I have an opinion that the reason why "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Journey to the West" and "Water Margin" can become the four masterpieces of classical literature is that these four books portray and describe the four aspects of ancient Chinese social life very vividly.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" depicts the battles above the ancient court. No matter how the superior wins the hearts of the people, how the inferior repays loyally and bravely; Or the cooperation between countries, etc., to explain in a simple sentence: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" tells the story of ancient emperors and officials.

"Dream of Red Mansions" is about urban life in ancient times. Including the joys and sorrows of the sons and ladies in Jiafu, the intrigue of all kinds of people, the camp and the fornication, or all kinds of ups and downs of the sea, etc., to explain in a simple sentence: "Dream of Red Mansions" tells the story of the life of people in the ancient city.

"Journey to the West" is about the special activities of some specific groups of people in ancient China. This special activity is the cultivation (truth), and these specific groups of people include scholars, monks, and so on. The simple explanation is: "Journey to the West" teaches people all aspects of practicing qigong through fantasy stories, including methods, realms and purposes, etc.

"Water Margin" presents us with the story of the ancient underworld. Including the emergence and development of the underworld, the huddle between the members of the underworld, the thick black and the fight, the interaction between the underworld and the big households, and the government, etc. In layman's terms, "Water Margin" tells the story of the ancient troubled boys.

Among these four classics, my favorite is "Water Margin", which I really like the more I read it, and I have different feelings when I read it. The feeling of reading "Water Margin" in college is very different from that of ten years ago and now.

When I read "Water Margin", I would consult the materials of the Song Dynasty to confirm and compare some of the statements in the book, including going online and going to the library. After a lot of information, I found an interesting phenomenon: among the Chinese dynasties, the Song Dynasty is the most contradictory one, listed below:

Contradiction 1: Whether it is the Northern and Southern Song Dynasty, the economic situation including agriculture and handicraft industry is the first in the world, and the level of literature and science and technology is also second to none, that is, what we now call GDP and soft power are ahead, but they have been repeatedly oppressed diplomatically and militarily, and they are miserable.

Contradiction 2: The economic level of the Great Song Dynasty was good, and the government was not too harsh on the people, at least there was no tragic situation of starvation and cannibalism, but the rebellions continued and the rebels were numerous. Even in "Water Margin", no hero wants to go to Liangshan because he has nothing to eat.

Contradiction 3: In all dynasties, the imperial court had to face the intrusion of the minority ethnic groups in the north. In the confrontation, the Central Plains region has an absolute advantage in weapons. Only the Great Song Dynasty was inferior to the north (Da Liao) in the forging of iron, both in quantity and quality (such as tenacity, etc.).

Contradiction 4: The main combat troops in the era of cold weapons were mainly cavalry. All dynasties and dynasties had powerful cavalry, even if they were sometimes slightly inferior to the north, they could basically compete with each other. Only in the Great Song Dynasty, the cavalry lagged behind greatly. Even in the early Southern Song Dynasty, except for the Yuejia army, the imperial court did not have a formed cavalry. The source of cavalry horses of the Yuejia army mainly relied on the captured military horses of Daliao.

And so on and so forth

The answers to these contradictions or questions are poignant, and I hope to share them in the form of a novel, which is one of the reasons why I wrote this book "The Legend of the Martial Saint: Yue Wumu Chapter".