Background of "Water Margin" (without spoiler)
The first two articles
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv18490026
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv19100239

Song Dynasty(宋朝) is a country of Han nationality. Zhao Ji(趙佶), the Song Dynasty emperor who appeared(皇帝) in Outlaws of the Marsh, was the eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty. Although he was good at calligraphy, he was ignorant and collected heavy taxes from the people. Cai Jing (蔡京 the prime minister and calligrapher), Tong Guan (童貫 the general and eunuch), Gao Qiu (高俅 the football player) and Yang Jian (楊戩 the eunuch) whom he trusted were all evil people hated by the people.
For this reason, Fang La(方臘), the cult leader in Jiangnan, launched a rebellion and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people in the south of the empire. Wang Qing(王慶) called himself the King of Chu(楚王), and Tian Hu(田虎) called himself the King of Jin(晉王). What they did was similar to Fang La. They all wanted to take the opportunity to replace the Song Dynasty. Only Song Jiang(宋江) of Liangshan(梁山) is loyal to the motherland. He treats the people well and is always ready to serve the country.
The east? State(遼國) in the north of the Song Dynasty was established when the Song Dynasty did not exist. It was founded by the nomadic Khitan nationality(契丹族) and was often mistaken for China by foreigners at that time.
Shi Jingtang(石敬塘), the emperor of the Tang Dynasty(唐朝), gave the Sixteen States of Yanyun(燕云十六州), China's territory, to Liao, which caused China to lose its shield against the invasion of Liao.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, General Yang Ye(楊業(yè)), Huyan zan(呼延贊) and their families of the Song Dynasty have been devoted to defending against the invasion of Liao and attempting to reclaim the Sixteen States of Yanyun for more than a hundred years. Their stories are very famous in China and there are many movies and TV plays. (Yang Zhi(楊志) and Huyan Yan(呼延灼) in the Water Margin are members of their family)
The north of Liao Dynasty was the gold Kingdom(金國) established by Nuzhen Nationality. Nuzhen Nationality had always been subordinate to Liao Nationality, and then came out of Liao Nationality independently. Their emperor WanYan AGuDa(完顏阿骨打) joined forces with the Song Dynasty in an attempt to completely eliminate the Liao Kingdom. In the Water Margin, a character named Zeng Nong(曾弄) appeared in the golden kingdom which has been established for more than 10 years.
His subordinate, Shi Wengong(史文恭), shot Chao Gai(晁蓋), the leader of Liangshan with poison arrows (in the old TV series, he was adapted to be a Song Dynasty man and a relative of the Song Dynasty emperor).
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