ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS, transl. Pearl S. Buck, the Heritage Press,
New York, 1948 (1931 and 1937).

The introduction by Lin Yutang mentions the tradition that Shih
Nai-an and Lo Kuan-chung authored both this work and ROMANCE OF THE
THREE KINGDOMS.

The following detailed plot outline is intended to help me keep in
mind some specific points of this aged majestic novel. Of course, 
the list of items on a menu is no real substitute for a meal, and
everyone interested is encouraged to read the book itself.

The story begins with a prologue recounting the imperial mission of
Hung Shin to persuade a Taoist master to come to the capital and
halt a plague. Hung Shin climbs a mountain, meeting tigers and a
youth, but fails to recognize the master, who anyway promises to go
and lift the plague. Hung Shin forces the Taoist monks to free some
bound spirits.

Chapter One (pp. 11-27): A tough named Kao is introduced. Wang Ching
was sick when summoned by Kao. Kao plans to punish Wang. Wang
escapes with his old mother. After more than a month fleeing, they
come to a village with remarkably kind hospitality. Wang trains the
village leader's son in the martial arts. After Wang leaves for the
frontier, the son, Shih Chin, continues to practise. The leader
dies. A robber band lairs on the mountain near the village. One of
the three robber chiefs tries to lead some men past the village. He
is defeated and caught by Shih Chin. Another robber chief by
demonstrating loyalty and virtue secures the release of his fellow
and the esteem of Shih Chin. The robber chiefs feast with Shih Chin
at Harvest Festival. Troops surround the village demanding the
robbers.

Chapter Two (pp. 27-36): Shih Chin leads the robber chiefs in
scattering the troops. He goes to the robbers' lair. He goes a year
later towards the frontier seeking Wang. In one town he meets
Captain Lu and a wandering fencer, Li Chung. They go to a restaurant
where they hear how Butcher Cheng used a woman as a concubine for
three months, how Cheng's wife drove this woman out, and how Cheng
is forcing her and her old father to make daily repayments of the
money that was not paid for her. Captain Lu provides the woman and
her father with money to return to the capital. Captain Lu
confronts, mocks and strikes Butcher Cheng. Butcher Cheng dies of
the blows. Lu flees. A proclamation is issued. In one place Lu sees
a crowd gathered at such a reward poster, and someone quickly draws
him aside.

Chapter Three (pp. 37-49): The old father helped by Lu has seen and
saved Lu. He brings him home, celebrates his arrival, and presents
him to his daughter's new husband. This lord takes Lu to his village
and then to a monastery. Lu becomes a monk. He is given a religious
name, but Lu Chi Chen sleeps during vigil and urinates behind the
statue of Buddha. Twice he drinks wine and enters the monastery
drunk and violent. He causes such destruction the second time he's
sent elsewhere.

Chapter Four (pp. 50-59): The abbot sends Lu to an abbot in the
eastern capital. On the way he comes to Peach Blossom Village,
whence a maiden is about to be married unwillingly. The bride is
hidden. Lu waits in her room in the dark. The brigand chief enters,
is beaten and flees in such a state he first fails to untie his
horse. Another brigand chief comes for vengeance, but he recognizes
Lu Ta. He is Li Chung, a wandering fencer. They chat. Lu goes to the
robbers' lair, and wins agreement that the only daughter of an old
man remain with her father. The chief's wedding gifts are returned.
The robbers feast. The two chiefs and some robbers waylay
travellers. Lu takes some loot from the lair and flees down a cliff.

Chapter Five (pp. 59-67): Lu, weary and hungry, comes to a great
temple. None answer his knock. Entering, he finds three frail old
priests. They tell him murderers have seized the place, dispersing
all able to flee. Lu confronts a monk and layman. A lengthy combat
ends with Lu chased away. He comes to a wood and fights a while with
one there, until they realize they are friends. It is Shih Chin. He
joins Lu in defeating the pair of murderers. Lu retrieves his gear,
and he and Shih taking food and loot, burn the temple. They dine in
a village. They part at a crossroads, Lu going to the eastern
capital, Shih to the mountains. The abbot in the eastern capital
places Lu in charge of a vegetable garden where Lu was to live
alone. Idlers pilfering the garden try to toss Lu into a latrine
pit.

