- Tong Meng
Tong Meng (童猛) is a character in the "
Water Margin ".Tong Meng was the younger brother of
Tong Wei . The Tong brothers made their living by selling salt and both of them were powerful swimmers and boatmen. Tong Meng was thus nicknamed 'River-churning clam' (翻江蜃).The Tong brothers lived together with
Li Jun at Jieyang Mountain. Once,Song Jiang was exiled to Jiangzhou and passed by Jieyang Mountain along the way. He was knocked out by drugs in Li Li's inn, but was saved by Li Jun and the Tong brothers in the end.Later, Song Jiang offended
Mu Chun in Jieyang Town and the Mu brothers were after his life. Song Jiang boarded Zhang Heng's pirate vessel by mistake and in the middle of the river, Zhang tried to force Song Jiang off his vessel. Eventually, Li Jun and the Tong brothers appeared on the scene and rescued Song Jiang once more. After theLiangshan heroes stormed the execution ground in Jiangzhou, they sought refuge in Bailong Temple near the riverbank and were besieged by government troops. Li Jun, the Zhang brothers and the Tong brothers appeared with boats and ferried the Liangshan heroes back to Liangshan safely.Tong Meng became one of the leaders of the Liangshan navy and part of the
72 Earthly Fiends . After the heroes had obtained amnesty from the emperor, Tong Meng followed the heroes on their campaigns against theLiao Tartars and southern rebels, making great contributions. During theFang La campaign, Tong Meng followed his brother and Li Jun as they sneaked intoSuzhou and aided the Liangshan heroes in conquering Suzhou.Tong Meng was one of the few lucky surviving heroes after the campaigns and made their way back to the capital city to receive official posts for their contributions. Li Jun and the Tong brothers refused to accept any official post despite their contributions. Li Jun feigned sickness and the Tong brothers remained with Li to 'take care' of him. In the end, it was said that Li and the Tong brothers sailed far out into sea and ended up in
Siam . Li Jun became the King of Siam while the Tong brothers became his subjects.
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