About the death of Classical, this was not arranged by the old man Shi Naian. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the folk stories of Shuihu were all about the classical "early death". In the Yuan Dynasty, Chao Gai died in the "Three Big Zhujiazhuang Villages" (note: not in Zengtou City), and Gao Wenxiu, a Yuan zaju writer who wrote the story of Water Margin, was also introduced into his works. Classical died early in the ancestor of water margin, the legacy of Song Xuanhe, and Song Jiang died before going up the mountain. Song Jiang took over the leadership from Li Jinyi and Wu Jialiang (Lu Junyi and Wu Yong). It can be seen that in the folklore from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the classical stories all ended like this. Classical is a key figure in Liangshan, Shui Bo, and initiated the great cause of Liangshan. But why did the author arrange his death early, instead of ranking him at 108? This problem should be considered from two aspects. First of all, we should consider the author's class position. The author is a person of an era, not supernatural, so we should consider his position in that era. The author lived in feudal society and was educated by orthodox feudal society. At the same time, he also has the patriotic feelings of China ancient intellectuals. So he is patriotic and opposed to rebellion. He wrote Water Margin to promote the theme of doing good for heaven. Emotionally, what he wants to express is the idea of loyalty to the monarch. In other words, although he wrote about the rebel side, the final outcome still came from the perspective of patriotism and loyalty to the court. Secondly, the author should give sufficient reasons for Liangshan heroes to finally surrender to the court when creating, that is, Song Jiang led them to surrender. So in order to better shape this ending, we must get rid of the classical style and let Song Jiang become the leader of Liangshan. Let's look at the characteristics of classical characters. In fact, in essence, what distinguishes Classical from other heroes in Liangshan is that he really wants to rebel and create rebellion against the imperial court. It turns out that the surname of Dongxi Village is Chao, whose name is Gai, and his ancestors were the rich men of this county. He was generous all his life and loved to see heroes in the world, but someone came to him and stayed in Zhuang, for better or worse; If you want to go, take money to help him get up; Spear of love, ... "Judging from this passage, Classical has a good family background and is a rich man. Therefore, there is no problem of being forced to Liangshan. Unlike Lin Chong, he was really driven to the mountain. But as a book, it needs a person who can gather heroes to achieve the great cause of Liangshan, so he is the best candidate for the author. As a hero leader, you should have the following conditions: First, you should have money, so that you can make friends with heroes. That's better than making friends and helping the poor. People who walk in rivers and lakes will have some difficulties, and these reckless men are often unable to cope with some difficulties in life or lawsuits caused by themselves. There is such a person who is ready to help others just to relieve their worries, so he can win everyone's conviction and love. Third, he knows how to win the characters on the black and white roads and can eat them under various conditions. Classical has these three points. Most importantly, classicism is ambitious. Although Classical went to Liangshan because he outwitted the birth outline, he got what Liu Tang called "a set of great wealth". But in fact, he doesn't really want this wealth. Because in itself, his family is very rich, and that kind of wealth is nothing to him. What he wants is to eliminate injustice in the world. In fact, this is what the author wants to write. It is the injustice in the author's heart. Family planning is the blood and sweat of people. As an upright person, I certainly don't want it to be obtained by the bad guys. At this time, it was based on this idea that classicism stepped forward and seized the birth class. Which means he's going to fight the court to the end. But the author is in a feudal society after all. What he doesn't want is people to rebel, but to adopt a moderate attitude, that is, to "do things for heaven" in the future. Judging from the image of Chao Gai created by the author at the beginning, it is impossible for him to compromise with the court. What should I do? How can we show our loyalty and patriotism to the monarch? It is also to express dissatisfaction, so he designed the section that Zengtou City was shot to death by a classical man, which finally reflected his thoughts in the book. Therefore, when heroes rank, the author does not write classic works, which is also for the needs of novel development.