I believe that Chao Gai, the King of Pagoda, did not die from Shi Wengong’s poisonous arrow, but someone else.
Shi Wengong's martial arts skills are not too high, and there are many Liangshan heroes who can capture Shi Wengong alive. Chao Gai died in the power struggle in Liangshan, and Shi Wengong was just a scapegoat.
The death of Chao Gai is described in "Water Margin". After three days of fruitless fighting before the attack on Zengtou City, on the fourth day, two monks defected to offer their plans to rob the camp. On the way to rob the camp, he discovered that he had been tricked and immediately withdrew his troops. Within a hundred steps, ambushes appeared in all directions. Chao Gai led his troops to "only turn two bays" and bumped into a group of soldiers and horses. He was shot with random arrows. "Unexpectedly, An arrow hit Chao Gai right in the face, knocking him off his horse." The arrow shaft was engraved with the three characters "Shi Wengong", and it was also a medicine arrow. King Chao Tian finally died.
After this, everyone thought that Shi Wengong killed Chao Gai, but after reading it carefully, I had great doubts about the conclusion that Shi Yigong killed Chao Gai, and thought that there was another person who killed Chao Gai.
The reasons are as follows:
1. Farewell trip to Jinshatan Beach
“Suddenly a strong wind came up and blew half of Chao Gai’s newly made military flag off” Jinshatan Beach At Bo Pass in Liangshan Mountain, from a geographical point of view, the wind at the pass must have been strong, but it was so strong that it broke the railings of the new flagpole, which is a bit exaggerated. Why did Song Jiang go on several expeditions without any surprises, while Chao Gai's only one cast such a shadow. This is food for thought. The flagpole being blown off is nothing more than the following possibilities:
① The sky gives a warning, hoping that Chao Gai will not go out on the expedition;
② The wind is too strong and the flagpole is blown off;
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③ Someone used their hands and feet when making the flagpole to deliberately create bad omens and prepare public opinion for Chao Gai's death.
2. Song Jiang and others’ persuasion after the flagpole was blown down
After the flagpole was blown down, Wu Yong gave this advice: “This is an ominous sign, my brother will leave the army another day. "
Song Jiang persuaded even more, "My brother just went out to the army, and the wind blew the flag, which is not good for the army. It's not too late to wait for a while and go and talk to that guy." In the traditional Chinese military Feng Shui, the breaking of the main flag indicates the loss of a general or chief general. This is simply common sense. The persuasion of Song Wu and others is very interesting. They did not dissuade Chao Gai from withdrawing his troops, but only said that he would go after a while.
I don’t know how many people will listen to such persuasion. I think Chao Gai was also riding a tiger and couldn’t get off, “Why should I go for a walk?”
3. Engraving on the arrow shaft There is "Shi Wengong"
Chao Gai attacked Zengtou City at night and found that the situation had changed. He "hurriedly returned to the old road" and could not walk a hundred or ten steps only to hear the sound of golden drums everywhere. After being ambushed, Chao Gai "Leading the army to seize the road and run away, they turned two bays and collided with a group of soldiers and horses. They shot arrows at the future. Unexpectedly, an arrow hit Chao Gai's face." From Shi Gong's description, we know that Chao Gai was hit by an arrow. On the way back to the camp, I was hit by an arrow while facing our camp.
I have a question. When the two armies faced each other and set up an ambush, Shi Wengong, as the commander-in-chief of Zengtou City, did not act as the center of the town and deal with various emergencies. Instead, he went to the front line to be a shooter, abandoning his righteousness. Fighting for Xiao Li seems to be inconsistent with Shi Wengong's consistent style of "not going out for three days" to be patient and grind with Chao Gai and lure him into a trap.
Moreover, the article never describes Shi Wengong’s extraordinary archery skills. How did he hit Chao Gai with one arrow in the dark night?
