Chapter 7: The Invisible Foot of Foshan

  Zhou Yu shouted: "Huang Feihong!" At the same time, a set of information appeared in his mind: Huang Feihong, originally named Huang Xixiang, courtesy name Dayun, native to Nanhai Xi'ao Luchuan Village, born on July 9th, 1847 (the 27th year of the Daoguang Emperor) in Foshan. He was a master of Lingnan martial arts and a famous doctor who saved lives and healed wounds.

  Zhou Yu still holds great admiration for Wong Fei-hung, as he was a famous patriotic martial arts master of the late Qing dynasty. His life was spent rescuing and helping others, saving the country and its people. At the same time, he had also participated in Taiwan's resistance against the French invasion army as a non-military personnel.

  He bowed deeply to Wong Fei-hung, who was noble in medical ethics and patriotic.

  "I have long admired Brother Fei Hong's great name. Brother Fei Hong's lifelong unparalleled skills, including the Double Flying Hammers, Mother and Son Knives, Arhat Robe, Shadowless Footwork, Iron Wire Fist, Single and Double Tiger Claws, Gongzi Fowu Fist, Arhat Golden Coin Dart, Four Symbol Mark Dragon Staff, and Yao Family Big Rake, are unmatched in the world. I, your younger brother, have also admired you for a long time. If you don't despise my trivial skills, please grant me one or two of them."

  Huang Feihong hastily bowed and returned the courtesy: "I've heard from Brother Liu that Mr. Zhou's literary and military talents are rarely seen in this world, I also want to ask Mr. Zhou for instruction in martial arts, I hope you won't hide your great talent."

  "Haha! Don't mention it, don't mention it! Come on, come on, Brother Fei Hong is inviting you outside." Zhou Yu made a beckoning gesture to Huang Fei Hong.

  Three people in a row rushed to the playground, when they arrived outside, Zhou Yu put his left hand on his palm and his right hand made a fist, and he bowed slightly: "Fei Hong brother, please give me some advice!"

  Wong Fei-hung also returned the fist with courtesy: "Then I'd be honored to receive your teachings, Brother Zhou!" As he spoke, he adopted the starting stance of the Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen.

  As it was their first meeting, both of them were being cautious. Wong Fei-hung didn't know Zhou Yu's depth, and Zhou Yu didn't know the legendary Wong Fei-hung's height. So, they started with careful probing, and after gaining some understanding, the two truly engaged in a fierce battle, exchanging blows and becoming entangled together.

  Wong Fei-hung's kung fu is characterized by quick movements, swift actions, and a calm demeanor. His style combines softness and hardness, with an emphasis on coordination and balance between advance and retreat.

  Compared with others, Zhou Yu's boxing route is more concise and clear, but at the same time, it also gives people a simple and disorderly feeling.

  At first, Wong Fei-hung still held back some of his strength, afraid of accidentally hurting Zhou Yu. As the fight deepened, he also completely let go and went all out. However, no matter how hard he fought, he couldn't hit Zhou Yu. As time passed, Wong Fei-hung gradually started to get a bit winded and struggled.

  He carefully observed Zhou Yu, although he didn't have any martial arts posture, but Zhou Yu always managed to find his weak points. He appeared very casual and composed, neither anxious nor flustered. Huang Feihong knew that he was still far from being a match for Zhou Yu, he had already used all his strength, yet couldn't fathom Zhou Yu's depth.

  While Zhou Yu was blocking his own path with his fists, he didn't actively attack himself. This shows that Zhou Yu was holding back, and if they continued to fight like this, he would eventually collapse from exhaustion.

  Huang Feihong panted and jumped out of the circle: "Feihong's skills are not as good as others, thank you Mr. Zhou for sparing my life."

  Zhou Yu hastily bowed: "Fei Hong brother is being polite, the outcome is not yet decided, I'm just relying on my youth and strength to gain an advantage, Fei Hong brother is truly a martial arts prodigy! Fei Hong brother, why don't we go back to our room and continue our conversation?"

  "Excellent! Please!" Huang Feihong looked around at the Black Flag Army soldiers who had surrounded them, and gestured to Zhou Yu with a beckoning hand.

  After another round of courtesy, the three finally sat down.

  As for Zhou Yu's kung fu style, Wong Fei-hung was still very curious: "Mr. Zhou's martial arts are extremely high, and Fei-hung is very admiring. However, Fei-hung is not good at seeing Mr. Zhou's martial skills, what kind of route is it? It just feels very simple and practical. I don't know who Mr. Zhou learned from, which school or sect?"

  Zhou Yuqian smiled humbly: "These martial arts are all calculated by my younger brother using geometry and mathematics, without any master or sect. It's just a small trick, I'm afraid it will make Fei Hong laugh."

  Huang Feihong's face was astonished, "Sir is indeed a great talent, actually creating such a simple and practical martial art. Feihong is deeply admiring, admiring ah."

  Zhou Yu followed Huang Feihong's words: "Brother Feihong, no need to be humble, the 'Shadowless Kick' you created is unparalleled in the world. You are older than me, so you can call me Zhou Yu or Little Yu, because I don't like taking a courtesy name, so until now I still have no courtesy name. I think one person having one name is enough, why take another name? Hope you won't laugh at me."

  "Sir, you founded the Whampoa Military Academy for China and wrote books to educate our people. How about letting Mr. Feng Yu-xiang be the principal?"

  "That's fine! Then I'll just call you Brother Fei Hong from now on!"

