The Liangshan Marsh Distributes Gold and Holds a Great Market; Song Gongming and His Whole Band Accept Amnesty

A poem says: Yan Qing’s courage was hard as iron, his looks elegant and uncommon among ordinary men. In the haunts of song and pleasure he met Li Shishi; in the deep palace he saw the reigning Son of Heaven. Because his name was written on a letter of pardon, the emperor’s grace sent down an edict. He brought back the imperial autograph of pardon, and from then on these heroes would become loyal servants of the court. Now to tell the story: Yan Qing had met Emperor Huizong at Li Shishi’s house and obtained a document specially pardoning him. Later he visited Grand Commandant Su and, together with Dai Zong, formed a plan by which they rescued Xiao Rang and Yue He from Gao Qiu’s mansion. As soon as the city gates opened, the four men left the city at once and hurried back to Liangshan Marsh, reporting everything to the assembled band. Meanwhile, Li Shishi had waited that night for Yan Qing to return and grew somewhat uneasy. On the other side, the servants in Gao Qiu’s mansion who waited on Xiao Rang and Yue He discovered the next day, when bringing food, that the two......