Wu Song

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First appearance Chapter 12 Nickname "Pilgrim" 行者 Rank 14th, Harm Star (天傷星)

Wu Song (Chinese: 武松; pinyin: wǔ sōng), also known as Wu the Second (武二郎; wŭ èrláng), is one of the well-known characters in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Pilgrim",[a] he ranks 14th among the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Stars of Destiny. In folk tales derived from the novel, Wu Song is a martial arts student of Zhou Tong and specialises in Chuojiao. In the novel he fights well with bang (quarterstaff) or a pair of broadswords.

目录

Background

A native of Qinghe County (in present-day Xingtai, Hebei), Wu Song is tall and good-looking with shining eyes, thick eyebrows, a muscular build and an impressive bearing. His parents having died early, he was raised by his dwarfish elder brother Wu Dalang (武大郎; literally "Wu the Older"), whom he respects and cares very much about.

Slaying the tiger

Learning later that the man he hit is not dead, Wu Song decides to go home. On the way, he passes by an inn near Jingyang Ridge, which puts out a banner that reads "After Three Bowls, Do Not Cross the Ridge" (三碗不過崗), and goes in for a break. The innkeeper explains that the inn's home-brewed wine is so strong that customers would get drunk after having three bowls and could not cross the ridge ahead. Still sober after three bowls, Wu Song demands for more. By the end of his meal, he has consumed 18 bowls of wine but still looks steady. He is about to leave when the innkeeper stops him and warns him about a fierce tiger on the ridge. Wu Song suspects that the man is hoaxing him to spend the night at his inn. Ignoring the advice, he continues his journey, armed with only a quarterstaff.

Near the ridge, Wu Song spots an official notice warning of a tiger ahead. Not to lose face, he could not turn back. As he moves on, he starts to feel the effect of the wine. So he takes a nap on a big rock. As he is falling asleep, the tiger leaps out from the woods, shocking him out of his stupour. After narrowly dodging the tiger‘s first three charges, Wu Song attempts to fight back but breaks his staff on a tree. Unarmed, he summons all his might and manages to pin the tiger face down with his arms. He then rains blows on its head using his bare fist. After punching the tiger unconscious, he picks up his broken staff and whacks the tiger till he is sure it is dead. Exhausted and fearing another tiger might appear, he then flees the spot after a short rest, and runs into some local hunters, who are amazed to learn of his incredible feat. Impressed, the local magistrate of the nearby Yanggu County (in present-day Liaocheng, Shandong) offers him the job of chief constable. Wu Song accepts it and settles down, and surprisingly runs into his long-separated brother Wu Dalang, who has also moved to Yanggu from Qinghe.

According to some narrations in Yangzhou storytelling, particularly the "Wang school", Wu Song's slaying of the tiger took place "in the middle of the tenth (lunar) month" of the "Xuanhe year [1119]".

Avenging his brother

Wu Dalang brings Wu Song home and introduces him to his wife Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮). Wu Song learns that they had moved to Yanggu to avoid harassments by neighbours in Qinghe. Wu Dalang, who is a dwarf selling flatbread for a living, is widely taunted in Qinghe as "Three-Inch Nail Tree Bark" (三寸丁谷樹皮) for his short stature. The harassment got worse after he married Pan, as he looks starkly incompatible with his young and attractive wife, who was originally a maid of a rich man and had been forced to marry Wu Dalang as punishment for resisting her boss' advances. Meeting Wu Song, Pan is immediately attracted to her handsome and well-built brother-in-law, but he sternly spurns her attempt to seduce him.

Later, Wu Song is assigned to escort some gold to the imperial capital Dongjing (present-day Kaifeng, Henan). He returns home two months later to find his brother had died and his body had been cremated. Not believing his sister-in-law's account that his brother succumbed to a sudden illness, he conducts a private investigation. He learns that Pan is having an affair with a local merchant Ximen Qing (西門慶), a well-off scoundrel who has seduced the woman with the help of the tea house owner Granny Wang (王婆), who lives next door to the Wus. Tipped by a bun-selling youth Brother Yun (鄆哥), Wu Dalang had caught Ximen and Pan in bed together. But he was left injured and bedridden after being kicked hard in the abdomen by Ximen. Abetted by Granny Wang and Ximen, Pan murdered him by poisoning his medicine. Ximen then coerced a coroner to quickly cremate the body. Wu Song finds the coroner, who has kept some remains of Wu Dalang which show signs of poisoning. Wu Song then goes to the magistrate to demand legal justice. However, the magistrate, who has been bribed by Ximen, dismisses the case on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Denied legal avenue, Wu Song takes the matter into his own hands. He invites neighbours of the Wu house, including Granny Wang, to a belated wake for his brother. At the wake, he forces Pan Jinlian at knife point to make a full confession on the murder, and then decapitates and disembowels her in vengeance. Next he makes Granny Wang sign a confession in front of the neighbours. After that, he rushes to Lion Restaurant (獅子樓), where Ximen Qing is dining with his friends, and kills the man after a brief fight. Wu then goes to the county office to surrender himself.

Becoming an outlaw

The local residents sympathise with Wu Song and plead on his behalf. Granny Wang is sentenced to death by lingchi while Wu Song is exiled to Mengzhou. On the way Wu and his two escorts pass by Cross Slope (十字坡; in present-day Fan County, Henan), where they take a rest in Sun Erniang's inn. Wu senses the woman is up to no good and pretends to have taken her drugged wine and fall unconscious. When Sun tries to lift him, he easily overpowers her. Just then, Sun's husband Zhang Qing comes back and stops the scuffle. The couple apologise and befriend Wu. They host him for some time before seeing him off to Mengzhou.

