Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 598 Conspiracy Theory in Water Margin

The Water Margin playing cards drawn by Chen Hongshou were eventually presented to the emperor by Liu Zongzhou.

Although Zhu Youjian restricted the spread of "Water Margin", it did not mean that he hated the novel. He just limited its influence for the stability of his rule.

As a novel describing peasant uprisings, the content of "Water Margin" almost teaches people step by step how to rebel.

In history, the leaders of the peasant armies were given nicknames and nicknames, and the thirty-six camps gathered together to elect a leader, which was almost a replica of the Water Margin's great gathering in reality.

So much so that at Zuo Maodi's suggestion, the imperial court listed "Water Margin" as a banned book and prohibited the book.

In the Qing Dynasty, "Water Margin" became a scapegoat, and any peasant uprising would be banned. Some writers even wrote "The Outlaws of the Marsh" to specifically criticize "Water Margin".

Zhu Youjian read this novel out of admiration and felt that it was far different from "Water Margin" and could not replace its influence at all. So he did not intend to waste time and make people curious about "Water Margin".

However, he was still somewhat interested in Chen Hongshou's idea of ​​revising Water Margin, because as far as he knew, the version of Water Margin that circulated for a long time afterwards was the 70-chapter version annotated by Jin Shengtan.

This version has not appeared yet, which means that the various versions currently popular are not satisfactory. If Chen Hongshou revises it well, it may become the mainstream version.

In addition, he had been planning to revise novels such as The Investiture of the Gods and include them in Yuefu, so it was only natural for him to revise and add his own personal opinions to Water Margin.

He asked Liu Zongzhou:

"How does Chen Hongshou plan to change it?"

"Can he do this well?"

He ordered someone to call Chen Hongshou in and asked him what his opinion was.

Chen Hongshou was very excited when he was summoned by the emperor. He learned from Liu Zongzhou that the reason why the emperor did not like "Water Margin" was that the Liangshan heroes had a bad ending, which affected the court's recruitment.

So when the emperor asked him his opinion, he said:
"During the Jianyan period, there were fishermen from Liangshan Lake named Zhang Rong and others who fought against the Jin soldiers in Liangshan Lake."

"The students plan to incorporate this incident into the Water Margin and change it into the heroes of Liangshan."

In this way, no matter how the Liangshan heroes died, they died fighting against the Jin.

It is also in line with the Ming Dynasty's current focus on resisting the invaders.

Zhu Youjian did not comment on this idea, because he had no confidence that Chen Hongshou could write a Water Margin that would surpass the original.

However, he still encouraged Chen Hongshou:
"This is a good idea. There are also foreshadowings of this in Water Margin."

"The Zeng family in Zengtou City is from the Great Jin Kingdom."

"They may be spies arranged by the Jin Kingdom in advance. If some people stayed behind after Liangshanpo was recruited, they would definitely not let them go when the Jin soldiers marched south."

"You can follow this idea and write the plot after the 70th chapter."

Zhu Youjian did not dare to underestimate the artistic quality of the first seventy chapters of "Water Margin" and did not intend to let Chen Hongshou overturn and rewrite it.

However, if Chen Hongshou had written the later content well, it would have been possible to replace it. Many people who love Water Margin are not satisfied with the later plots, which is why Jin Shengtan's 70-chapter version is widely circulated.

When Chen Hongshou heard the emperor's change of mind, he gave his own ideas for writing and combined them with the original text. He could not help but praise the emperor's quick thinking and bowed respectfully, saying:

"The students will do their best to write and present it to Your Majesty for your review."

After deciding on the idea for the sequel, Zhu Youjian was still not satisfied and said:

"I have read the book Water Margin and found many errors."

"The official titles are unclear and the place names are even more confusing."

"If a book like this is to be included in Yuefu, it must be significantly revised."

Under this banner, Zhu Youjian said:
"The imperial court has recently established standardized characters. Except for some special ancient books, all officially published books must use standardized characters."