4. After Chao Gai's death, the reactions of both parties
Zengtou City sang a ballad: "Sweep the Qingshui Lake in Liangshan, wipe out Chao Gai and go to Tokyo, and capture the wise stars alive in timely rain." During the confrontation, Zeng Kui, one of the five tigers of the Zeng family, also said that he would capture Chao Gai and ask for a reward. This at least proved that Zeng Toushi was determined to be the enemy of Liangshan and was not afraid of being the enemy of Liangshan. In the first battle, Zengtou City won a complete victory. The weak defeated the strong and killed the enemy leader. This was a very brilliant achievement. However, Zengtou City, where Tiexin and Liangshanbo were enemies, had never been publicized. Moreover, in the second battle of Zengtou City, when the two armies faced off, Zengtou City never mentioned this great victory to combat Liangshan's rusticism.
Liangshan was also very strange. During the confrontation between the two armies, Song Jiang never publicly proposed to avenge Chao Gai, or pointed out that the two sides had such hatred.
Almost all readers will think that Liangshanbo’s second attack on Zengtou City was to avenge Chao Tianwang. In fact, this is a preconceived idea. If you read carefully, you will find that the reason for the second attack on Zengtou City was to win the horse. , Revenge for Chao Gai is just a pretense that has to be mentioned, and it is a disgraceful pretense.
After the two tigers of the Zeng family were killed, Chief Zeng wrote this: "When King Xiangri came with his troops, it was reasonable to surrender. However, his soldiers fired cold arrows for no reason, and they were also guilty of seizing the horse. , "No matter how many words you say," because: "Now that the stubborn dog is dead, I sent an envoy to make peace."
I robbed you of a few horses and fired a few cold arrows. Do you have such a big hatred? My son also died today. I have made amends for this sin. Let’s make peace. ...Haha, it turns out that Zeng Toushi didn't even know that they killed Chao Gai.
The replies from Song and Wu further confirmed this point, and are also very interesting: "Liangshanbo and Zengtou City have no enmity and each guard their borders." "If they want to make peace, they must return the second original Seizing the horses, Yu Baosi, the murderer who wanted to seize the horses, rewarded the sergeant with gold and silk."
You see, the hatred between the two families is not Chao Gai and Shi Wengong, but the horses. Everyone is a bit sentimental. Moreover, this revenge is easy to solve. Just pay some money and hand over another person. This person is not Shi Wengong, but an insignificant Yu Baosi. Isn't this intriguing?
5. Chao Gai’s Will
After the case of outsmarting the birthday card was exposed, Song Jiang took great risks to notify Chao Gai, allowing Chao Gai to escape death, but Chao Gai looked back from then on. As a reborn parent, Song Jiang must give way to the master of the village once he met him. This happened no less than five times, and all of them were in public places. Only once did he not give in. Before he died, he put down his last words, "Take care, dear brother, if anyone If you catch the one who shoots me to death, I will call him the Lord of Liangshan Park." Suddenly overturning all his previous concessions, what made Chao Gai make such a big reversal? Did Chao Gai discover something before he died, which led to such a change? It is tantamount to directly denying the possibility of Song Jiang's succession! Because everyone knows that there are too many people in the village who can catch Shi Wengong, but Song Jiang is absolutely impossible. What is going on?
6. Song Jiang’s reaction after Chao Gai’s death
After Chao Gai was hit by an arrow, Song Jiang neither sought medical treatment nor asked for medicine. He “sited by his bed and cried”—— Waiting for others to die.
After Chao Gai's death, the village cannot be left without an owner for a day. With Chao Gai's will, Liang Shanbo should send troops to Mo Jinzhi to avenge Chao Gai immediately, and then support a new village owner. However, Song Jiang "every day" "Leading the crowd to decline" and "having no intention of managing the affairs of the village", when the affairs in the village were in chaos, everyone could only push him out to clean up the affairs. As soon as Song Jiang took the chief position, he immediately issued a general order to arrange the various positions in the village in an orderly manner. He doesn't look like someone who has been overwhelmed by grief.
Based on the above points, I think it seems that we can draw the conclusion that Chao Gai did not die at the hands of Shi Wengong, but for another reason, and this reason has actually been mentioned in "Water Margin" .
