the death of Chao Gai. Chao is killed in action when he, for the first time heading a military force, battles with the Zeng Family Fortress. Song Jiang becomes Liangshan's acting chief pending the capture of Chao's killer Shi Wengong. Chao has left word that whoever seizes his killer would succeed him. Although it is Lu Junyi who catches Shi, in the end Song Jiang becomes the chief of Liangshan. That comes after he beat Lu in a contest in which they agreed whoever overran the prefecture assigned to him first would be made chief. Song conquered Dongping first while Lu stalled in his effort to take Dongchang. Although his crimes are egregious and he is regarded as a colossal threat by the government, Song Jiang harbours the wish to serve the Song Empire. He crafts a slogan "Deliver Justice on Heaven's behalf" (替天行道)" to signal that Liangshan is committed to just causes and is led by people loyal to the emperor. After many attempts, including enlisting the help of Li Shishi, a courtesan patronised by Emperor Huizong, Song Jiang finally wins amnesty for Liangshan. But the emperor sends them on a series of expeditions against invaders from the Liao Empire and rebel forces in Song territory to prove their loyalty. The last of these, which is against the rebel Fang La, is highly costly, with at least two thirds of the 108 heroes killed in action or by disease. Death Through with the expeditions, Song Jiang is appointed governor of Chuzhou (楚州; present-day Huai'an, Jiangsu). But the corrupt officials in the imperial court are unhappy that he is doing fine. They send him a jar of poisoned wine in the emperor's name which he is obliged to drink. When Song Jiang realises he has been poisoned, he is worried that the hot-tempered Li Kui will rebel against the Song Empire and tarnish the good name of Liangshan. So, he invites Li to Chuzhou and offers him the same wine. Both of them die. In the last chapter of Water Margin, the ghosts of Song Jiang and Li Kui appear in Emperor Huizong's dream and tell him about their wrongful deaths. Although the emperor orders an inquiry, it comes to nothing as the key witness – the emissary who sent the wine to Song Jiang – has died mysteriously on the way back to Dongjing. The emperor makes amends to