Lín Chōng Climbs Mount Liáng on a Snowy Night
(Lín Chōng Xuěyè Shàng Liángshān
林冲雪夜上梁山)

During the Huīzōng 徽宗 period (AD 1100-1125) of the Northern Sòng 北宋 dynasty (period 15b, AD 960-1127) dynasty, LÍN Chōng 林冲 a martial arts instructor for the 800,000-man imperial army, went with the army to a place named after the nearby East Peak Temple (Dōngyuè Miào 东岳庙), outside the city of Biànjīng 汴京 (modern Kāifēng 开封 in Hénán 河南 province). He was accompanied by his wife Zhēnniáng 贞娘, whom we will simply call Madame Lín.

Along the way he befriended a profligate monk named LǓ Zhìchēn 鲁智琛, and the two hit it off extremely well, for Lǔ, like Lín, was also a martial arts master. While they were off drinking together, Madame Lín was approached by a certain GĀO Péng 高朋, a dissolute wealthy playboy who was very handsome but very spoiled. And having his own way was just what he wanted to do with Madame Lín.

Madame Lín and her maid Brocade (Jǐn’ér 锦儿) were well bred young ladies, and not very effective at fighting off his advances. Fortunately, as Gāo Péng was in the midst of his assault, Lín Chōng returned. Filled with rage, he attacked Gāo Péng and his groveling manservant LÙ Qiān 陆谦 and beat them severely before they managed to escape. (The word Qiān 谦 normally means “polite,” so here we shall call him Smarmy.)

Part of the reason that Gāo Péng was a wealthy playboy rather than an impoverished would-be playboy was that he was the adopted son of a General GĀO Qiú 高球, Lín Chōng’s superior, a position which brought the useless lad both wealth and official protection.

Gāo Péng lost no time in telling his stepfather of Lín Chōng’s “malicious and unprovoked” attack upon him. The elder Gāo was not unaware of his stepson’s tendencies to force himself upon lovely ladies, but he did not want his family attacked by a subordinate. At length a scheme was devised (by Smarmy) by which Lín Chōng could be tricked into committing a more easily punishable offence.

Having become such good friends, Lín Chōng and the profligate monk LǓ Zhìchēn decided to become sworn brothers. After their have sworn their oath of eternal reciprocal loyalty, they were enjoying a celebratory dinner with Madame Lín and her maid Brocade and an elderly friend named ZHĀNG Yǒng 张勇, when there was a commotion outside as a man came by seeking to sell a remarkable sword, a “treasure blade” (bǎodāo 宝刀) of a kind that any military man would love to own. Remarkably, the price was quite cheap for such an object.

The peddler was invited inside, and Lín Chōng, in an expansive mood on this happy occasion, decided to buy the magnificent sword. Not long thereafter, who should arrive but the hated Gāo Péng and Smarmy. Sworn Bother Lǔ, old man Zhāng, and the ladies all withdrew, and Lín Chōng received the unwelcome visitors alone.

They explained that Gāo’s stepfather, General Gāo Qiú had an interest in this blade, and requested —well, ordered, actually— that Lín Chōng bring it to headquarters so that General Gāo could appreciate its magnificent workmanship.

After Gāo Péng and his Smarmy had left, Lín Chōng, though suspicious had no choice but to bring the sword for Gāo Quán’s inspection, so he set out. When he arrived at General Gāo’s headquarters in the White Tiger Hall (Báihǔ Jiétáng 白虎节堂), he was immediately arrested by the guards for daring to enter the place bearing arms.

Despite a vigorous self-defense, Lín Chōng was eventually beaten senseless, and while he was unconscious, his thumb print was affixed to a written confession saying that he had sought to assassinate General Gāo, a capital offense. In chains he was sent for trial to the magistrate at Cāngzhōu 沧州 (in Héběi 河北 province).

With the thumb-printed confession, it all looked right and proper, but to avoid inquiries General Gāo ordered the guards to kill Lín Chōng along the road.

It was a long and painful march, made longer by an encounter with Madame Lín and Brocade, who sang for half an hour about their great grief, with Old Man Zhāng, who bribed the guards to make themselves scarce ruing the scene, providing a male voice as back-up. At length, the time ran out on the bribe and the guards returned, drove the ladies grieving into the woods, and continued on their way with Lín Chōng.

They had a fine time whacking Lín Chōng with heavy cudgels from time to time along the road so they could watch him stagger, and when he was finally close to death anyway, they tied him to a tree in Wild Pig Forest (Yězhū Lín 野猪林) and prepared to drive their swords through him.

But Lín Chōng’s sworn brother, the profligate monk Lǔ Zhìzhēn, had been secretly following them, and just as they were drawing their swords, out he popped. The monk was a large man and very strong, exactly the sort of person one would want as a sworn brother in a troubled age. He soundly thrashed the guards, and then urged Lín Chōng to return to the city of Biànjīng 汴京 and seek vengeance, or at least justice. But Lín Chōng’s preference was to go first turn himself in to the magistrate at Cāngzhōu and use his trial to report the behavior of the deceitful Gāos. That was ominously idealistic on his part, and struck his sworn brother as a Very Bad Idea.

Believing Lín Chōng to be out of the way, the playboy Gāo Péng with his servant Smarmy now paid a visit to Madame Lín and Brocade, determined to have his way at last with Madame Lín. Brocade tried to stop him, and he stabbed her to death. As he tried to strip the clothes off Madame Lín, she managed to grab the dagger and stabbed herself, following Brocade in death.

Arriving at the outskirts of Cāngzhōu, Lín Chōng found himself in a hay field whipped by wind and snow, where the only shelter was an old temple, where he stretched out on the altar to sleep.

Who’d have thought that the news of Lín Chōng being saved in Wild Pig Forest would already have made it back to General Gāo Qiú and his son Gāo Péng (and Smarmy)?

Gāo Qiú, his plan foiled to have Lín Chōng murdered en route to his trial, was now even keener than before to be sure he did not make it to the court at Cāngzhōu. So Gāo Péng with a small force of thugs headed toward Cāngzhōu to try to kill Lín Chōng before he reached the magistrate.

Arriving at the hay field, and taking refuge in the same temple that had attracted Lín Chōng, Gāo Péng had the field set afire, hoping to burn Lín Chōng alive if he was hiding out there somewhere. But suddenly Lín Chōng himself appeared, rising like a ghost over the altar. Restored to his martial arts prowess by his sleep, and joined by his sworn brother Lǔ Zhìchēn, who as usual appeared when needed seemingly from nowhere — profligate monks move in mysterious ways — Lín Chōng defeated the guards and seized Gāo Péng and Smarmy. Then, having learned from Lǔ Zhìchēn of the death of his wife and Brocade, he stabbed Gāo Péng to death as Lǔ dispatched Smarmy, who finally stopped smiling.

Unfortunately, now Lín Chōng was not only a falsely accused attempted assassin of his boss, but also the actual murderer of his boss’s adopted son. Thus there was no longer any way for him to hope for justice from the court at Cāngzhōu, or anywhere else. He had become, quite unwillingly, a rebel and a wanted man. So there was nothing to do but to follow his sworn brother Lǔ Zhìchēn and join the righteous rebels upon Mount Liáng 梁, all of whom were also unwilling rebels and wanted men, with operas written about how they came to be in that position.

[This story is best known from the novel The Water Margin (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn 水浒传). The version of the story retold here is based on the performance of the Fung Ngai Cantonese Opera Company (Fēngyì Yuèjùtuán 烽艺粤剧团) performed in Hong Kong in June, 2007.]