Chapter Six (pp. 67-76): Two leading idlers are kicked into the
latrine pit. They are helped out. Now idlers respect and feast with
Lu. A crow caws. Idlers fear the ill-omen. They would use a ladder
to get at the nest. Lu pulls up the whole tree by its roots. Lu
hosts a reciprocal feast. He performs martial arts. He impresses an
observer Ling Ch'ung. They meet. Ling rushes off to rescue his wife.
Her accoster is the cousin of Kao Ch'iu. Young Kao tries again, and
again Ling rescues his wife. Kao Ch'iu, told of his adopted son's
desire, approves a plot to lure Ling with a bared scimitar to
Commander Kao's War Hall of the White Tiger.

Chapter Seven (pp. 76-82): Ling is seized and brought to the
magistrate. His innocence is recognized, as is the power of Kao
Ch'iu. Ling is merely struck twenty times, branded and exiled. His
wife's father promises to take her home and keep her safe. Ling,
uncertain of his future, wishes to divorce her. Her father says
he'll still guard her. Ling is led to exile by guards bribed to kill
him. His scars fester. His feet are scalded and blister. He is tied
to a tree. They raise clubs.

Chapter Eight (pp. 83-91): Lu appears, saves Ling and spares the
guards at Ling's insistence. Eighteen days Lu accompanies them,
intimidates and warns the guards and leaves. Soon the prisoner
arrives at an inn and hears of a robber chief helping all good men.
He goes to see him. Lord Ch'ai receives Lu very hospitably. Hung, a
teacher, is very discourteous. Hung and Ling fight with staves. Ling
wins. Ch'ai writes to his friend the magistrate. Ling arrives in
jail. Other prisoners advise him to bribe jailers. The silver and
Ch'ai's favour move the jailers. Ling is spared lashes, released
from his yoke and given light work.

Chapter Nine (pp. 91-98): Ling meets Li the Second, a man very
indebted to Ling's previous good services. Li now has a wineshop
near the prison. There Li believes he sees men plotting to kill
Ling. Li tells Ling. Nothing happens. Then Ling is placed in charge
of a granery outside the city. He's cold and goes to a wineshop. He
is absent when the granery's roof collapses from the snow's weight.
He repairs the granery a bit and goes to a nearby deserted shrine.
Thence, he sees flames at the granery. He hears those who think
they've killed him. Ling leaps out, slays and beheads the Work
Master, the Chief Jailor and one other. Ling flees.

Chapter Ten (pp. 98-105): Ling is taken asleep by villagers who tie
him to a beam and beat him, until their lord, Ch'ai, sees him, frees
him and gives him a letter to the robbers at Liang Shan P'o. Ling
stops at an inn, writes a poem on the wall and meets there a robber
who helps him to the lair. Wang Lun, the first chief, is
apprehensive because of Ling's capacity and seeks to send him away.
He sets Ling the task of bringing in a head within three days as
admission fee to the band. On the afternoon of the third day Ling
prepares to fight a traveller.

Chapter Eleven (pp. 106-112): The two fight well. Wang Lun shouts
for them to stop. He seeks to have both join his band where they
would balance each other, but Yang Chi insists on proceeding to the
eastern capital where Commander Kao refuses to give him back his
position in the Imperial Guard. Trying to sell a precious dagger,
Yang Chi meets and slays a bully. He goes to the yamen with
witnesses and is sent to the northern capital. He impresses the
commander there who arranges a joust between him and Sergeant Chou
Ching.

Chapter Twelve (pp. 113-119): The joust begins with unpointed
weapons dipped in lime. Yang wins. A mounted archery contest also
goes to Yang. So Ch'ou, a good warrior, challenges Yang. They clash
for some fifty rounds. The fight is halted and both are rewarded.
Governor Liang's wife speaks of her father's birthday. Liang has not
forgotten it. In Shantung troops seeking thieves seize a huge fellow
sleeping in a temple.

Chapter Thirteen (pp. 119-126): The huge fellow is taken to the
village of Ch'ao Kai. Ch'ao secures the release of the man, claiming
Liu T'ang, the Red Headed Devil, is his nephew. Ch'ao gives the
officer silver. Liu T'ang suggests to Ch'ao Kai stealing the
birthday present going to Liang's father-in-law in the eastern
capital. Ch'ao bids Liu rest. Instead, Liu takes a sword, pursues
the troops and demands the return of the silver. More than fifty
rounds they clash. The teacher Wu Yung bids them halt. Ch'ao Kai
arrives, appologizes to the officer and the troops proceed. Ch'ao
tells Wu of the idea of taking the birthday present.

