Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin" is not a purely fictional literary work, but is based on the background of the real "Songjiang Uprising" in history.

According to historical records, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the government was corrupt, begging for peace with foreign currency, and wanton looting at home, and the peasants suffered from heavy taxes and exploitation, resulting in displacement.

In the first year of Xuanhe, Song Jiang and 36 others occupied Liangshanbo, recruited rebels, and gathered people to revolt. Xuan led the crowd to attack Heshuo (generally referring to the lower reaches of the Yellow River) and Jingdong East Road (Zhiqingzhou, now Yidu, Shandong Province), and then fought between Qing and Qi (now Jinan, Shandong) and Puzhou (now Juanchengbei, Shandong), captured more than ten county cities, punished corrupt officials, killed the rich and helped the poor, and the momentum was increasing.

On the second day of December, Zhao Ji of Song Huizong heard that the Marquis of Bozhou had pardoned and surrendered the policy, and issued an edict to recruit An, but it was unsuccessful, so he ordered Zeng Xiaoyun, the governor of Shezhou, to lead the army to ask. Song Jiang avoided his front, led the people from Qingzhou to Yizhou (now Linyi, Shandong), and fought with the official army for more than a year.

In February of the third year, he captured the Huaiyang Army (under the rule of Pi, now east of Gupi Town, northwest of Suining, Jiangsu Province), and then entered Haizhou (now Lianyungang, Jiangsu) by ship from Shuyang (now part of Jiangsu).

Zhizhou Zhang Shu sent an envoy to investigate the direction of the righteous army, and knew that Song Jiang approached the seashore with more than ten huge boats, and recruited more than 1,000 brave soldiers to set up an ambush near the city, and sent light troops to the sea to lure the battle.

In May, Song Jiang was ambushed and his ships burned, cutting off his retreat, defeated and captured, and the uprising was suppressed.

According to the 353rd volume of the History of the Song Dynasty:

In 1119 A.D. (the first year of Xuanhe), "the Song River started from Heshuo, turned to ten counties, and the officials and soldiers did not dare to infer their fronts." The rumors are coming, and the people in the night envoy are looking at the direction, and the thieves are approaching the sea, robbing more than ten boats, and carrying the brine. So he recruited a thousand dead soldiers, set up an ambush near the city, and sent light troops from the sea to lure the battle. Hide by the seaside first, wait for the army, and set fire to his boat. When the thieves heard it, they all had no fighting spirit, and the ambush soldiers took advantage of it, captured its deputy thief, and Jiang Nai surrendered. ”

It is said that after the Song Jiangheshuo Uprising, he led the army to Haizhou (Haizhou is the ancient name of Lianyungang) and captured more than a dozen official and military giant ships.

Uncle Zhang found out that Song Jiang was preparing to attack Haizhou City with more than ten ships of gold, silver and jewelry, so he recruited nearly 1,000 die-hard people, set up an ambush on the outskirts of the city, and sent troops to the beach with light equipment to lure Song Jiang's army out to fight.

At the same time, Zhang Shuye ordered the soldiers to hide on the beach, and when Song Jiang's army came ashore to fight the lure soldiers, he suddenly set fire to Song Jiang's fleet.

The soldiers of Song Jiang's army saw that the ship was burned, and immediately lost their fighting spirit, at this time Zhang Shuye's ambush was killed, Song Jiang's army was defeated, the deputy marshal was captured, and Song Jiang had to surrender.

According to Haizhou folklore, Song Jiang did not surrender to Zhang Shuye, and even Song Jiang's 36 heroes in Liangshan were killed by Zhang Shuye and buried under Baihu Mountain.

There is also a poem circulating among the people:

The white gecko is in the shade of the mountain, and the grave is green.

Ask whose tomb it is, Liangshan is a good man.

There are still rumors in Yuncheng and Liangshan in Shandong: thirty-six when you go, and eighteen pairs when you come. If there is one less person, a children's rhyme that vows not to return to his hometown.