Qin Ming - Becoming An Outlaw

Becoming An Outlaw

The next day when Qin Ming returns to Qingzhou, he grows suspicious after seeing smoke but no travelers. When he reaches the outskirts of town, he finds that a village that was previously home to hundreds had been completely devastated by fire; the ground is littered with rubble and hundreds of scorched corpses. Upon reaching the city gates, Qin Ming, to his surprise, is reprimanded and denounced as a traitor by Qingzhou's governor Murong Yanda. Believing that Qin Ming had rebelled against him, Murong Yanda had Qin's entire family executed. Qin Ming is then driven back by a volley of arrows. Now seething with anger, Qin Ming meets Song Jiang and a few other outlaws on the road. They escort him back to Liangshan and explain how they disguised themselves as him and his troops and attacked Qingzhou the previous night while he was asleep. Initially furious, Qin Ming eventually comes to accept that his misfortune was predestined, and he is moved by the outlaws' courteous treatment towards him. His anger abates entirely after Song Jiang arranges for a marriage between Qin Ming and Hua Rong's younger sister as an act of "compensation" for Qin's losses.

Qin Ming is determined to devote the rest of his life to the Liangshan cause. He rides alone to Qingfeng Fort and succeeds in persuading Huang Xin to join the outlaw band. Huang Xin opens the gates of the fort and allows the outlaws to enter and capture the fort. Ranked one place above Lin Chong, Qin Ming later becomes one of the Five Tiger Generals of the Liangshan cavalry and plays an important role in the battles against Liangshan's enemies. In a later chapter after the battle of Qingzhou, he kills Murong Yanda to avenge his family.