Changning's Imperial Army Chapter 20

Late into the night, Zhuang Yong was still thinking about Shen Leng's words. What kind of person does that young man want to be? He had led the troops for so many years, and had encountered many young men with acute determination. However, most of them had high aspirations, but they lacked the strength and ability. They could only talk big.

Shen Leng was different. That fella had that kind of fort.i.tude in his bones that astonished everyone.

With so much weighing on his mind, it was no wonder it was hard for him to sleep. It was not only because of Shen Leng. He was also concerned about the letter that was sent from the imperial court today. His Majesty was angry. He was very furious.

Great Ning was already almost invincible when it came to land combat. As for allegiance everywhere, it was a non-issue. However, the areas outside of the waters were a huge source of concern. Even a tiny country with a powerful navy could create trouble for Great Ning.

The reason why His Majesty was furious was because of the Qiuli Empire, which was located to the south of Great Ning. Even though it was a small island nation with a population of only a few million, it was completely surrounded by the sea. Hence, it was beyond Great Ning's influence.

The reason why His Majesty wholeheartedly wanted to establish the Navy for Great Ning was because of the disturbances created on the south side.

Originally, a third of the southern border of Great Ning was next to the sea. After they had defeated the Nanyue Empire, the coastal border regions became bigger and the Qiuli Empire's Navy also became more savage.

Their battleship were fast, like the wind. They went ash.o.r.e, plundered and killed people, s.n.a.t.c.hing their things before leaving. If they were to stay slightly longer on the land, even if it was just for a short while, they would definitely get destroyed, considering the efficiency of Great Ning's combat force on land. However, those fellas were too cunning. They knew that Great Ning's land combat was unequalled, hence, they would never have a direct confrontation with Great Ning's troops on land.

Great Ning's past emperors had never taken this matter seriously. They felt that it was only but a small country that was not able to make much of an impact, just like a mosquito bite.

They did not have a decent Navy in the southern border, hence the fishermen were greatly oppressed to the point they did not dare to go near the sea.

After destroying the Nanyue Empire, Great Ning took over their Navy and incorporated it into their military. However, this was also the reason why His Majesty was furious… Not long ago, the Qiuli Empire's Navy came to plunder once again. The restructured Navy of the Nanyue Empire received orders to surround and annihilate them. Ultimately, even though they had twice as many battleships as their enemy, they still got terribly defeated. They had more than two hundred battleships, but only less than thirty of them returned. On the other hand, the Qiuli Empire had slightly over ninety battleships and only eleven got destroyed. They had won by a landslide.

To the point that before the people of the Qiuli Empire left, they hooted…”Great Ning is a paper tiger, who sucks at water combat”.

How would His Majesty be able to tolerate what they said?

The Navy on the Nanping River had been training hard continuously, refusing to slack off. However, their progress was still considered slow. The speed of shipbuilding at Anyang's dock could not keep up either. They had to start everything from scratch. It was not easy at all.

The more Zhuang Yong thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He put on some clothes and took a walk outside. Unknowingly, he walked to the new recruits' camp. He saw a black figure outside the barracks from afar. The soldiers that were following Zhuang Yong wanted to head over immediately, but he gestured, expressing that he wanted them to stay put, and that he wanted to enter the new recruits' camp alone.

Naturally, the black figure was Shen Leng. The daily training in the boot camp was already very tough, but to Shen Leng, it was insufficient. Hence, in the middle of the night when it was quiet, he would head out alone and do the homework that he did in the Daoist temple all over again, meticulously.

When he saw Zhuang Yong, Shen Leng hurriedly put down the casks in his hand and saluted respectfully. “Greetings, general.”

“You do this every day?” asked Zhuang Yong.

“Yes.”

Shen Leng's response was always clear-cut and concise. He would never beat about the bush.

“Come over and have a casual chat with me.”

After Zhuang Yong finished his sentence, he turned around and walked away from the barracks. Shen Leng adjusted his clothes a little and followed him. Zhuang Yong did not walk fast; there were a couple of times where Shen Leng had almost overtaken him. As always, young people tend to be more impatient.

