On the Lantern Festival night, Song Jiang, who is then living in Hua Rong's house, goes outdoor to watch the celebrations. Liu Gao's wife spots him and lies to her husband that Song had abducted her at Mount Qingfeng and attempted to rape her. Believing his wife, Liu orders Song arrested. Hua Rong barges into Liu's house and frees Song. As Song flees to Mount Qingfeng following Hua‘s advice he is waylaid and re-arrested by Liu's men. Meanwhile, Hua is seized in an ambush by Huang Xin, a military officer sent from Qingzhou prefecture, which oversees Qingfeng Fort. As Huang escorts Song and Hua back to Qingzhou, the convoy is intercepted by the bandits of Mount Qingfeng, who rescue the two prisoners. Liu is killed in the fight while Huang escapes. Qingzhou sends Qin Ming, a higher officer, to eliminate Mount Qingfeng. But Qin is caught in a trap and brought before Song. Although Qin is glad to meet Song, having heard much about him, he refuses to join the stronghold. As Qin spends the night at Mount Qingfeng, Song sends bandits led by a man disguised as him to pillage and raze a suburb of Qingzhou. Murong Yanda, the governor of Qingzhou, falls for the ruse and executes Qin's family. That forces Qin to defect to Song's camp. As Qinghou is likely to send a bigger force, Song suggests the group go join the band at Liangshan. But he leaves the group halfway when he runs into Shi Yong, who hands him a letter from Song Qing which falsely claims that their father has passed away.