 With the publishing of Yue Fei 's 17th folklore biography , The Story of Yue Fei ( 1684 ) , a new distinct fictional Zhou Tong emerged , which differed greatly from his historical persona . Not only was he now from Shaanxi ; but he was Yue 's adopted father , a learned scholar with knowledge of the eighteen weapons of war , and his personal name was spelled with a different , yet related , Chinese character . The novel 's author portrayed him as an elderly widower and military arts tutor who counted Lin Chong and Lu Junyi , two of the fictional 108 outlaws on which the Water Margin is based , among his former pupils . A later republican era folktale by noted Yangzhou storyteller Wang Shaotang not only adds Wu Song to this list , but represents Zhou as a knight @-@ errant with supreme <unk> . The tale also gives him the nickname " Iron Arm " , which he shares with the executioner @-@ turned @-@ outlaw Cai Fu , and makes the outlaw Lu Zhishen his sworn brother . Because of his association with the outlaws , he is often confused with the similarly named outlaw Zhou Tong . 