"Water Margin, as a novel, is no exception. The official positions such as the instructor, deputy commander, and commander in chief in it must be determined according to the official positions in the Song Dynasty and their ranks and status."

"There are also place names such as Zhangde Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Gaotang Prefecture, which were all established in the former Yuan Dynasty and this dynasty. They did not exist in the former Song Dynasty at all."

"Jizhou did not belong to the Song Dynasty at that time. The northernmost part of the Northern Song Dynasty was Xiongzhou, and the Baigou River was the boundary with the Liao Dynasty."

"When Wu Song returned to Qinghe from Cangzhou, he should not have taken the long detour to Yanggu. His place of origin or the route he took should also be changed."

"These are all omissions in Water Margin. We must pay careful attention to them when revising."

These mistakes, which were often mentioned in later generations, immediately attracted the attention of Liu Zongzhou and Chen Hongshou once they were mentioned at this time.

They really didn't expect that the emperor had studied Water Margin so deeply. He even took a textual research attitude and studied all the place names and official positions in Water Margin.

This made Chen Hongshou feel ashamed, and he felt that revising the novel "Water Margin" was a daunting task.

He originally thought that this was just a novel circulating in the market. With his talent, it would not be difficult to revise it, and it would not be impossible to even write another one.

Now I realize that the difficulty here is extremely high. The requirements of the current emperor are also very strict.

While he was thinking this, he heard the emperor say:
"Chen Qing is good at drawing. Don't just draw the characters, draw the map as well."

"I will have someone find a map of the Song Dynasty so that you can see what areas were located in the Jingdong East Road and Jingdong East Road at that time."

"In short, we can't make low-level mistakes in place names that make people laugh at us."

This made Chen Hongshou feel more pressured, but Liu Zongzhou objected:
"The map is related to military secrets, how can it be leaked out so easily?"

"If thieves find out and use the route on the map to march, wouldn't that be very dangerous?"

Zhu Youjian, who already had a breech-loading musket, didn't care about this. He didn't believe that anyone could successfully rebel with such an obvious weapon advantage.

This is also the reason why he agreed to Chen Hongshou's revision of "Water Margin" and no longer put the book under a soft ban.

However, Liu Zongzhou had to consider his concerns. In order to avoid attracting more officials' complaints, he said after thinking:

"Speaking of the word 'Shandong' in Water Margin, it used to refer to the area east of Mount Xiao, including today's Henan and Shandong."

"It was not until the Jin Dynasty changed the two routes of Jingdong to the two routes of Shandong and the establishment of the Shandong Provincial Administration Office that it officially referred to the present-day Shandong area."

"Shi Naian lived in the early years of the Republic of China, so it is understandable that most of the place names in his Water Margin were from the Song Dynasty."

After seemingly defending Shi Naian, Zhu Youjian changed the subject and decided:
"How about this? Let's use the two routes of Jingdong in the Song Dynasty as the basis to draw the Shandong map of Water Margin. It doesn't have to be completely based on history, and names like Dongchangfu can be retained."

"This kind of fictional map can be called fiction. Specifically speaking, in the case of Water Margin, it is a semi-fictional novel based on historical events."

“The same applies to dramas such as The Story of the Precious Sword that are related to Water Margin.”

Let Chen Hongshou not limit himself to "Water Margin" and link related dramas. They all share a map and character plots.

After hearing this, Chen Hongshou's eyes lit up. At the same time, he felt bitter and it was getting harder and harder. Because as far as he knew, "Water Margin" was a series of miscellaneous plays such as "Li Kui Carrying the Thorns", "The Black Whirlwind's Double Merit", and "The Five Tigers of Liangshan Robbing the Prison", and there were also choices in between.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it is to put these novels and plays into one framework.

He now increasingly feels that revising "Water Margin" is a troublesome task that may take several years.

