Is the book "The Legacy of Xuanhe in the Great Song Dynasty" the earliest script to tell the story of Water Margin?

This is the earliest record of the script of Water Margin. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was Gong Kai's "Thirty-six people praised Song Jiangxu": "The story of Song Jiang can be seen in the street." He also said that before Gong Kai, there was an art academy to write to Song Li, and he painted portraits of Song Jiang and others. But Gong Kai's praise didn't tell a story. Now, the earliest work to write the story of the Water Margin is the Legacy of Xuanhe in the Great Song Dynasty (see the Legacy of Xuanhe), which is either from the Yuan Dynasty or the old books of the Song Dynasty, but it has gained something. Some researchers think it is a basic book for storytellers.

The synopsis of the Water Margin story recorded in it is basically the same as the later Water Margin, that is, Yang Zhi sold a knife to kill people, outwitted the birth outline, Song Jiang killed Yan Poxi, and Xuan Nv granted a sealed book for nine days. At this time, the water margin story has developed from many scattered and independent single articles into a systematic and coherent whole. Yuan Zaju was popular, and a large number of Water Margin plays appeared. The Water Margin recorded in Yuan Zaju is roughly the same as the characters' names in Xuan He's posthumous works in Da Song Dynasty, but the location of gathering righteousness is different. The drama talked about Liang Shanbo, and the heritage talked about Taihang Mountain. There are already "108 leaders" in the zaju, and the "legacy" only mentions the names of 36 generals posthumous title; Among the heritages, Li Kui jy ranked 14, Yan Qing ranked 28th, Li Kui jy ranked 13, and Yan Qing ranked 15 in zaju.