In the vast majority of literary works, the story will always end with "the protagonist has a complete life", which is in line with the reader's desire, after all, who would want to accept the setting that he watched the protagonist who grew up all the way end up with a miserable ending? So when I first read "Water Margin", I still felt surprised when I saw the tragic ending, and the author even thought that I was buying a pirated book.
Yes, why did the heroes of Liangshan, who were high-spirited at the beginning, die one after another as if they had lost their immortal golden bodies when they arrived at the first section of the expedition to Fangla? Even after they returned victoriously, even Song Jiang, who was the eldest brother, could not escape the fate of being poisoned by poisoned wine?
1. Tragic ending
It is undeniable that the final ending of "Water Margin" and the early story do give readers a strong sense of separation.
For example, the author spent a lot of pen and ink at the beginning of the story to create the characters of Wu Song and Lu Zhishen, taking these two as examples, saying that they are "top powerhouses" is just an objective description, according to the author, these two people are not as strong as humans at all.
(Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Lin Chong stills)
Where is Wu Song's feat of fighting a tiger in Jingyanggang that ordinary people can do? When others see the tiger, they are afraid that they are so frightened that it will become a problem to even stand firm, but Wu Song can hammer the tiger to death with his bare hands, and he is even more fierce than the tiger.
And Lu Zhishen is more simple and rude, you look at his description when he uprooted the weeping willows: "Zhishen looked at each other, walked to the tree, took off the straight jacket, went down with his right hand, turned his body upside down, but pulled his left hand up, took his waist and pulled up the green poplar tree." When all the splashes saw this, they all bowed to the ground and shouted, 'Master is not a mortal, but a real Arhat!
They are indeed not mortals, but the experience of Wu Song and Lu Zhishen is not magical, the really powerful big brother Song Jiang.
There is such an outrageous plot in the forty-second chapter of the original work: "The Jade Emperor is temporarily punished because the star lord's demon heart has not been broken and the road has not been completed, and he will soon return to the Purple Mansion, and he must not forget it in the slightest." If he sins in the future, I will not be able to save you. These three volumes of the book can be well read and familiarized. It can only be viewed with the Celestial Machine, and nothing else is visible. When it is done, it can be burned, and it should not be left alive. Remember, what you have commanded. Seeing that today is far apart, it is difficult to stay for a long time, and you should return quickly. ”
This is the Nine Heavens Xuannu teaching the Book of Heaven to Song Jiang, good guy, this is directly moving out the immortals.
If people have divine help, Song Jiang really has divine help, but why can he still be poisoned in the end?
Maybe a plot from the time of the expedition to Tianhu can give you the answer.
2. Loyalty is the foundation of the foundation
There are so many heroes in the world, why only the heroes of Liangshan led by Song Jiang have the help of immortals?
During the expedition to Tianhu, the "Phantom Demon King" Qiao Daoqing made the demon law turn the plain into the sea, and once forced the soldiers of Liangshan into a desperate situation, but none of the heroes flinched, and at this time, there were immortals who took action.
Afterwards, Wu Yong had this conversation with Song Jiang: "Everyone entered the village one after another, and recounted the defeat and trapped in the gods. Wu used his hand to add his forehead and said: "Respect Wu Ji, and the earth god is also." The elder brother is loyal and righteous, and he touches the god of the earth. Soil can overcome water. Song Jiang and the others realized and thanked them in the sky. ”
Song Jiang and the others were blessed by the gods, but because of their loyalty.
(Song Jiang stills)
In fact, when Liangshan gathered righteousness later, everyone also took the word "righteousness" first, and this is the key to the problem, Liangshan will perish, but because Song Jiang accepted six people who should not be accepted, and those six people can be called black sheep, because they are all unrighteous people.
3. The unrighteous
The first is the "Bantam Tiger" Wang Ying, Wang Ying can be called one of the happiest heroes on Liangshan, after all, he married Hu Sanniang, who is like a flower and jade.
Most readers are puzzled, why did Song Jiang give that heroine to Wang Ying, an ugly monster? It is precisely because he owes Wang Ying a favor.
(Wang Ying stills)
At the beginning, Wang Ying fell in love with Liu Gao's wife, the Zhizhai of Qingfeng Village, but his brother Yan Shun was worried that Wang Ying would do bad things because of his lust, so he took it upon himself to kill the woman, and Wang Ying wanted to fight with Yan Shun because of this.
The book only said: "Yan Shun jumped up and said: '...... Ask him what is the matter!' Draw your sword and swing it in two. When Wang Xiaohu saw that he had cut this woman, he was furious in his heart, and he snatched a simple knife and wanted to merge with Yan Shun. Song Jiang and the others got up and persuaded him. ”
For a woman who has nothing to do with him, he has to fight hard with his brother, where can this kind of person stay?
Then there are the three elders of Liangshan, namely Du Qian, Song Wan and Zhu Gui.
These three people were originally mixed with the first owner of the village "White-clothed Xiushi" Wang Lun, at that time they were basically the existence of the second, third and fourth leaders, just from the nickname, whether it is "touching the sky", "King Kong in the clouds" or "dry land law" are particularly domineering.
However, where do these three people have the ability to reach the sky? Du Qian and Song Wan are just two stupid big guys, and Zhu Gui is just a restaurant shopkeeper, at most he is only a little more fierce than ordinary people.
(Du Qian, Song Wan stills)
When Lin Chonghu and Wang Lun, what were they doing as Wang Lun's henchmen?
The book says: "Du Qian, Song Wan, and Zhu Gui were about to come forward to persuade them, but they were closely helped by these few, where did they dare to move? Wang Lun was also looking for a way to go at that time, but was stopped by Chao Gai and Liu Tang. Wang Lun saw that his head was not good, and he shouted: "Where are all my henchmen?" Although there are a few people who know their henchmen around him, they are going to come to the rescue, but seeing Lin Chong's fierce head, who dares to move forward! Lin Chong grabbed Wang Lun, scolded him, went to his heart with only one knife, and fell down on the pavilion with a stab. ”
These three people were frightened by Lin Chong and others, and suddenly lost their heart, they could only watch their eldest brother being killed, and afterwards they called the gang of people who killed the eldest brother brothers, where are they loyal?
The last thing to mention is the Cai brothers.
"Iron Arm" Cai Fu and "One Branch" Cai Qing don't have many scenes in the book, but just a small thing can prove that these two are not loyal people.
They originally accepted Li Gu's silver taels and wanted to kill Lu Junyi, but later they were bribed by the heroes of Liangshan and let Lu Junyi go.
(Cai Qing stills)
They are not because they worship the heroes of Liangshan, but because Liangshan's side has more silver taels, and at the same time, they are also afraid that after Lu Junyi's death, they will not escape death, so as soon as the two brothers are combined, they immediately switched to the Liangshan camp.
Therefore, the so-called "heroes of Liangshan" are not all heroes, there are still a few unrighteous people hidden among them, and Liangshan has become a place where filth and dirt are hidden, how can such a group get a good ending? Liangshan will perish, and Song Jiang will fail, that is a matter of course.