However, Zhu Youjian's requirements went beyond this. If the previous revisions of official titles and place names were intended to improve the artistry of "Water Margin", the subsequent revisions were intended to add private goods.

Pointing to the image of Zhu Wu, the military strategist drawn by Chen Hongshou, Zhu Youjian asked him:
"Who is Shi Naian alluding to in this character?"

Chen Hongshou did not dare to answer, but Liu Zongzhou had no scruples and said:

"Beside Zhu Wu, there are two generals, Xu Da and Yang Chun, who are obviously alluding to Emperor Taizu Gao, as well as Xu Da, the King of Zhongshan, and Chang Yuchun, the King of Kaiping."

"If your majesty feels that this is inappropriate, just change their names."

Zhu Youjian shook his head, not thinking that changing it like this would really make people forget it. Maybe if he didn't change it, not many people would care. If he changed it, it would attract people to make up stories. He would not do such a thankless task.

However, he also has an explanation for why Zhu Wu performed poorly in Water Margin and only served as the leader of the Disha.

Opening the beginning of "Water Margin", Zhu Youjian pointed at General Hong in the book and said:
"Why did Master Dongxuan leave the words 'open when encountering floods'? Do you know the reason?"

Liu Zongzhou and Chen Hongshou both shook their heads to indicate that they did not know.

Zhu Youjian explained to them:

"This is because Master Dongxuan wants to protect the Zhao family's kingdom, so he doesn't allow the Heavenly Gang and the Earthly Fiends to appear in the world."

"The thirty-six celestial beings and the seventy-two earthly demons were originally gods from heaven, so why are some of them so tyrannical after reincarnation?"

"This is because they were plotted against by Master Dongxuan. When they were suppressed in the underground demon cave, some of them were infected with demonic energy and became so-called demon lords."

"The four characters 'Meeting the flood and opening' were also left by Master Dongxuan on purpose, so that General Hong could open the seal and seize the 'Hong' character from the leader of the Tiangang clan."

"As a result, the world turned upside down, and Zhu Wu became the leader of the Earthly Fiends after his reincarnation. Chen Da and Yang Chun were not taught by him and were also ignorant."

"Otherwise, if Zhu Wu added the word 'Hong', how could Liangshanpo not achieve great success?"

This explanation shocked Liu Zongzhou and Chen Hongshou, and they almost believed it to be true.

How could they not know who Zhu Hongwu was referring to? Thinking of the current emperor's reputation as a living god, they were skeptical about this statement for a while.

Chen Hongshou thought that Emperor Taizu Hongwu's ability to lead troops and govern was many times higher than Zhu Wu's, and even sighed:

"If Taizu had been born a few hundred years earlier, there might not have been the Jingkang Incident or the Yashan Incident."

"Master Dongxuan is truly a traitor. He harms the Chinese people for the Zhao family's selfish interests."

I feel proud that there is also a character "Hong" in my name.

If the emperor hadn't mentioned it, he wouldn't have known the word "Hong" was so important. Now the emperor asked him to revise "Water Margin" to set things right, wasn't that in line with God's will?

This gave Chen Hongshou a sense of mission:

He must revise the novel and reveal the inverted plot.

Regardless of what they thought, Zhu Youjian continued to follow his own ideas and said to the two of them:
"Song Jiang was originally the leader of the Earthly Evils, but because the heaven and earth turned upside down, he became the Heavenly Evil by chance."

"But he was not originally supposed to be in this position. He does not have enough talent and ability to lead Liangshanpo to conquer the country."

"So after he went to Liangshan, he formed factions and sought amnesty. He led the leaders who came to the mountain later to marginalize Chao Gai, and then used conspiracy to kill Chao Gai by using Zengtou City."

"Even after accepting the imperial amnesty, he still had a bad ending and was harmed by the tyrant emperor and treacherous ministers of the Song Dynasty."