1. Bailong Temple Xiaojuyi
After robbing the Jiangzhou law court, they all went to Liangshan. There were forty heroes in the village. At this time, Chao Gai wanted to give up the master of the village. Song Jiang refused to give up. Just then, he took the second place, and after Wu Yong and Gongsun Sheng took the third or fourth place, Song Jiang took over the title. "The old leader takes the honorary seat, and the new leader takes the guest seat." It sounds like an understatement, but the actual content Rich, originally we were all brothers as soon as we arrived in Liangshan, regardless of you and me, ranked according to merit, and should be closely united around the center of Liangshanbo with Comrade Chao Gai as the core. Song Jiang insisted on distinguishing guests and hosts, and was aggressive. The old leader only had 9 people. , there were as many as 27 new leaders, which artificially prevented the integration among the leaders.
We can think about Chao Gai. After traveling thousands of miles to rescue Song Jiang, many heroes came back. This was originally a grand event. However, at the celebration banquet, Song Jiang was so disturbed that the two ranks of heroes were greatly outnumbered. The barriers are clear, and Chao Gai is in the middle, so how can he sit upright? The noise of the new leader reflects the shabby status of the old leader, and next to him is Song Jiang, who is looking forward to his own glory.
This isn't a celebration, it's simply suffering!
2. When setting out to conquer Song Jiang, he did not attach great importance to the righteousness of the mountain stronghold. He regarded the leaders of Liangshan as having left, and cultivated his confidants to prevent Chao Gai from getting involved. Whenever there was a war, "My brother is the master of the stronghold, how can I make a move lightly?" This made Chao Gai unable to command. Recruit new leaders, and second, make new heroes. When Song Jiang went out to fight, the more new heroes arrived, the lower the proportion of old leaders, and the weaker Chao Gai's influence. The only prerequisite for Chao Gai to fight was to fight hard and dangerous battles.
3. Chao Gai’s words
When they attacked Zengtou City, Song Jiang refused to let Chao Gai fight. Chao Gai said this time, “I’m not trying to take away your credit.” The master of a mountain is actually afraid that others will suspect that he and his subordinates will take credit. It can be seen that Chao Gai's influence in the village at that time had dropped significantly. He also deeply felt Song Jiang's aggressive threat. Even though he knew the danger of this battle, he still had to step forward.
In the night attack on Zengtou City, Lin Chong wanted to hijack the camp for Chao Gai and asked Chao Gai to take over. Chao Gai responded like this, "If I don't go by myself, who is willing to move forward", eight words There was a lot of sadness and helplessness in it. The leader of the stronghold could not do what he ordered, so he had to fight his way forward to clear a bloody path.
IV. Words from Subordinates
After Chao Gai was hit by an arrow, except for San Ruan, Du Qian, and Song Wan who escorted him back to the mountain, the remaining 15 people discussed it and said, "I don't want to suffer this." "In response to the sign of the flag being broken by the wind," (the effect of public opinion came out), "We can only withdraw our troops, Zengtou City is in a hurry and can't get it." Hu Yanzhuo said, "We must wait for the order from General Song Gongming." Come, then you can return to the army!" However, when Liang Shanbo was defeated by the robbed camp, only Dai Zong ordered the withdrawal of the army. Whenever Song Jiang was defeated, Chao Gai did not use the strength of the village to rescue him.
The above items have fully reflected that the power struggle in Liangshan has reached a critical moment. Chao Gai, as a straight-tempered person, is no longer in line with the development of Liangshanbo. His fate of sending troops to Zengtou City is destined- —He must be killed by Shi Wengong.
If Shi Wengong does not have this ability, then let someone with this ability complete this task for him. There is only one person in Liang Shanbo who is as good at archery-Xiao Li Guanghua Rong, and he is Song Jiang The henchman's henchman. So my conclusion is that Chao Gai did not die by Shi Wengong's arrow, but died by a power struggle and a secret arrow. The direct planner was Song Jiang, and the executor was Hua Rong.