Beggar Society

The Beggar Society is presented as the jianghu’s largest association, but its scale does not guarantee lasting authority. Under Qiao Feng, it had been known for strict rules and a thriving atmosphere; after his departure, the loosening of discipline becomes visible in its streets, its memorial customs, and the uncertainty surrounding its leaders. The Society’s story thus links public reputation to everyday conduct: a powerful organization can lose standing when the habits that sustained its authority fall away.

Identity and Organization

The Society has elders, disciples, and a network of members whose slang allows them to exchange information while concealing it from outsiders. Its members gather for formal ceremonies and communicate about the movement of senior figures, while the use of coded language shows that membership entails a shared culture as well as affiliation. The Society’s size and reach are evident in the crowds of disciples who fill the streets of Weihui when they assemble to mourn Elder Xu.

That network also has a political dimension. A letter to Chief Wang concerning Qiao Feng becomes part of the dispute over who is responsible for the charges against him; Granny Tan is pressed to identify the person whom many call the “leading big brother.” Her hesitation, and Zhao Qiansun’s insistence that she not name him, show how obligation and fear can obstruct the search for an answer even within the Society’s wider circle. The episode presents the organization not as a single voice but as a community divided by competing loyalties and guarded knowledge.

Decline After Qiao Feng

At Weihui, Qiao Feng sees disciples occupying restaurants, behaving without restraint, slaughtering animals in alleys, and imposing on people in the streets. The contrast with the Society he once led is sharp: the former discipline and vitality have given way to conduct that, in his view, may soon bring the group into contempt among ordinary people. Although he and the Society have become enemies, he still regrets seeing the work of many years undone so quickly.

This decline is more than a private disappointment. Qiao Feng’s response makes the Society’s public reputation a measure of his former leadership: he has lost his place within it, but he has not ceased to care about what becomes of it. The tension between present hostility and lingering responsibility complicates the break. His former association remains an object of concern precisely because he remembers what it had once been.

Elder Xu’s Memorial and the Search for Truth

News of Elder Xu’s death reaches Qiao Feng and A’Zhu while they are eating in a noodle shop in Sanjia town. Beggars say that Elder Xu’s chest and back bones were broken and accuse Qiao Feng of the killing. They also report that a condolence gathering will begin in Weihui two days later, where the Society’s elders and members intend to discuss capturing him. Qiao Feng recognizes the Society’s slang and understands that the men are speaking cautiously because of his reputation and the possibility that his subordinates might overhear them.

Qiao Feng and A’Zhu travel to Weihui, taking care not to reveal themselves among the people who had once served under him. At Elder Xu’s memorial, they bring incense, candles, joss money, and animal offerings, then bow before the tablet. Its fresh blood marks, Qiao Feng understands, signify that the deceased was killed and that the Society must avenge him. Those assembled denounce Qiao Feng without knowing that he is among them. With senior members all around him, he fears that his disguise or conduct will give him away and leaves promptly with A’Zhu.

The memorial’s ritual and the accusation against Qiao Feng give the gathering two meanings at once: it is a public act of mourning and a declaration of vengeance. As the ceremony confirms the Society’s commitment to avenge Elder Xu, it also deepens the danger surrounding Qiao Feng. He notes that Elder Xu’s death has reduced by one the number of people who know the identity of the person called the “leading big brother,” tying the murder investigation to the older mystery about the letter and its author.

Leadership, Rumor, and Disguise

The Society’s internal channels become instruments of investigation when Qiao Feng and A’Zhu travel to Xinyang. A’Zhu disguises herself as Bai Shijing, the Society’s Elder of Rule Enforcement, while Qiao Feng takes the appearance of one of Bai’s attendants. Qiao Feng’s familiarity with Society slang lets him speak to disciples and ask about the movements of its leaders. He also announces that Elder Bai has arrived in Xinyang, planting that information in Madam Ma’s mind before they reach her home.

The disguise works through both appearance and expectation. A’Zhu’s likeness to Bai Shijing is close, and she reproduces his manner and speech; Qiao Feng, who had been Bai’s friend for nearly ten years, cannot distinguish her performance from the original. They deliberately delay their arrival at Ma Dayuan’s home until dusk, when details are less easily seen. Their approach demonstrates how the Society’s hierarchy and familiar routines can be imitated and used to reach a witness who might otherwise remain inaccessible.

In the encounter with Madam Ma, A’Zhu speaks as though she has come to warn her that Qiao Feng intends her harm. She then raises the possibility that the Society’s elders might recommend Madam Ma for an elder’s post, and says that she has important information connected to Ma Dayuan’s murder. When A’Zhu reports that Zhao Qiansun claimed to know the real murderer, Madam Ma breaks a teacup and reacts with anger and apparent alarm. The exchange shows how Society titles and the promise of privileged information can draw a guarded person into conversation, while also directing attention toward unresolved suspicion around the murder.

From Association to State Power

The Society’s decline is set against a larger contrast in the book: the tightly coordinated institutions of the Liao Empire. At a Jurchen gathering, Xiao Feng learns that HeLiBu is the tribal chief and that AguDa is his second son; the Jurchen receive Xiao Feng as an honored guest despite the conflict between Jurchen and Khitan. Soon after, a signal system carries news of rebellion to YeLu HongJi’s camp. The Liao forces respond through an orderly chain of command, with orders relayed from officers to the ranks and troops assembled for the march back to the capital.

The rebellion reveals how military organization depends on more than command. YeLu HongJi’s policy of keeping soldiers’ families in the capital is meant both to win their loyalty and to keep them from rebelling on campaign. When the rebels seize civilians and threaten the families of the emperor’s troops, that arrangement turns against him: soldiers abandon the stockade to reach their loved ones, and a large part of the force leaves with them. The episode makes kinship an active force in military politics, capable of undoing discipline that orders and battlefield formations alone cannot secure.

After the rebellion’s decisive encounters, Xiao Feng brings the royal emperor uncle to YeLu HongJi, advises that he be pardoned to stabilize the remaining forces, and sees the emperor appoint him Prince of Chu and Lord of the Southern Chancellery. The appointment is not a continuation of his former leadership in the Beggar Society; it is a transition from authority grounded in reputation and personal relationships to formal office within an empire. When YeLu HongJi later expects him to be based in Nanjing and prepare for a possible campaign against the Great Song, the new rank carries strategic obligations beyond the Society’s own affairs. Across these contrasting institutions, the Beggar Society’s weakened discipline and the Liao army’s coordinated power show how organizational authority must be continually maintained—and how even an effective structure remains vulnerable to the loyalties of its people.