In "Water Margin", a lot of pen and ink are used to describe restaurants, the charm of wine, and the heroes drinking. According to some statistics, there are 277 descriptions of wine in "Water Margin" in one chapter, and 104 of the 120 chapters contain descriptions of wine. It can be seen that the description of wine runs throughout "Water Margin", and wine culture is an indispensable content in the book. So what role does wine culture play in the storyline? I think there are the following points.

1. It promotes the formation and development of the character's personality and the change of the character's destiny. I believe many people are familiar with the story of "Lu Tiha punched Guanxi". In this storyline, wine played an important role. The whole story begins with Lu Da, Shi Jin, and Li Zhong drinking together, and ends with Lu Da punching Zhen Guanxi to death the next day. It was because the three of them were drinking together that Luda learned that Jin and his daughter were being bullied by the bully in Guanxi. Ruda was already very angry because of the unpleasant drinking. After hearing about Zhen Guanxi bullying the Jin father and daughter, under the influence of alcohol, Ruda directed all his anger towards Zhen Guanxi. That night, Ruda "went to bed angrily" and went to seek justice early the next morning, eventually beating Zhen Guanxi to death. It is conceivable that if drinking had not deepened the anger, even if Ruda, as a district governor, was reckless by nature, he might not have killed Zhen Guanxi and caused a major fatal case. As a result, Lu Tiha's fate took a major turn, and he was forced to live a wandering life, and finally fell into poverty in Liangshan.

2. Alcohol intensifies the contradictions and conflicts in the novel, pushing the storyline to develop in a tense and tortuous direction. When Song Jiang and Li Kui first met, they played a key role in promoting the development of the storyline. When Li Kui knew that the short black man in front of him was the long-famous Song Jiang, he first turned over and bowed to him, then drank with each other, and said, "I can't bear to eat with a small cup, so I'll use a big bowl to sift!" This shows that Li Kui is addicted to alcohol. The generous character of fate. Later, Song Jiang asked Li Kui why he had just quarreled with the shopkeeper downstairs, and generously gave Li Kui ten taels of silver. Li Kui was deeply moved, so he temporarily stopped drinking and wanted to go to the casino to win money to repay Song Jiang's kindness. However, due to bad luck, Li Kui not only did not win any money, but also lost all the ten taels of silver presented by Song Jiang to the gambler Zhang Xiaoyi. So Li Kui, who has always been upright, snatched back the ten taels of silver that Song Jiang had given him that he had lost, and also took away the ten taels of silver from other gamblers in the market. Li Kui's unusual behavior this time was related to his eagerness to repay Song Jiang at that time, and also to the effect of wine. It was precisely because of drinking with Song Jiang and Dai Zong that he behaved differently from the past.

Therefore, if the description of wine in "Water Margin" is removed, the characters in the entire work will be eclipsed, and the storyline in the book will also tend to be dull.