In the Water Margin
Qin Ming is the seventh hero of Liangshan, born under the star Tianmeng (天猛星). He is the cavalry commander of Qingzhou, from a family of soldiers, and he fights with a wolf-tooth mace. He has a temper to match his voice, quick and loud, which is why the rivers and lakes call him Thunderfire (霹雳火).
He is drawn into the story when Hua Rong and the bandits of Mount Qingfeng rescue Song Jiang from the Qingfeng fort. The prefect Murong sends Qin Ming to crush them, and he walks straight into their traps. What follows is one of the darkest turns in the novel. To make sure Qin Ming can never go back, Song Jiang has a man dressed in Qin Ming's armour ride against Qingzhou by night, burning homes and killing villagers. The prefect, believing Qin Ming has turned traitor, executes his wife and household. Qin Ming has nowhere left to go but to the outlaws. Later he is one of the Five Tiger Generals, and he dies in the final campaign against Fang La, struck down by Fang Jie.
Key episodes
Fall into the pit. Hua Rong taunts Qin Ming from the hills and leads him up and down the mountain paths until his troops are spent. Charging after a lantern in the night, Qin Ming plunges with his horse into a pitfall and is hauled out a prisoner.
The head on the city wall. Released the next morning, Qin Ming rides home to Qingzhou and finds the gates shut against him. On a spear above the wall hangs his wife's head; the prefect curses him as a rebel. Only then does Song Jiang confess the ruse. Qin Ming is furious, but he is trapped, and Hua Rong offers him his own sister in marriage to bind him to the band.
Bringing in Huang Xin. Qin Ming's first service to his new brothers is to ride to the Qingfeng fort and talk his old pupil Huang Xin into joining them. When Qingzhou finally falls to Liangshan, it is Qin Ming who strikes the prefect Murong from his horse.
