei soldier who had stolen the rooster that crowed at the village entrance. The rooster, bound by rope, was flapping its wings.

Just as Zhang Bao was about to reprimand it, the beast suddenly stretched its neck and crowed loudly, its crowing echoing across the fields.

The crescent moon hung like a hook, and the ancient locust tree at the entrance of Xixi Village rustled in the night wind.

The soldiers patrolling Liangshanbo suddenly perked up their ears—at the hour of Yin (3:45 AM), which should have been completely silent, the sound of roosters crowing could be heard one after another. Not only roosters crowing, but even the guard dogs of every household were barking loudly, and for a time Xixi Village was in an uproar.

"Golden Wings of the Clouds" Ou Peng's dream was disturbed, but he didn't have time to get angry. He immediately organized his men. If there was any disturbance at night, something must be going on. Moreover, he had just arrived today, so he had to be careful in everything he did!

Ou Peng flipped over and leaped onto the wall, looking out into the distance. Under the moonlight, the large polearm in his hand gleamed coldly. He saw figures moving about in the woods at the village entrance, their armor gleaming coldly in the night. What else could they be but enemies?

Zhang Bao cursed under his breath, kicking the chicken-stealing soldier to the ground. Looking at the torches gradually lighting up the village and the now alert Liangshan soldiers, Zhang Bao had no choice but to raise his iron rod, his roar shaking the leaves: "Men, follow me and kill!"

"Those damned government troops are here again! Brothers, charge!"

Ou Peng also led the Liangshan troops to meet them. As the two waves merged, blood splattered. Ou Peng had already wielded his large polearm like a silver python, with blood splattering wherever the blade passed. Suddenly, he felt a strong wind behind his head. When he turned around to parry the blade, sparks flew. The iron rod actually plowed a half-foot-long deep groove on the polearm.

The two men locked eyes. Zhang Bao's arm muscles were bulging, and his iron rod swept across like a raging wave. Ou Peng, on the other hand, was like a golden roc in the clouds, his eight-foot-long sword flying lightly and nimbly, always deflecting immense force at the last moment.

Forty rounds passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Bao used his iron staff to strike the center with "Azure Dragon Swings its Tail," but Ou Peng leaped into the air with his saber tip, and his large saber slashed down from mid-air like a cascading silver river.

Amidst the clanging of metal, the two men each took three steps back. Zhang Bao's iron rod sank deep into the rammed earth, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the blue brick wall behind Ou Peng.

The fires in the village grew ever brighter, and the sounds of battle startled the owls into cawing. This was precisely:

Before the autumn wind stirs, the cicadas sense it; a sudden, unpredictable attack leads to death without warning.

Do not assume the government troops have a better chance of winning; the rooster's crow will break the banners.