They were forced to bow to Tianyuan, and acknowledge him as the proper leader of the monastic forces."įour battles were fought all save the last were listed as victories for the monastic forces. The second battle was the monks' greatest victory: the Battle of Wengjiagang, fought in the Huangpu River delta in July of 1553. Wielding the bar as a staff, he defeated all eight of the other monks simultaneously. They then grabbed swords Tianyuan responded by seizing the long iron bar that was used to lock the gate. First, the eight men came at the Shaolin monk with bare hands, but he fended them all off.
This was opposed by the other monks, who challenged him to a duel, unfairly selecting eight men to fight him. Their was significant division among the ranks as the rivalries between the different schools of martial arts came to a boil. Tianyuan, leader of the Shaolin forces, sought total leadership of the entire contingent. The most famous account took place around 1550. Becoming increasingly desperate in their attempts to fend off such threats, many local Ming Officials began hiring or enlisting monks to protect the provinces. The Ming Dynasty's military capacity had crumbled by the 1500s and the empire was constantly beset by barbarian invasions to the North and Pirate incursions to the east, along with the ever present Peasant insurrections. Not only were there an abundance of "poser monks" or people who people who had some martial training and became essentially thugs, but real monks were increasingly called up to serve in the mid 1500s.
Most people have this built in image of the peaceful pacifist who only fights when provoked or to defend others.