Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 149 Xu Guanzhong performs a ritual to stop the rain; the Thunder God commands thunder to str

Seeing another flood peak approaching, Li Hanxiao and Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Jingmu Han," immediately mounted their horses and headed towards the riverbank. This flood was a natural disaster, and normally animals would have a premonition. Li Hanxiao's horse, Beihai Salu Zi, was a fine steed and was unaffected, but Hao Siwen's horse, "Jingmu Han," was terrified when it saw the flood and resisted running towards the riverbank.

Before they even reached the shore, Li Hanxiao saw his men leading a group of people running up the slope. "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen carried a man on each arm and two children on his back. "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu held his staff and helped a woman up the slope first.

"Chief! The water is too strong. I think the people outside the city are doomed!"

Lu Zhishen put the men down, wiped the rain off his face, and said.

"Chief? And you are...?"

Upon hearing the words "chieftain," Hao Siwen looked at Li Han and asked with a smile.

"Jingmu Han, I am Li Hanxiao from Liangshan Marsh. You must have heard of me!"

Li Hanxiao didn't need to hide anything from Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Wellwood Frog." Upon hearing this, Hao Siwen was very surprised and asked, "So you are heroes from Liangshan. What brings you here?"

When Hao Siwen said "Jingmu Han," he gripped the silver spear tightly in his hand. Although Li Hanxiao was renowned for his chivalry, he was still a bandit, and Hao Siwen had to be wary of him.

"I was just passing through this place and came specifically to save the people!"

Li Han smiled calmly, speaking with ease. Hao Siwen, known as "Jingmu Han," nodded approvingly upon hearing this, "Indeed, as the rumors in the martial arts world say, he is an excellent man!"

"Chief, if we don't destroy the dike on the north bank to release the floodwaters, the entire south bank will be submerged when the next wave of floods comes. The rain is too heavy now, and if the rainwater continues to flow into the Yellow River, I'm afraid the flood will never stop!"

Hsu Kuan-chung appeared and said.

"This dike on the north bank must be demolished. The imperial officials dare not demolish it, but we, the Liangshan Marsh, will do it. Where is Ling Zhen?"

Li Han laughed loudly and said, "Thunderclap!" Ling Zhen immediately rushed forward to obey.

"Could your gunpowder blow up the dike on the north bank?"

Li Han asked with a smile.

"No way! Even if we use all the firearms we brought, we probably still won't be able to blow up the dike on the north bank. Chieftain, you see for yourself, the dike on the north bank is almost as high as the city wall, and it's so sturdy. It's not even afraid of floods. This little bit of gunpowder won't be able to blow it up at all!"

Ling Zhen, nicknamed "Thunderbolt," replied to Li Hanxiao with a troubled expression.

"You're going to destroy the dike?"

At this moment, Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Jingmuhan," looked at Li Hanxiao with disbelief and questioned him.

"What? You're going to stop me?"

Li Han smiled as he looked at Hao Siwen, wondering what his purpose was in doing this.

"No, no, no, I don't understand... This is not your hometown, what does this have to do with you? Do you know the consequences of destroying the north bank dike? Are you willing to bear the responsibility?"

Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Jingmu Han," looked at Li Han and smiled. He naturally knew about the situation on the north bank of the dike, but he was powerless to do anything about it. His sworn brother, "Da Dao" Guan Sheng, was also powerless to do anything about it. Local officials at all levels were turning a blind eye, and some had even fled to Yuncheng overnight to transport their property.

Li Hanxiao actually said that he dared to blow up the dike on the north bank and was willing to bear the consequences!

Isn't this...utterly shameful?

"You ask me why? Do I dare to take responsibility?"

Li Hanxiao glared angrily at Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Wellwood Dog," and shouted, "I do everything for the people, not for personal gain. I do good and eliminate evil, for the sake of justice! You ask me why? Fine, I'll tell you. What is Yang Jian? Liangshan is acting on behalf of Heaven. Sooner or later, we will kill this eunuch who has brought disaster to the country and the people. He has the guts to personally lead a large army to Liangshan to die. Since the local officials don't dare to take responsibility, I, Li Hanxiao, will take responsibility for this!"

"How splendid! I was being impolite!"

Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Jingmu Han," was utterly impressed by Li Hanxiao's words.

"Brother! Brother Hao Siwen!"

Just then, they heard someone shouting Hao Siwen's name, "Jingmu Han." Hao Siwen and Li Hanxiao turned around to look and saw a Red Hare coming towards them. The person on the horse was dressed in full armor, with a tall and imposing figure of eight feet five or six inches, a thin three-willow beard, eyebrows that reached his temples, phoenix eyes looking up at the sky, a face like a red date, and lips like painted vermilion. He held a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and looked exactly like Guan Yu in the Guan Yu Temple.

