(1103 – 1141 AD)

General Yeuh Fei has been a symbol for the Chinese people of the complete virtuous man; in peace he was a great scholar; in war he was a brave and shrewd general against the enemies of his country.

Yeuh Fei was born on February 15^th 1103 AD in Tan Yin Hsien, Huo Nan province of Southern China. When he was about one month old his father was killed when the Yellow River flooded, destroying their home and property. Luckily Yeuh Fei and his mother survived by taking refuge in a giant urn which acted as a boat.

Although very poor, Yeuh Fei’s mother was a well-educated scholar; she possessed the courage, intelligence and bravery to raise her son properly while giving him noble ideas. Because they were too poor to pay for Yeuh Fei to be educated, his mother taught him personally. Each day she would teach him to read and write by drawing figures in the sand, and soon he became one of the most educated youngsters in the village; few children could match his scholarship.

Yeuh Fei’s mother was the most important person and greatest influence in his life. All the ideas that he lived and died for were taught to him by his mother, without her teachings and examples, Yeuh Fei may never have become the brave and loyal leader that he was.

As a youth, he was an avid reader; with history and military theory being his favourite subjects. The book he admired and studied the most was Suen’s Book of Tactics (Suen Tzu Bin Far), a book written by Suen Bin (220 BC) describing the theory and practise of warfare. It was from this book that Yeuh Fei learned important principles, which later helped him in his military career.

As a young man, Yeuh Fei became a tenant farmer for a landlord named Han Chi. After long hours of work he would come home to continue studying with his mother. Many people admired him for this, and for his great physical strength, no one could match his natural power and speed.

These admirable qualities were noticed by a man called Chou Ton, himself a scholar and a very good martial artist who had studied at the Shaolin Temple. Seeing that Yeuh Fei possessed many noble qualities, Chou Ton began teaching Yeuh Fei martial arts. This was a complete system involving, bare hand combat, weapons, military tactics, horsemanship, archery and many other things. With constant and dedicated practise, Yeuh Fei mastered everything Chou Ton taught him.

When Yeuh Fei was nineteen years old (1122 AD) he joined the Sung army in its war against the Gin, a nomadic people who invaded the Northern Song dynasty and pushed them south starting the South Song dynasty. Before he left his mother tattooed on his back “Ginn Chung Pau Kuo”, (be loyal and pure to serve your country). This was a sorrowful time for the Chinese; corruption and hunger constantly oppressed the people. For years the weakened Southern Sung had to bribe the Gin to stop them attacking further south. When Yeuh Fei joined the army, the Southern Sung was trying to regain its lost land by war.

Yeuh Fei proved himself to be a spectacular soldier. His wisdom, bravery and martial skills earned him promotion after promotion until he became a general after six years, and later the head commander or marshal of the army that was assigned to fight the Gin. Once Yeuh Fei became the marshal, he introduced a systematic training program in the martial arts for his soldiers. Although some martial arts training had previously existed, Yeuh Fei was the first to introduce kung fu into the army as a basic requirement before going into combat. Many young men would join the army only to find themselves in battle the next day with very little, if any, training. After a while, Yeuh Fei’s troops became a highly efficient and successful fighting unit.

The success of his troops can be attributed to three things. First, he made all his training strict; the troops were trained in a serious and professional manner. They were pushed until they excelled in martial arts. Second, Yeuh Fei set up a military organization that was efficient and well run. Third, and most important, he created for his troops two new styles of kung fu. The first was a powerful internal style called Hsing-I, which was based upon spear techniques, and second was an external style called Eagle Claw, a style which put great emphasis on Chin Na. General Yueh Fei is thought to have taught the Standing Eight Section Brocade, a series of chi kung exercises to improve the health of his soldiers. It was these two styles that made Yeuh Fei’s troops successful in battle and gave rise to a saying that “It is easier to fight a mountain than fight an army of General Yeuh Fei”.

Yeuh Fei’s highly trained troops advanced against the Gin and had many victories in their early march north, but Yeuh Fei had not yet encountered the Gin commander Wuh Jwu, who himself had never lost a battle. Wuh Jwu’s terrifying success in war was due to his main weapon, the feared Kua Tsu Ma, an ancient version of the tank; it was a chariot drawn by three horses, all chained together and covered in armour, the men in the chariot were also protected by armour, so neither the men or horses could be shot by arrows. As a result, the chariots were free to keep moving and its drivers free to kill.

Yeuh Fei gave much thought to defending against the awful Kua Tsu Ma. He found the only vulnerable part was the horse’s legs, which were not covered in armour; putting armour on their legs would have made them immobile. It was too difficult to attack the horses legs with conventional arrows and spears, so Yeuh Fei devised two new weapons, a sword with a hooked end, which was extremely sharp on the inside part of the hook and a shield made out of a vine called ‘Rattan’ (Tern). This new army was called the Tern Pai Chun or Rattan Shield Army.

Eventually both generals met on the battlefield. When the battle started, Yeuh Fei had the Rattan Shield Army crouching very low in the path of the Kua Tsu Ma. To prevent the horses trampling the crouching men, their shields were covered with grease so the horse’s hooves would slide off them. Obstacles such as ditches and upright spears were set up to slow down the Kua Tsu Ma, allowing Yeuh Fei’s soldier’s, who were mainly on foot, to move against it with more ease. As the chariots advanced, the crouching men hooked and cut the legs of the horses, making them fall, they only needed to cripple one horse to stop the chariot. Then other soldier’s would surround it and kill the driver. On that day Yeuh Fei scored a military victory, which will live on in history and legend.

Now Yueh Fei’s highly trained army became almost invincible, winning battle after battle. Yueh Fei’s popularity grew as he won back land for his people. However, one of the Emperor’s corrupt officials, Chin Kua, was bribed by the Gin leaders of the North to stop Yeuh Fei. After pulling Yueh Fei out of battle, Chin Kua had him arrested and thrown in jail. He accused now Field Marshall Yueh Fei of using his position for personal gain. They searched his home but found he lead a Spartan life and had fewer possessions then a peasant. With such an honest person as Yueh Fei, Chin Kua had only one alterative, to have his food poisoned. Thus was the noble general viciously betrayed by his own countryman? Without the glory and honour that was his right, Yueh Fei died in jail at the age of thirty-eight in 1142 AD. Later his wife, adopted son and top assistants were also executed. For twenty years Yueh Fei was officially considered a criminal.