One of the guardians of the Demon Hero, the Demon Hero - Shi Nai'an

Shi Nai'an (1296-1372), whose real name was Yanduan, whose ancestral home was Hailing County, Taizhou or Kaimen, Wuxian County, Suzhou (now Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province), was a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province), and was generally regarded as a novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and the author of one of China's four great masterpieces, "The Legend of Shui Zhuan".

Regarding his life, there are many theories due to the lack of historical data, and there is even controversy about whether there is such a person. Luo Guanzhong, the author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", is his disciple.

The Legend of the Water is a chapter back novel written in the vernacular in Chinese history, and has been classified as one of the four great literary masterpieces of Chinese classics by later generations.

Its content tells the story of the green forest heroes led by Song Jiang in Liangshanbo, Shandong Province of the Northern Song Dynasty, who were forced to fall into the grass and developed and expanded, until they were recruited by the imperial court and conquered the east and west.

Also known as "The Legend of Zhongyi Shui Zhu", the original name was "The Legend of Jianghu High Rollers", generally referred to as "Shui Zhu", and the whole book was finalized in the Ming Dynasty. The author has always been controversial, and it is generally believed that it was written by Shi Nai'an, while Luo Guanzhong sorted it out, and Jin Shengxi abridged it into seventy copies.

There are different theories about the author of "The Legend of the Water Stream", and the most widely accepted theory is that the author is Shi Nai'an. There are several other views in history, including Luo Guanzhong's theory, Shi Hui's theory, Guo Xun's entrusted name theory, and Song people's theory.

One of the views is that the first 70 chapters of the 100-chapter "The Legend of the Water Pool" were written by Shi Nai'an, and the last 30 chapters were written by Luo Guanzhong. Another view is that the whole book was written by Shi Nai'an, and then edited by Luo Guanzhong. This theory was first seen in the Ming Dynasty Gao Confucian's "Baichuan Shuzhi", which is believed to be "the book of Qiantang Shi Nai'an, edited by Luo Guanzhong". This view is shared by many people in the academic community.

There is also a view that "The Legend of the Water" belongs to the "cumulative mass creation of generations". Because the story about the heroes of Liangshan Bo was first recorded in "Xuanhe's Legacy", it had already begun to circulate in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Before the book was written, there were many related folk legends and opera stories. Therefore, it can be inferred that Shi Nai'an referred to a lot of materials in the creative process, including historical books, notes, and some complete novels, operas, or excerpts from them.

But there is no doubt that Shi Nai'an enriched the character of the characters and the development of the story in the creation of long chapters of the novel.

Hu Shi argued in his "Examination of the Legend of Shui Tu" and the Preface to the Biography of the One Hundred and Twenty Chapters of Zhongyi Shui Tu that "Shi Nai'an" may have been the name of a literati who lived in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, because "at that time, scholars and doctors did not dare to openly write vernacular novels" ("Preface to the Biography of the One Hundred and Twenty Chapters of Zhongyi Shui Zhu"), and the content of the book was indeed suspected of "committing rebellion" and was not tolerated by the ruling class at the time.

The story of "The Legend of Shui Xuan" originated in the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the script "The Remains of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty" described the story of the uprising and rebellion of 36 people including Song Jiang, Wu Jialiang (Wu Yong), and Chao Gai, which initially had the story synopsis of "The Legend of Shui Xuan". Among the books that have been handed down to the world, based on the storyteller's compilation, is the "Blue-Faced Beast". "Flower Monk", "Martial Artist", etc.

Since the historical book of the Southern Song Dynasty, "The Eastern Capital Affair", it has become the main theme of folk literature to the Yuan Dynasty. A script about the story of Shui Chu appeared in the Yuan miscellaneous drama. Passed down to future generations, there is Gao Wenxiu's "Black Whirlwind Double Dedication". Li Wenwei's "Yanqing Boyu" and Kang Jinzhi's "Li Kui Negative Jing", etc.

The whole book of "The Legend of Shui Zhuan" arrived in the Ming Dynasty, and many authors continued to add plots and even stereotypes. There are also opinions that the prototype of the life of the heroes of Liangshan in "The Legend of Shui" is the salt rebellion led by Zhang Shicheng, who has a close relationship with the author Shi Nai'an.

The story describes the different stories of the one hundred and eight generals of Liangshan. From the whole process from them being forced to go to Liangshan one by one, gradually growing stronger, rebelling and rebelling, to accepting Zhao'an after the most rebellious.

Legend has it that the 100 Shan Eight Generals in the Shui Tu are the reincarnations of 36 Tiangang Stars and 72 Earth Evil Stars, who pay attention to loyalty and righteousness, love to fight injustice, rob the rich and help the poor, and are dissatisfied with corrupt officials and corrupt officials.

The novel successfully portrays Song Jiang, Lin Chong, Li Kui, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song and other characters, and also shows readers the political and social conditions of the Song Dynasty.

"Shuizhu" literally means water's edge, referring to the place where the story takes place in Liangshanbo, Shandong. In addition, there is a sentence in the "Book of Songs" that "the ancient prince and the father, who came to the dynasty to walk the horse, led the west to the water, and went to Qixia", which recorded the migration of the tribe led by King Tai of Zhou.

Wang Liqi and Luo Ergang coincidentally pointed out that the title of the book is an analogy between the Juyi of Song Jiang and others and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, proving that the original author affirmed the spirit of the heroes of the uprising who rebelled against the rule.

Song Jiangyuan, the leader of the Shuishui Rebellion, was a grassroots official, but was forced to go to Liangshan to resist tyranny with other Liangshan heroes, "doing the right thing for heaven", and gradually grew stronger.

