During the Wuxu Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, there was a young man named Zhang Leiming in Jingzhou City in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. He was in his early twenties, had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and had the ability to "throw flying knives" with one hand. His flying knives were about three inches long and one inch wide. Unlike others, his flying knives had no handles and were extremely sharp at both ends. They were usually packed in special leather bags.

Since his debut, no one had seen clearly how his throwing dagger came out of his leather bag and how it was thrown out of his hand to hit the target. It was also because of his move that people in the Tao called him the "King of Flying Daggers."

On this day, Jingzhou City became lively again because of Zhang Leiming. It turned out that Cixi, who was sitting in the capital a few days ago, wanted to find a few capable and righteous men in the Qing Dynasty to compete with the foreign guns and foreign guns of the Eight Kingdoms Allied Army. After setting the date for the competition, Cixi ordered Li Hongzhang to look for agile warriors across the country.

This, Li Hongzhang heard Jingzhou prefect Sun Lu introduce Zhang Leiming's deeds, and then pointed out that Zhang Leiming would perform his stunt.

Zhang Leiming came to the yamen, and under Zhang Lu's orders, the group of people came to the back garden of the prefect. When Zhang Leiming was performing, he asked five yamen servants of the same height to stand upright in a line against him, then buckled a bowl upside down on each person's head, and put a candle of the same length on the top of the bowl and lit it; then he stood five meters away, took out a black cloth from his arms and covered his eyes. I saw him say, "Please give me some guidance, my lord." As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out to his waist and saw a white light flying from his hand towards the first person standing.

Before the yamen could see clearly how the white light flew out, the white light swept over his head, and then he heard applause and applause all around him. The yamen turned and looked back, only to see that the candles above his head and the four people behind him were still there, but the burning candle wick was gone, and the flying knife that broke the candle wick flew into a tree behind the candle wick.

Sun Lu also applauded, but when he saw Li Hongzhang clapping his hands only a few times, he did not show any joy. Not only that, Li Hongzhang also asked Zhang Leiming, "If your enemy is active, how do you deal with it?"

"Lord Li, don't worry! Just watch the villain's trick!" After Zhang Leiming finished speaking, he walked to a tree and kicked the trunk hard. Immediately, the frightened cicadas flew up with a "squeak" sound.

This time, before Sun Lu could say yes, Li Hongzhang exclaimed in praise.

The news that Zhang Leiming was going to the capital to compete with the "foreign hair devils" suddenly spread all over Jingzhou City. The day before Zhang Leiming went to the capital, he and a few friends still came to the tavern "Saidukang" to drink as usual. As soon as everyone saw him coming, they all proposed that Zhang Leiming perform a few tricks to satisfy their eyes. Zhang Leiming refused, so he agreed. However, when he performed hard, only the boss of "Saidukang", Old Man Wang, did not cheer him, and Zhang Leiming was a little unhappy.

"I'm worried about the foreign guns and cannons of the 'foreign hair devils!' I have heard that they are very powerful..." Old Man Wang said worriedly.

"Old Man Wang, you are clearly destroying my prestige and the ambition of the Changyang people, and looking down on us Chinese!" Before Old Man Wang could finish his words, Zhang Leiming interrupted him.

Seeing that his words did not attract Zhang Leiming's attention, Old Man Wang said, "Okay, if your throwing knife can hit the thing I specified, then I believe you have the strength to defeat the 'foreign hair devil'.

"Speak! What is it? Take it out!" Zhang Leiming was furious. Since his debut, no one had dared speak to him like that.

"Come with me," said Old Man Wang, and took Zhang Leiming to a pond next to the tavern. He scooped the loach into a cabin in the pond with a scoop, and then said to Zhang Leiming, "I poured this loach into the water, and the moment I poured it into the water, you hit them with a throwing knife!"

Zhang Leiming "snorted," "What do I mean? You pour it!" After Zhang Leiming finished speaking, Old Man Wang raised his hand and poured a scoop of loach into the water. As soon as the loach entered the water, Zhang Leiming's flying knife also followed into the water. However, as soon as the flying knife hit the loach, the loach's tail swung and got into the bottom of the water. Zhang Leiming was taken aback, and when he was about to throw the flying knife for the second time, there were no waves from the loach in the pond.

Now he was dumbfounded, there was nothing in the pond except a few lotus flowers and a few frogs barking. "Old Wang, aren't you making things difficult for people?" Zhang Leiming asked after being stunned for a long time.

However, just as people were criticizing Old Man Wang, he had already returned to the tavern. He smiled at the mocking crowd and asked them to scoop a ladle of loach into the water.

As soon as the loach entered the water, Old Man Wang raised his hand in the tavern, and a pair of chopsticks in his hand flew over the heads of the onlookers by the pond at lightning speed. With a few sounds, the chopsticks were all straight into the water. In the blink of an eye, wherever the chopsticks went, the water turned red first, and then the loach floated up. Each loach had a chopstick stuck in its body, and it was right on the loach's head.

When Zhang Leiming woke up and went looking for Old Man Wang, apart from a letter left to Zhang Leiming on the table in the tavern, he was nowhere to be seen. The letter wrote: "Young man, your stunt is very good, but if you have a stunt, you should not show it off, you should kill the Eight-Power Allied Army. Today's imperial court is corrupt and incompetent, and this so-called selection of judges is actually not to compete with the'foreign hair devil 'at all, but to protect Cixi as a personal guard. Your nature is not bad, I am willing to accept you as a disciple, if you are willing, come to the'Boxer Regiment' in the capital to find me!"

After reading the letter, Zhang Leiming didn't say a word for a long time. The next day, Zhang Leiming disappeared in Jingzhou City.