| Tyrant Pulls the Bow
The army of Chu the Tyrant became famous for direct
attacks of over whelming force against the enemy. The
force of his army was the epitome of 'hard.' To defeat
Chu the Tyrant one would have to answer the question;
'How can a soft force over came a hard force?'
The 18th century manual of empty hand fighting, True
Transmission of Shaolin, explains the theory of soft
overcoming hard with a reference to Chu the Tyrant and
his biggest enemy; King Han.
The idea of soft is simple. don't meet a hard unyielding
force head on, but instead work your way around it until
you can enter an undefended opening. This applies not
only to defeating large and powerful troop formations
such as the army of Chu the Tyrant but of a single
opponent in hand to hand combat!
The Soft Explained in True
Transmission of Shaolin
When
encountering hard evade and enter where undefended.
It is as natural as the drifting clouds and flowing
water; swift and smooth like a spring silkworm
spitting silk or like the spark of striking flint;
strong like the wind against a ship's mast or a
formation of cavalry.
Yet, even
though a man has the strength to uproot mountains
his strength is useless when no one is near. Though
an army can deploy a million troops yet the army
can't attack when the enemy is nowhere to be seen.
Therefore
it is said that although soft can overcome hard, yet
soft can not be devoid of hard and only the proper
use of hard can easily break through soft.
Out of
100 battles Chu the Tyrant won 100 victories. but
with a single defeat lost all under heaven. This is
not the proper use of hard.
Out of
100 battles King Han suffered 100 defeats, but with
a single victory attained all under heaven.
True
Transmission of Shaolin recalls the epic
confrontation between Xiang Yu - Chu the Tyrant(232
BC – 202 BC) and Liu Bang- King Han(247
BC to 195 BC), figures well known to most Chinese
of imperial China. Xiang Yu favored reckless violence
while Liu Bang used careful planning.
When Xiang Yu
broke through the defenses of a city he would often take
out his anger on the inhabitants by slaughtering everyone. Once an army of
200,000 soldiers surrendered to Xiang Yu. That night his
troops attacked and killed them in their sleep.
Liu Bang, on
the other, hand besides losing city after city to Xiang
Yu, almost lost his life from an arrow shot by Xiang Yu's
own hand as the two traded insults over the walls of Liu
Bang's fortified city. Yet, even though Liu Bang
had the smaller force, in the end he became Emperor Gaodi while Xiang Yu chose suicide over surrender.
Soft Vs Hard on a Grand Scale
Two Armies Race to the Capitol
During the last year of the Qin Dynasty (206 BC) both
Xiang Yu and Liu Bang worked together under King Huai.
King Huai promised that whichever army captured the Qin
Dynasty's last remaining city would get to keep the
productive region as his own personal fief!
Xiang Yu battled his way through fiercely defended
territory from the east without regard for the lives of
his men or the civilians of the cities they passed
through.
Liu Bang came the long way around from the west and had
forbidden plunder and massacre. He worked hard to
reassure the people of the capitol that they would be
humanely treated. For this he quickly made his way
across the Western passes and entered the city
unopposed. This can be considered his 'soft' approach
toward gaining the city.
But, when Xiang Yu finally arrived he still commanded a
force of 400,000 to Liu Bang's 100,000. There was an
unpleasant stand-off which lasted for several days. In
the end Liu Bang had no choice but to withdraw and allow
Xiang Yu to take the prize rightfully owed to Liu Bang.
His peaceful withdrawal is another example of a 'soft'
approach.
Xiang Yu then attempted to have Liu Bang killed at a
dinner party. An assassin performed a sword dance with
the intention of stabbing Liu Bang. Owing to the help of
his driver, Liu Bang narrowly escaped with his life
(that is another story). In anger at missing his chance
to kill his rival, Xiang Yu slaughtered and looted then
destroyed the Qin capitol in a fire that is said to have
burned for three months!
Music Defeats an Army
In the final battle between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, Liu
Bang used the sound of singing to defeat Xiang Yu. How
can music defeat an army? Xiang Yu's troops were from
Southern China but Liu Bang's troops were from the west.
At some point in the past Liu Bang had seen to it that
all his troops secretly learned the songs of the
southern people of China. During the night after a very
vicious battle Liu Bang's army began to sing the
southern songs beloved by Xiang Yu's troops. It was a
sound that chilled Xiang Yu to the bone! He immediately
jumped to the conclusion that his troops were deserting
his army for the armies of Liu Bang.
Without regard for his remaining soldiers Xiang Yu
personally mounted his horse Dapple and took his 800
most trusted men to break through the enemy lines and
attempt an escape to the Yangtze river. He was pursued
by 5000 soldiers and in the end chose suicide over
surrender.
What could be more soft than Liu Bang's plan of using
singing to defeat an army?
Xiang Yu was
decapitated and his head was taken to his remaining supporters to prove his death and
to force a
new allegiance to Liu Bang. Xiang Yu, one of the most
powerful generals of Chinese history ended up with
nothing while Liu Bang became the first Han Emperor of
China (ruled 206-195 BC).
The Tyrant's Pose in Mantis Boxing
The Tyrant as a pose first appears in one of the
earliest forms listed in Mantis Boxing called Connected
Fist. This form is one the earliest roots of Mantis
Boxing (other kung fu schools have a form of the same or
similar name). Under Connected Fist's section called
'The Method and Essential Key for 'Piercing Ear' - 16
Gates of the Right' we find the technique:
Beating hand leaking hand fold the pair of elbows
Tyrant pulls the bow and the single hand enters.
Although this version of Connected Fist is no longer
trained, this combination appears in a form
practiced at least since Liang Xuexiang's time (circa
mid 1800's) in a form called Divide the Body into Eight
Elbows (Fen Shen Ba Zhou). This well known form contains
the sequence:
Right strikes with the street walking lifting elbow
(not pictured).
Interconnected double bashful elbows.
The tyrant sits to the rear and pulls hard the bow.
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Interconnected double bashful
elbows. Probably so
named because of the similarity to a bashful expression. This elbow can also be
called the protruding elbow. |
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The tyrant sits to the rear
and pulls hard the bow. Here you can clearly
see the similarity to the pulling of a bow. In
the picture at the top of the article you can
see the soldier in a horse riding stance (riding
a horse) pulling the bow. |
The Tyrant's Technique Applied
Cui Shoushan, grand student of Liang Xuexiang, also
writes the application for the techniques:
Right strikes with the street walking lifting elbow
(not pictured).
Interconnected double bashful elbows.
The tyrant sits to the rear and pulls hard the bow.
He attacks with the right.
I lift with my right hand followed by my left outer
hanging block and strike with my right inner forearm
to his left ear as my left foot fish hooks (his
right foot).
My right hand grasps his and my left coiled elbow
strikes his ribs then grasps and my right coiled
elbow strikes his ribs.
My right palm collides to his face, I take the horse
riding posture and my left strikes his belly cavity.
Mantis Boxing first uses a series of soft methods
against the opponent such as 'beating,' 'grasping,' and
'colliding' before finishing with the hand strike
'tyrant pulls the bow,' the hard at the end of the soft
Information on Xiang Yu and Liu Bang from Warlords of
China 700BC to AD1662 by Chris Peers. A fascinating
historical read on the battles of China.
Illustrations of bowman from Wui Bei Zhi (1621)
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