Chapter Fourteen (pp. 126-134): Wu says some, but not too much, help
will be needed. He names the three Juan brothers and goes to fetch
them. He finds them, is told of the robbers on Liang Shan P'o, and
invites the three Juan brothers to join in obtaining the birthday
present. They go with Wu to see Lord Ch'ao and Liu T'ang. A Taoist
weather controller arrives to join the plot.

Chapter Fifteen (pp. 134-144): Wu Yung shares a plan, secret to the
reader but admired by the others who say it is better than Chu Kuo
Liang's. In Peking Governor Liang overcomes Yang Chi's reluctance,
and Yang Chi leads the treasure bearers disguised as merchants. Yang
urges them on when they reach the mountains, but intolerable heat
forces a rest and a well considered plan prompts the bearers to
drink drugged wine. The treasure is stolen. Yang Chi, who'd drunk
less, awakes first. He is ready to jump off a cliff.

Chapter Sixteen (pp. 144-153): Yang Chi considers his parents and
future possibilities and flees. The others awake and agree to blame
Yang Chi. Yang Chi eats and drinks in a wine shop and leaves without
paying. He fights twenty or thirty rounds and then learns his
opponent is Ch'ao Cheng, an apprentice of Ling Ch'ung's. He advises
Yang, since Wang Lun is untrustworthy, to go instead to the Double
Dragon Mountain. There Yang meets Lu Chi Shen unable to enter the
robber lair. Ch'ao and the villagers join in a plan of delivering a
seemingly bound Lu to the robbers. They quickly slay the chief,
T'eng Lung, and several minor chiefs and take over the band. The
magistrate where the treasure was stolen is pressed for action. He
pressures his leading thief catcher. The thief catcher's brother
says he knows a clue.

Chapter Seventeen (pp. 154-163): Ho Ch'ing, being lettered, is asked
by an innkeeper to write down the required information of guests who
included Ch'ao Kai. He also saw Pei Sheng. Pei Sheng is captured,
but the magistrate's secretary Sung Chiang warns Ch'ao Kai and both
local captains seek to allow Ch'ao Kai's escape. Only some
neighbours of Chao Kai are taken. The thief catcher goes to the
village of the three Juans.

Chapter Eighteen (pp. 163-173): A large force arrives to take the
seven robbers. The thieves withdraw into the marsh. The soldiers
pursue in small boats. The robbers kill all, except Ho T'ao, the
chief thief catcher who is sent back with his ears cut off. The
seven go to join the robber band at Liang Shan P'o. Wang Lun tries
to refuse them. Ling Ch'ung fights and slays Wang Lun.

Chapter Nineteen (pp. 173-184): Ch'ao Kai is named the new chief
with Wu Yung his counsellor. Ling Ch'ung learns his wife in the
eastern capital has hung herself to avoid Commander Kao's son. A
larger force under Huang An strikes into the marsh. It is destroyed
and Huang An captured. Chu Kuei takes a rich prize from merchants
who all run away. Ch'ao Kai orders this as precedent that in future
no civilians are to be harmed. The magistrate is replaced. There is
a proclamation for a joint effort of surrounding counties against
the robbers. The charitable scribe Sung Chiang is pressed to support
the young woman P'o Hsi and her mother. P'o Hsi meets and becomes
the mistress of Chang the Third. Liu T'ang secretly delivers to Sung
Chiang the robbers esteem.

Chapter Twenty (pp. 184-194): P'o Hsi's old mother drags Sung Chiang
to her daughter, but both are cold to each other. Liu Er arrives,
but is thrown out by the mother. Sung Chiang leaves forgetting his
purse containing an incriminating letter. He returns for it, but P'o
Hsi will not give it up. Sung Chiang slays her. Her mother goes with
Sung Chiang to get a coffin. As they pass the yamen she shouts Sung
Chiang is a murderer. None intervene, except Liu Er who forces her
to let go of Sung Chiang. She accuses T'ang Liu Er.

Chapter Twenty One (pp. 194-202): The magistrate is pressed by Chang
the Third to pursue Sung Chiang. Sung's father has a document
disinheriting Sung Chiang. A thorough search finds him anyway, as
Sung Chiang had told Sergeant Chu T'ung of a hiding place Chu could
use in time of need. Chu encourages Sung to escape. Sung Chiang and
his brother Sung Ch'ing go to Ch'ang Chou and its lord Ch'ai Chin.
He welcomes them.