Shi En (施恩), the son of the superintendent of Mengzhou prison, has heard of Wu Song's exploits and hopes he could help him re-take control of Happy Forest (快活林), a bustling cross-roads. In fact most of Shi's "profit" is protection money from businesses and tolls from travelers which he collected through a restaurant at that location. But the restaurant has been snatched from Shi by one Jiang Zhong (蔣忠), a burly wrestler nicknamed "Jiang the Door God". Invited to Mengzhou by his relative militia instructor Zhang (張團練), Jiang beat up Shi En and seized control of Happy Forest. Shi, needing Wu Song‘s help, tells his father to spare him mandatory beating which newly-arrived exiles are subject to and ensures he leads a comfortable life in prison. Wu initially thinks all this is just a run-up to murdering him in prison as he has refused to bribe the officials to escape the beating. Upon knowing the real reason, Wu agrees to help Shi take back the restaurant. But Shi doubts he has recovered his strength after days of ordeal. Wu demonstrates his physical might by lifting with one hand a hefty urn. He also says his fighting ability is at its peak when he is drunk. So he asks to be served three bowls of wine at every inn he comes by on his way to Happy Forest. By the time he reaches the restaurant he has taken an enormous amount of wine. He provokes Jiang Zhong into a fight and soundly beats him with a set of martial arts moves known as "Jade Circle Steps and Mandarin Ducks Kicks" (玉環步，鴛鴦腳). Jiang is ordered to apologise to Shi En, return Happy Forest to him and leave Mengzhou for good.

Humiliated, Jiang Zhong collaborates with Instructor Zhang and garrison inspector Zhang Mengfang (張蒙方) to get back at Wu Song. Inspector Zhang pretends to admire Wu Song for his mighty strength and invites him to stay at his manor. Wu is caught in an ambush and sent to prison on the false charge of theft. After being jailed for six months, during which Shi En thwarts a plot to murder him in prison, Wu is exiled to another place. Shi En warns him of danger when sending him off. Indeed Jiang Zhong has bribed Wu‘s escorts to murder him on the way with the help of two of his students. When the group come to Flying Cloud Pool (飛雲浦), Wu breaks up his cangue and kills all the four men. He returns to Inspector Zhang's manor and finds his way to the Mandarin Ducks Tower (鴛鴦樓), where the trio — Jiang and the two Zhangs — are drinking in celebration of his certain death. He kills all three and practically the whole family of Inspector Zhang. Overall 15 are killed in Zhang's house. He then writes the characters "The killer is Wu Song the tiger-slayer" with blood on a wall before leaving.

After fleeing Mengzhou, Wu Song runs into Sun Erniang and Zhang Qing again, who advise him to go to Mount Twin Dragons to join the outlaw band there. Sun suggests that he disguise as an untonsured Buddhist pilgrim to avoid being recognised since his wanted notice bearing his portrait is posted everywhere. Earlier on, Sun had butchered a Buddish pilgrim, who left behind a Buddhist robe, a necklace of skulls, a headband and a pair of broadswords. Wu Song puts on the robe and lets down his hair, as Buddhist pilgrims do, thus concealing the exile tattoo on his face. He is thenceforth nicknamed "Pilgrim".

On his way, Wu Song passes by a temple where a Taoist Wang (王道人), nicknamed "Flying Centipede" (飛天蜈蚣), keeps a kidnapped woman for sexual pleasure. Wu Song kills the priest and his servants, saves the woman, and burns down the temple. Next he comes by an inn and gets into a fight with Kong Liang as the latter is served food more palatable than his. He does not accept the explanation from the innkeeper that Kong has supplied his own ingredients. Kong is beaten up badly. Later, with the help of his brother Kong Ming and their men, Kong Liang tracks down Wu Song, who has got so drunk that he falls unconscious at a creek. They overpower him easily, tie him to a tree and beat him up. Song Jiang, who is living at the Kongs‘ manor at that time, recognises Wu, and asks the brothers to release him. Wu Song reaches Mount Twin Dragons where he joins Lu Zhishen and Yang Zhi.

After his defeat by the bandits of Liangshan Marsh, the imperial general Huyan Zhuo flees to Qingzhou (in present-day Shandong) in hope of redeeming himself by wiping out the bandits there. One of the strongholds is Mount Twin Dragons, which, finding Huyan a tough opponent, requests help from Liangshan. Song Jiang, Liangshan's then second-in-command, comes to Qingzhou with a force and captures Huyan. The bandits of Mount Twin Dragons, including Wu Song, are absorbed into Liangshan.

Life at Liangshan

Wu Song is appointed as one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry after the 108 Stars of Destiny came together in what is called the Grand Assembly. He is one of the few who vehemently object to seeking amnesty from the emperor and becoming servants of the Song government. Nevertheless, he participates in the campaigns against the invading Liao army and rebel forces in Song territory following amnesty from Emperor Huizong for Liangshan.

In the battle of Muzhou (睦州; in present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang) in the campaign against the rebel leader Fang La, Wu Song fights Fang‘s sorcerer Bao Daoyi. Using his magic power, Bao manoeuvres a flying sword to slice off Wu Song's left arm. Wu is saved by Lu Zhishen. Wu is one of the few Liangshan heroes who survive the run of campaigns. Not wanting to serve the government, he refuses to go back to Dongjing and chooses to stay in Hangzhou to look after the stroke-stricken Lin Chong. He lives as a Buddhist recluse in the Liuhe Pagoda until the age of 80.