Chinese martial arts: From being shot and killed by the armed police during a mountain search to bec

Silence reigned behind him. After a few breaths, three dark figures slowly emerged from behind abandoned cargo boxes and broken walls along the roadside.

The person's foot landed, and the wooden stick tapped the ground three times, "thud, thud, thud".

Chen Hongwu turned around, and the moonlight immediately illuminated the person who was coming.

All three were slender and tall, wearing gray cloth long gowns with front openings, cloth belts around their waists, and matching soft-soled boots.

What's most eye-catching is that each of the three has a braid hanging down from the back of their heads, jet black and shiny, with dark yellow knotted ropes wrapped around the ends.

Another money-tail braid!

Each of the three men carried a wooden stick, seven feet long and about the diameter of a wrist, with the ends of the sticks wrapped in sheet metal.

The man in the middle had a ruddy face, high cheekbones, and three deep wrinkles on his forehead that looked like they were carved with a knife; the man on the left was tall and thin with arms that reached past his knees; the man on the right had a black mole the size of a bean on his chin, and his eyes were narrow and long, making him look sinister.

"The Qing Dynasty has been gone for so many years, yet you wild boars still haunt us, your treacherous hearts never dies," Chen Hongwu sneered.

The man in the middle with the ruddy face sneered, "Chen Hongwu, you killed the man of my Great Qing, today you will pay with your life."

He slammed the wooden stick in his hand on the ground, spread his feet apart, and the other two people simultaneously scattered to the left and right. The three wooden sticks immediately blocked Chen Hongwu's upper, middle and lower body.

A slight gust of wind blew, and the tips of the sticks pressed down on him.

Samsung Stick!

The combined attack techniques in stick fighting originated from the stick fighters in the Cangzhou area of ​​Hebei.

The principle is "three-star positioning, one stick with three transformations." One person focuses on the Heavenly Star, using the stick to strike the head, neck, and chest; another person focuses on the Human Star, using the stick to strike the waist, abdomen, and ribs; and the third person focuses on the Earthly Star, using the stick to sweep the legs, knees, and groin.

The three sticks are fired simultaneously, one after the other, like three stars shining together, alternating endlessly.

Ordinary heroes would find it difficult to even get close to the circle of sticks, let alone the enemy.

The three men were clearly skilled; without uttering a sound, they unleashed their three sticks simultaneously!

The man with the ruddy face walked along the center with his stick, like a poisonous dragon emerging from its cave, aiming straight for Chen Hongwu's heart; the man on the left crouched down and approached, striking Chen Hongwu's knees with his stick; the man on the right with a black mole flicked his wrist, the tip of his stick sweeping upwards towards Chen Hongwu's chin.

Chen Hongwu did not retreat, but instead took a step forward.

With just one step, he was embedded in the shadow of the stick.

He raised his left arm, adopting a "head-holding" stance, and twisted his elbow outward to forcefully deflect the tip of the stick that was pointing towards his heart. The stick struck his elbow tip with a dull thud, and the ruddy-faced man felt a numbness in his hand as the stick sprang back.

Before he could return the stick, Chen Hongwu's right fist had already burst out from under his ribs, a powerful punch aimed straight at his opponent's chest and abdomen.

The force was like a meteor falling to the ground; with a thud, the man staggered back several steps, spitting blood from his mouth.

The other two sticks have arrived.

Although the staff technique was fierce, it was still vulnerable to close combat. Chen Hongwu moved like a fish swimming in the waves, his body shifting to the side. His left shoulder slid away like an eel, while his right leg, like the roots of an old tree, stepped on the staff in the hand of the man on the left.

With a surge of internal energy from the spring beneath his feet, the seven-foot-long staff was immobilized as if pressed down by a boulder.

Chen Hongwu crouched down and rushed forward, striking the man's ribs with both palms. The force penetrated to the bone, and the man's waist and ribs cracked, causing him to collapse to the ground like a puppet with broken strings.

Two out of three sticks were gone, leaving only the man with the black mole on the right.

He let out a strange cry, and his staff suddenly changed its momentum, like a venomous snake coiling around him, turning from a chop to a thrust, the tip of the staff aimed straight down at Chen Hongwu's crown.

Chen Hongwu turned his head to dodge, and his right palm slashed diagonally at the stick.

