Even though Zhuang Yong said that Shen Leng could only pick two out of ten people in his squad, in reality, it was three. Apart from Shen Leng’s squad, Du Weiming had no other choice.
Great Ning’s standard ten-man squad in the military did not consist of only ten people, but twelve people in total. Ten of these ten-man squads formed a battalion. Ten-man squads were made up of two five-man squads. Apart from Shen Leng, there was another signaller.
Shen Leng appointed Wang Kuohai and Du Weiming as the two leaders of the two five-man squads. He appointed Chen Ran as the signaller. The duties of a signaller was rather complicated - he was in charge of observing the military banner and flag signals during battles; he also had to listen to the military drums and gong. Lastly, he was also in charge of communicating with the rest of the squad.
Ten ten-man squads formed a battalion, and three battalions formed a regiment. The leader of the battalion wa
The mountain that Mr. Shen and Master Cha were at was called Mount Xiao Feng - it was one of the more unremarkable mountains within the endless mountain range near the river bank. There was a town not far from the mountain. Apart from the Daoist temple that Mr. Shen and Master Cha resided in, there were some hunters who appeared every now and then to check if there were any wild animals caught in the traps they had set up before. At lunch, Master Cha rested her chin on one hand and knocked against the stone table with her chopsticks with the other hand. Mr. Shen came out from the kitchen covered with dirt, holding a plate of something that was black in color. “Quick, have a taste.”Master Cha looked at it and wanted to throw up.Mr. Shen was somewhat disappointed. “Guess some things are truly innate talents.”Master Cha pointed at the dish and asked, “Didn’t you say you want to cook some beef for me? Did you go through great pains
For six to seven days in a row, Shen Leng conducted high intensity training for the new recruits. All eleven men were of different physiques and had varying degrees of willpower. Even Du Weiming and Wang Kuohai felt as though they were about to reach their limit. According to some sources, in three days, they would have to enter the battlefield. Some people were anxious, and some people were disapproving of it.Just as always, Shen Leng put his men through the additional training session into the night before allowing them to rest. He returned to the drill ground alone and completed the homework he did back in the Daoist temple meticulously. By the time he completed it, it was already after 1 a.m.. When he was about to go back to the barracks, he saw Zhuang Yong standing under the light, waiting for him. Shen Leng hurried over to him and saluted. “Come with me.”Zhuang Yong walked in front. Shen Leng walked sligh
The time period between receiving the news of the field exercise and heading out flew past fairly fast. Shen Leng knew that the harsh trainings that he forced his men to go through were not sufficient, but he hoped that his men were able to at least guard their lives in the face of danger.Last month, the total number of new recruits who had passed the evaluation was less than three hundred. The battalion commander, Wang Gendong was in charge of leading the troops. This was a very simple mission. The water bandits they were ambushing was Zhao Dengke and his men that were located upstream. According to the intelligence reported back by the scouting team, they had only a hundred odd people. They were hiding in one of the waterways of Nanping River, and plunder passing merchant ships from time to time in the middle of the night.Three Xiong Niu battleships had headed upstream towards their camp. The Xiong Niu battleship was a medium-sized battleship of the Nav
Shen Leng had a frightening grasp of time. Most of the soldiers did not notice it, but Du Weiming and Wang Kuohai did. Before nightfall, they had arrived outside a town named Fu Chou Bao. They could see the smoke rising from the chimneys in that town. Shen Leng got them to stand guard before they took off their equipment to rest. All of the soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. They carried the load and trekked for more than nine miles. Everyone was almost at their limit. “Squad leader.”Du Weiming leaned in and said in a low voice, “If we keep walking at this pace, we will only reach the water bandits’ camp the day after tomorrow. That’s too slow…If Battalion Commander Wang were to use this as a reason to punish us, there is nothing we can say to refute it. The items we’re carrying are too heavy, should we lighten the load?”“No.”Shen Leng did not hesitate in his reply. “I feel that we did not bring enough. If not for
Despite having been through Shen Leng’s strict and arduous trainings over a period of time, running three miles while carrying a heavy load was still not an easy feat. Fortunately, they only had to be a little faster than the water bandits behind them.Even though the water bandits only carried a dagger with them, they could not run faster than Shen Leng and his men, who were carrying more than ten to twenty pounds worth of equipment with them. This made Shen Leng’s squad somewhat pleased with themselves… “Du Weiming, take two people with you and go over to see if there is anybody holding down the fort in the water bandits’ camp.”Shen Leng yelled. He turned around and grabbed Wang Kuohai. “The rest of you keep going! You stay behind with me!”Wang Kuohai turned around and headed back with Shen Leng. After they walked a few steps, he heard Shen Leng yell, “Shield!”Wang Kuohai lifted the shield from the ground and he
Mu Jiu snatched the sword from his comrade next to him and swung it towards Shen Leng. When Shen Leng swung his sword in an attempt to block his attack, Mu Jiu’s sword changed direction immediately. It was a bluff. The sword tilted and headed straight for Li Tuming’s neck. Shen Leng’s right hand was holding his sword; he was about to swing his sword again but it was too late. He extended his left hand and grabbed Mu Jiu’s hair, pulling him backwards. As a result, Mu Jiu’s sword cut Shen Leng on his left arm. Li Tuming went pale with fright. When he saw Shen Leng’s arm bleeding profusely, he grabbed his arm. “Squad leader, you are bleeding!”Shen Leng could not move as a result. It was Mu Jiu’s second attack. Shen Leng kicked Li Tuming. “Scram.”As he kicked Li Tuming, Shen Leng used the momentum to dodge Mu Jiu’s attack. Thereafter, he quickly counter attacked - every attack was swifter than the one before. Mu Jiu was forced to r
When it was nightfall, it suddenly started raining. The drizzle turned into a lashing storm in just a brief moment. After the ten-man squad returned from the battlefield, Chen Ran was the first to charge out into the rain and let the rain wash over him. Apart from Shen Leng, the rest followed suit. Perhaps they needed the rain to wash over them to calm them down because of the stench of blood, or perhaps they were still reeling from what happened earlier. They were cheering in the rain and strained their voices. After they got back to the barracks, the few of them huddled together and laughed like fools, rocking back and forth.Chen Ran flipped his hair back and said, “What a downpour…it’s raining cats and dogs…” Shen Leng sat by the window and retorted, “Why didn’t it crush you to death.”Chen Ran replied, “Leng, no, I mean, squad leader…did you see those people out there?” Of course Shen Leng saw them. On the dril
After Shen Leng returned to the barracks, he sat down and pondered. Zhuang Yong’s attitude was clearly suspicious. Indeed, Mr. Shen and Zhuang Yong shared a good rapport. However, their relationship was not so good to the extent that he would choose to ruin his relations with Mu Xiaofeng over it.For him to do his utmost to support him, it was clearly not simply because of personal relations.Shen Leng shook his head and smiled bitterly. How troublesome… As for the internal conflict within the Navy itself, on the surface it seemed as though Zhuang Yong was suppressing Mu Xiaofeng, however…on a larger scale, it was a battle between His Majesty and the Great Scholar and the officials under him. That was also to say that every emperor of Great Ning was powerful enough. Otherwise, the resistance of the civil officials would be deafening every single time there was an external threat. It’s a good thing.Shen Leng consoled