Yue Fei learned archery from Zhou Tong and, through diligent practice, could shoot with both hands and hit the target every time. He studied battle formations from Zong Ze, asking questions tirelessly, and eventually surpassed his teacher. In battle, Yue Fei led from the front, combining courage with strategy, often winning victories. The mere mention of "Yue's Army" would terrify the enemy and make them flee at the first rumor.
What truly made Yue Fei a terror to his enemies was his iron discipline. When the general Li Cheng allied with the Jin army to attack Wujiang, the situation grew dire. After Du Chong, who succeeded Zong Ze as commander of the Southern Song forces, surrendered, his officers allowed rampant looting. Only Yue Fei's troops, then under Du Chong's command, kept their hands clean, never harming the people. Stationed at Zhong Village with severe food shortages, his soldiers chose starvation over theft. Any soldier caught taking from civilians was immediately executed. This led the people to praise Yue Fei's army with the saying, "They would freeze to death rather than tear down a house, starve to death rather than plunder." Source: *History of Song*, "Biography of Yue Fei"
Yue Fei was fiercely loyal to the emperor. In the fifth year of the Shaoxing reign (under Emperor Gaozong of Song), he was ordered to suppress the peasant rebellion led by Yang Yao. One of Yang Yao's subordinates, Huang Zuo, said, "General Yue's commands are as firm as a mountain. If we fight him, we have no chance of survival. It's better to surrender." So he led his men to submit.
Later, the idiom "Orders as Firm as Mountains" is used to describe commands that are as majestic and unchangeable as a mountain.
Source: *History of Song*, "Biography of Yue Fei"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "号令如山" came to describe commands that are as majestic and unchangeable as a mountain.