This person must be "Big Knife" Guan Sheng!

Seeing Guan Sheng mounted his horse, sword in hand, and fully armed, Hao Siwen asked, "Brother Guan Sheng, why are you all dressed up like this?"

"Brother, who are these people?"

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng first noticed Li Hanxiao and the others next to "Well Wood Han" Hao Siwen, and took the initiative to ask them questions.

"Brother, come closer!"

Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Jingmu Han," wasn't stupid. He knew that people like Li Hanxiao shouldn't be mentioned in public, so he only told Li Hanxiao his identity after Guan Sheng, nicknamed "Big Knife," dismounted and walked in.

"This is Chief Li of Liangshan Marsh, who, along with his heroes, has come to help the people overcome this difficult time!"

When Guan Sheng, nicknamed "Big Saber," heard that it was Li Hanxiao who had arrived, he was also taken aback. He looked Li Hanxiao up and down, then clasped his hands in a salute and said, "So it's Chief Li. I've long admired your chivalrous reputation!"

"I have long admired Guan Sheng's name!"

Li Hanxiao had not come to Puzhou with the intention of seeking out talented people, but by chance he encountered Hao Siwen, also known as "Jingmu Han".

When he encountered Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Wellwood Frog," Li Hanxiao had a premonition that he might also run into Guan Sheng, the leader of the Five Tiger Generals of Liangshan, nicknamed "Big Knife," since the two of them were together.

Unexpectedly, I actually saw it now.

Guan Sheng, nicknamed "Big Knife," clearly had urgent business to attend to and didn't bother to talk to Li Hanxiao. Instead, he spoke to Hao Siwen, nicknamed "Well Wood Wolf."

"Brother, you asked me why I'm all dressed up? It's because I've found a way to save the people!"

Guan Sheng's words immediately piqued the interest of Hao Siwen ("Wellwood Frog") and Li Hanxiao, who asked in unison, "What method?"

"Prefect Xu of Hedong has come down to inspect the disaster situation. I'm thinking of you and me rushing up and binding Prefect Xu, using his life to threaten the officials below into breaching the dikes and releasing the floodwaters!"

Li Hanxiao understood immediately from Guan Sheng's words: he wanted to kidnap Prefect Xu to threaten local officials into destroying the dike.

What he did was undoubtedly to save the people from their suffering. But Li Han thought to himself, regardless of the probability of success, he was certain that the lower-level officials would rather be punished by the court for failing to save Prefect Xu than offend that bastard, Grand Eunuch Yang Jian, by trying to save him!

"Wait a minute, your plan can't possibly succeed!"

Li Hanxiao stopped "Big Knife" Guan Sheng.

"how?"

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng looked at Li Hanxiao with a puzzled expression.

"Between Prefect Xu and Grand Commandant Yang Jian, do you think the local officials can't tell the difference? Which has more serious consequences, Prefect Xu's death or offending Grand Commandant Yang?"

Li Hanxiao directly retorted to "Big Knife" Guan Shengdao.

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng understood Li Hanxiao's meaning. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "However, I don't think they would stand by and watch someone die, thus endangering Prefect Xu's life..."

Li Hanxiao was almost amused by Guan Sheng's bizarre thought process. He said, "My God, if they cared about other people's lives, would they just stand by and watch the people here flee for their lives in the flood? They ignore the people and only care about saving their own lives. They don't care about the lives of millions of people. Do you think they would care about the life of Prefect Xu?"

Li Hanxiao's words were so sharp that they left "Big Knife" Guan Sheng speechless. "Wellwood Dog" Hao Siwen then asked, "Since Brother Guan Sheng's move won't work, does Chief Li have any brilliant ideas?"

Looking at the torrential rain, Li Han smiled and said, "The only way is for us to secretly blow up the river embankment on the north bank. If we use manpower, it will be impossible to dismantle the embankment in a short time, and it will attract attention. Who knows, instead of sending people to provide disaster relief, these officials might send people to arrest us!"

"Alright, in that case, we'll do everything we can to help you! Let's go!"

Seeing the people suffering so much, Guan Sheng, nicknamed "Big Sword," was extremely anxious. He wished he could use his Green Dragon Crescent Blade to cleave a hole in the dam on the north bank.

"What's the rush? Blowing up the dam requires a lot of gunpowder; otherwise, how long would it take to do it by manpower alone!"

Li Han smiled and scolded.

"Gunpowder...how much gunpowder do you need..."

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng asked.

"It must weigh at least several hundred kilograms!"

Li Hanxiao made a rough estimate.