Chapter Twenty Two (pp. 203-211): Sung Chiang meets Wu Sung, who
drinks and is quarrelsome when drunk. After leaving Ch'ai Chin and
Sung Chiang, Wu Sung reaches an inn called "Three Bowls, then
Mountain Impassable." He drinks his fill and ignores warnings about
tigers. He falls asleep on a blue rock. A ravenous tiger awakens
him. Wu Sung swings his club, missing the tiger and shattering a
tree and his club. He kills the tiger with his bare hands. This
astonishes hunters. He is acclaimed, rewarded and appointed an
officer in Yang Ku.

Chapter Twenty Three (pp. 211-231): Wu Sung meets his brother and
Golden Lotus, the wife of his brother. She is very attracted to her
brother-in-law. Wu Sung is an honourable man and responds angrily
when she gets him alone and starts a drinking bout. This leads to
tension. Wu Sung is sent to the eastern capital. He first advises
his brother to spend more time at home and keep an eye on Golden
Lotus. Golden Lotus meets Hsi Men, a rake. Hsi Men is taken with her
and hires old woman Wang to effect a tryst. She arranges an
intricate plan. It succeeds and Golden Lotus becomes the mistress of
Hsi Men Ch'ing.

Chapter Twenty Four (pp. 232-239): Wu the Elder is informed of this
affair. When Wu breaks in upon the lovers, Hsi Men strikes him. Wu
is sick for days. Old woman Wang counsels that he be poisoned. The
adulteress complies. As preparations commence for the funeral, Hsi
Men seeks to bribe Wu's friend Ho. When Ho observes the body, he
perceives the poisonous reason for the bribe. He then seems smitten
with an evil spirit.

Chapter Twenty Five (pp. 239-251): Ho tells his wife the situation.
She advises that if the body is burned, Ho should take some bones.
Wu Sung returns, is startled to see his brother's spirit tablet,
disbelieves the adulteress's account of the death, speaks with Ho
who shows him the bones as evidence of poison, speaks with Yung Ko,
who had told Wu the Elder of the affair and seen Hsi Men strike Wu,
brings both as witnesses to the magistrate, who has been bribed by
Hsi Men, gathers then the neighbours on all four sides of Wu the
Elder's home to witness the confession of the adulteress and old
woman Wang. The witnesses see Wu Sung execute Golden Lotus before Wu
the Elder's spirit tablet. Wu Sung takes her head and tosses it at
Hsi Men, throws Hsi Men out a window, cuts off Hsi Men's head and
brings both heads to Wu the Elder's spirit tablet.

Chapter Twenty Six (pp. 251-259): Wu Sung respectfully burning his
brother's spirit tablet, goes with the witnesses to the magistrate.
The magistrate and prefect favour Wu Sung. The governor sentences
old woman Wang to execution by slicing. He orders Wu Sung branded
and banished. On his way to exile, Wu Sung and his guards arrive at
an inn serving human flesh. He pretends to drink poison, and seizes
the woman about to cut him up. Chang Ch'ing enters, explains it was
a misunderstanding, that he has told his wife before not to harm
priests, harlots and exiles.

Chapter Twenty Seven (pp. 259-265): Wu Sung secures the safety of
two kindly guards. They continue to escort him to his place of exile
where he is placed in jail. Other prisoners advise that he placate
the warden, but the discourteous attitude of that person arouses the
courageous nature of Wu Sung. However, his heroic pose is met by
kindness, food, a bath, transfer to comfortable lodgings. He learns
Shih En, son of the chief jailor, has a task for him, after he is
stronger. Wu Sung laughing tosses a massive pillar high in the air
to demonstrate his strength.

Chapter Twenty Eight (pp. 265-272): Shih En tells Wu Sung about
Chiang Chung, a tough guy who took by force a wine shop from Shih
En. Wu agrees to reclaim it. He goes to confront Chiang Chung. Wu
stopping to drink at each inn along the way, arrives partly drunken.
He insults the wine in Chiang's shop, tosses Chiang's wife into a
keg and lays low, some with a splash into wine jars, Chiang's
serving men. He goes out to meet Chiang rushing towards him. Wu
quickly defeats Chiang.

Chapter Twenty Nine (pp. 272-281): Chiang leaves; Shih En regains
his own. General Chang invites to his residence in Meng Chou Wu
Sung. The general insists Wu attend the feast on the fifteenth of
the eighth moon. Jade Orchid sings a song by Su Tung P'o. Chang,
planting the evidence, has Wu hauled before the magistrate. Shih En
lightens Wu's imprisonment in Meng Chou, but Chiang Chung drives
Shih from the shop and continues his bribery against Wu. Wu,
banished to En Chou, escapes assassins on the way, kicking some off
a bridge and cutting down the remainder.

