The Beautiful Beard Wisely Restrains the Winged Tiger; Song Gongming Secretly Releases Chao the Heavenly King

A poem says: No bond is closer than brothers of the same flesh and blood; after wine, true words come out most easily. He Qing cared nothing for brotherly feeling, and so Inspector He learned the bandits’ names. To let the outlaws slip quietly away, to beat the grass and frighten the snake—such things rarely succeed. All because of a single official document, the heroes of Liangshan rose up in arms. Now Inspector He said to his younger brother He Qing, “This piece of silver is the reward from the government. I am not tricking you. There will be more rewards later. Brother, tell me the names of these men. How did you record them in your notebook?” He Qing took a small folded notebook from the document bag he carried and pointed to it: “All the names of these bandits are written in here.” He Tao asked, “Tell me how you came to record them.” He Qing said, “I will hide nothing from you, brother. Some time ago I gambled away all my money and did not have a single coin for travel. A man I gambled with took me to Wang’s inn at Anle Village, fifteen li north of the city,......