Chapter 10 Lin Chong Survived an Assasination and Killed the Assasins

The Water Margin, Chapter 10. Lin Chong is just, you know, going about his business in Kangzu, trying not to attract attention. Minding his own business, yeah. And he bumps into this guy, Li Xia, an old acquaintance. Okay, Li Xia, remind us, what was the history there? What did Lin Chong do for him that earned this, this deep gratitude? Oh, it was huge. This wasn't just lending a few coins. Oh, bad situation. Wow, so he covered the damages, acted like a, well, a one-man support system, and funded his relocation. And now, years later, Li Xia is in Kangzu too. How's he doing? He's actually done really well for himself. Landed on his feet, worked his way up at an inn, good in the kitchen apparently, married the owner's daughter. Nice. Yeah. And now he and his wife run their own little tea and wine shop right near the barracks where Lin Chong is assigned. Convenient. Very. And when he sees Lin Chong, he's like, instant recognition and deep gratitude. Treats him like family, gives him the best service, washes his clothes, makes sure he eats well. This is real loyalty, you know? Life-saving kindness being paid back. And this little shop built on that gratitude, it becomes the perfect spot to see trouble coming. Exactly. It's a listening post. So one day, these two guys walk in, suspicious from the start, an officer and a servant type. Okay. They don't want tea, they don't want wine. They just slap down silver. A whole ounce, which is a lot. Definitely not your average customer. Not at all. And they tell Li Shauer, get the camp commandant and the administrator. We need to talk to them. Right. So they weren't there for hospitality, they were there to arrange something. What was the dead giveaway that this was gals doing? Well, the silver was weird, obviously, but two things clicked for Li Shauer almost instantly. First, their accents. He recognized them. Tokyo guys. The home city connection. Right. And second, while the officials were talking, they told Li Shauer to keep his distance. Mind you, he just managed to overhear the administrator mutter one name. Let me guess. Marshall Gao. Yep. That's it. That name means only one thing for Lin Chong. Trouble. Big trouble. A hit job. Exactly. Game over, basically. But what's really interesting is what Li Shauer does next, or rather, what he doesn't do. He doesn't just run screaming to the barracks to warn Lin Chong. He pauses. Why? That seems risky. It's kind of ironic, isn't it? Yeah. It's Lin Chong's own personality that makes Li Shauer hesitate. He knows his benefactor describes him as having a really quick temper. Headed. Very. And Li Shauer worries that if Lin Chong gets even a whiff of this plot, he won't wait. He won't gather facts. He'll just explode. The source says something like, basically, he'll start killing and setting fires without thinking. Okay. So if Lin Chong charges in half-cocked, he could blow it, get himself killed, and maybe drag Li Shauer down with him. Precisely. Li Shauer needs more than just a name. He needs proof. He needs intelligence. He has to be tactical here. So fear of Lin Chong's own impulsiveness turns Li Shauer into a spy. Clever. He sends his wife in. The perfect undercover agent. She goes to listen behind the screen dividing the rooms. And what does she hear? She can't catch every single word. They're talking quietly. But she sees the key action. A package changes hands. Clearly, money, gold, or silver going from the officer to the commandant and administrator. The payoff. And then she hears the administrator say, the clincher, it's all on us now. We've got to somehow finish him off. The source says, chilling. Finish him off. Intent confirmed. Payment delivered. Murder by bureaucracy. Pretty much. So the plotters leave. And just then, Lin Chong happens to walk in. Perfect timing in a way. A terrible timing. Right. Li Shauer gives him the description of the officer. Short guy. White face. Maybe 30. No beard. And Lin Chong. Snaps. Instantly knows who it is. Liu Yuhu. From back in Tokyo. The guy who helped frame in the first place. The very same. A known stooge of Marshall Gao, despised by Lin Chong. The sources really convey Lin Chong's absolute raw fury in that moment. It just boils over. And he doesn't hesitate now, does he? What does he do? No hesitation. He grabs his money, goes straight out and buys a weapon. A specific kind of knife. A twig. A wrist cutting knife. That sounds personal. And vicious. It is. It's not a standard military blade. It's for close, desperate work. Quick. Brutal. It tells you Lin Chong is past any idea of legal recourse or justice. He's out for blood. Pure vengeance. And he goes hunting. Oh yeah. The next three to five days, he's prowling every street, every alley in Gangzhou. Knife hidden. Searching for Liu Yuhu. Lin Chong doesn't find him. Liu Yuhu and his servant seem to have vanished. So the direct attack, the knife in the street, it's averted. But the plotters... Because they'd already paid off the local officials. That's the crucial pivot. About five days later, after Lin Chong's rage has maybe cooled a bit, or at least the act of searching has stopped. The Commandant calls him in. Yep. Calls him in for the old bait-and-switch. The treacherous soft sell. Perfect description. The Commandant is all friendly. Says something like, hey, you know that important nobleman, Chai Jin, Chai De Gong Ren, he put in a good word for you. Oh, using Chai Jin's name. That's low. Really low. So, the Commandant says, I've decided to give you a promotion. He's transferring Lin Chong from guarding the Temple of Heavenly Kings, which was relatively safe, central to managing the Great