Yang Zhi (Water Margin)
Yang Zhi | |
---|---|
Water Margin character | |
First appearance | Chapter 12 |
Nickname | "Blue Faced Beast" |
Rank | 17th, Dark Star ( |
Tiger Cub Vanguard General of Liangshan | |
Origin | Military officer |
Ancestral home / Place of origin | Taiyuan, Shanxi |
Weapon | Sabre, Spear |
Names | |
Simplified Chinese | 杨志 |
Traditional Chinese | 楊志 |
Pinyin | Yáng Zhì |
Wade–Giles | Yang Chih |
Yang Zhi is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the four great classical novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Blue Faced Beast", he ranks 17th among the 36 Heavenly Spirits, the first third of the 108 Stars of Destiny.
Background
[edit]Yang Zhi is descended from Yang Ye, a general in history made famous by the folk story Generals of the Yang Family -- a saga of the family's patriotism stretching from him to his great-grand child. Seven chi tall, Yang Zhi has red whiskers on his chin and a blue birthmark on his face, which earns him the nickname "Blue Faced Beast". A highly skilled fighter and archer, he fights with either a long sabre or a spear. He serves as a middle-ranking officer under Grand Marshal Gao Qiu in Dongjing (
Gao Qiu sends Yang Zhi and several officers to escort rare minerals and plants, known as huashigang (
On the way, Yang Zhi runs into Lin Chong at Liangshan Marsh, who wants to cut off and present his head to the bandit chief Wang Lun as his ticket to join the stronghold. After a long fight, neither wins. Wang Lun appears, stops the fight and asks Yang Zhi to join his band. He reckons that Yang could be a counterbalance to Lin, a formidable fighter who he fears might usurp his position. But Yang declines, vowing to uphold his ancestors' reputation.
Selling his precious sabre
[edit]In Dongjing, Yang Zhi tries to bribe his way back into his previous job. But Gao Qiu boots him from his office when Yang comes to explain his case.
Having spent all his money, Yang Zhi has no choice but to take his family heirloom, a precious sabre, to sell at a busy marketplace. The sabre has the rare property of being able to slice through metal and hair with ease as well as killing without being stained with blood. Fascinated by the sabre, hooligan Niu Er wants to snatch it away from Yang. In the scuffle, Yang accidentally kills Niu. He surrenders himself to the local magistrate. As Niu was a public nuisance, many local residents appeal for lenient sentence on Yang's behalf. He is exiled to Daming Prefecture.
Escorting the convoy of birthday gifts
[edit]In Daming Yang Zhi gains the attention of the prefect Grand Secretary Liang Shijie, who wants to tap his abilities. Liang arranges for Yang Zhi to joust with Zhou Jin, one of his better warriors, confident that he would prove himself deserving of a position in front of all his military men. Yang Zhi beats Zhou easily. However, another officer Suo Chao, who is the martial arts teacher of Zhou, feels humiliated and asks for a contest with Yang himself. They have a dazzling fight with neither prevailing. Liang, impressed by both, promotes them to the same position.
Liang Shijie picks Yang Zhi to escort valuables to Dongjing as his birthday gift to his father-in-law Grand Tutor Cai Jing. Yang insists that the escort party be kept small and dressed up to look like traders so as not to attract potential robbers. Liang agrees to his requests. For fear of misstep, Yang is very demanding on the soldiers during the journey, including beating them with twigs when they dawdle and pushing them to cover distances in daytime under a blazing sun. They come to rest in a grove on the Yellow Soil Ridge (
Becoming an outlaw
[edit]Yang Zhi is the first to get up, having drunk the least. Depressed, he abandons his men for fear of punishment. As Yang has been harsh to them, the soldiers return to Liang Shijie to incriminate him as an accomplice in the hijack. Furious, Liang orders his arrest.
Meanwhile, Yang Zhi comes to know Cao Zheng, a martial arts student of Lin Chong. Yang has dined in Cao's inn but leaves without paying as he is penniless. Cao catches up with him and the two fight. Cao, noticing that Yang's combat skills is of the warrior calibre, soon calls off the fight to inquire his identity. Upon learning Yang's misfortune, Cao advises him to go to Mount Twin Dragons (
After his defeat by the bandits of Liangshan Marsh, the imperial general Huyan Zhuo flees to Qingzhou (in present-day Shandong) in the hopes of redeeming himself by wiping out the bandits there. One of the strongholds is Mount Twin Dragons, which, finding Huyan a tough opponent, requests help from Liangshan. Song Jiang, Liangshan's then second-in-command, comes to Qingzhou with a force and captures Huyan. The bandits of Mount Twin Dragons, including Yang Zhi, are absorbed into Liangshan.
Death
[edit]Yang Zhi is appointed as one of the Eight Tiger Cub Vanguard Generals of the Liangshan cavalry after the 108 Stars of Destiny came together in what is called the Grand Assembly. He participates in the campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces in Song territory following amnesty from Emperor Huizong for Liangshan.
Yang Zhi dies of illness during the campaign against Fang La, just after the conquest of Dantu County (
See also
[edit]- List of Water Margin minor characters#Yang Zhi's story for a list of supporting minor characters from Yang Zhi's story.
References
[edit]- Buck, Pearl S. (2006). All Men are Brothers. Moyer Bell. ISBN 9781559213035.
- Miyazaki, Ichisada (1993). Suikoden: Kyoko no naka no Shijitsu (in Japanese). Chuo Koronsha. ISBN 978-4122020559.
- Keffer, David. "Outlaws of the Marsh: A Somewhat Less Than Critical Commentary". Poison Pie Publishing House. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- Li, Mengxia (1992). 108 Heroes from the Water Margin (in Chinese). EPB Publishers. p. 35. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.
- Miyamoto, Yoko (2011). "Water Margin: Chinese Robin Hood and His Bandits". Demystifying Confucianism. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- Shibusawa, Kou (1989), Bandit Kings of Ancient China, Koei, pp. 56, 67, 74, 76–77, 93
- Zhang, Lin Ching (2009). Biographies of Characters in Water Margin. Writers Publishing House. ISBN 978-7506344784.