Chapter 121 – Sharp
Shen Leng brought Wang Gendong over and introduced the troops to him. By now, this regiment of troops was considered to be well-equipped. Unwittingly, Shen Leng had already reached Cen Zheng’s level, and it all happened so fast that even Shen Leng himself had not enough time to adapt to those changes. In his following days to come, he would not be given much time to adapt in every single step he took. Otherwise, he might fall behind others.

Just as always, be it in normal or additional training sessions, his subordinates were already very familiar with Shen Leng’s pace and did not complain about it. A while ago, somebody had nothing better to do and decided to evaluate the different regiments within the Navy to see which one was the strongest. Shen Leng’s troops emerged victorious.

Presently, the Navy already had nearly 50,000 soldiers. According to Great Ning’s military system for combat soldiers, two five-man squads formed one ten-man squad; ten ten-man squads formed a platoon; three platoons formed a battalion; three battalions formed a regiment and lastly, ten regiments formed an army.

The Navy already five armies. Presently, the entire Navy was provided with more than two hundred Xiong Niu ships; it was still the battleship used by the Navy’s main force. There was also one Fei Yu ship hanging on each side of every single Xiong Niu battleship.

There were eighty offensive battleships, Tie Xi, and more than three hundred Liu Ying battleships, that could fit one battalion. There were thirty large-scale Wan Jun battleships, and also, Zhuang Yong’s flagship, Shen Wei. With such a scale, if the entire Navy were to be mobilized to launch a full attack, it would definitely be worthy to be called ‘grandiose’.

After Shen Leng was done making arrangements for the training session for his soldiers, he accompanied Zhuang Yong to Anyang’s dock. It was not very close to the Navy’s camp – it took at least half a day if they made their way there on their horses. By the time they got to the dock, it was already after noon time. When the officials at the dock heard that the commander was there, they quickly came out to greet him.

“After you came back from the southern border, you brought up an idea to me.”

Zhuang Yong walked and spoke to Shen Leng, “Even Fei Yu ships are not considered agile. You were inspired by the fisherman boats of the Tu people in the southern border; I gave your sketch to the people at the dock. Presently, they have already constructed almost a hundred of them.”

Zhuang Yong said, “It’s just that they have not been tested out, hence we still cannot allocate it to the Navy yet.”

Shen Leng laughed, “With small speed boats as such, Qiuli’s speed boats should be unable to catch up with us over short distances.”

A row of people entered the dock. Over at the harbor, there was a row of brand new speed boats. Such speed boats could carry fifteen soldiers each – fourteen of them would paddle while the remaining one would be at the rear of the boat, steering it.

“Pick a name.”

Zhuang Yong looked at those boats. “The last time I was here, I specially got someone to paddle for me to see. They are as fast as an arrow.”

Shen Leng looked at oars on both sides of the boats. They were crowded together in an orderly fashion. Hence, he said, “Wu Gong (Note: translates to ‘centipede’).”

“Wu Gong.”

Zhuang Yong said, “That’s a rather novel name.”

“It looks like a centipede and additionally, once our boats catch up with them and cling onto them, it would be as though they were getting poisoned by a centipede. They won’t be able to escape.”

“Alright. In the future, these small boats will be called Wu Gong. Take some men with you and test it out. If there is no problem, get ready to send the boats to the Navy. Instead of Fei Yu, the Xiong Niu ships will have the Wu Gong speed boats hanging on both sides.”

Shen Leng took his men with him and got onto one of the boats. Under the command of the person steering the boat, the rest of the men paddled at the same time. Soon after, it picked up speed. The boat was like an arrow that just got fired from a bow. Looking from afar, it did not look like the boat was on the surface of the water, but instead, it looked as though it was flying above the water.

“How quick!”

Fourth pin Weiyang general, Yang Yuning, was a general of one of Zhuang Yong’s five armies. He had more than ten thousand soldiers under him. He was someone of great importance.

He looked at that speed boat and could not help but be full of praise. “The young men these days are truly scary.”

The other Fourth pin general, Mu Xiaofeng, did not express anything. As the deputy commander of the Navy, he was a man above everyone else in the Navy apart from the commander himself. But after he got reprimanded the last time by Zhuang Yong, he seemed to have controlled his temper. He carried out his duties properly as a deputy commander with no actual authority or power. Even when they were discussing official business, he never voiced his opinions. When he was being asked questions, all he answered was ‘yes’ and ‘correct’. However, everybody could see the resentment and hatred in his eyes. When Shen Leng was not present to provoke him, he was still able to tolerate. But when Shen Leng was around, even he himself did not know how much longer he was able to restrain himself.