“Why didn't you think of going to Four Borders?” asked Zhuang Yong abruptly.

Which hot-blooded male in Great Ning would not want to go to Four Borders? With the heavily armed Four Borders, several hundreds of small empires in the western regions would not dare to advance towards Great Ning.

With the Eastern Border Combat Forces traversing, all the tribes, big or small, did not dare to create any disturbances. It was said the leaders of the different tribes were too frightened to sleep at night when they heard the soldiers honing their knives.

Whenever the Northern Border Cavalry strolled around, the Heiwu Empire, who was known for its cavalries, would retreat several hundreds of meters. If the hooves of the horses caused the mud to get splashed onto their bodies, Great Ning's cavalries would go over to seek compensation…

As for the Southern Border Special Forces, the fate of the Nanyue Empire and the neighboring Zhaoli Empire said it all. The people of the Zhaoli Empire had not eaten beef or lamb for several years now.

Shen Leng pondered earnestly before giving his answer. “I was too slow at getting out of my predicament”

His answer was carefully worded and thought through. He did not try to hide anything – he was very honest. Shen Leng could have totally said something else that sounded better – something along the lines of taken a fancy to the Navy. However, he was not willing to lie to Zhuang Yong.

His reply caused Zhuang Yong to be somewhat surprised. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Shen Leng. “How fast would you have preferred?”

Shen Leng thought to himself about how he did not want to lose that much to Meng Changan, but this was not the answer he should give. Hence, he answered, “Sir said that if I get promoted to a Cla.s.s A Fifth pin military official, I'd be able to live in the military camp with my family…”

Initially, Zhuang Yong did not understand the meaning behind what he said. After a while, he got it and realized that this fella had been constantly thinking about the young lady named Cha.

Zhuang Yong could not help but laugh. Young people's thoughts are indeed interesting.

“Is something bothering you, general?” asked Shen Leng.

Zhuang Yong nodded. “How could you tell?”

“It was just a wild guess.”

Zhuang Yong could not help but ask, “What are your views on the Qiuli Empire causing disturbances?”

After he asked that question, he regretted it immediately. He is just a kid who joined the military recently – how would he know that much? He probably doesn't even know of the existence of the Qiuli Empire. It's probably because I don't have anyone to talk to, that's why I asked him without thinking about it first.

“Still need two more years.”

Shen Leng's reply was still as succinct as ever, and even seemed to be somewhat evasive. However, Zhuang Yong's eyes lit up.

“Oh? Tell me more.”

“I heard that even though the Qiuli Empire is not big, their powerful Navy allowed them to oppress all the neighboring countries over and over again. Several small empires had turned to Great Ning for help, but Great Ning never thought much about it all along. Moreover, Great Ning's happiness was derived from the fact that those countries were unstable. However, the taste of success will create an increased appet.i.te for it. This is also the reason why His Majesty founded the Navy in the first place.”

“However, he established the Navy from scratch. It will take one more year for it to expand to the desired scale. Drilling and coordination require one more year before we are ready to fight an actual war. However, using the water bandits to train the Navy would only yield limited results. It's nowhere near actual combat at the coastal border regions.

Zhuang Yong asked, “If two years later, the Navy has taken shape in the southern coastal border region, what do you think are the odds of winning against the Qiuli Empire?”

He was thinking: If Shen Leng is tactful, his response would be along the lines of 50-50, or even 40-60, with Great Ning having a 60% chance of winning, of course. If he says 30-70, that would be somewhat pushing it.

“Absolute defeat without a doubt.”

Shen Leng's reply made Zhuang Yong slightly angry. He had already trained the troops for more than four years, and yet it was his first time hearing someone criticizing the Navy that he had spent blood and tears training.

“Why?”

“Rivers are rivers, they are not the sea. I have never seen the sea before, but I have heard people say that it is vast and boundless. The Navy's battleships on the Nanping River are already big enough. Furthermore, they were definitely designed and built with naval battles in mind. However, even so, we will still lose.

“Elaborate more.”

