Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 263 The Laws Should Not Be Lightly Passed On, Martial Arts Should Not Be Easily Received

Li Xiu's words immediately surprised Yu Congrong:

"Is your Si Ling born with superhuman strength like Ba Wang, able to lift a thousand pounds? She can actually carry three hundred pounds for forty kilometers!"

However, Li Xiu said:
"This isn't something you're born with, it's something you develop through training. Besides our Si Ling, look at those two, they're both martial arts masters who've practiced since childhood. Even though they're carrying more than 200 pounds of weight, they can still easily cover 40 kilometers without breaking a sweat!"

Yu Congrong heard the key words from Li Xiu's mouth and immediately said:

"Wait! What do you mean by practicing martial arts? Do you mean the kind of martial arts used by chivalrous heroes in the martial arts world?"

"Pretty much! The tall guy you mentioned, Wei Dayong, is from Shaolin Temple. Have you heard the story of the Eighteen Shaolin Arhats saving the Tang Emperor? And the slightly shorter one, Duan Peng, comes from a martial arts family and practices Iron Palm, the kind that can easily kill someone with a single palm strike!"

Upon hearing this, Yu Congrong immediately exclaimed excitedly:
"Could you teach me this martial art?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiu looked at Wang Gensheng, because he remembered that Wang Gensheng had said that this martial art should not be passed on casually.

Wang Gensheng had naturally overheard the conversation between Li Xiu and Yu Congrong, so he glanced at Li Xiu, who was speaking casually.

The reason why Wang Gensheng was unwilling to popularize martial arts was mainly because it was ineffective. For example, a new recruit could basically become a qualified soldier after three months of military training.

However, without some talent, it's difficult to even get started with just three months of hard training in this martial art, or rather, this internal martial art.

Therefore, promoting internal martial arts in the military is clearly unsuitable, especially in this age of firearms. It is much more worthwhile to learn how to fire bullets and how to aim and fire a gun than to learn internal martial arts.

Of course, more importantly, Wang Gensheng was afraid that foreigners would learn his skills. Wang Gensheng was not Bruce Lee; he liked to show off and liked to share any good things he had with others.

Fortunately, Bruce Lee did not learn the essence of internal martial arts, such as stance training. For example, the famous Jeet Kune Do created by Bruce Lee does not include stance training. Instead, it focuses on how to use various techniques and how to stimulate the body's potential.

For example, Bruce Lee, in order to unleash his physical potential, actually thought of using electric current to stimulate his body. This kind of crooked and unorthodox method of enhancement is no different from those in the United States who use injections to exercise.

Li Yunlong died young as a result. After all, the old saying in the martial arts world, "Practicing martial arts without practicing internal skills will lead to nothing in old age," is no joke.

Take Duan Peng's Iron Sand Palm, for example. Most people know that it is a martial art that can only be mastered by inserting iron sand into one's own palm. However, what they don't know is that Duan Peng needs to soak his hands in medicinal wine after each practice session, otherwise he will either ruin his hands or develop calluses.

Duan Peng's secret recipe for the Iron Palm medicinal wine is also a closely guarded secret. According to Duan Peng, the recipe was told to him by his father before he died, and even his mother did not know the recipe.

However, Duan Peng later told Wang Gensheng the recipe for the medicinal wine because Wang Gensheng had saved him, and then taught Wang Gensheng how to practice Iron Palm.

However, the medicinal wine used for practicing Iron Palm was extremely expensive, requiring a considerable amount of ginseng and other ingredients. Therefore, Wang Gensheng only used the leftover medicinal wine from Duan Peng's family to practice before stopping and not promoting it extensively within the Marine Corps or the former cavalry regiment. Duan Peng also told Wang Gensheng that Iron Palm could train not only the hands but also the entire body, making the skin impervious to cuts. However, training the entire body required soaking in the medicinal wine, which consumed far more wine than soaking the hands.

Of course, it is precisely because the essence of internal martial arts is passed down to men but not women, and to the direct descendants but not outsiders, that most of the martial arts that appear to be mere slapstick moves do not actually contain the essence of stance training.

However, seeing the curious and expectant looks in Yu Congrong's and the soldiers of the Seventh Company's eyes, Wang Gensheng thought for a moment and said:
"It's not impossible to learn, but you have to pass the Marine Corps' assessment to see if you have the talent for martial arts. If you don't have the talent, practicing will be a waste of time. It's better to spend more time practicing aiming!"

Wang Gensheng had barely finished speaking when, before Yu Congrong could even open his mouth, he interrupted:
"As for when the Marine Corps assessment will be held, let's talk about that after we finish fighting the US! Let's have dinner now, and then we'll continue our journey!"

After saying that, Wang Gensheng began to eat the fried noodles, a unique type of dry ration for individual soldiers in the field, which was a specialty of the aid-to-Chaozhou army.

Of course, this fried noodle dish was neither the same as the fried noodles Wang Gensheng ate at the roadside stall before his time travel, nor was it a traditional delicacy. It was a powdered dry ration made from coarse grains, a desperate choice made under extremely scarce logistical conditions at the time. After all, the reinforcements to Chaozhou were unfamiliar with the area and could not obtain supplies from the local people. Moreover, the Chaozhou people had limited arable land, and even food self-sufficiency was a problem, so they could not support the combat consumption of hundreds of thousands of people!

The core ingredient of fried noodles is wheat flour, which accounts for about 70%, then mixed with corn, sorghum, soybeans and other grains, which account for about 30%, and finally 0.5% salt is added.

Due to the insufficient supply of wheat in the country at that time, the addition of coarse grains was more out of necessity due to the shortage of resources than out of consideration for nutritional balance.

The process of making fried noodles consists of three steps. The first step is to stir-fry them until cooked. After washing the wheat, grains and other ingredients, stir-fry them until they are thoroughly cooked. A small amount of oil may be added during this process to prevent them from burning.
Then comes grinding, which involves grinding the roasted grain into coarse powder using a stone mill. Of course, due to technological limitations, the powder particles are relatively coarse and often contain chaff and dust.

Finally, the mixture is prepared by mixing different types of fried flour in proportion, adding salt, and then storing it in a cloth bag or dry food bag.

Of course, the reason for choosing convenient and easy-to-carry fried noodles was mainly because on the Chaozhou battlefield, the US military used its air superiority to bombard the logistics lines of the troops supporting Chaozhou, causing heavy losses to transport vehicles and making it impossible for the front-line troops to start fires and cook.

After all, the smoke produced by cooking would naturally attract strafing and bombing from the fighter jets patrolling the sky, so cooking was naturally impossible.

Fried noodles can be eaten without heating, and they are easy to store and carry, so they naturally became the main supply for the aid troops to Chaozhou.

Soldiers carried bags of fried noodles on their backs, grabbing a handful of dry powder and swallowing it like snow to sustain them during high-intensity combat.

Of course, fried noodles are not something that can be eaten for a long time. Long-term consumption of fried noodles will lead to a severe vitamin deficiency, which has caused many soldiers to suffer from night blindness, angular cheilitis, and even respiratory problems caused by choking on the dry powder.

At that time, the basic needs for survival outweighed all health considerations, and things like nutrition were not the main concern.

Defeating the enemy, eradicating the humiliation of the past century, and enabling the nation to truly stand up—that is the most urgent task at present.

(End of this chapter)