With 108 heroes and 70 chapters in its French translation (100 in the English version), the novel is centered around many adventures, individual or collective, that all focus on the main subject, the raise of the outlaws gang led by Song Jiang and their fight against the Chinese Emperor's corrupted administrations.
Some stories occupy a few lines, others last in several consecutive chapters or reappear through the book.
The last ones became subjects for pieces of the Beijing Opera and are well known by the Chinese people.

• The Miraculous Stone (1)
• Lin Chong's story (Wild Boar Forest))
• The Honor of Family (Wu Song's story)
• Song Jiang, an unwilling hero (Xun Yang tower)
• The Birthday Presents (Yellow Earth Ridge)
• The Chained Horses (the Wild Goose Plume Armor)
  
• The Attacks on Zhu Family Village 
  
• The Death of the Celest King
  
• The Black Whirlwind