Dangkouzhi 蕩寇志 "The elimination of the bandits" is a late Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) novel inspired by the famous story Shuihuzhuan 水滸傳. It is therefore also called Jie shuihu quanzhuan 結水滸全傳 or Jie shuihuzhuan 結水滸傳 "The ending of the story from the water margin". The book of 70 chapters length was written by Yu Wanchun 俞萬春 (1794-1849) as a sequel to ch. 70 of the Shuihuzhuan.

Yu Wanchun, courtesy name Zhonghua 仲華, style Hulai Daoren 忽來道人, hailed from Shanyin 山陰 (today part of Shaoxing 紹興), Zhejiang. He also wrote the book Qishelun 騎射論, Shi yixue bianzheng 釋醫學辯證 and Jingtu shixiang 淨土事相.

In his early years, Yu Wanchun followed his father into the army to quell civil unrest. During that time he read the immensely popular Shuihuzhuan and felt that there was a need to continue the story in order to glorify the honest and righteous spirit of the rebel bandits. In the preface to his book, Yu explained that Shi Nai'an 施耐庵 (1296-1372), the author of the first part of the Shuihuzhuan, did not fill the rebel leader Song Jiang 宋江 with sufficient spirit of loyalty, while the second part of the story, Luo Guanzhong's 羅貫中 (c. 1330—c. 1400) Xu shuihuzhuan 續水滸傳, his character is called "truly loyal and righteous" (zhen zhong zhen yi 真忠真義). However, Yu unveiled the contradiction between the slogans of loyalty and righteousness and the veritable deeds of the bandits that included crimes as setting fire to huts and robbing and killing the common folks. Luo Guanzhong's Shuihuzhuan can therefore be called "evil and obscene" (xieshuo yinci 邪說淫辭). If Song Jiang would not have been entrusted with the suppression of Fang La's 方臘 (d. 1121) rebellion against the Song dynasty 宋 (960-1279), he would have been just a lawless criminal. Yu Wanchun therefore decided to write a sequel to the first part of the Shuihuzhuan in which he could clarify the difference between loyal patriots and evil bandits. In the Dangkouzhi therefore, the group of the outlaws of Liangshan 梁山 are not described as heroes, but as bandits that terrorized the countryside and were finally eradicated by generals and Daoist priests sent down from Heaven.

The draft of the book was begun in 1826, but the novel was finished (more or less) as late as 1847 and was first printed in 1853, after revision by the author's son Yu Longguang 俞龍光. After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion 太平 (1850-1864), the government found the book useful to propagate the need to suppress the rebellion. When Li Xiucheng 李秀成 (1823-1864), one of the Taiping rebels, conquered Suzhou 蘇州, he had the printing plates and copies of the book destroyed. In 1871, the Dangkouzhi was published in a large-character edition, but this edition was not accepted by the readership because the heroes of Liangshan were too popular to have them transformed into criminals.

近代小說。又名《結水滸傳》，70回，結子1回。作者俞萬春(1794～1849)，字仲華，浙江山陰(今紹興)人。出身諸生，曾隨其父宦游粵東。道光十一、二年間，參與鎮壓湘西瑤族以趙金龍為首的農民起義，“以功獲議敘”。不久回浙江，在杭州行醫。晚年信奉道釋，別號忽來道人。 俞萬春有感于嘉慶以來封建帝國嚴重危機，積極為統治階級出謀獻策，參加鎮壓農民起義，要“杜邪說于既作”。他非常不滿《水滸傳》梁山泊受招安等內容，為抑制《水滸傳》的影響，因此接其70回以后，續作此70回，說明“當年宋江，并沒有受招安、平方臘的話，只有被張叔夜擒拿正法一句話”，水滸一百八名英雄非死即誅，“無一能逃斧鉞”的結局，以達到使人們“知忠義之不可偽托，而盜賊之終不可為”的目的。《蕩寇志》的主要情節，是寫告休管營提轄陳希真、陳麗卿父女，受高俅父子迫害，卻不“落草為寇”，而是忍辱負重，以殺害起義軍的行為，來洗刷自己“犯上”之罪。最后與殿帥府掌兵太尉經略大將軍燕國公張叔夜，率領大軍，攻破三關，殺上忠義堂，將所余三十六位好漢以“罪大惡極”、“怙惡不悛”、“潛蓄異謀”、“倡為盜首”等罪名，凌遲處死，填平了山寨。 “尊王滅寇”，維護封建統治，是小說的主旨。書中指責農民起義說:“貪官污吏干你甚事?刑賞黜陟，天子之稱也；彈劾奏聞，臺臣之稱也；廉訪糾察，司道之職也。”極力宣揚封建等級制度的合理性，反對“招安”，鼓吹鎮壓和屠殺。書中還竭力運用天命思想，把張叔夜父子及陳希真、劉廣、云天彪等人，說成是雷祖座下的雷神，由蕩魔神君張叔夜率領這三十六天將十八位散仙，齊輔天朝，“蕩妖滅寇”，一百八道妖氣仍歸地窟。作者賦予天神和官軍以超群的本領、過人的智慧。同時，極力丑化和污蔑農民起義英雄都是“不堪一擊”的“殺人放火”之徒。但它文字精練流暢；寫陳麗卿等受迫害情節，亦具真情實感，頗為動人。行文布局，造語設景，頗具匠心，在藝術上不無可取之處。 《蕩寇志》初刻本為咸豐三年(1853)刊，有咸豐七年的重刻本。同治十年(1871)又有復刻大字本。1981年，人民文學出版社出版了新校點本。 侯忠義"蕩寇志" 《中國大百科全書 中國文學Ⅰ》 第110頁