The wound on his face no longer hurt, but his heart was still hurting.

Next to Mu Xiaofeng was Fourth pin general, Tan Linghu. He was the son of Great General Tan Jiuzhou of the western border. It was uncertain as to why Tan Jiuzhou would give his son a name as such. Everyone who heard it felt that it sounded a little awkward.

To the left of Tan Linghu, it was Fourth pin general, Li Ji. He was somewhat related to the imperial family. Hence, he occupied quite a rather high position within the Navy. He was a person who tried hard not to offend anyone; he was almost fifty years old, and regardless of the situation, he always wore a smile on his face. He was also polite to every single person. According to seniority, His Majesty belonged to the generation below his.

There were two other Fourth pin generals, each commanding an army. The one standing to the left of Zhuang Yong was tall and muscular – he had a rather similar physique to Wang Kuohai. One could tell that he was a valiant general just by looking at him. He gave off an unsual imposing aura with his beard and leopard-like eyes. What he hated most was talking about his name…Tang Baobao (Note: baobao means baby).

Longshi’s Tang family was an esteemed aristocratic family in Great Ning. Amongst the twelve founders of Great Ning, the leader, Tang Jiunian, was Tang Baobao’s ancestor. With such a huge military meritorious deed, it was no wonder that the Tang family was as stable as a mountain.

Tang Baobao’s name had a rather interesting origin. The Tang family’s elderly lady really liked that strong and adorable little fella when he was very, very little. When he was obstinate, nobody could persuade him. No matter how much he wanted to get rid of his name, he could not do it. When he was younger, he was rather pleased with it because he was known as the baby of the entire Tang family…but now that he was older, that name made his heart ached.

The person standing to Tang Baobao came from a family that was not any less esteemed than his. Even though he was already forty years old, he looked like he was thirty. He had a youthful face and nice features. When he was younger, he must have been very good-looking. He was from the Xu family of Yan city. His name was Xu Ru.

Including Zhuang Yong, those seven people formed the core of the power of the Navy. Naturally, Mu Xiaofeng was more awkward; apart from him, the five Fourth pin generals were the generals of the five armies. He was the only one who was a deputy commander in name.

Hearing Yang Yuning’s words, Tang Baobao could not help but exclaim in admiration. “Yeah, each generation is stronger than the previous one. General Xu, I admire your esteemed son even more. I, Tang Bao…there aren’t a lot of young men that I think highly of. As for Meng Changan and Bai Xiaoluo from the academy, I have never seen them before, so there is nothing much I can say. On the other hand, I have personally met your esteemed son, Bingji, and the imperial guards’ General Lu Hao’s son, Lu Zhongwu. They are outstanding talents of the young generation.”

In the previous all-military competition, the most outstanding person was Peng Zhansha, even though he was not as strong as the person who came in tenth in the previous competition before his. Hence, he was unable to join the ten new talents. It was not that Peng Zhansha was weak, but because the participants in the competition before his were extremely talented and outstanding in comparison.

And in the one before, there were Wu Xinyu, Pei Xiao and Hai Sha. They were so strong that it made people feel that young men were a formidable force to be reckoned with. In the competition before Peng Zhansha’s, the person who came in first was General Xu Ru’s son, Xu Bingji; the person who came in second was Lu Zhongwu, and the third was Tang Shu. Some people even said that those three young men surpassed Wu Xinyu, Pei Xiao and Hai Sha.

Zhuang Yong was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions. “It’ll be the New Year soon.”

A few of his subordinates nodded. “Yeah, it’s going to be the year of the all-military competition that is held once every three years. The coming competition is going to be a tad more interesting. Bingji and Lu Zhongwu have entered the ten new talents segment. Now they have already become Class A Fifth pin too. This year’s ten great generals competition is going to be very competitive.”

“This year, there are a few young men worthy of being noticed. Of course, that includes that person from the Navy.”

Yang Yuning pointed to Shen Leng, who was testing out the boat on the water. He smiled and said, “In the last competition, nobody from the Navy was chosen and His Majesty even criticized us. This time it’s going to be different.”

After hearing those words, Mu XIaofeng was finally somewhat unable to control himself any longer. “In placing your hope on a person like that to bring honor and glory to the Navy, General Yang, I think your expectations are very low.”

“Oh?”