Military Grass and Fodder Depot. The Grass Depot. And I bet he made it sound like a great opportunity. Oh, absolutely. He specifically mentions this is a chance to earn customary fees. Customary fees. Let's unpack that for listeners. In Song Dynasty terms, that means... It means kickbacks. Graft. Skimming supplies. It's the unofficial, but expected, perk of middle management. Standard bureaucratic corruption, really. So, the Commandant is dangling this shiny object, trying to make Lin Chong think, why would they kill me if they're giving me a job with benefit? Exactly. It's psychological manipulation. Plus, the post is way out of town, 15 lane east. 15 lane... That's, what, five or six miles? Not exactly next door. No. It's a significant distance. Far enough to be isolated. Completely cut off, really. And Lin Chong, does he buy it? He accepts. What choice does he really have? He goes to see Li Xiaorou one last time. And Li Xiaorou, can he do anything? Not really. He just warns him, be careful. They know something is wrong, but they don't grasp that the promotion is the murder weapon. They've traded the danger of the city street for the danger of the isolated kill zone. So Lin Chong packs his few things. His knife. His famous flower spear. Can't leave that behind. No way. And he sets off with the Administrator. Instantly. The sources make a big deal of this. It's like nature itself is conspiring with Gao. Suddenly, winter slams down. Hard. Dark clouds roll in. Hai to lu. A fierce north wind starts howling. That's ominous. It gets worse. It quickly turns into a full-blown blizzard. Heavy driving snow. The text uses poetry here, talking about this sudden world of silver swallowing the landscape. The elements are now part of the plot. Okay, so they trudge through this worsening storm and finally reach the depot. What's it like? It's desolate. Just a walled area. A couple of big huts for storing grass and fodder. And two sort of grass holes for personnel. And his assigned quarters. That's where the penny really drops. He's shown his grass hole, and it's a wreck. The sources cheat code for collapsing on all sides. It's falling down. Totally unfit for shelter, especially in a blizzard like this. So the Commandant didn't give him a promotion. He gave him a dilapidated shack, miles from help, right as a deadly storm hits. It's a coffin. A structurally unsound coffin, yes. He's cold. He's exposed. The small fire he manages to make isn't nearly enough. And this leads to that critical decision. He has to leave. Even briefly. Why? To get help? No. Just to survive the cold. He needs proper warmth. Hot wine, maybe. He covers his little fire, locks the door of the collapsing hall, locks the main depot gate too, grabs his spear of course, and an old gourd he found. The gourd. Why the gourd? Turns out it's how the local innkeeper recognizes the depot guards. It's like their official drinking vessel, I guess. He heads out into the blizzard, looking for the nearest inn, which is supposed to be a couple of lives further east. Just walking out into that storm. He finds the inn. The innkeeper recognizes the gourd. He buys some hot wine, gets some cooked beef, packs extra to take back with him. But the storm's just getting worse and worse. That final image. It's just him, alone, heading back into this absolute whiteout. Utterly vulnerable. Completely. And there's this poem right in the source text. It starkly contrasts the rich folk, warm inside with their beast charcoal red stoves, wearing fine clothes, maybe singing about how lovely the auspicious snow is. While outside. While outside, you've got the poor, like Lin Chong now, whose huts are almost crushed by the snow. He's walking back towards that collapsing hut, alone. It's deep night. There's this auspicious snow, the text calls it. But also a fierce northern wind. So beautiful, but deadly cold. Right. That mix of beauty and danger. And Lin Chong gets to the gate, unlocks it, and finds disaster already waiting. Yeah. Only misery, as the source puts it. The two thatched huts where he was supposed to sleep, they've already collapsed. Just completely flattened by the snow. Exactly. Which, ironically, is what saves his life right then. If he'd been a bit earlier, or the snow a bit lighter, he'd have been inside when they came down. The source is really direct about this. It literally says something like, heaven's principle being evident protecting good people and righteous gentlemen. It's not just luck. It's setting up a moral justification for what Lin Chong is about to do. Heaven saved him for this. And the practical details back it up. He checks the fire pit. The coals are already out. Drowned by snowmelt. All he gets is a quilt. So his own quarters are gone. He needs shelter. Fast. Right. So he remembers seeing an old temple nearby, maybe half a lot away. A mountain god temple. And even in this desperate state, he's careful. He gets inside and wedges the door shut with a big stone. That little detail of the stone becomes so crucial later. It turns his refuge into, well, a hiding place. A listening post. So he's inside, trying to get warm, dry his clothes. There are statues of the mountain god, a judge, a little ghost. Yeah, a typical temple setup. And he finally sits down, starts sipping his cold wine, eating some beef he brought. A moment of quiet. But it doesn't last long. Not at all. This is where it flips. He hears this sound, like cracking, popping. That explosive sound? Exactly. He looks through a crack in the wall and sees it. The grass field, the place he was meant to be guarding, is on fire. The description is amazing, isn't it? Snow suppressing the fire's fury. Grass assisting the fire's might. It's