Water Margin (Complete 60 volumes)

Author: Shi Nai'an
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The Water Margin is one of the most beloved classical vernacular novels in Chinese history. The author narrates it in the form of a serial illustration. The entire book primarily focuses on the peasant uprising led by Song Jiang, artfully depicting the tragic and heroic struggle of ancient Chinese people against oppression. The work fully exposes the corruption and cruelty of the feudal ruling class, reveals the sharp social contradictions of the time, and the brutal reality of "the officials forcing the people to rebel." It successfully portrays a group of heroic characters, including Lu Zhishen, Li Kui, Wu Song, Lin Chong, and Ruan Xiaogu. The novel features intricate plots, vivid language, and distinct character personalities, achieving a high level of artistic excellence. However, the work praises and idealizes Song Jiang, promotes the concepts of "loyalty and righteousness" and "carrying out the Mandate of Heaven," and reflects severe ideological limitations.
The Misguided Release of Demons by Hong Taiji: In the third year of the Jiaju era (1059) of the Renzong reign in the Northern Song Dynasty, an epidemic swept the country, causing more than half of the military and civilian population in the capital and its surroundings to die. Emperor Renzong dispatched Taiji Hong Xin as an angel to Jiangxi Xinzhou Longhu Mountain, summoning the Celestial Master Zhang of the Succession of the Han Dynasty to the court to pray for the elimination of the plague. During his stay at Longhu Mountain, Hong Taiji mistakenly opened the lock of the Demon-Suppressing Hall and knocked down the stone stele carved with dragon and phoenix inscriptions, releasing the 36 Heavenly Stars and 72 Earthly Fiends, who had been locked in a ten-thousand-foot underground cave by the since the Tang Dynasty, back into the human world.
When the new Taiji Gao Taiji took office, he retaliated against General Wang Jin, the head instructor of the 800,000 imperial guards. Wang Jin, being very wise, knew that Gao Taiji would not let him go. That night, he took his mother and secretly left his post, fleeing to Yan'an Prefecture to avoid further persecution from Gao Taiji.