"Water Margin" is a literary work that makes people uneasy, the first time you read this book, if you only read the first half of the story, it will be like a cool text, the heroes of Liangshan are happy to enmity and hatred, punish the traitor and eliminate the evil, the brotherhood between them is enough to make the reader's blood boil, but the second half of the story, especially the bridge section of Zheng Fangla, has become extremely cruel, watching those heroes die one by one, it is really full of mixed feelings.
However, people who read "Water Margin" in middle age will indeed have different feelings, and the sentence "Don't read Water Margin" back then is not unreasonable, because if you look closely at the actions of the heroes of Liangshan, they are indeed not good people, and some of them will get a bleak ending, which is really deserved.
But why did even a hero like Lu Zhishen end up with a sudden death?
1. Good people on Liangshan
Why do the heroes of Liangshan have to end up miserable, some people say that it is "historical inevitability", after all, the strong people in the Liangshan camp are like clouds, such as "Yunlong" Gongsun Sheng, "Demon King of the Mixed World" Fan Rui, who is almost invincible, if they are allowed to continue to show their strength, let alone Fang La, even the later Jin Kingdom will inevitably be destroyed by them, so the author chose to hide Gongsun Sheng, and even let him retire before the expedition to Fang La, which is also the reason.
(Lu Zhishen, Lu Junyi stills)
But putting aside the statement of "historical inevitability", there are indeed many heroes on Liangshan who do not deserve a good ending.
For example, the eldest brother Song Jiang, can he really be regarded as a good person? He is indeed a philanthropist, has made friends with good men in the world, and his prestige is resounding throughout the green forest, but is he really that good? He can actually kill his brother in the name of his loyalty, and the loyal dog Li Kui beside him has become a victim of fulfilling his name of loyalty, and it is only natural that he was poisoned to death.
Look at Li Kui again, that guy is a murderous demon, when Jiangzhou robbed the law field, everyone else was thinking about how to rescue Song Jiang, but he seemed to be immersed in the pleasure of killing, and even the innocent people on the side died tragically under his board axe, how can this kind of devil deserve a good ending? So even if he can live until after the expedition to Fangla, the author must arrange for Song Jiang to give him a death in order to interpret the hatred in the hearts of the people.
(Song Jiang, Li Kui stills)
But what mistake did Lu Zhishen make?
Second, the end of the hero
Is Lu Zhishen a hero? Most people's answer is yes, but if you really read the original book carefully, it is not difficult to find that he may not even be a "good person."
Of course, he has a warm-hearted side, when he helped Jin Cuilian teach the town of Guanxi, that bridge made people applaud, but if you think about it carefully, his actions are actually an abuse of lynching, of course, Lu Zhishen is still out of kindness at this time.
However, Lu Zhishen has also done a lot of evil things in the book.
For example, when he grabbed the old monk's gruel in the broken clay pot temple, the book only said: "Zhishen said: 'I am a monk in the past, what is the stake in begging for a meal?' The old monk said: 'We have not had food in three days, and we are begging for food to eat with you.'" Zhishen said: "I am a monk from Wutai Mountain, and I also invite the family to eat half a bowl of porridge." The old monk said, "You are a monk from where the living Buddha goes, and we should fast you." The monks in our temple are scattered, and there is not a grain of fasting food. The old monk waited for three days of hunger. Zhishen said: "Nonsense! This is such a big place, I don't believe that there is no fasting." ’…… Zhishen scolded: "You old monks are unreasonable! I only said that I had no food for three days, and now I see a pot of porridge." Why did the monks lie?' The old monks ate Zhishen and found porridge, but they only cried bitterly, and snatched the bowls, plates, bells, ladles, and buckets. ”
People who have really read the original book may find it difficult to recognize him as a good person, right?
(Ruda stills)
In fact, the author has never shied away from Lu Zhishen's evil, and even when this character left, he used a line to summarize Lu Zhishen's life.
The book only says: "I don't cultivate good fruits in my life, I only love to kill people and set fires." Suddenly, the golden flail was opened, and the jade lock was torn off here. Hey, the tide on the Qiantang River came to me, and today I know that I am me. ”
How can a person who only loves to kill people and set fires be a good person? The author let him listen to the tide and pass away, which is considered a good treatment.
But who did he hurt? Most people may have overlooked a detail, he hurt a woman and lost her reputation.
3. Do bad things with good intentions
Lu Zhishen is a monk, so naturally he will not take the initiative to destroy people's innocence, but he didn't expect that his unintentional actions would harm a woman.
That woman was the daughter of Mrs. Liu.
(Lu Zhishen, Zhou Tong stills)
At the beginning, Mrs. Liu's daughter was taken by Zhou Tong, and she was almost arrested by the little overlord to be Mrs. Zhai, but Lu Zhishen took action and saved Mrs. Liu's daughter, just taste the process, you will find something wrong.
Lu Zhishen pretended to be the daughter of Mrs. Liu and Zhou Tongdong, and then beat Zhou Tong violently when the black light was blinding, and there is a detail here.
The original book said: "Zhishen took over a single chair and table in the room, put the ring knife at the head of the bed, leaned on the side of the bed with a Zen stick, put down the gold tent, stripped naked, jumped on the bed and sat down...... Taigong hurriedly put the lamp and candle, led the little minions, and rushed in together. When everyone looked under the lamp, they saw a fat monk, with no trace of nakedness, riding over the king and beating in front of the bed. ”
Lu Zhishen had already taken off his shirt before Zhou Tong arrived, hiding on the break, and he beat Zhou Tong violently, and the book emphasized that Lu Zhishen is currently in an unclothed state from the perspective of Zhou Tong's younger brothers.
What does Lu Zhishen mean by this? It stands to reason that if he wants to dress like a bride, he should wear a wedding dress, otherwise Zhou Tong can see at a glance that he is a big fat monk?
(Lu Zhishen, Liu Taigong stills)
In fact, most people don't understand the author's deep meaning, and they also underestimate Lu Zhishen's wisdom, what he wants to do in this battle is not only to teach Zhou Tong a lesson, but to make Zhou Tong completely lose interest in the daughter of Mrs. Liu, after all, what he did was that Zhou Tong saw that the daughter of Mrs. Liu had already had a big monk who was not clothed, and he would inevitably think that this woman had already lost her innocence, where would he be determined to marry her?
Even if Lu Zhishen left later, he would not come back to trouble Mrs. Liu's family, after all, he had no interest in this woman.
Lu Zhishen's move was indeed smart, but he forgot that this matter would inevitably be spread, and the reputation of the daughter of Taigong Liu was equivalent to being ruined by him, and he could be regarded as carrying the sin, and the author finally let him quit without illness, which can be regarded as preferential treatment for him.