Joining Liangshan
Xiang Chong is from Pei County, Xuzhou. He is a close friend of Fan Rui and Li Gun. The three of them form an army of 3,000 bandits under their command on the nearby Mount Mangdang. They proclaim that they will conquer Liangshan Marsh one day, provoking the outlaws from Liangshan to attack them. Shi Jin volunteers to lead the vanguard army and he faces Xiang Chong in combat but is defeated by Xiang.
The next day, Gongsun Sheng deploys the Liangshan troops in the Eight Trigrams Formation to counter Fan Rui. Fan Rui uses magic to darken the sky and conjure a sandstorm to throw the enemy into confusion. Meanwhile, Xiang Chong and Li Gun lead their men to attack and break the enemy formation. Gongsun Sheng defeats Fan Rui in a battle of magic and both Xiang Chong and Li Gun are lost in the formation and captured. Song Jiang treats the captives with respect and succeed in persuading them to join the Liangshan cause of "delivering justice on Heaven's behalf". Xiang Chong and Li Gun are touched and they return to Mount Mangdang and succeed in persuading Fan Rui to join Liangshan as well.
Read more about this topic: Xiang Chong (Water Margin)
Famous quotes containing the word joining:
“Women will not advance except by joining together in cooperative action.... Unlike other groups, women do not need to set affiliation and strength in opposition one against the other. We can readily integrate the two, search for more and better ways to use affiliation to enhance strength—and strength to enhance affiliation.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)