Song Jiang, a clerk of Yuncheng's magistrate, is shocked when told by He Tao that Chao Gai has been identified as the mastermind of the Yellow Mud Ridge robbery. He rushes to Chao's house to alert him. Chao and his gang manage to flee and seek refuge in the bandit stronghold of Liangshan Marsh. After Chao is elected leader of Liangshan, replacing its original chief Wang Lun who was killed by Lin Chong, he sends men to bribe the prison guards at Jizhou to be lax in their watch over Bai Sheng. This enables Bai to slip out of jail. He joins Liangshan taking along his wife.