2. Song Jiang's family

Song Jiang was born in the sixth year of the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, in 1073, which is a leap year, the Year of the Ox.

It is said that the specific time of birth is the evening of the Lantern Festival, when the third son of Taigong Song was born, and there were two older brothers in front of him, one named Song Hai and Song He. In fact, Song Jiang also has two younger brothers, one is Song Qing in the Water Margin, and the other is Song Huai, because the Water Margin legend writes Song Jiang and Song Qing, and the others are not famous.

First of all, Song Taigong, his name is Song Jinzhong, he is the father of Song Jiang of Liangshan, whose ancestors lived in Yuncheng, Shandong, and taught his son to be loyal and filial piety. In the Water Margin, his two sons (Song Jiang and Song Qing) both became the leaders of Liangshan, of which Song Jiang ranked first among the 100 single and eight generals. Other sons work as farmers at home.

Song Jiang's hometown is in Songjia Village, Yuncheng County, which is now Shuibao Village, Shuibao Township. This is a very old village, called Liaoqiu in the Shang Dynasty, and also served as the governor of Yanzhou, and the famous military figure Sun Zhi in the Warring States period was also born here.

Song Jiang's father, Song Taigong, was a well-known doctor here, who often helped the poor and gave people free medical treatment. One year there was a famine and countless people starved to death, so Taigong Song bought 80 acres of righteous land and buried the dead victims.

The Song TaigongZhuang Courtyard covers an area of more than 20 acres, with a mansion in front and a garden in the back. The garden is full of exotic flowers and plants, and every year when the spring flowers bloom, people from near and far come here to see the flowers. There is an eye well under the large locust tree in the garden, and Song Jiang often helps his father to carry water from this well to water the flowers. In the summer, Song Taigong liked to sleep in the afternoon under the big tree in the back garden, and Song Jiang drove away the pigs and sheep and livestock early, lest he wake up his father, and then while reading, he used a banana fan to cool his father. When his father was sick, Song Jiang waited at the bedside day and night, taking water and medicine, asking for warmth.

After Song Jiang became an escort, he often arrested errands to handle cases, offending many evil people. In order not to implicate his father, he pretended to break off relations with his father, but still visited him often. A tunnel was dug under the Third Buddha of the Buddhist Hall and led directly into the well in the garden, just in case. After Song Jiang angrily killed Yan Boxi, he hid in this tunnel and escaped the pursuit of officers and soldiers.

After Song Jiang forced himself to Liangshan, Chao Gai sent someone to carry Song Taigong up Liangshan with a palanquin and set fire to the courtyard. Later, when they heard that there was a tunnel in the courtyard, the officers and soldiers dug three feet into the old mansion and did not find it, but since then they have formed a large heart-shaped pit. The common people call it Song Pit, also called Loyalty Pit. This pit is very strange, there have been many times in history people who want to build a house in the pit, but every time, the people in the pit are breathless and lose their lives. After a few times, no one dared to pad anymore.

Some people say that after Song Jiang's death, he turned a loyal heart into a big pit on the old mansion, how can he fill in the soil? Some people also say that Song Jiang's sister-in-law is very stingy, just to hang herself in order to hurt the family property, and wants to occupy her house, so how to do it. As a result, the folk song "Prefer to live in a cowshed, don't pad the faithful pit" has been circulating in the village ever since.