The story of "The Legend of Shui" is bold and rough, and the whole book expresses its contradictory inner world through the words and actions of the characters, and the character portrayal also has its own characteristics, and the heroes who were forced to go to Liangshan have different growth experiences. The plot twists and turns, the language is vivid, and it has high artistic value.

"The Legend of the Water" has been adapted into a variety of musical forms. Another classical masterpiece "Dream of Red Mansions" mentions the repertoire of "Lu Zhishen's Havoc on Wutai Mountain". Pingshu, Suzhou Pingtan and Shandong Kuaishu all have many classic programs based on "The Legend of Shuizhuan".

Compared with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the strength of "The Legend of the Water" is not in the depiction of political and war scenes, but in the portrayal of the main characters and the depiction of the lives of the citizens. Among them, the main characters of Liangshan, Song Jiang, Lin Chong, Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Li Kui, etc., have distinct personalities and character languages.

In the era of lack of knowledge and mass entertainment, popular novels such as "The Legend of the Water Pool" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" often became the only cultural activities for ordinary people in the form of opera through folk artists.

The fictional characters or fictional stories become historical facts in the eyes of the common people. Many stories, such as "Lu Zhishen uprooted the weeping willows" and "Wu Song fought the tiger", etc., have been talked about by men, women and children all over the years.

The various moral values revealed between the lines of the book, such as the concept of valuing life and death over righteousness, daring to act, robbing the rich and helping the poor, and even "loyalty to the monarch and anti-corruption", have to a considerable extent influenced the public's criteria for judging right and wrong, good and evil. Whether these standards are truly worth publicizing has aroused divergent opinions from all walks of life.

From a historical point of view, the focus of controversy over "Water Pool" focuses on the idea of "serving the country with loyalty" as shown by the main character Song Jiang.

The negative view is generally that Song Jiang's thinking has its limitations, and that the heroes of Liangshan were recruited to conquer bandits from all over the world for the imperial court, which is a tragic end, which is a historical tragedy;

The positive view is generally that Song Jiang was relatively progressive in his thinking compared to other reckless heroes, and could play a positive role in the society at that time.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the literary critic Jin Shengyan called "The Legend of Shuiyun", "Lisao", "Zhuangzi", "Historical Records", "Du Shi" and "The Legend of the West Chamber" as "The Book of Six Talents".

Li Yu designated "The Legend of Shuizhuan" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West" and "Golden Vase Plum" as the "Four Strange Books". Later, the "Four Strange Books" such as "The Outer History of Confucianism", "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "The Legend of the Water Pool" were collectively called the "Six Great Strange Books". But he himself has a very low evaluation of Song Jiang, and in his notebook, there are derogatory comments about Song Jiang everywhere.

In the early 1930s, Lu Xun commented on "The Legend of Shui" in "Three Leisure Collections, the Changes of Hooligans": "The word 'chivalry' gradually disappeared, and robbers rose, but they were also chivalrous, and their banner was 'for the heavens'.

What they oppose is traitors, not the Son of Heaven, and what they rob is civilians, not generals. When Li Kui robbed the Dharma Field, he picked up the board axe and cut it down, and the one who cut it was the spectators.

A "Water Pool", it is very clear: because he does not oppose the Son of Heaven, as soon as the army arrives, he will be recruited to fight other robbers for the country - the robbers who do not "walk for heaven". Finally a minion. 」

There have always been different views on the ideological tendencies of "The Legend of the Water". One view is that the "Legend of the Water" expresses the idea of loyalty. The main representative figure is Li Zhen of the Ming Dynasty.

Another view is that this is a book for robbers, a book for robbers. It was mainly proposed by Zuo Maodi of the Ming Dynasty, who believed that the "Water Legend" had taught the people badly, and the robbers had learned from Song Jiang.

and thinks that if you can't help but destroy "The Legend of the Water", the impact on the world style is unimaginable. At that time, the imperial court accepted his suggestion and confiscated the "Legend of the Water" throughout the country. Another person who holds this view is Kim Sung-hee. This is one of the reasons why he cut it down after seventy rounds.

In the 1950s, in China, the view was that "The Legend of the Shui Huang" was a depiction of a peasant uprising. This view was a mainstream view held by various textbooks, literary histories, and novel histories in Chinese mainland at that time.

In 1975, Chairman Mao also commented on the values of "The Legend of Shui Zhuan": "'Shui Zhuan' only opposes corrupt officials, not the emperor, and covers more than 108 people. Song Jiang surrendered, engaged in revisionism, and changed Chao's Juyi Hall to Zhongyi Hall, which made people recruit peace. Song Jiang's struggle against Gao Yu was a struggle within the landlord class between one faction and the other. Song Jiang surrendered, so he went to fight Fang La. 」

He also said, "The book "Water Pool" is good at surrendering. Make negative teaching materials so that the people know about the surrender faction. His remarks have sparked a "Commentary on the Water Stream" movement in China.

At that time, there was an official view that the book was a book that preached capitulationism, and that Song Jiang was carrying out a capitulationist line and repudiating Chao Gai's revolutionary line. Chao Gai and Song Jiang were two lines of struggle, and after Song Jiang went up the mountain, he rejected Chao Gai, and 108 people did not have Chao Gai's name and his status. (To be continued......)

PS: I went to Hsinchu early in the morning, I was not in front of the computer during the day, I had the whole world to rely on, first rushed to VIP 500 chapters, 500 chapters later, and then wrote the final volume of the fourth part of the whimsical trilogy.