Yang Yao杨么

History vs. fiction

Yang Yao. Lake bandit, in communication with the pseudo-Qi. Leader of the Dongting Lake uprising army, captured and beheaded by Niu Gao. Lake-Guang water bandit, Yue Fei ordered to suppress...

• based on factLake bandit, in communication with the pseudo-Qi. Leader of the Dongting Lake uprising army, captured and beheaded by Niu Gao. | Lake-Guang water bandit, Yue Fei ordered to suppress; Lake-Guang water bandit, Hua Pufang defected to him. Leader of the Dongting Lake rebel army, sent Wang Zuo to recruit Yue Fei.

  Historically, Yang Yao indeed existed. His deeds are recorded in historical sources such as the History of Song. For example, the Biography of Yue Fei records: 'The pseudo-Qi sent Li Cheng to invade with Jin troops, capturing Xiangyang, Tang, Deng, Sui, Ying and other prefectures and Xinyang Army. The lake bandit Yang Yao also communicated with the pseudo-Qi, intending to sail downstream, and Li Cheng also wanted to march overland from Jiangxi to reach the two Zhe circuits and meet with Yao. The emperor ordered Yue Fei to prepare against them.' In the novel The Story of Yue Fei, Chapter 30 describes: 'Soon a minor scout came in a fast boat to report: "Great king, it's bad! The Geng brothers have rescued Niu Gao, plundered the stronghold, and set fires on all sides. We can't go back!" Yang Hu shouted: "Good Yue Fei! How can I let you off lightly!" He urged his warships forward, and weapons and missiles came like rain. On Yue Fei's small boats, the soldiers could hardly resist looking up, so Yue Fei ordered the grappling hook crew to hook onto the large ships, and the generals leaped aboard Yang Hu's ship, surrounding them. Wang Gui raised his sword and cut Xu Bin into the water. Tang Huai and Zhang Xian jumped onto the 'crossbow tower ship' and fought Hua Pufang together. Hua Pufang jumped into the lake, swam to shore, and fled to Huguang to join Yang Yao. He Jin on the 'water ghost ship' went into the water with a knife, came to the raft, intending to kill Yue Fei, but Wang Heng hit him with a copper staff, and his brains splattered out, and he died in the lake. Yang Hu saw the situation was hopeless, so he jumped into the water to escape. Ruan Liang saw this and also jumped into the water to capture Yang Hu. Marshal Yue saw that the four squadrons of boats were all broken, and ordered: 'Those who surrender will be spared!' When the large and small pirate boats heard this, they all shouted that they were willing to surrender. The marshal then ordered Tang Huai and Zhang Xian to send boats to the stronghold to pacify the bandits, and if they surrendered, they were not to be killed. Meanwhile, they put out the fire and sent Yang Hu's family to the marshal's camp for orders. The two generals left to carry out the orders. He also ordered Wang Gui and Shi Quan to collect the surrendered boats, fired cannons and beat gongs, and returned to camp in triumph. There is a poem:'