In the third year of Xuantong, in March of the spring, the Japanese Empire sent the swordsman Shigetaro Chiba and Ichio Bushido Itagaki, and the Ryukyu man Shige Yoshijin to China and challenged him. Wang Sansheng, president of the Chinese Martial Arts Alliance, represented the Chinese martial arts world to challenge him.

Later generations of historical researchers around the world named 1911 AD, the third year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty, "The Year of the Alliance Revolution", because not only did the Xinhai Revolution led by the Tongmenghui break out, but also the martial arts competition led by the Tongmenghui was held in Beijing. The Xinhai Revolution changed the feudal rule of the old China, and the martial arts competition also allowed people all over the world to see the Chinese spirit of martial arts.

After learning that the Japanese Sword Saint had issued a letter of war, Gao Tai convened two secretary-generals of the Wulin Tongmenghui and the deputy secretary-generals of the neighboring areas such as Tianjin and Zhili to Beijing. The other vice presidents contacted each other with telephone and finally convened a board meeting.

After two days of discussion, everyone agreed and everyone actively responded.

Finally, after the provincial branches were sent to the test, Gao Tai personally signed the order of the leader and asked for the battle as the president of the martial arts alliance association of the Qing Dynasty.

Xu Shichang argued in the court, and in the end, the Qing court agreed to the martial arts masters of the Great Japanese Empire.

After discussions between the diplomatic envoys of the two countries, the final competition date was set on the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5, which is a traditional Chinese festival to exorcise evil spirits and avoid poisons.

Gao Tai chose to compete with Japanese samurai on this day, just to expel them from China as evil poisons. Although Gao Tai is not superstitious, why not do it if there is a beautiful meaning?

The news that Chinese and Japanese martial arts masters were about to fight quickly spread, spread to the people on the streets and alleys, and also to the European and Americans on the other side of the ocean. Chinese martial arts and Japanese kendo became the highest click-through words in the first half of 1911 AD.

Wang Sansheng, the leader of the Chinese martial arts industry, also entered the eyes of foreign politicians and the people, allowing them to understand that China's martial arts actually has an organization.

Chiba Shigetaro, Itagaki Ichio, and Funago Yoshijin arrived in Beijing in mid-March with their respective disciples. Then they lived in the embassy to teach their disciples, hone their martial arts skills, and prepare to defeat the strongest Chinese martial arts world by May 5, and strengthen their efforts to destroy the will of the Qing people in one fell swoop.

...

Gao Tai, Li Cunyi, Sun Lutang, Li Shuwen, Huo Yuanjia, Shang Yunxiang, Wang Ziping, Han Muxia, Yang Chengfu and more than a dozen top experts in Beijing no longer go out. They exchange experiences at the meeting almost every day, practice martial arts in various schools, and prepare for the upcoming battle.

Originally, Huang Feihong from Guangdong, Qu Shiwenwen from Shandong, Du Xinwu from Hunan and other provinces were going to come to Beijing to fight against Japanese masters, but Gao Tai considered the overall situation first, and the masters from Beijing and Tianjin already represented the current level of China's first-class masters. If the hosts from other provinces came again, it would cause waste of talents, and it would delay the strategic layout of the Wulin Tongmenghui to promote national skills and occupy the basic and livelihood links of the city.

For this reason, Gao Tai sent three telegrams in a row to dispel the calls for branch presidents of each province to lead people to Beijing.

Because he rejected the requests of various provinces, and because this victory and defeat were related to the reputation of the Qing Dynasty among the countries around the world, Gao Tai and others were under great pressure. Every day, he was like a robot that tightened the clockwork, constantly absorbing the essence of the Wudian Boxing Classic contributed by various provinces, sects and sects, and improving and supplementing his own martial arts shortcomings.

Japan challenged the Qing Dynasty in the name of the country. If China does not respond, the title of the sick husband of East Asia will be put on its head. If it is defeated after the battle, the hat of the sick husband of East Asia will be confirmed. Gao Tai and others all believed that Japan was going to force the Qing Dynasty to submit. Although they couldn't figure out why Japan, which was already a powerful country, had to challenge the martial arts world after the failure, Gao Tai and the others had no intention of trying to figure out the Japanese's psychology. They only knew that they could win but not lose!

...

Time is the most naughty when people are busy and always slips away quietly.

