Guo Sheng


Guo Sheng is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Comparable to Rengui", he ranks 55th among the 108 Stars of Destiny and 19th among the 72 Earthly Fiends.

Background

Guo Sheng, a native of Jialing, often wears a suit of silvery white armour and a silver belt over a white robe. He rides a white horse and fights with a ji similar to the "Sky Piercer" used by Lü Bu of the Three Kingdoms era. He has learnt his martial arts from a military officer in his hometown. He is nicknamed "Comparable to Rengui", as Xue Rengui, a famous Tang dynasty general, is also an expert user of ji.
Initially a trader, Guo Sheng becomes a bandit leader after he lost all his goods in a river during a storm and did not have enough money to travel home.

Joining Liangshan

Guo Sheng hears about Lü Fang's reputation as an expert user of ji and wants to find out who is more worthy of the weapon. He travels to Mount Duiying or Mount Mirror Image, which comprises two facing hills, one of which is occupied by Lü Fang and his bandit gang. Guo settles on the other hill with his own men and challenges Lü in a one-on-one duel on horseback every day. But neither could win after days of jousting.
Song Jiang, Hua Rong and other outlaws of Mount Qingfeng pass by Mount Duiying as they travel to join Liangshan Marsh after rows at Qingzhou including routing a government army. They come upon the duel between Guo Sheng and Lü Fang. It happens that the tassels of the two ji get tangled together. The two fighters struggle but could not free their weapons. Seeing that, Hua Rong fires an arrow that hits the tangled point and separates the weapons. Everyone present cheers. Guo Sheng and Lü Fang stop their fight and come to greet Hua and his group. Upon learning that the group is going to Liangshan, both want in and are accepted.

Campaigns and death

After the 108 Stars of Destiny came together in what is called the Grand Assembly, Guo Sheng, together with Lü Fang, is appointed as the guardian of Liangshan's central camp, which means he would be a personal bodyguard of Song Jiang. Guo Sheng participates in the campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces in Song territory following amnesty by Emperor Huizong for Liangshan.
In the battle at Black Dragon Ridge in the campaign against Fang La, Guo Sheng is crushed to death by boulders rolled down by enemy soldiers as he charges up the high ground.

Other mentions

In Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Guo Sheng is the protagonist Guo Jing's ancestor.