"Water Margin" describes Fang La's execution with a poem as evidence: "Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, just for coming early and coming late". The concept of karma can be said to be a common understanding of pre-modern people in China. And a novel, when deciding the fate of the characters, often reflects the creative intention. After reading the Water Margin, I found that many characters have bad endings, but some heroes enjoy life. Life and death are important, and the choice and choice may imply the author's ideal accommodation and value judgment. Although the Water Margin was finalized by Shi Naian, it was a collective creation with the participation of many speakers and book lovers in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Their ideals and values attached to the heroes who died well reflect the thoughts of ordinary people and constitute the material and background of the history of alternative ideas (although in the end, some are still the thoughts of the ruling class).
In "The Water Margin", Liangshan heroes were alive and kicking before being recruited by Fang La, but they were defeated in succession when confronting Fang La. When Fang La was shoveled, besides Gongsun Sheng, there were 36 warriors who had previously returned to Jizhou, and 5 people remained in the capital. In 42, Song Jiang drank the royal medicinal liquor, knowing that he was dying soon, lest Li Kui jy turn against him again and cheat him to accompany him to drink and die together; Wu Yong and Huarong Road hanged themselves in front of Sung River grave; Lu Junyi drank the poisoned wine given by Qin, and the mercury fell into his kidney, so he was drunk and unstable and drowned in the Huaihe River. This fate did not come to a good end, which not only declared the disillusionment of Liangshan heroes' dream of "doing justice for heaven", but also reflected the total despair of ordinary people on dirty state affairs, and at the same time conveyed the mainstream thought of the ruling class, that is, the rebel leaders and backbones would never be allowed to come to a good end.
On the eve of the invasion, Lu heard a letter from Qiantangkong in Liuhe Hall, saying, "Listen to the tide, but be silent when you see the letter" and died. Song Wu immediately became a monk in the temple. He broke his left arm in the decisive battle in Zhou Mu. Although he has become a cripple, the novel says that he died of natural causes. As a type of happy ending, what the novel admires to Helu is undoubtedly the idea of "putting down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha". In contrast, just before he left, Yang Xiong suffered from back ulcer, intestinal abscess and died one after another. Lin Chong also suffered from wind paralysis and could not recover. He left the temple to be looked after by Song Wuzhao, and "died for half a year", but he failed to die well.
Just after he left Hangzhou, Yan Qing advised his master Lu Junyi to "restore the imperial edict, live in seclusion in private, and find a secluded place to die". Lu Junyi thought there was no infidelity, and he was bent on returning home with clothes and clothes, sealing his wife's shadow, ignoring the old page's advice that "I'm afraid the master will go here without results". Yan Qing left without saying goodbye and wrote a suicide note to Song Jiang, saying, "I think my life is too thin for the state, and I would rather retire from Shan Ye and be an idle person." . He saved for a rainy day and was forgiven by Li Shishi. Finally, he got his wish and "lived a free and easy life". Yan Qing died well, and the novel praised him as an "opportunity to advance and retreat", which also entrusted ordinary people with their yearning for understanding.
Outside Suzhou, Li Jun pretended to have a stroke and asked Tong Wei and Meng Tong to take care of him, saying that he would go to Hajj as soon as he recovered. After getting approval, he and his two children arrived in Liu Zhuang. On the way to Fang La, Li Jun passed by here and formed a small friendship with four local people, including Bao Fei, in Taihu Lake. Seeing the prospect of "peace is decided by the general, and the general can't see peace", Li Jun agreed to "find a place to achieve his destiny while his luck is not exhausted". At this meeting, they lived up to the Old Testament, built ships and went to sea. "They went abroad and later became the lords of Siam." This narrative of "the sky is vast and there is no home" was transformed into the introduction of Water Margin in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but chenchen's sequel brought in all the heroes who didn't die. Although he had no other interests, he made his own decision. Shuihu only said that Li Jun and others "enjoyed themselves and dominated the seashore". This type of happy ending is not only a concrete manifestation of the survival wisdom of ordinary people "there is no grandfather left here", but also a comparison with "I will go to you when I die, let myself adapt to another land, let myself adapt to another land and get what I want" in The Book of Songs. Confucius said, "No way, no way." "The Water Margin praises them with a poem:" A wise man is wise when he knows a few things about a gentleman. Reaffirming the meaning of righteousness is even more external. In the author's opinion, although Li Junhe Yan Qing has different ways of doing things, they are all typical examples of "being knowledgeable".
According to hundreds of records in The Water Margin, after Liao returned to Beijing, Gongsun Sheng demanded to honor his previous promise and let him return to the mountain to learn from his teacher and serve his elderly mother. Sung River had to let him go back to Jizhou to learn from Luo Zhenren. At the end of the novel, it is explained that Zhu Wu, an ingenious strategist, and Fan Rui, the devil incarnate on earth, later became Mr. Quan Zhen, who traveled the Jianghu and became a monk in Gongsun Sheng, and all three of them were "dead". This type of happy ending aims to carry forward Taoist thought, that is, the author of the novel, in Luo Zhenren's words, is "the customs are short, the road is long" and "away from customs and human feelings, just right". Similar to Gongsun Sheng, Dai Zong dreamed of the call of the Taoist fairy Cui Fujun and made a kindness. He handed in an official letter and became a monk at Yue Temple in Tai 'an, reverently and respectfully. A few months later, I said goodbye to my companion, "I laughed to death." The humane death represented by Gongsun Sheng and Dai Zong complements the Lu He who died of Buddhism and Taoism, and can also weigh the weight of Buddhism and Taoism among the people.
