The story about the Three Kingdoms began to spread as early as the late Three Kingdoms period. It was already widely spread in the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the story of the Three Kingdoms was deeply rooted in the folk. Among the zajus and poems written by the Yuan Dynasty, there were many themes of the Three Kingdoms. If you want to write such a story, it is not simply written. After hearing what Luo Guanzhong said so solemnly, Shi Nai'an nodded and said, "This is not something that can be completed in a year or two, and it takes a lot of effort."

"Yes. This novel started with the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and ended up the Jin Dynasty unifying the Three Kingdoms. It took nearly a hundred years of great events. There were hundreds of characters in it, and it really took some time to do it." Luo Guanzhong said in high spirits, "But I have not been idle over the years. In addition to traveling around, I have also read a lot of historical books, listened to many small songs, visited many places, and asked many people. The books, calligraphy and paintings, memorials, tables, notes, and annotations on the desk were collected over the years. Just organize them carefully and learn from your Taishi Gong to write "Records of the Grand Historian". Luo believes that my "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" will definitely be completed!"

Shi Nai'an heard Luo Guanzhong's fighting spirit, and his heart was full of enthusiasm. Just as he was about to say a few bold words, he suddenly remembered the purpose of his trip. He reached out and slapped his head and laughed, "I almost forgot, I almost forgot! Didn't I come to ask about the strategy of wise birth gifts? Why did I forget this?" As he said that, he shook his head and felt sorry for him, and shouted, "I'm confused, confused..."

It is rare that someone is like-minded and willing to listen to his ideals. He is even happier than before. As he was talking, he suddenly heard Shi Nai'an shook his head and sigh, and said, "Birthday Gift" in his mouth. He couldn't help but say curiously: "What, 'Birthday Gift'"

Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong hit it off at first sight. When they heard him ask, they didn't hide it and told the story of the 108 heroes of Liangshan that they were writing, how they encountered the problem they were writing "Smart Birthday Outline".

The story of the 108 generals of Liangshan was widely circulated in Shandong during the Southern Song Dynasty. Song Jiang's story had been spread throughout the streets and alleys; painters also wrote and painted their figures. As a Taiyuan native, I naturally heard a lot of stories about the heroes of Liangshan. They took the wisdom to win the birthday gift, attacked Zhujiazhuang three times, beat Jiang Menshen drunk, beat Jiang Menshen Wu Song to fight the tiger, and flower monk Lu Zhishen. Luo Guanzhong heard a lot of stories about these heroes. At this time, he heard Shi Nai'an say something and laughed, saying, "What's the difficulty?"

Shi Nai'an was shocked when he heard Luo Guanzhong's tone was completely ignored and said to himself: "Did you think of a solution?"

Then he said, "Brother Luo has thought of a way to help Shi?"

Luo Guanzhong nodded, with a smug look, and calmly walked to the bookshelf. He searched among a bunch of ancient books and took out an ancient book. However, seeing that the ancient book turned yellow and the corners were already messed up, Luo Guanzhong patted the ancient book, put his mouth over, and blew it gently, and a few words appeared on the pages. Shi Nai'an curiously looked over his eyes and saw four regular Chinese characters "Thirty-Six Strategies" written on the writing.

"Is this..." Shi Nai'an looked confused. He was a literati, so the books he read on weekdays were mostly the ways of Confucius and Mencius, as well as some unofficial historical novels. He did not dabble in the books on military arts. At this time, when Luo Guanzhong took out such a book on military arts, he didn't understand what he meant.

Luo Guanzhong seemed to see his doubts, smiled and said, "Brother Shi, don't underestimate this book. Luo's Three Kingdoms story all came from it. The empty city plan, the beauty plan, the counter-espionage plan, the concealment plan, and the series of plans came from it. Brother Shi wrote, "My wisdom is not indispensable for his help?"

"Take it seriously" Shi Nai'an took the "Thirty-Six Strategies" from Luo Guanzhong. After reading it carefully, he only read the beginning, and felt that Luo Guanzhong's words were not false. After reading for a while, he could no longer let go. The two generations of masters of writing in the guest room left by Zhang Ji a thousand years ago made detailed adjustments and additions to each other's stories. It was not until noon that day that he was fully interested.

"To be honest, Shi has something to ask for? Please help me figure it out, please think about it?" After some discussion, Shi Nai'an admired Luo Guanzhong's talent very much, and asked the question that had been in his heart for a long time.

Through a conversation, Luo Guanzhong was impressed by Shi Nai'an's philosophers, poems, astronomy, geography, medicine, divination, astrology, etc., and all the skills, and it was even more rare that his writing techniques adopted a popular story system. This made Luo Guanzhong, who had been hesitating about what technique to use, and heard that he had questions, and hurriedly said: "Brother Shi, don't be polite, just say it!"

Shi Nai'an said: "Everyone knows the stories of the heroes of Liangshan, but since ancient times, there are probably only a few who can write biography for these heroes. In addition to the "Biographies of the Curly Bearded Guest" in the Tang Dynasty, have you ever heard such a nice story?" He sighed slightly and said: "Although Shi's book "Biographies of the Heroes of Jianghu" is also domineering, it is quite inconsistent with the reputation of the heroes of Liangshan. Is this name bad? "

Luo Guanzhong smiled slightly and said, "Little Luo also felt what Brother Shi said. The world is too general. People who don't know it sounds like Brother Shi wrote a story about ordinary knights of all religions. Wouldn't it be a disgrace to Brother Shi's intentions!"

When Shi Nai'an heard this, he felt that "The Legend of the Rivers and Lakes" was not suitable for the title of the Liangshan hero, so he said, "I wonder Brother Luo, what name should I choose?"

Luo Guanzhong pondered: "I read this book, which is a story about the heroes gathered from all directions in Liangshan, lifting uprising, and practicing the way for heaven. All the heroes are all warm-hearted in a narrow sense, and loyalty and righteousness are the first. According to my opinion, it might be better to change it to "The Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", "Water Margin" comes from "The Book of Songs" "Gu Gong Danfu came to the court to take the horse and led the Western Water Margin. As for Qixia, although ordinary, the friendship is very deep."

"The "Loyal and Righteous Water Margin" "Shi Nai'an recited it silently and said happily: "Okay, good! The title of this book is so good! The meaning of "Water Margin" means waterside, has the meaning of "in the wild". In the Book of Songs, "The Gu Gong, Tanfu, came to the court to take the horse and led the Western Water Margin, as for Qixia", it is wonderful!" So the "Biography of the Jianghu Haoke" was officially renamed "The "Loyal and Righteous Water Margin".

At this moment, I suddenly heard a shout from outside the door: "Good name!" From now on, the story of this hero of Liangshan is called Zhongyi Water Margin?"
Chapter completed!