More than a month passed in a flash, and it was the third day of the fifth lunar month, which was May 30, 1911.

At the beginning of the month, the court announced the constitutional establishment and established a cabinet to take charge of national affairs. As a result, all the key officials of the cabinet were princes and princes of the Eight Banners. Xu Shichang was completely disappointed at that time.

After the establishment of the cabinet, the Qing court thought it had changed its political system and became a follower of advanced Western countries, feeling that it would soon become a powerful country.

Considering that the debts of the great powers had not been returned, the cabinet followed the idea of ​​Sheng Xuanhuai, the Minister of the Ministry of Posts and Communications of the Great Comprador, and set its sights on the Sichuan-Han and Guangdong-Han Railways, which were commercial and private assets, and ordered them to be reclaimed.

As a result, officials, merchants, people and others from Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan and Hubei all united to oppose the court's clever robbery.

The road protection movement broke out in mid-May in the Western calendar. Even though Gao Tai was in seclusion and practiced, he heard about it. He thought that many armed uprisings would break out in the end, and the famous party would definitely participate in it.

By then, the imperial court will not suppress it effectively, not only will Yuan Shikai be about to come out, but the first shot of the Xinhai Revolution will be almost fired.

Gao Tai, who knew about Daqing Pills, stepped up sending a telegram to the branches of various provinces, asking them to speed up the establishment of the National Art Academy and the basic people's livelihood industry. At the same time, he also contacted Chen Qimei and learned about the progress of the National Art instructors in the New Army in various provinces teaching the National Arts and New Thoughts to the New Army soldiers.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, the top martial arts figures in China and Japan will represent the country to compete on stage. After discussing the Royal Cabinet of the Qing Dynasty, it decided to invite Japanese samurai to attend a state banquet before the competition. In this way, if the Qing Dynasty wins naturally, even if it loses, it can show its demeanor in a great power in advance, and perhaps lose less people.

At noon in the third year of the Chinese New Year, the state banquet was held with three or five Han officials including cabinet members and Grand Secretary Xu Shichang, as well as the ministers of various countries, Japanese swordsman Shigetaro Chiba, Bushido master Ichio Itagaki, Tang hand master Yoshijin Funeo Yoshijin, and more than ten martial arts alliance members such as Takata.

Three whip sounded, and the middle gate opened wide. Gao Tai and Sun Lutang, Li Shuwen, Shang Yunxiang, Li Cunyi, Huo Yuanjia, Han Muxia, Zhang Ce, Wang Ziping, Chen Buyan, Lou Wu and other 145 people were wearing official uniforms and tops. They followed Xu Shichang and other Han ministers into the palace and stood on the side of the Taihe Hall.

After a while, the ministers of various countries wearing black dovetail dresses and top hats also entered one after another, and accompanied them were members of the royal cabinet headed by Prince Su.

Gao Tai, Sun Lutang, Li Shuwen and others saw at a glance the three people in the center of a dozen men in kimonos following the Japanese minister.

The man who looked the most famous and looked like a great master was a man in his sixties. He was tall and tall, gray in hair, and a beard on his lips. His eyes were shining with his glitter, as sharp as an eagle. When he walked, his steps were steady and as light as silent. It was obviously because of his great skill that the clogs under his feet did not make a crisp sound of wood and the floor.

Another man was tall and majestic, about 1.9 meters tall, with thick limbs and exposed blue veins. He looked like a strong man.

The man at the end looked a little sad. He looked like he was in his forties, with dark skin, short stature, thick limbs, but his face was strong and brave, and there was a black mole on his right brow.

Behind the three, there were about ten Japanese men in their twenties and thirties. Gao Tai and others knew that these two were the sword saint Chiba Shigetaro and Ryukyu Shin-yuki who came to China to challenge.

The tall and thin old man and the tall and short man seemed to feel something, and looked at Gao Tai and others sideways. The old man and the short man narrowed his eyes at the same time, but the tall man glared wide.

After looking at Gao Tai and others, the three of them looked back. The two of them remained silent, but the short man sighed in a complicated expression.

Gao Tai, Sun Lutang, Li Shuwen and other masters were shocked and said to himself: This Luo Shizi's Chiba Sword Saint and Itagaki Ichio, Master Chuanyue, seems to have some tricks!
Chapter completed!