The version of Water Margin is complicated and can be divided into two systems: traditional version and simplified version. At present, most people buy simplified Chinese versions on the Internet, and among many versions of Water Margin, the earliest version is the faithful Water Margin (Jiajing block print) recorded in Gao Ru's "Hundred Rivers Tongzhi". Later, in the late Ming Dynasty, Mr. Jin Shengtan recited 120 in many versions of Water Margin. Waist chop? , cut off the part after Liangshan Juyi, ending with Lu Junyi's dream, and changed the first time into a wedge, which became 70 copies and became the most popular version later. Jin Shengtan thought the story was too long and the story behind it was not well written, so he cut it out, so he called it 70 copies, which later became the most popular version.
Personally, I prefer to turn over a copy, because it is vivid and literary, and it is the earliest known version. It is recorded in the Confucian Book of Hundred Rivers 100 Volume "The Water Margin of Loyalty" (Jiajing Block Edition). It is a relatively complete existing early Baihui edition, with the ugly preface of Wanli (1589) and the preface of Daokun Wang. In the thirty-eighth year of Wanli (16 10), Rongyutang published Criticism on Mr. Li Zhuowu's Loyalty and Righteousness. After writing Liangshan Juyi, these two versions only have the content of Liao Pinghe and Fang La, without the plot of tian hu and Wang Qing. The voluminous edition has 120 volumes, adding the story of Wang Qing and modifying the text, which was published by Yuan with the title "Criticism of Mr. Loyalty and Righteousness".
The reason why I don't like the short version is that the text in the short version is simple and not literary. There is Yu Xiangdou's "Water Margin Comment on Forest" in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. At present, most scholars believe that the simplified Chinese version is later than the traditional version, and it is an abridged version of the traditional version.