“Firstly, the Navy soldiers have never seen the sea before. Let me give you an a.n.a.logy – under the same set of circ.u.mstances – with the same number of battleships, the same scale of battleships, and the same number of soldiers, do you think the Navy is able to defeat the water bandits on Jiangnan River?”

Shen Leng did not wait for Zhuang Yong to reply and continued, “Secondly, morale…the Qiuli Empire's Navy has already taken shape for so many years. They have a lot of experience under their belt. As for the Nanping River Navy, we had not fought a single actual battle. Once the troops that seem to have high morale start to lose their advantage, they might end up panicking and affect the rest of the military forces.

Originally, Zhuang Yong was slightly angry, but after he heard what Shen Leng said, he was lost in thought.

Would they be able to defeat the water bandits under the same set of circ.u.mstances?

The Navy soldiers had always looked down on the water bandits. If they asked an ordinary soldier, he would definitely ridicule Shen Leng and call him an idiot.

However, Zhuang Yong knew that Shen Leng was not talking nonsense. Just like the previous time, on land, eighty Navy soldiers could take out a few hundred water bandits at their base. But what if they were in the water?

“So what do you think we should do?” asked Zhuang Yong.

Shen Leng answered, “We blindly constructed our battleships to be as big as possible. Of course, this isn't wrong. However, are the waves in the river bigger than that of the sea? Our battleships might be steady and stable in the river, but when they are in the sea, it's an entirely different story. I feel that building ships should not be taken for granted in this manner. We need to at least learn – be it from the Qiuli Empire or the Nanyue Empire.

If those words were heard in Great Ning's imperial court, they would definitely be heavily reprimanded. Learning from the Qiuli Empire and Nanyue Empire? You must be crazy!

Zhuang Yong was deep in thought.

“General?”

Shen Leng called out softly, when he saw that Zhuang Yong was lost in thought.

Zhuang Yong snapped out of his thoughts and asked, “If it were you, what would you do?”

“Steal a few ships back.”

Shen Leng waved his fist in the air. “Disregard the cost and bring a few of the Qiuli Empire's best ships back. Drag them to Anyang's dock and dismantle them into pieces, and examine carefully.

Zhuang Yong nodded. He then let out a long sigh. “I'm afraid His Majesty can't wait…”

Shen Leng shrugged. What can I do? I don't even know how His Majesty looks, and neither do I know if, given the chance, cutting away a few of His Majesty's clothes would be efficacious or not. Thereafter, he thought about Master Cha…Master Cha is so beautiful.

Love-struck face.

“Shen Leng?”

It was Zhuang Yong's turn to call out to Shen Leng.

“You can go back first. I need to write a memorial to the emperor tonight and send it to the capital urgently.”

Shen Leng grunted and saluted before taking his leave.

After Zhuang Yong went back to his study room, he sat down. Earlier on, his mind was completely blank. But now, he could not finish writing everything on his mind. He lifted his writing brush and started writing down several thousands of words in his memorial to the emperor. Thereafter, he sealed it with the wax. He got one of his subordinates to send it to the relay station, and asked for it to be expedited.

After he had finished accounting everything, it lifted a huge load off his mind. He started to ponder over Shen Leng, that fella – he had fort.i.tude, he had acute determination. What was even more rare was that he had the ability to think critically. If they were to groom this child well, he would have boundless prospects.

Zhuang Yong thought to himself: If Shen Leng entered the combat military, and if I a.s.signed some men to him to train, would it yield unusual results?

On the other hand, after Shen Leng got back to the barracks, he laid in his bed and reflected: Did I talk too much earlier?

At this timing, he was not sleeping; Zhuang Yong was not sleeping. There was one more person in the Navy camp that was not sleeping as well…and that was Mu Xiaofeng. The first reason was because his face was hurting and the second reason was because his heart was filled with hatred.

He could not stop thinking about how to get rid of Shen Leng.

If I write a letter home, father would definitely do everything in his power to deal with this matter. But wouldn't that make me seem too useless? Mu Xiaofeng, who was full of youthful vigor, did not want to spend his whole life being taken care of by his father.

The night at the harbor was extremely quiet. Desire to kill heightened, as the wind blew.