Yang Lin

Yang Lin(杨林) is a character in the Water Margin.

Yang Lin was from Zhangdefu. He had a round head, large ears, straight nose and squarish mouth, beautiful eyes and a narrow waist with broad shoulders. He was often armed with an iron spear and was nicknamed 'Multi-coloured leopard'(锦豹子).

He became an outlaw and got to know Gongsun Sheng by chance. Once, Dai Zong went to visit Gongsun Sheng and met Yang Lin. They travelled together and passed by Yinma River. There, Dai Zong managed to persuade the bandits at Yinma River (Pei Xuan, Deng Fei and Meng Kang) to join the Liangshan band.

When the Liangshan heroes attacked the Zhu Family Village, Yang Lin volunteered to sneak inside the village and act as a spy. He disguised himself as a priest and started marking out the roads, but the enemy saw through his disguise and caught him. Later, after the heroes had conquered the village, then Yang Lin was released.

Yang Lin became one of the leaders of the Liangshan calvary. After Song Jiang had obtained amnesty from the emperor, Yang Lin followed the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao Tartars and southern rebels. During the Fang La campaign, Yang Lin followed Mu Hong and sneaked into Runzhou. They acted as spies from within and helped the Liangshan heroes conquer Runzhou, making great contributions. After the conquest of Hangzhou, Yang Lin fell ill and could not move on, so he remained in Hangzhou till he recovered.

After Fang La had been defeated, Yang Lin refused to take up any official post despite his contributions. He and Pei Xuan returned to Yinma River after that.

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