Xin Wenli guards Red Mud Pass in Sui-Tang Romance and is counted as the eleventh great warrior. The novel gives him extraordinary stature and a square-headed iron lance weighing two hundred jin. When Shang Shitu asks for help at Lin Yang Pass, Xin marches to reinforce him and meets Pei Yuanqing, the young hammer fighter whose strength has broken many famous opponents. Pei’s blow smashes the lance, splits the web of Xin’s hand, and throws him into the water, but his men rescue him before he drowns.
Unable to overcome Pei in open combat, Xin Wenli joins Shang Shitu in a lethal deception. They draw the young warrior into a cave at Green Trace Mountain, block his escape, and ignite the prepared fire and buried explosives. Pei Yuanqing dies there at only fifteen. The plan removes a terrifying enemy, yet it also fixes Xin’s place in the story as a commander who turns to terrain and entrapment after direct strength has failed.
Xin then rides against the Wagang camp, where many heroes surround him. He continues fighting until fatigue strips away his advantage. Qin Qiong, though ill, mounts to face him and knocks him from the saddle with a mace; the gathered warriors then cut Xin down. His arc rises and falls around Pei Yuanqing: first defeated and spared by circumstance, then responsible for Pei’s death through a trap, and finally destroyed when he can no longer escape a crowd of avenging opponents.
