Among the four masterpieces, "Water Margin" is a very grounded novel, and the 108 in the book will be heroic and heroic, and will be called heroes by posterity. These heroes can be described as like-minded and fiercely loyal, and Liangshan Poshang is even more brotherly.
But at the end of the novel, the once glorious and united good men of Liangshan end in fragmentation, and these heroes are also hidden in the end, which makes people sad. And such an ending, in fact, has long been laid at the beginning of the book, and the author only tells the ending of the story through a name in Liangshan. This person, like a "traitor in the imperial court", introduced the good men of Liangshan into their own endings.
First, there is a good man on Liangshan
When it comes to the leader of Liangshan, everyone's first reaction is Song Jiang, but Song Jiang is actually not the first person to go to Liangshan, and the original leader has someone else. This person is Wang Lun, who is called "White Clothed Xiushi" in the jianghu, and through this nickname, it can be seen that this person is a reader.
At that time, he rebelled because he was dissatisfied with what the imperial court had done, and as a scholar, he could be said to have no power to tie the chicken, and naturally could not provoke wrongdoing. But at this time, two like-minded friends appeared, namely Du Qian, who "touched the sky" and Song Wan, who was "King Kong in the Clouds". They supported Wang Lun as the first person in Liangshan.
At this time, Liangshan can be called a small base area, and it is also due to the incompetence of this scholar leader that Liangshan cannot expand and develop rapidly. When Lin Chong defected to Liangshan, he was afraid that Lin Chong would seize the throne, so Wang Lun made every effort to make things difficult for Lin Chong. At this time, Chao Gai led his brothers to Liangshan, Lin Chong took the opportunity to kill Wang Lun, and everyone supported Chao Gai as the commander of Liangshan, and from then on, Liangshan was on the right track.
The personalities of Chao Gai and Wang Lun are simply worlds apart, and Chao Gai's radical personality makes Liangshan's strength flourish. Recruiting soldiers and horses, accumulating grain and grass, Liangshan from top to bottom, a new look. It can be said that Chao Gai saved Liangshan, and Liangshan also achieved Chao Gai. Chao Gai's consonant is "Chao Gai", which means to cover the imperial court, so some people say that the name Chao Gai is destined to lead Liangshan to kill a bloody road.
Later, Song Jiang also joined Liangshan, and Liangshan ushered in a second development. This development is not insignificant, because the prestige of the Song River in the rivers and lakes is very huge, so later many generals are rushing to the Song River, but as the saying goes, "the sun is in the middle of the day, the moon is eating", Liangshan in the unprecedented prosperity, ushered in a turning point of fate.
II. "Adultery in the Imperial Court"
During the war against Zengtou City, Chao Gai was wounded by an arrow and was poisoned and killed after returning to Liangshan. Chao Gai's unexpected death was a huge loss for Liangshan, which meant that Liangshan's thriving trend would also end with his death.
Chao Gai died unexpectedly, Liangshan must not be without a master, Song Jiang lived up to expectations and became the new head of Liangshan's family. Song Jiang people call it "timely rain", and for Liangshan, it is indeed like timely rain. Liangshan did not part ways because of Chao Gai's departure, but became more united, and Song Jiang led the brothers to usher in the second spring of Liangshan.
It can be seen that Song Jiang's nickname of "Timely Rain" is not in vain. But this nickname also conveys the message that timely rain can only solve the needs of the moment, and cannot last. As we all know, when Chao Gai was alive, the brothers all came to discuss matters in the "Juyi Hall", but when Song Jiang arrived, it was directly changed to "Zhongyi Hall", which also implied that Song Jiang still had illusions about the imperial court and wanted to be loyal and filial.
The name Song Jiang also has a deep meaning, "breaking the Jiangshan". After solving the problem of Zengtou City, Liangshan's 108 will unite and make Liangshan reach its peak, but as soon as the policy of Zhao'an comes out, Liangshan begins to decline. When Song Jiang began to have the idea of recruiting security, Liangshan began to accept the tasks issued by the imperial court. Accepting these tasks means that the imperial court is disintegrating Liangshan little by little.
At this time, Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Lin Chong and other brothers were all opposed to Zhao'an, because these people had already seen through the decay and incompetence of the officialdom, so at this time there was a disagreement within Liangshan, and in the battle of Fang La, Liangshan suffered heavy losses, and many excellent generals on Liangshan were extremely disappointed in Song Jiang.
Song Jiang also disregarded his former brotherly feelings and was indifferent to his seriously injured brothers. Although at first Song Jiang's heart was for the brothers' great future, it backfired, and Liangshan was cut off from Song Jiang's hands from this moment.
Why did Song Jiang ignore anyone's persuasion and only want to recruit security? It is because Song Jiang's purpose of entering Liangshan at the beginning was not simple, Song Jiang was a literati in the official field before he defected to Liangshan, and he was only forced to go to Liangshan because of his livelihood, but Song Jiang's yearning for the official field has always been hidden in his heart and never forgotten.
Later, Song Jiang tried his best to pass on his ideas to the other brothers on Liangshan, trying to persuade them and change their thinking, but for these "big old men", this was simply impossible. At this time, Zhao'an happened to give Song Jiang hope again, and he wanted to recommend his brother in Liangshan to the imperial court as an official, so as to help him lay his own share of the world in the imperial court and betray his brother who shared happiness and suffering.
Third, Shi Nai'an was already revealed when he took the name
Of course, what the above seems to be missing is a finishing touch, that is, the author gives the characters names, is meticulous, and has informed the end of the story from the beginning of creation. The name Song Jiang can not only be interpreted as "sending Jiangshan", but also at the beginning of the story can also be understood as "Song General", a "Song General" with the value of a scholar was sent to Liangshan to help the imperial court eliminate the evil forces, and finally used the imperial court to bury the entire Liangshan.
A good literary work is to study the deep meaning behind it, as well as the original intention of each character's setting, and explore the ending of the story from all angles, but everyone is in a different angle, and there will not be an accurate answer, as long as the fun is enough. Therefore, "Water Margin" is worthy of the four famous works in China, which shows that Shi Nai'an's penmanship is so good.
4. Summary
The prosperity and decline of Liangshan were directly related to Song Jiang, and at first Song Jiang's original intention of accepting Zhao'an may have been to have a good home for the brethren, but contrary to their wishes, the imperial court did not give Liangshan a heavy use, but directly abandoned Liangshan and made it disintegrate.
It can be seen that the plan does not change quickly. Things cannot be set according to expectations, at this time it is very important to seek truth from facts and widely absorb opinions, if you just blindly impose on reality according to your own ideas, you can only end in tragedy. Dialectically speaking, things are a process from generation to development, and finally to extinction, perhaps without Song Jiang, Liangshan will also go to extinction, it is only a matter of time.