  The three of them humbly decided on their titles. Liu Yongfu was the eldest, Huang Feihong second, and Zhou Yu the youngest. But there wasn't any melodramatic scene like the Oath of the Peach Garden!

  The three of them continued to discuss martial arts, and Zhou Yu's words made the other two feel refreshed.

  Zhou Yu continued to expound his nonsense: "Brother Yongfu, Brother Feihong, do you know what Chinese martial arts are and what world combat techniques are?"

  Wong Fei-hung and the other person simultaneously expressed their ignorance.

  "Traditional Chinese martial arts have incorporated a large number of symbolic movements and school rituals into their attack and defense techniques. From the perspective of gongfa, traditional martial arts still retain very primitive and inefficient practices, which are more about praying, asceticism, tempering patience, and cultivating one's mind and nature rather than increasing combat effectiveness. On the battlefield, they lack aggression and offense. This phenomenon is closely related to the Confucian ideology of the Chinese people."

  "While the world's martial arts mainly focus on knocking down opponents and quickly rendering them unable to fight, on the battlefield, the goal is to defeat the enemy with a single move. This phenomenon has a direct relationship with the invasive personality and ideology of the alien tribe."

  "So I think that the Doctrine of the Mean in Chinese culture cannot be understood as a doctrine of mediocrity and superficial etiquette."

  After that, they also talked about the future of Huaxia and the future development of the world. The content is as follows:

  Zhou Yu asked, "I don't know if the two elder brothers have thought about my China and its current situation. Can the corrupt Qing dynasty last long? Does the feudal slave system conform to the current international society and the current state of production?"

  "We've all thought about this, but to overthrow the Qing government's rule, we must resort to armed rebellion. Wouldn't that put the people in a precarious situation again?" Liu Yongfu was still very worried about this point.

  "Overthrowing the Qing dynasty's rule does not necessarily require war, nor does it need to involve civil war. We can use another method to overthrow his rule, for example..."

  "We develop technology, industry, armament, social welfare for the people, and improve the social status of the common people, so that: the elderly have something to rely on, the young have something to learn, every family has a surplus of grain, every household has property, the sick have something to cure, and everyone is equal in a utopian society. When we reach that point, will the corrupt Qing dynasty, which views ordinary people as pigs and dogs, still exist?"

  "Will there still be people willing to cheer for the Qing dynasty? You should know that the Qing dynasty's army is also composed of ordinary people, will they still shed blood and sweat for the Qing?"

  "It won't, absolutely won't! When I think about it, there definitely won't be a civil war. Those people are just a small bunch of exploiting classes and ruling classes relying on the Qing government. They were originally the pests we wanted to eliminate, so what's the harm in killing them?"

  Liu Yongfu and Wong Fei-hung were depicted by Zhou Yu as being shocked, intoxicated, and enchanted by the national landscape.

  "After a long time: 'Mr. Zhou, can you count as one of the flying swans? The flying swan also wants to contribute a small part to this great cause of rejuvenating China!' He said, still gazing at Zhou Yu with eager eyes, as if he was afraid that Zhou Yu would not agree."

  "Of course, of course! Brother Fei Hong doesn't ask for it, but I want to force you to participate. Who made you a talent? I'd like to invite Brother Fei Hong to help me set up the Military Intelligence Division of the Zhongyong Army. What do you think?" Hehe, Zhou Yu seemed to smile slyly and said:

  "Brother dare not disobey you! It's just that Flying Swan's abilities are limited, afraid of delaying the master's important matter!"

  "To be honest, when the master first came, I was also conflicted. The Black Flag Army had followed me for over 20 years, and I was extremely reluctant to hand it over to someone else. I was also reluctant to give up my power."

  "But in the end, I decided to entrust my brothers to Mr. Liu, and now it seems that I was lucky not to have misjudged him. I am proud of my wise decision." Liu Yongfu's emotions were stirred.

  "Don't bully the younger brother, the two elder brothers! Huaxia is our Chinese people's Huaxia, let us work together for the rise of China! Let's enjoy before the world enjoys and worry after the world worries!"

  "But for now, the most pressing thing is to develop our population, economy, recruit all kinds of talents, strengthen scientific research capabilities, expand the military, manufacture large quantities of weapons and ammunition, giant warships and cannons. First, we must develop our base well, make this place our revolutionary base, and then radiate outward from here. We should widely accumulate grain and wait for the right moment to rise."

  "I'll take care of the development of weapons and ammunition, technological research, industrial development, shipbuilding, and economic growth. The rest can be handled by my two elder brothers and other colleagues."

  "Also, I plan to conduct some experimental inventions. Afterwards, we will go to Europe and America to introduce talent and technology, machinery and develop economic resources. Our foundation is very weak, so we must accelerate our development pace to catch up with that of Europe and America."

  "I ask the two brothers to quickly develop the base, and move overseas Chinese from China, Vietnam and other countries to Laos, making them one of us, contributing to the revival of our Chinese nation."

  "A precise organization was thus formed and rapidly expanded. After discussing with Zhou Yu, Huang Feihong returned to the country in high spirits, bringing a large group of martial artists, craftsmen, sailors, technicians, teachers, naval officers, merchants, overseas Chinese and others to follow Zhou Yu."

  In the following days, Zhou Yu basically immersed himself in the military camp, training with the troops and teaching the officers martial arts by hand. He also let them know what it means to be loyal to the country and what is the indomitable spirit of the troops. Following the practices of later generations, he established a strict military discipline, and the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention were distributed to every soldier in the army.