As we all know, the author of "Water Margin" is Shi Nai'an. He was born in 1296 AD and died in 1370 AD, which was the era of the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the era of political power. Therefore, "Water Margin" must have been created before the Establishment of the Ming Dynasty.
Since "Water Margin" tells the story of the uprising of the good Han of Liangshan in the Song Dynasty, it is essentially a propaganda of peasant uprisings, and this kind of thinking now seems to be understandable. But in feudal antiquity, it was undoubtedly a guide to inciting the rebellion of the common people, and it was naturally not tolerated by feudal rule. Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, "Water Margin" has always been a banned book. Not only could the people not circulate it, they could not even discuss it.
Interestingly, although the Qing rulers avoided the book. But during the Ming Dynasty, "Water Margin" was never banned, it has always been a best-selling book in the folk, and even 3-year-old children know the story of Wu Song fighting the tiger. And the later creation of "Journey to the West", the spirit of rebellion contained in it is not as obvious as "Water Margin", but it was listed as a banned book by the Ming Emperor, why is this?
In fact, the biggest secret of why "Water Margin" was not banned is related to the 4 good men surnamed Zhu created by Shi Nai'an. There are 4 famous good men surnamed Zhu on Liangshan, and Presumably everyone has heard about it. One is called Zhu Wu, this name can be described as quite profound, you know, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, it was set as "Hongwu".
In addition, when this Zhu Wu was the owner of the village in Shaohua Mountain in his early years, he had two brothers around him, one named Chen Da and the other named Yang Chun. Doesn't it correspond to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun under Zhu Yuanzhang's command?
The name is so similar that it seems to have been deliberately done by Shi Nai'an. However, Zhu Wu's experience in the novel is not the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's. He is an ostracized military master, more like Liu Bowen, who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in reality. Perhaps, Shi Nai'an is based on the character created by Liu Bowen.
The second and third good men surnamed Zhu were brothers named Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu. Zhu Gui was one of the first elders of Liangshan, older than Chao Gai and Song Jiang. However, although Zhu Gui stayed in Liangshan for a long time, he never entered the management, but served as the treasurer of the Liangshan Hotel.
And his younger brother Zhu Fu is also a hotel manager, and the two end up the same, and in the end they are killed in battle on the way to conquest Fang La. The poor brothers named them "Rich", but they never got involved with riches in their lives.
The fourth good man surnamed Zhu was called Zhu Tong, and this person and Lu Zhishen's experience was somewhat similar. The whole novel has been saving people. For example, Chao Gai, Song Jiang, and Lei Heng were all saved by him. The so-called good people have good rewards, it is precisely because so many people have been saved, and in the end, Zhu Tong's ending is quite satisfactory among the good men of Liangshan, and he also became a feudal official.
These 4 good men surnamed Zhu are not the protagonists in "Water Margin", and the description of them in the novel is only to the point, which can be said to have no sense of existence. But their names hide a key dark line set by Shi Nai'an. It was also this dark line that made the Ming rulers not list such a "reactionary" "Water Margin" as a banned book.
Reading the names of the 4 brothers together, it is not difficult to find this dark line, that is, "Zhu Wutong (Tong) Rich". The meaning is simple and clear, that is, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, everyone became rich and noble together, which is also the biggest secret of Shi Nai'an. Given that this book was written during the Peasants' War at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it can be regarded as a book of prophecy. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang did indeed become emperor in the end.
Since the "Water Margin" hides the meaning of praising Zhu Yuanzhang, it is not surprising that he was not banned by the Ming rulers. It is worth mentioning that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Chongzhen Emperor still banned the Water Margin. The reason is very simple, the leaders of the peasant uprisings in various places at that time, such as Zhang Xianzhong, directly used the "Water Margin" as a military book to rebel against the Ming Dynasty, and was naturally banned nationwide.
In the final analysis, in the late Yuan Dynasty when Shi Nai'an created "Water Margin", Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed able to lead the peasants across the country to turn around, and his praise of Zhu Yuanzhang in the novel was not contrary to the peace. But what the last emperor Chongzhen did not expect was that this book praising Zhu Yuanzhang could in turn become a weapon against the Zhu family dynasty.
It turns out that good literature doesn't have any political stance. On the contrary, it can also become a banner of needlework when appropriate.