Chapter 40 - Impossible

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 Navy, and it was the main battleship they used. Categorizing the fleets of the Navy according to their sizes, there were four categories in total. The smallest one was called Fei Yu - the smallest one was up to thirty meters in length. There were two types of medium-sized fleets - one was Xiong Niu that was up to a length of fifty eight meters, and the other was called Tie Xi, which was up to fifty meters in length.

The difference between Xiong Niu and Tie Xi was that Xiong Niu could carry more soldiers. Its body was lighter, and its speed was faster than that of Tie Xi. Tie Xi was slightly shorter but it was almost two times heavier than Xiong Niu. It looked like a lump of metal. It was used for attacking the enemy’s fleet of ships. It could only carry a fifth of soldiers as compared to Xiong Niu.

The large-scale battleships of the Navy were called Wan Jun. They were up to eighty meters long.

Apart from this, there was also the leading battleship of the Navy - it was up to an astonishing hundred meters in length. This was the maximum length that Great Ning’s Anyang Shipbuilding could achieve. It was also the limit of a wooden battleship.

The leading battleship was known as Shen Wei.

Most of the battleships that the Navy had were Xiong Niu. It was the battleship that every soldier had to familiarize themselves with from day one of entering the Navy. As the soldiers stood on the ship and looked around, they had all kinds of facial expressions. Even though it was not their first time embarking on the ship, they each experienced different emotions.

Shen Leng was in the leading battleship. The battalion commander, Wang Gendong, was also on that ship.

After Wang Gendong made some arrangements, he went back to the ship. After he entered, his face fell…there was someone in his room.

The Navy’s second-in-command Mu Xiaofeng sneered and looked at Wang Gendong. “You seem to have forgotten to do something.”

Wang Gendong saluted, “Greetings, general.”

“Fortunately, you still remember I am a general.”

Mu Xiaofeng placed his legs on the table. “I will be the one in charge of commanding this field exercise.”

Wang Gendong looked Mu Xiaofeng in the eye and said, “The commander instructed me to lead the field exercise for this batch of new recruits. I did not receive any orders stating for you to take over. May I ask if this was a special arrangement made by the commander himself?”

“And so?”

Mu Xiaofeng added, “I am the second-in-command of the Navy. I have the authority to oversee the training of the Navy. This is the privilege bestowed by His Majesty. Are you telling me that I need to get General Zhuang’s permission to order you people? I’m afraid General Zhuang does not think so either.”

Wang Gendong had nothing to say. That was because everything Mu Xiaofeng said was right.

The second-in-command of the Navy had a lot of authority. Naturally, he had the right to make arrangements and manage their everyday training. If he did not even have this authority, there was no point in being the second-in-command. He would be just a second-in-command in name.

“Un...understood.”

Wang Gendong had a very bad feeling about this.

“At least you have a clear view of things. If you dare to say anything more, I would have punished you according to the rules of the military…right now, convey my first command. After about nine miles, anchor the ship by Hukou’s crossing. Get Shen Leng and his squad to take the land route to scout for information for the main force.”

It was because of Shen Leng!

Wang Gendong’s expressions kept fluctuating. He kept biting his lips to the point they almost bled.

“General, the land route is a lot slower. There will be no point in catching them off guard and launching a surprise attack on the water bandits’ camp. We should not arrange for the scouting team to head out first. Furthermore, the commander had already arranged for them to head out yesterday to collect intelligence pertaining to the routes. There is no need to…”

“Believe it or not, I can rip off your battalion commander uniform and throw you into the Nanping River.”

Mu Xiaofeng said coldly, “Let me tell you one last time, I have this authority…do as I say right now. Anybody who disobeys me will be executed!”

“Yes!”

When Wang Gendong turned around and left the room, he was burning with indignance on the inside. Indeed, prior to this, he had some negative thoughts about Shen Leng. He felt that Shen Leng was rather insolent because of the fact that he came in first in the evaluations. Despite the rule stating that the squad leader had to collect the rations and materials personally, he sent his subordinate to do so instead. Hence, he punished him.

However, that was because Shen Leng made a mistake. And precisely because Shen Leng knew that he made a mistake, he did not argue about it with Wang Gendong.

For Mu Xiaofeng to make such an arrangement, it was evident that he had ill intentions.

Traveling by land was a lot slower than traveling by water, as they had to travel through several villages. Nobody knew how many people in these villages were associated with the water bandits. If they were exposed, they would not be able to make it back alive.

If Shen Leng and his squad died in battle, it would be the worst defeat in the Navy’s entire history. It would be the end of him as the battalion commander as well.

What about Mu Xiaofeng?

There was no need for him to be worried at all. In fact, he could simply say that it was Wang Gendong’s arrangements, and that he was entirely unaware of the situation. He could also claim that he merely tagged along this time to observe. At the very most, he would be reprimanded by General Zhuang Yong and get away with it.

However, in Great Ning, a military order was a military order. Mu Xiaofeng was the second-in-command in the Navy - he was a Class B Fourth pin General. Wang Gendong had no choice but to obey.

When Shen Leng heard Wang Gendong’s order, he was shocked. This was against the rules and it was beyond logic. Getting the scouting team to carry out reconnaissance a day earlier when they were already outside the water bandits’ camp. So what was the point of sending them out?

