Ten-Sided Ambush at Liangshan Marsh; Song Gongming Defeats Tong Guan Twice

There is a poem that says: The red sun stood overhead, yet black mist blotted the sky; On both sides spears and halberds, blades and guns were massed tight. War drums shook the heavens like rivers and seas surging; Iron-armored cavalry swept in like the wind. Banners of the four quarters and five directions fluttered in the wind; Gates of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams opened one by one. The villain Tong Guan was frightened out of his wits, Like Xiang Yu of old trapped at Gaixia. Now on that day, in Song Jiang’s formation, the three vanguard contingents ahead charged into the government army’s ranks. With great sabers and broad axes they cut down fiercely on every side. Tong Guan’s great army was badly defeated; its ranks were split apart, and the dead and wounded were heavy. Soldiers threw away gongs, drums, and weapons, weeping for their fathers and mothers, and more than ten thousand men were lost. They retreated thirty li before pitching camp. Wu Yong sounded the gong for withdrawal within the formation and sent orders: “Do not pursue them to the very end;......