Because of Mu Xiaofeng’s status, it was inconvenient for Yang Yuning to go against him directly. He laughed and said, “Deputy commander, do you feel that within the Navy, Shen Leng is the least presentable one? Forgive me for my ignorance and inexperience. Could it be that there is another young man in the Navy who’s outstanding enough?”

“Bai Nian.”

Mu Xiaofeng said plainly, “He just join the Navy this year, hence he’s not that well-known yet. Of course, all the generals have not heard of him yet. But I believe that in the future, the person who will bring honor and glory to the Navy is not that Shen Leng, who prances about, but Bai Nian…A coolie from a fisherman family and a person from an influential family – they are absolutely incomparable.”

Zhuang Yong looked at Mu Xiaofeng, but he did not say anything.

It had only been less than half a year since Bai Nian joined the military. Ever since he was transferred over from the southern border, he had been going by the book and confirming with the norms. Initially, everyone thought that Bai Nian would be the person replacing Cen Zheng. Nobody expected His Majesty to promote Shen Leng immediately.

In truth, half a year ago, the emperor was already making arrangements for Bai Nian to be the replacement for Cen Zheng. However, Shen Leng’s emergence influenced the emperor’s decision. This was probably something that nobody had expected. Of course, SHen Leng alone was not enough to change the emperor’s mind; it was the old academy head’s even more formidable conjecture.

Bai Nian had displayed outstanding military service in Pingyue of the southern border. He entered the military at the age of eighteen, and started off as a squad leader. He spent several years fighting against the Nanyue rebel army in Pingyue, advancing year after year. Presently, he was a Class A Fifth pin Yongyi general.

Soon after, Shen Leng brought his men back. After he mounted the harbor, Shen Leng grinned widely, unable to conceal his happiness. “Fast. Very fast.”

Zhuang Yong nodded. “You were the one who came up with these Wu Gong speed boats. If they are truly effective in our future battles, I will report your meritorious service on your behalf.”

Mu Xiaofeng said plainly, “The commander has never shown favoritism when it comes to reporting meritorious deeds. And neither does he delay in doing so. You should thank the commander properly.

Zhuang Yong frowned slightly, but he still did not say a word.

Shen Leng said, “Not just the commander alone, I am very grateful and thankful to each and every general as well.”

Everyone started smiling; at least Shen Leng was respectful enough.

Shen Leng looked at Mu Xiaofeng and changed his tone, “Above all, I am most respectful towards you, deputy commander. Apart from thanking you, I would like to thank your family as well.”

Mu Xiaofeng was taken aback. “It’s a little too early for you to be this impudent.”

Shen Leng had an innocent look on his face. “Was I…impudent? If so, I would like to apologize to you. Perhaps, sometimes, I do it unintentionally. In the future, I will be careful not be unintentionally impudent.”

He was implying that if he were to act impudent, he would be doing it intentionally.

Mu Xiaofeng laughed and said, “I heard a joke the other day. Let me tell it to everyone here…there is a rich person who is kind and charitable. One day, he could not help but ask his family why his fellow villagers refuse to visit him, despite the fact that he had done a lot of good deeds for them. His family told him that because he took in a stray dog out of kindness the year before, even though it was only a small dog back then, it has now grown to be a big and ferocious dog. It spends its entire day guarding the door, whenever someone passes by, it would bark furiously at them. It’s not that the villagers were afraid of the dog, it’s just that they did not want to bother themselves with just a mere dog.”

Everyone became silent. What he said was somewhat overboard. Not only was he insulting Shen Leng, he was insulting Zhuang Yong too.

How was that a joke?

Zhuang Yong suddenly started laughing. “This joke is pretty good.”

Mu Xiaofeng laughed and asked, “Commander, you think so too?”

“Yeah…it seems like this rich person loves his dog very much. I think that you must have remembered it wrong – the dog was not a stray taken in by him – it was a family dog all along. If not, don’t tell me that the rich person does not know the dog is not well-behaved? Naturally, that wasn’t the case. He merely loves the dog like his own son. He put the dog by the door because he wanted everyone to see that the dog was like his son. If the dog was kept inside, do you think other people can’t see that?”

After he finished speaking, he turned around and walked away. “

Everyone took a step forward and followed him, leaving only Mu Xiaofeng behind, standing there looking pale. The veins of the hand that was clenched tightly were bulging.

Shen Leng turned around and glanced at Mu Xiaofeng; the latter was looking at him too. His eyes were akin to a dagger.