like nature itself is in conflict. And Lin Chang, ever the soldier, his first instinct is grab his spear, run out, fight the fire. But he stops. He hears something else. Footsteps. Coming towards the temple. Three men. They try to push the door open. That the stone holds. The stone holds. And suddenly, Lin Chang realizes he's trapped, but they don't know he's there. So he freezes. And he listens. And what he hears, it's just devastating confirmation. Everything. He recognizes the voices. The camp overseer, Chai Bo, this other plotter, Fu An, and Lu Yu Hu. His childhood friend. That must have been the deepest cut. Oh, absolutely. The ultimate betrayal. And they're talking openly, thinking the job's done. They're planning their trip back to the capital to report to the Grand Marshal. Already talking about promotions for themselves, the manager. They're congratulating each other. And they spell out the reason Lin Chang had to be, quote, dealt with. It wasn't even politics, not really. It was because Young Master Dao, the Marshal's son, was sick, basically lovesick or stressed. And apparently Lin Chang's father-in-law kept insisting Lin Chang wasn't dead, which was upsetting the young master. So to make the spoiled kid feel better. They had to murder Lin Chang, an experienced military man's life traded for a rich kid's mood. It's grotesque. It really shows the depth of the corruption. And then they talk about how they did it. One of them just casually says he climbed the wall, lit ten or so torches, and threw them into the grass piles. Just like that. Mm-hmm. And they had a backup plan, too. Even if he somehow survived the fire, burning down the military fodder field. That's a death sentence, anyway. So either way, he was finished. Absolutely. And the final detail, the proof, they agree they need to go back later, sift through the ash. And find one or two pieces of bone to show the Marshal and the young master. Yeah. Physical proof. Like a trophy. That image, talking about picking through his bones. For Lin Chang, listening to that, that has to be the point of no return. That's it. Right there. Any sense of being a victim, of following rules, it just dissolves. He knows the snow saved him from being literally turned into ash by these men, including his supposed friend. Mm. And the rage. It's absolute. So he moves the stone. Quietly. Gently, the text says. That he bursts out, spear in hand, shouting, they're just frozen. Shocked. Too late for them. Way too late. He doesn't pause. Spears the Chai Bo first. Fu Wan tries to run. Gets him in the back. Yep. But Liu Yu Hu, the friend, he saves him for last. Pins him down. And pulls out his knife. This is where he says that line, right? Yeah. Murder may be forgiven, but not the circumstances. He's framing this not as just killing, but as execution. For betrayal. An unforgivable context. The description here is incredibly graphic. Extremely. Tears open the clothes, stabs him in the heart. And then it says he wrenches the heart and liver into his hand. It's not just killing, it's total annihilation, almost ritualistic. He isn't finished, though. He goes back to the others. Make sure they're completely dead. Decapitates the Chai Bo, who was trying to crawl away. Then beheads Fu Wan and Liu Yu Hu, too. Three heads. And what he does next is... Chilling. It really is. He ties their hair together, carries the heads into the temple, and places them on the altar. An offering to the mountain god. Wow. He's basically dedicating himself to this new path. Renouncing his old life, embracing the violence. Completely. Then he finishes his wine, throws away the quilt, the gourd shedding those last ties, and just heads east. And when villagers show up to fight the fire, he just lies straight to their faces. Gonna report to the authorities. Cold. Ice cold. He's escaped the immediate trap, yes. But now he's a danger. He's an outlaw. No rules apply anymore. Which leads immediately to the next question. How does this newly-unleashed person handle, you know, just a regular frustration? Exactly. He travels for a while, maybe a couple of hours, freezing cold now in just his thin clothes. He's running on fumes, adrenaline, rage. And he finds another place, a hut, deep in the woods. Some workers, an old steward warming by a fire. He goes in, asks to dry his clothes, uses a cover story messenger from the camp. Seems reasonable. But then he smells wine. Hot wine this time. And offers silver for some. And the old steward is just rude. Weary, maybe. Tells him no, they don't have enough. Basically tells him to get lost or they'll tie him up. A simple refusal. But Lin Chong. Lin Chong, who just hours ago carried out what the narrative paints as righteous vengeance. He snaps over a drink of wine. Calls the steward unreasonably. And then the violence is just shocking. Completely out of proportion. He grabs a burning stick from the fire with his spear. And sets the old man's beard on fire. Yeah. And then beats the workers with the spear handle until they run away screaming. The rage is indiscriminate now. Fueled by the wine he then drinks. Fueled by everything. He's lost control. He's gone from justice to just being a menace. And then he drinks all their wine and gets completely drunk. Stumbles out. Collapses in the snow near his stream. Can't even move. His spear, the instrument of his revenge, just lying there uselessly beside him. And of course, the people he just terrorized aren't going to let that stand. Nope. The seward and workers gather reinforcements, 20 or more people. They track him easily. Find him passed out drunk in the snow. Helpless. They tie him up with a rope. Capture him easily around the fifth watch near dawn.