Leisurely Reading Water Margin: The Rules of Liangshan and the World of Jianghu in the Spaces Between the Characters

Author: Decade of Chopping Wood
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Mr. Chopping Wood reads Water Margin and uncovers the historical truth of survival at all costs, much like Mr. Wu Si who, in examining historical records, discovers the hidden mechanisms of historical dynamics. Our ancestors were highly intelligent in creating characters and words; they called bandits "green forest people" and "heroic grassland figures," and described becoming a bandit as "leaving the ranks." This naming likely wasn't just because bandits often hid in deep mountains, but perhaps also because their survival methods and principles were closer to the common origins of humanity—the vast wilderness, where many animals live. Disputes between commoners and petty officials, petty officials and lower-ranking officials, lower-ranking officials and high-ranking officials, and high-ranking officials and the emperor were not decided by reason or law, but by the violent resources each side possessed. The entire Great Song Dynasty seemed to be composed of countless small Laiyangs, all adhering to the principle of "when it's time to act, act." What was used to act wasn't law or reason, but money, power, or fists and axes. People despised the professions of male bandits and female prostitutes, yet implicitly acknowledged that they were also forms of trade—just special kinds of trade. One was a trade of blood and life, while the other was a trade of flesh and body. Their common characteristic was that they both sold the most fundamental—and perhaps last—resources of humans: life and body! In other words, they bet their lives and bodies for money. In the face of money and power, justice was so pale. Not all Laiyang people were like Li Kui, who had nothing but violence as their language. They once thought about reasonable procedures and just outcomes, but the Great Song never satisfied their most basic hopes.