The relationship between Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong is master and apprentice, which comes from books such as "Shi Naian's Epitaph" by Wang Daosheng of Huai'an in the Ming Dynasty and "Shaoshi Shanfang Bi Cong" by Hu Yinglin in the Qing Dynasty.
Although there are not many historical records, it can still be verified that Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong both lived in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. Shi Naian was twenty or thirty years older, and they participated in Zhang Shicheng's uprising.
According to the "Sequel to the Record of Ghost Book", Luo Guanzhong's "yuefu lingo is extremely fresh". Therefore, many scholars believe that the incorporation of poems in "Water Margin" was mostly done by Luo Guanzhong.
As the editor, Luo Guanzhong also revised "Water Margin", so it is normal for some plots to be similar to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In general, there must be some connection between the two, and "Water Margin" also has a certain relationship with Luo Guanzhong.
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Wu Chengen has been smart since he was a child and has read a lot of books, especially fairy tales. He is good at painting and calligraphy and is versatile. After repeated setbacks in the imperial examination, Jiajing passed the imperial examination and became a Gongsheng student. In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing (1549), he moved to Nanjing and made a living by selling literature. In the 39th year of Jiajing's reign (1560), he was appointed as the magistrate of Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, and soon resigned and returned. Due to difficulties in his official career, he decided not to pursue an official career in his later years, so he wrote books behind closed doors and stayed at home until his death.
Modern and modern scholars generally believe that Wu Chengen was the final author of "Journey to the West", one of China's four major classical masterpieces.