Summary of Chapter 57 of Water Margin

Chapter 57: Xu Ning teaches the hook and sickle spear, and Song Jiang defeats the chain horse.

Xu Ning demonstrated the hook and sickle spear technique to all the heroes and taught a hook and sickle spear unit. When the time came, Song Jiang formulated a battle plan. When the decisive battle came, the Liangshan heroes cleverly lured the Lianlian cavalry into an ambush surrounded by the hook, sickle, and hook troops, and finally annihilated Hu Yanzhuo's Lianlian cavalry and captured Han Tao. Hu Yanzhuo was defeated and fled to Qingzhou. While staying at a roadside hotel, his war horse was stolen by Taohuashan.

Hu Yanzhuo found Murong, the prefect of Qingzhou, and borrowed 2,000 troops to attack Taohua Mountain. Li Zhong and Zhou Tong were defeated and asked for help from Erlong Mountain. Lu Zhishen, Yang Zhi, and Wu Song personally led their troops to support. Lu Zhishen and Yang Zhi challenged Hu Yanzhuo one on one, with no winner or loser. Kong Ming and Kong Liang of Baihu Mountain attacked Qingzhou. Magistrate Murong was in danger, so Hu Yanzhuo returned to Qingzhou and captured Kong Ming alive. Kong Liang led his army in defeat and met Wu Song on the way back.

Wu Song brought Kong Liang to see Lu Zhishen, and Lu Zhishen decided to gather troops from three mountains to attack Qingzhou. Yang Zhi even came up with a plan to unite Liangshan heroes to attack together.

Extended information:

The book describes the heroes of Liangshan resisting oppression, the growth of Liangshan in Shuipo, and the surrender to the imperial court. After the surrender, the imperial court suppressed Tian Hu, Wang Qing, Fang La and other groups who resisted the Song Dynasty government. The grand story of the political power and eventual tragic failure artistically reflects the entire process of the Song Jiang Uprising in Chinese history from its occurrence, development to failure, profoundly reveals the social roots of the uprising, and passionately praises the resistance struggle and struggle of the heroes of the uprising. Their social ideals also specifically revealed the internal historical reasons for the failure of the uprising.

After the publication of "Water Margin", it had a huge impact on society and became a model for Chinese novel creation in later generations. "Water Margin" is one of the earliest chapter novels written in the vernacular in Chinese history. It is widely circulated and popular. It is also one of the works with epic characteristics in Chinese literature and has a profound influence on the narrative literature of China and even East Asia. Influence.

Since the 20th century, more Water Margin figure paintings have been handed down. The works of Zhang Guangyu, Huang Yongyu, Dai Dunbang, Ye Xiong, Sun Jingquan, Yu Wenlong and others are all more influential. As a country deeply influenced by Chinese classical literature, Japan has also had a large number of painters create paintings of Water Margin characters since the 19th century. The famous Ukiyo-e masters Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the Edo period have all painted Water Margin characters.

In modern times, there are oil painting-style character drawings in "The Water Margin" by the famous Japanese illustrator Masako Kyouya. Among the comic strips, Liu Jiyou's "Wu Song Fights the Tiger" can be regarded as a classic. Among the comics, there are Water Margin comics by Cai Zhizhong and the "Liangshan" series by contemporary cartoonist Hei Bei, which express Water Margin stories in a relaxed and humorous way. In addition, there are also famous comic albums by Liang Weijia and Japan's Yokoyama Mitsuki.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Water Margin