At the end of the novel, the five people who stayed in Beijing before Fang La's expedition were also explained, and the imperial doctor An Daoquan continued to be his physician in the Imperial Hospital. Zi Zebo Huangfu Duan is good at watching horses and becomes the messenger of the Royal Horse Supervisor. Jin Dajian, a jade arm craftsman, once worked in India, and worked in the Royal Treasure Warden of the Inner Government. Xiao Rang, a graduate student, worked as a master in Cai Jingfu. Tie told Zi to be a diner in the residence of a surname of Xu Wang, and asked him to "live happily all his life". All five people have a good end, all by their skills. Similar to them is Tian Zhen Lei Lingzhen, who is excellent as a gunner and is still appointed by the royal camp of the Powder Bureau. There has always been a saying among the people that "accumulating wealth is not as good as thin skills" and "eating fresh food all over the world". As long as you have a skill and are popular everywhere, your home will not be bad. This type of happy ending highlights the sincere attention of the general public to professionals.
Shuihu finally said that Chun Mu, a small party, returned to Jieyang Town and was a "good citizen". This constitutes the type and the largest number of obedient citizens among heroes who die well. Although Song Qing, an iron fan, got the rank of official, he just did farm work in the countryside, worshiped the family and burned incense, managed the Songjiazhuang compound and distributed the extra money to the people. Chai Jin, who originally came from a noble family, also belongs to this category. He was afraid that someone would pester him to be Xu of Fang La, "know the times", return to the imperial edict, seek leisure for agriculture, return to Henghai County of Cangzhou for the people, talk loudly, and "die without illness". Mars, an eagle, was inspired by him, and also served the imperial edict. He went back to his hometown, Dulonggang Village, and became a rich man with Du Xing. "They all died well.". Ruan wore Fang La's royal robes, took off his official documents and returned them to the people. However, he was complacent and returned to Shi Jiecun. He still made a living by fishing and supported his mother. He "lived to be 60 years old and died" and died a fair death. Cai Qing, a flower, is still a famous government in Beijing, but "for the people". Jiang Jing, the divine operator, missed his hometown and returned to Tanzhou to "serve the people", but he didn't know whether he could make a living by manipulating the operator. One-horned dragon Zou Run, unwilling to be an official, "returned to Yunshan" and was also a civilian. Look at this hero who died well. His actual identity is quite different. Song Qing, Chai Jin, Mars and Du Xing belong to the rich class. In contrast, the financial resources of Mu Chun, Cai Qing, Zou Run seem to be slightly inferior, but they are still obviously better than those of Ruan, a fisherman. The mainstream idea conveyed by the novel is very clear: no matter which class, only by being obedient and good citizens of the court can there be good fruit to eat. On the other hand, if the court can give people a peaceful life in the world, not to mention the squire enriching the people, even the poor people like Ruan will never rise up.
Serving the imperial court is another kind of Liangshan hero who died well. Zhu Tong, with a unshaven beard, first commanded the army in Baoding, and then broke the Eighth Jin Army, so that the Taiping Army saved us once. Huang Xin of Zhensanshan is still his Qingzhou army horse supervisor. Wei Chi Sun Li, who was dying, returned to Dengzhou with his wife and children and his brothers Sun Xin and Gu Dasao. Pei Xuan, an iron-faced Confucius, and Yang Lin, a leopard, "seek leisure by post", still return to drinking Ma Chuan. The so-called "seeking leisure", that is, only getting a virtual title and not doing things, did have such preferential treatment in the official system of the Song Dynasty. If this kind of "seeking leisure by posts" is a special case of a good death, then Guan Sheng and Hu are another matter. Also in the future, Guan Sheng served as the commander-in-chief of military forces in Daming Mansion, which won great morale. But in the novel, he came back from practicing, got drunk and died of illness, but he still didn't die of natural causes. As for Hu leading the imperial army to resist gold, although he broke the martial arts of the Jin army, he was eventually killed in Huaixi. Although he died in the great cause of resisting gold, it was difficult to die well. Although these two imperial generals who made their fortune in Liangshan were wooed and then surrendered to the imperial court, they still came to no good end. Perhaps the talents and storytellers in the book club implicitly carry out the values of loyalty to the country. The reason is that their status is far higher than that of the previous lower-level fighters, and the experiences of Liangshan heroes Zhu Tong, Huang Xin, Sun Li and Pei Xuan are also forced and held hostage. Therefore, the moral trial of Guan Sheng and Hu is more severe and harsh on the level of the principle of monarch and minister. This may be related to the strengthening of loyalty, righteousness and honor by Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty, which deeply infected the creators of these popular cultures.
In a word, the heroes who died well in Water Margin can be roughly divided into several categories: wise, Buddhist, professional, obedient to good people and working for the court. The first three types contain more thoughts of the lower class, while the latter two types are more mixed with the dominant thoughts of the ruling class.