A Scholar’s Laughter Repels a Strong Enemy; The Water Forces Lie Hidden and Break a Strong City

Song Jiang having disposed his troops, advanced both by water and by land, with warships and cavalry moving forward together. The land army was divided into three columns. In the front, charging and killing the enemy, were twelve fierce commanders leading twenty thousand troops. These twelve were: Dong Ping, Qin Ming, Xu Ning, Suo Chao, Zhang Qing, Qiong Ying, Sun An, Bian Xiang, Ma Ling, Tang Bin, Wen Zhongrong, and Cui Ye. Behind them, holding the line, were fourteen fierce commanders leading fifty thousand troops as rear support. These fourteen were: Huang Xin, Sun Li, Han Tao, Peng Qi, Shan Tinggui, Wei Dingguo, Ou Peng, Deng Fei, Yan Shun, Ma Lin, Chen Da, Yang Chun, Zhou Tong, and Yang Lin. The central column was led by Song Jiang and Lu Junyi, with more than ninety commanders and a hundred thousand troops, heading straight for Shannan Commandery. The vanguard under Dong Ping and the others had already pitched camp five li north of Longzhong Mountain. Scouts reported: “When Wang Qing heard our great army had arrived, he specially added thirty thousand elite......