“Is this your idea, battalion commander?” asked Shen Leng.

Wang Gendong was taken aback. He shook his head, “No, it’s the second-in-command’s idea. He is currently in the ship.”

Shen Leng nodded. “Understood. I would like to request for me to go alone. I want my men to stay behind.”

“You…”

Wang Gendong looked worried. He did not expect Shen Leng to act this way. From the looks of it, Shen Leng was already well-aware of Mu Xiaofeng’s motives. By wanting his men to stay behind, he did not want all eleven of them to die together with him.

“I will ask for permission.”

Wang Gendong turned around and left. Not long later, he came back looking pale. “General does not grant it.”

Shen Leng took a deep breath. “If I disobey his orders, does the second-in-command have the authority to get the archers to shoot my men? Even if the commander knows about this, there is no point since we would already be dead.”

Wang Gendong bit his lips and answered, “Yes, the second-in-command has the authority to do so.”　

Shen Leng nodded. “I’ll go.”

He turned around and called out to his squad, and conveyed the order to them. Apart from Du Weiming, the rest of them did not have any huge reaction. They were unaware of the conflict between Shen Leng and Mu Xiaofeng. Neither did they expect themselves to be put in such danger this time.

“I would like to request for rations.”

“Granted! I will give you double!”

This time, Wang Gendong did not ask for permission of any sort. It was something within his jurisdiction.

“Thank you, battalion commander.”

Shen Leng looked profoundly at Wang Gendong. He saw uneasiness and guilt in his eyes.

Shen Leng brought his troops to the back to collect the rations. Wang Gendong said to give them double, but Shen Leng did not bother himself with the amount. The first thing he said to them…was to take as much as they could.

Every person took five boxes of the arrows for the repeating crossbows, a dagger, a long lance, gauze and medication. These were necessities that they had to bring as much with them as possible. They did not have to bring much rations with them. Apart from these, Shen Leng also requested that each and every one of them bring along a roll of rope with them.

After all twelve of them were well-equipped, the weight of all the items combined was very heavy. The soldiers were somewhat unhappy. They thought about how they should be equipped as lightly as possible when scouting instead. Why would they need so many items with them?

When they got to Hukou’s crossing, Shen Leng led his squad and got off the ship. Mu Xiaofeng stood by the window and watched as the twelve of them walked farther and farther into the distance. He became more and more happy. His trusted aide, Mu Jiu, had already thought of a way to pass the information to Zhao Dengke and his men. Without a doubt, Shen Leng would meet his demise.

So what if Zhuang Yong were to blame him?

On the deck of the ship, Wang Gendong looked on as his fellow comrades walked farther into the distance and did a solemn military salute.

Shen Leng led his men and entered the forest near the river bank. After he made sure that people on the ships could not see them, Shen Leng stopped. “Do you see that tree over there? I want you to chop it down.”

The soldiers did not know the reason behind it. However, it was an order and nobody dared to defy it. It was not difficult for them to chop down a tree. Not long later, a tree collapsed.

“Pick up the bigger branches and chop them up. At the very least, make sure that you have two thick wooden planks tied to your bodies - at the front and at the back, on top of your leather armor.”

The soldiers started moving and soon, every single one of them had a layer of wooden armor on their bodies. It was not heavy but when it came to protecting themselves from arrows, it was more useful than having just a leather armor.

“There is something I did not get the chance to tell all of you. The commander had personally selected our ten-man squad. He said that this time, we performed well, hence he wants us to head down to the southern coastal border region to carry out some tasks. When we’re back, we will be handsomely rewarded and even have the opportunity to get promoted.”

Shen Leng hesitated for a while. Ultimately, he decided not to talk about Mu Xiaofeng. The new recruits did not have a stable state of mind, if he dropped the bomb on them before the battle, it could only bode ill.

“This is the commander’s well-meaning. I hope everyone will cherish this opportunity.”

“Yes!”

Immediately, everyone became excited.

“Du Weiming, take two people with you and walk by the front. Wang Kuohai, take two people with you and go by the back.”

After Shen Leng saw that everyone was ready and well-equipped, he pointed to the front. “Go straight for about four miles. There is a town. Go around it, and don’t get discovered by anyone. The water bandits have informers and spies in the neighboring towns. After you go past the town, head west for about six miles. There is another town there. By then it should already be nightfall. Spend the night outside that town.”

“Yes!”

Du Weiming and Wang Kuohai went by the front and back respectively with their men. Du Weiming turned around and looked at Shen Leng. How does he know this area well? Don’t tell me he memorized the map?

Chen Ran leaned in and said to Shen Leng in a lowered voice.”Is there trouble?”

“Yes. I’m guessing Mu Xiaofeng is trying to take action against me.”

“Leng, you have to be careful.”

Shen Leng grunted. He whispered into Chen Ran’s ear, “If we are in danger, when I tell you to run, you run. Don’t look back.”

Chen Ran grunted. He subconsciously gripped his hengdao tightly.

Run?

He looked at Shen Leng and smiled.

It’s impossible for me to run. In this lifetime, it is impossible.