1. A month after helping Shi En to reclaim ownership of Kuaihuo Woods Tavern, Wu Song was appointed personal bodyguard to a local military officer, Commissioner Zhang. The commissioner also wanted Wu as a combat instructor for his son. Wu moved into the commissioner's residence, where he was treated like a VIP. The commissioner even offered Wu the hand in marriage of his loveliest servant girl.
2. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival Wu Song was invited to dine with the commissioner's family, and to share with them the sight of the full moon. At the end of the evening, as Wu was about to sleep, he heard a voice cry: "Stop thief!" He leapt to his feet and charged out into the garden, where he stumbled on something. In a moment he was surrounded by soldiers shouting: "There he is, grab him!" Wu was tied up and dragged to Yuanyang Hall, the main building in the commissioner's residential compound.
3. "You've got the wrong man-I was trying to catch the real thief!" yelled Wu. Before he could explain any further, Commissioner Zhang cut him off with: "You ungrateful, thieving wretch!" Wu was taken back to his sleeping quarters, where he was shown a chest containing jewelry and other valuables belonging to the commissioner's family. Wu just stared in disbelief.
4. Wu Song was hauled before the magistrate of Mengzhou Prefecture, who sentenced him to 100 strokes of the stave followed by incarceration until death. Shi En promptly set about bribing officials up and down the chain of command until Wu's sentence was reduced to banishment. Shi En came to tell Wu about this in his cell, and explained that Commissioner Zhang was in fact the sworn brother of Militia Chief Zhang, and had been instrumental in Door God Jiang's seizure of Kuaihuo Woods Tavern.
5. A few days later Wu Song found himself once again on the road to exile. Around 20 li from the city, at Feiyunpu Bridge, he saw two thuggish-looking characters crossing from the other side of the river with sabers in their hands. Wu noticed his guards giving a secret sign, and guessed immediately what was afoot.
6. Wu Song stopped and said: "I need to relieve myself." As one of the guards stepped forward Wu knocked him into the river with a flying kick. The other came at Wu with a club in his hand, but Wu span around and kicked him into the river too. Then he tackled the two saber-wielding thugs, and in spite of his cangue he was able to beat them into submission. He got the thugs to confess that they had been sent to kill him by Door God Jiang and the Zhangs, and that the three of them were at now Yuanyang Hall expecting news of Wu's demise.
7. Wu Song raced straight back to Yuanyang Hall where he found the three conspirators waiting, drunk as lords. They barely had time to stir before Wu was upon them, saber in hand. With his first stroke he dispatched Commissioner Zhang; then he turned to deal with the other two.
8. Jiang and Zhang were both capable fighters and should have been able to handle Wu Song, but in their drunken state, and faced with Wu's vengeful fury, they were no match for him. Wu's blade did its dreadful work, and soon both had breathed their last.
9. Wu Song fled Mengzhou, and was fortunate to meet Sun Erniang and her husband, who helped disguise him as a Daoist priest to avoid capture. The three of them headed west towards Erlong Mountain, where they joined up with Lu Zhishen, Yang Zhi and their comrades.
