From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Cai.

Cài Fú (蔡福) is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 94th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 58th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "Iron Arm" (鐵臂膊). He shares the same nickname as the fictionalized persona of Zhou Tong, the military tutor of the Song Dynasty general Yue Fei.

Background

Cai Fu is from Daming (大名府), Beijing. He works as a warden and executioner in the prison with his younger brother Cai Qing. He possesses great strength and conducts executions by beheading excellently. He earns himself the nickname "Iron Arm" (鐵臂膊).

Joining Liangshan

Lu Junyi is arrested and imprisoned after he is betrayed by his adulterous wife and housekeeper Li Gu. Li Gu bribes the Cai brothers to kill Lu in prison. Chai Jin meets the brothers later and he bribes them to take good care of Lu, with an even larger sum of money that they are unable to refuse. Cai Fu discusses with his brother and they decide to help Lu Junyi. Lu's life is spared and he is sentenced to exile on Shamen Island (沙門島) instead.

Li Gu bribes the guards escorting Lu Junyi into exile to finish him off along the way. Lu's loyal servant Yan Qing saves him from death and kills the guards. Lu is captured again later and sentenced to death, with Cai Fu as the executioner. Cai deliberately lags for a while before the execution as he intends to spare Lu Junyi's life. Just then, Shi Xiu appears and he storms the execution ground alone in an attempt to rescue Lu Junyi. However, Lu and Shi are not familiar with the roads in Daming and they are captured later. Grand Secretary Liang Shijie is afraid that the outlaws from Liangshan Marsh might attack Daming to save their comrade so he decides to keep Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu alive as hostages. The Cai brothers are assigned to watch over the prisoners and they treat them well.

As Liang expected, the outlaws come to attack Daming with Song Jiang as their leader. Song sends some spies to infiltrate Daming during the Lantern Festival. Chai Jin goes to find the Cai brothers and he succeeds in persuading them to open the prison gates and allow Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu to escape. At the same time, the Liangshan forces stationed outside Daming launch an offensive on the city and succeed in breaking through. Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu are rescued and the Cai brothers follow the outlaws back to Liangshan in triumph.

Campaigns and death

Cai Fu becomes one of the chief executioners of Liangshan with his brother. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and southern rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by the Imperial Court. During the Fang La campaign, Cai Fu is critically wounded in the battle of Qingxi County (清溪縣) and he dies from his wounds after the battle.

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.