This palm strike used the "pressing" force of Tai Chi, borrowing the opponent's strength to strike back. The stick actually turned around and, as if it came alive, lashed out at its owner's own face.

"Snapped!"

The wooden stick broke, and the man with the mole threw it away.

Chen Hongwu stopped, looking down in the moonlight. All three men had broken bones, bleeding from their mouths and eyes, and were lifeless.

"The Qing Dynasty, my foot!" He sneered, turning and lifting his foot. "This land no longer belongs to you; times have changed!"

-

Gunshots rang out in Hongkou all night, and by dawn, even the boatmen on the north bank of the river could hear them.

As dawn broke and the first copy of the Shen Bao newspaper was carried out of the newspaper office, the entire street crowded around it.

Before the newsboy could even shout, the newspaper was snatched away. The ink was still wet when the front page headline was clearly printed with nine dark, lead-printed characters:

"Chen Hongwu broke into the Hongkou military camp at night, and several Japanese officers were killed."

Below was a long, detailed account. It stated that last night, Chen Hongwu, alone, attacked the Japanese military camp in Hongkou. Navy Lieutenant Commander Matsumoto Ichiro, Marine Corps Battalion Commander Fujita Osami, Naval Intelligence Officer Ishida Saburo, Garrison Commander Yamamoto Goro, and Military Police Squad Leader Kobayashi Naoki were all killed in the command post. A kendo instructor and two martial arts masters from Fujian also perished. The horrific scene was astonishing.

The Times headline was even more outrageous: "Chen Hongwu truly is the world's number one killer, taking the head of a general from among thousands of soldiers."

The phrase "the world's number one assassin" caused a huge uproar when it was published in the Times.

Within two hours of dawn, these four words had filled teahouses, restaurants, docks, trams, opium dens, and brothels. Some praised them, some cursed them, and some even slammed their fists on the table as they listened.

"Good! Well done!" Inside the Fuya Restaurant, a burly, shirtless man tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of yellow wine, then slammed the bowl on the table. "The Japanese have been running rampant in Hongkou for so many years, and finally they've met someone unreasonable!"

"When have the Japanese ever reasoned? Look at them, they wiped out the entire trading company and military camp! What do you call that? Using killing to stop killing!" A thin-faced man next to him chimed in, getting more and more excited. "Let's see who dares to say that we Chinese only know how to endure!"

The room erupted in agreement. But the owner of Feng's Silk Shop lowered his voice: "Keep your voices down. I heard the Japanese consulate has sent an urgent letter demanding the Public Works Bureau hand over the person within a specified time. The reward has been increased to 80,000 taels of silver, and they're even asking the Japanese military to send a special envoy. If things go wrong, they might send troops."

"Let them send troops! What are we afraid of?" someone cursed.

Even so, his voice lowered.

By the afternoon, several English newspapers had also been moved.

The simultaneous publication of articles by the North China Daily News and the Mainland Daily News is quite intriguing.

They don't discuss whether the Japanese died unjustly or not; they just keep asking: Why could a Chinese man move freely near the International Settlement? To what extent was Japan's "security management" in Hongkou paralyzed? Their words are full of schadenfreude.

The French Concession's "Sino-French News" published two commentaries, both filled with sour grapes.

To say that Chen Hongwu "undermined peace in East Asia and caused discord between friendly nations and countries" is particularly ridiculous: such a thug should be condemned by the entire world.

The article was torn out and used to polish leather shoes that very day.

In the evening, the Japanese Consulate General finally made a public statement: Chen Hongwu was "wicked and immoral," and the reward was increased to 100,000 silver dollars, regardless of whether he lived or died.

Subsequently, more than 30 Japanese marines disembarked from warships anchored in the Huangpu River and fired three shots within the Hongkou martial law zone to demonstrate their resolve.

Meanwhile, the police officers of the Old Zha Police Station in the International Settlement were running errands for various newspapers, warning the editors-in-chief "not to fuel the rumors."

No sooner had they finished offering advice than another breaking news item appeared: "A 100,000 bounty has shocked the world—who exactly is this warlord assassin?"

On this day, Chen Hongwu's name spread from Shanghai and across the Yangtze River.

Even several major newspapers in the north sent telegrams back, vying to reprint them.