Chapter Thirty (pp. 281-290): General Chang, Chiang Chung and an
official are celebrating in the general's home. Wu Sung kills them
and cuts off their heads. He slays all in that household. Wu,
leaving Meng Chou by climbing over the walls, travels 'til dawn and
enters a temple to rest. He is taken by four men, but Chang Ch'ing,
their leader, knows Wu. The gates are closed in Meng Chou for three
days, while there was a house to house search. Reward posters are
widely circulated. Chang Ch'ing gives Wu a letter to Lu Chi Shen,
and Wu, disguised as a priest, goes off to join the robbers on
Double Dragon Mountain. On a lonely mountain, Wu comes upon a temple
where a priest frolics with a woman. Wu fights the priest.

Chapter Thirty One (pp. 291-303): Wu slays the vile priest Wang the
Flying Centipede, frees the woman and burns the temple. Enraged at
inhospitality, Wu strikes an innkeeper and beats a guest. Extracted
drunk from a brook, Wu is preserved by the guest's instructor Sung
Chiang. Sung travels with Wu, until their ways fork. Sung is seized
by robbers, carried to their lair, recognized and spared. There he
persuades the robber's to release the civil magistrate's wife, taken
while visiting her mother's grave.

Chapter Thirty Two (pp. 303-312): Sung Chiang goes to Hua Yung at
the military camp. Sung learns the civil magistrate is oppressive.
At the Lantern Festival, the magistrate seizes Sung Chiang. Sung is
beaten. Hua's letter is torn. Hua's envoys are driven out. Hua comes
fully armed with his soldiers. Hua rescues Sung. The magistrate
sends many men to retake Sung; these all flee when Hua demonstrates
his skill at archery. Sung fails to reach the robbers' lair. He is
imprisoned secretly by the magistrate, who also sends a confidential
accusation against Hua to the prefect. General Huang Hsin tricks Hua
and Hua is seized alone. Sung and Hua are led towards the prefect.

Chapter Thirty Three (pp. 312-322): The robbers ambush the party,
scatter the soldiers, free Sung and Hua and capture the magistrate,
whom they kill. The prefect summons the leading general Ch'ing Ming.
Hua Yung and Ch'ing Ming fight in personal combat. Hua then shoots
the crest off Ch'ing's helmet. Ch'ing orders the mountain ascended.
Great stones, logs, lime, etc. drive his army down. The general's
constant vain efforts to find a way up the mountain wear out men and
horses. In night fighting the army is bested and Ch'ing captured.
Ch'ing is treated hospitably and allowed to leave. He finds the city
outskirts burned and the gate held against him. He learns that while
he slept in the lair his horse, helmet, garments identified the
leader attacking the city. Ch'ing is driven off. He returns to the
lair. He goes to Huang Hsin who is startled to learn it was Sung
Chiang the magistrate oppressed. An armed force suddenly approaches
Huang Hsin and Ch'ing Ming.

Chapter Thirty Four (pp. 322-332): It is the robbers' force. It has
destroyed the magistrate's camp. His widow is taken to the lair and
executed. Ch'ing Ming marries Hua Yung's sister. Understanding the
ultimate vulnerability of the lair to sustained total siege, the
robbers on Clear Winds Mountain proceed to Liang Shan P'o. Hua Yung
demonstrates his skill in archery to two jousting warriors and their
men. Both join him on the journey to Liang Shan P'o. At an inn, Sung
Chiang meets Shih Yung who has come with a letter from Sung's
brother. The letter announces the death of Sung's father. Sung
writes a letter to the chiefs at Liang Shan P'o and goes speedily
home. Sung's letter is read, the newcomers welcomed and Hua Yung
proves his skill with a bow. Sung Chiang finds his father alive. The
old man wished to see his son and inform him of a general pardon. In
the night a force comes to capture Sung Chiang.

Chapter Thirty Five (pp. 333-341): Sung Chiang invites his captors
to hospitable eating. He goes then with them. The amnesty lightens
the sentence to twenty strokes, branding and banishment to Chiang
Chou. His father commands him to accept this. As he passes near
Liang Shan P'o robbers come to rescue him. Filial Sung visits them
for one day, and proceeds. At an inn, he is drugged and dragged to
be cut up for meat. Three men arrive who have been awaiting Sung
Chiang. He and his two guards are revived. Going on, they come to a
performer. Sung alone gives him money. One from the crowd attacks
Sung.

Michael Mckenny finished this half on October 15, 2003 CE 


Solarguard China 



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