Is there a so-called "protagonist" in "Water Margin"? Anyone who has read the original book should clearly know that this is a group drama, and no character is listed as the protagonist, but in the hearts of some readers, such as the sentence "Lin Chong immediately, Wu Song under the horse" is the best proof, not to mention whether Wu Song is the first person under the horse, at least Lin Chong is not the first general of the Ma Army, after all, there is a Lu Junyi above him.
However, this is enough to prove the reader's love for these two characters, relatively speaking, Wu Song died without a problem, while Lin Chong's ending was not very good, and he finally died in endless torture after being paralyzed.
Why did Shi Nai'an give Lin Chong such a heroic figure such a tragic ending? In fact, everything is for a reason.
First, the fierce man Lin Chong
In fact, from the fact that some readers are willing to regard Lin Chong as an existence on the same level as Wu Song, it proves that this buddy's strength must not be bad, after all, Wu Erye has the magic skills of Jingyanggang to fight tigers, and the author gave him the evaluation of "like the demon lord in the sky, he is really a Tai Sui god in the world", and his strength is naturally needless to say.
(Lin Chong, Lin Niangzi stills)
And Lin Chong is not bad, which can be seen from the hymn given to him by the author.
Said yes: "The inlaid treasure helmet is worn steadily, and the silver armor is worn again." Suluo robe is embroidered with branches, and the lion is densely built with Qiong Yao. The spear of the eight snakes was stiff, and the frost horses neighed frequently. The mountains are all calling Xiao Zhang Fei, and the leopard head Lin Chong is. ”
In fact, unlike the image of the handsome boy in the TV series, Lin Chong in the original book is a leopard with a head and ringed eyes, which looks a little similar to the famous general Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdoms, and he is not a master to be messed with at first glance.
And when it comes to actual combat, the section of the Fengxue Mountain Temple is enough to prove how strong his on-the-spot adaptability is, at that time, he was hungry and cold, but he was able to kill Chapa, Lu Yuhou and Fu'an in an instant.
The book only said: "Lin Chong raised his hand to inspect the shot, and first poked the poor ...... (Lu Yuhou) was so frightened that he couldn't walk. Na Fu'an walked less than ten steps, and was caught up by Lin Chong, only one shot in the back of the heart, and he was poked down again. turned over and came back, but Lu Yuhou could only take three or four steps...... The chest was only mentioned, and it was thrown over on the snow. Shoved the gun on the ground, stepped on his chest with his foot, took out the knife beside him, and went to Lu Qian's face to stand up...... ripped off Lu Qian's upper clothes, slashed the sharp knife into his heart, and his seven orifices burst out of blood, holding his heart and liver in his hand...... He cut off his head early and put it on his gun. ”
(Lin Chong stills)
A set of operations is smooth, decisive and sharp, and it is true that only a ruthless person like him can survive in the world of "Water Margin", where wicked people are rampant.
But Lin Chong was only in the limelight for a while, and later he could be said to have lived a very aggrieved life.
Second, the end of grievance
How did Lin Chong die?
Maybe people who haven't read the original book will think that he was angry with Song Jiang, but in fact, in the process of Liang Shan and Gao Yu's fight, Lin Chong did not show any different anger towards Gao Yu from other heroes.
For example, this description in the seventy-eighth chapter of the original work: "When Song Jiang watched it, it was Lin Chong, the head of a leopard, who came to fight Wang Huan." The two horses intersected, and the armies shouted. Captain Gao stopped his horse before he came to the battle. I only heard the shouts and cheers of the two armies. ”
Of course, he made a move, but if he hated Gao Yu very much in his heart, he would have to scold him at most, but there are no such details in the book.
Later, when Song Jiang let Gao Yu go, you thought he would be angry instantly, but in fact there was no one, there was only one sentence in the book: "Gao Taiwei led the army to chase after him." Turning around the mountain, I didn't see Suo Chao for a long time. As he was walking, Lin Chong, the head of the leopard behind him, led the army to rush and killed for a while. After walking for six or seven miles, it was the blue-faced beast Yang Zhi who led the army to come and kill for a while. ”
Like Yang Zhi, he is just one of the pursuers, and there is nothing special about him.
So the scene in the TV series where Lin Chong was angry to death because Song Jiang let go of Gao Yu is purely a magic change, after all, in the later process of conquering Liao, Tian Hu, and Wang Qing, Lin Chong also made a lot of military achievements, how could he die at this time?
(Lin Chong's death stills)
And Lin Chong's real way of dying was after Zheng Fangla's paralysis.
The book only said: "Song Jiang and the others immediately packed up their military horses and returned to Beijing." Compared with the departure, I didn't want Lin Chong to be paralyzed by wind, Yang Xiong died of back sores, and he died of intestinal sand when the time passed. Song Jiang was sad when he saw it...... Lin Chongfeng was paralyzed, and he couldn't recover, so he stayed in the Liuhe Temple, taught Wu Song to watch, and died in the second half of the year. ”
What could be more painful than a martial arts general, but in the end he was sick in bed, unable to move, and died in endless despair and torment?
For the characters described in the book, Shi Nai'an's arrangement is inevitably too ruthless, but it is still the same sentence, all the fruits are the cause of their own planting, Lin Chong certainly has a heroic side, but he also has a scum side to the extreme.
The things he did to Lin Niangzi back then doomed him to not deserve a good death.
3. Negative people
As the head of the 800,000 forbidden army in the capital, Lin Chong's martial arts are naturally not bad, which can also be seen from the fact that he later became the five tiger generals of Liangshan, but such a fierce general, he did not dare to protect his wife when he was humiliated, and even abandoned his wife in order to save his life.
(Gao Yanei, Lin Niangzi stills)
Gao Yanei bullied Lin Niangzi more than once, and Lin Chong was not unaware, he just endured it again and again, and this forbearance also made Gao Yanei more unscrupulous.
Once he knew that Gao Yanei was bullying Lin Niangzi in the house, but he didn't dare to be angry at the crown.
The book only said: "Lin Chong stood on the ladder and shouted: 'Sister-in-law open the door!' The woman listened to her husband's voice and only cared to open the door." Gao Yanei was taken aback, opened the window, jumped off the wall and left. Lin Chong went upstairs, couldn't find Gao Yanei, and asked the lady: 'Haven't you been polluted by this guy?' The lady said: "No." Lin Chong smashed Lu Yuhou's house to pieces and sent the lady downstairs. ”
It's called "sister-in-law" here, it's actually called Lin Niangzi, this is the Song people's honorific title for their wives, there is no need to be entangled, but the strange thing is that the wife is obviously humiliated in the house, where is the time to open the door for him?
(Lin Niangzi, Lin Chong stills)
Judging from the logic of a normal person, knowing that his wife was being bullied, shouldn't he break down the door? What else did he knock on? At this time, his intention to knock on the door was obvious, not to let his wife open the door, but to tell Gao Yanei, "Brother, it's almost over, give both sides a step down", and this is indeed the case, he didn't dare to seek revenge on Gao Yu's family at all.
He even made the move of divorcing his wife later, why? Just because he didn't know who would take a fancy to his beautiful wife, wouldn't it be difficult for him to do it when the time came? It can be said that he was exchanging his wife for a future, but he hadn't changed it yet.
To put it bluntly, Lin Chong looks mighty on the outside, but he is a coward in his bones, how can such a person who can even sell his wife deserve a good ending.