When Murong Yanda, the governor of
Qingzhou, was informed that
Hua Rong, the garrison commander of Qingfeng Fort (; in present-day
Qingzhou, Shandong), which was in his jurisdiction, had joined the outlaws at nearby Mount Qingfeng (), he ordered Qin Ming to lead a military force to eliminate them. Earlier, Qin's martial arts student
Huang Xin, who was sent by Murong to Qingfeng Fort to deal with Hua Rong, had captured Hua. But Hua and
Song Jiang, Hua's friend and the source of the row, were rescued from him by the three bandit chiefs of Mount Qingfeng -
Yan Shun,
Wang Ying and
Zheng Tianshou. Huang was forced to hole himself up in the fort. Qin Ming was sent as Mount Qingfeng is deemed hard to suppress. Qin Ming battled with Hua Rong on horseback but neither prevailed. Hua then feigned defeat and fled. Knowing that Qin easily loses his cool, Hua lured him to gallop round Mount Qingfeng. Finally, madly enraged and tired, Qin fell into a dug pit. He was taken to
Song Jiang, who untied him and tried to win him over with warm words. Although Qin takes to Song, he turned down his plea, swearing that he would rather live and die a
Song official. But he agreed to rest overnight at the stronghold. The following day, when Qin Ming returns to Qingzhou, he found the city's suburb razed with the residents killed. When he reached Qingzhou, Murong Yanda barred his entry and accused him from the top of the city's gate of leading the outlaws to commit the carnage. To punish Qin, Murong has executed his entire family, and his wife's head was presented from a long fishing pole to him from atop the city walls. Qin tried to force his way into Qingzhou, but gave up under a shower of arrows. As he wondered aimlessly and sorrowfully, he met Song Jiang, Hua Rong and the bandit chiefs of Mount Qingfeng. Turns out the bloodbath was all their work, Song Jiang sent one of his officers dressed in Qin Ming's gear to lead a band of outlaws and slaughter the citizens that day, this was done in order to make Qin Ming an outlaw, thus forcing him to join their band. Qin is furious but was appeased after Song said that he will arrange for Hua Rong's sister to marry him as compensation. After defecting to the bandits, Qin Ming convinced Huang Xin to surrender Qingfeng Fort and join the group as well. As Qingzhou is likely to send a bigger force, the group took Song Jiang's advice and abandoned Mount Qingfeng to join the bandits of
Liangshan. ==Life at Liangshan==