"There's a coal mine nearby. They usually use gunpowder to blast it during mining. But now that there's been a flood, all the kiln workers and foremen have fled. There should be a lot of gunpowder inside. Why don't we go and get that gunpowder to blow up the north bank dam?"

The "coal mine" that Guan Sheng, the "big swordsman," mentioned was actually a coal mine. This place was in Shanxi Province, and it was common knowledge that Shanxi had many coal mines. Coal had already been used on a large scale as a dye during the Song Dynasty, but it was just called "coal." Moreover, they had already thought of using gunpowder for blasting.

"Alright, then please, Brother Hao Siwen, take my brothers and go collect the gunpowder quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Li Hanxiao immediately ordered "Big Knife" Guan Sheng and "Well Wood Wolf" Hao Siwen to lead their men to the coal mine to find gunpowder, while he left "True Lord Xu" Xu Guanzhong, "Thunderbolt" Ling Zhen, and "Iron Whistle" Le He behind.

“Mr. Xu, with this torrential rain, I think the water level will rise even higher. Even if we get gunpowder, it will probably take us two or three hours to prepare. But in my opinion, if this rain continues for another two or three hours, the water level will rise rapidly before we can even blow up the dam here. The south bank will probably be completely washed away by the flood, and there will be no way to stop the rain.”

Li Hanxiao could only ask Xu Guanzhong, the only person present who knew magic, about this matter.

Xu Guanzhong glanced at the rain and said, "I can use magic to stop this heavy rain for the time being, but I will need some magical artifacts!"

"Sir, please tell me what you need!"

"Big Knife" Guan Sheng said.

"It requires the head of the three sacrificial animals: pig, cow, and sheep, as well as a token made of lightning-struck wood, and incense, candles, and paper money."

Xu Guanzhong said.

"There are incense and paper money shops in this city, but I don't know if they're open. Could we send one of our brothers to check?"

"Big Sword" Guan Sheng was familiar with the geography of this place, so he said.

"Alright, I'll ride my horse into the city right now to find that incense and paper money shop!"

"Iron Whistle" Lehe took the initiative to undertake this part of the task.

"These three kinds of livestock, pigs, cattle, and sheep, are usually easy to handle, but now that the Yellow River is flooded, I'm afraid they've all drowned. However, I know there are villages in the nearby mountains with high elevations where they probably raise pigs and sheep. I'll go see if I can buy some!"

Just as "Big Knife" Guan Sheng was about to leave, Li Hanxiao tossed him a hundred taels of silver and said, "In these extraordinary times, these people might take the opportunity to raise prices, so take more money with you!"

"understand!"

"Big Sword" Guan Sheng rode away on Red Hare, leaving only the most important thing behind: the lightning-struck wood.

It was already past 34:34 AM, and the vanguard of the flood had already reached Zhao Jiawa, thirty miles away. The sleeping village was like a sugar cube dropped into boiling water; the mud walls crumbled into mud on the crest of the waves, and the cracking sounds of beams and pillars mingled with the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs, all being swept into the swirling yellow water. The millstone, as big as a millstone, at the village entrance actually floated up, and as it rolled over the crooked ancestral hall lintel, it crushed the plaque above the lintel that read "Passing Down the Family Tradition of Farming and Reading."

Lightning-struck wood is not something you can just find anywhere; the requirements are extremely strict. Because it has been struck by lightning, it is considered to have the innate power to suppress evil spirits and ward off evil in Taoist talismanic arts. It is used to make ritual implements, such as lightning-struck jujube wood seals.

However, the protective power of lightning-struck wood should be attributed to being struck by lightning naturally, not by artificially attracted lightning. Only the part that is struck by lightning is considered lightning-struck wood. If it is struck by artificially attracted lightning, it is not lightning-struck wood, and the part that is struck cannot be classified as lightning-struck wood.

The protective power of lightning-struck wood relies mainly on the effect of lightning. However, if the tree is struck by lightning intentionally, it means that the struck tree cannot store the energy of the lightning. Therefore, its protective power depends solely on the material of the tree itself and is unrelated to the lightning strike.

Where can we find one now? We'd need to be struck by lightning and become an immortal tree.

Just then, a thunderbolt struck down from the sky, hitting a lone jujube tree on the hillside behind Li Hanxiao and his companions. Although the lightning struck the tree, charring its bark and causing it to smoke, it did not kill the tree!

"Alas! Isn't this exactly lightning-struck wood?!"

Li Han was overjoyed at the sight and immediately led "Thunderbolt" Ling Zhen to the top of the mountain to collect the lightning-struck jujube wood. Meanwhile, "True Lord Xu" Xu Guanzhong seemed to sense something and stood there muttering, "Thank you for your kindness, Thunder Ancestor!"