This is the modification of Song Jiang's image in Jin Shengtan's seventy-chapter version, and it is also the major revision that Zhu Youjian wants to make to "Water Margin".

He wanted to portray Song Jiang as someone like Li Mi and seize Chao Gai's position as the leader of the stronghold.

This made the peasant army leaders instinctively guard against capable subordinates. The Water Margin also changed from being full of loyalty to being full of conspiracy theories.

He proposed that the lack of the character "Hong" in Zhu Wu's name caused the reversal of the Tiangang and Disha. This was also to set the tone for the image of Song Jiang, portraying him as a villain who lacked ability and relied on political trickery and conspiracy to get to the top.

Liu Zongzhou remained silent, but Chen Hongshou's eyes became brighter and brighter, because he knew how to revise it:

"When Master Luo, Gongsun Sheng's master, evaluated the people of Liangshanpo, he said that 'there are few loyal people and few righteous people'."

"Under the leadership of Song Jiang, Liangshanpo had very few truly loyal and righteous people, so few of them had a good ending."

He intended to modify Song Jiang's image in accordance with the emperor's words, and at the same time focus on portraying Wu Yong, Qin Ming, Wang Ying, Dong Ping and others who followed Song Jiang, explaining their lack of loyalty.

He even planned to expand on Zhe Kecun's story of "following the imperial pen to capture the bandit Song Jiang" and attribute the deaths of Song Jiang and others to their desire to rebel after they conquered the south of the Yangtze River.

In this way, their endings are naturally their own fault. Wu Song and others who are loyal and righteous can have a good ending.

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, feeling that the boy was teachable. But he reminded him:

"Lu Zhishen and Wu Song are excellent characters and must be carefully revised to serve as contrast to the others."

"Lu Zhishen's ending is death. Wu Song can write that when he returned to Liangshanpo to visit him, he met Ruan Xiaoqi, who changed his name to Xiao En, who was bullied by a fishing tyrant. He went to the mountains again to gather heroes. Later, he joined forces with Zhang Rong and others to fight against the Jin Dynasty. He also contacted Yue Fei and others who were also disciples of Zhou Tong."

This integrates the contents of "Fishing and Killing the Family" and "The Story of Yue Fei". These plots do not exist now, or only exist in their embryonic form among the people.

As Chen Hongshou listened, more and more ideas came to him, and he knew how to write the plot after the 70th chapter.

Compared to the completely fantasy expedition to Liao, these plots are more attractive.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also instructed that the Siamese leader Li Jun and others should be portrayed as the main branch, in line with the court's encouragement of opening up vassal states. More descriptions of the prosperity of Southeast Asia should be made to attract people to Southeast Asia.

They even added plots that appeared in later generations, such as Lin Chong being angry to death, Hu Sanniang and Zhu Tong wanting to kill Li Kui, to show that Song Jiang's actions were extremely unpopular.

Under his guiding ideology, the entire "Water Margin" has undergone great changes, if not completely changed.

In particular, the image of Song Jiang, the leader of Liangshanpo, was modified by him in imitation of Jin Shengtan, and portrayed as Black Sanlang with a "black face, black hands and a black heart", a clerk who is good at abusing power.

After reading this version of "Water Margin", the leaders of the peasant army would be careful when they meet talented officials and scholars in the future, wondering if they are trying to discredit Song Jiang and seize his power.

This was Zhu Youjian's biggest purpose in revising "Water Margin".

In order to achieve the desired effect, he also planned to arrange for the Jinyiwei to look for Jin Shengtan to see if he could find this person, and specifically let him be responsible for the image of Song Jiang and add various conspiracy theories to the book.

The Chao Gai faction, the Song Jiang faction, the Hebei faction, the Sanshan faction, the Dengzhou faction, etc. need to be portrayed in detail, so that the leaders of the peasant army know how to form cliques and factions and lead their subordinates to fight for power. (End of this chapter)

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