ChangNing’s Imperial Army

Chapter 65 – The General’s Smile
Six Great Ning’s Xiong Niu ships, coupled with a few smaller scale battleships belonging to Hujian, headed over to their rescue, as expected.

When Shen Leng brought his men back, he went to look for Military Officer Wang Gen Dong and told him to look for General Cen Zheng, saying that the moment they saw the signal, they would have to send people over immediately.

The Qiuli Empire only had three battleships, hence they did not dare to continue fighting zealously. After they overturned Shen Leng’s fishing boat, they turned around and left at full speed. Shortly after, they left the Navy’s fleet in the dust.

Military Officer Xing Shangxing was eager to earn credit, hence he commanded his men to pursue and attack the Qiuli battleships. However, after giving chase for about thirty minutes, they could no longer see their masts clearly. The sound of the Qiuli men mocking them could still be heard in the air.

Cen Zheng immediately ordered his men to save the combat soldiers who were still drifting about in the sea. If those soldiers stubbornly listened to Shen Leng’s orders, refusing to let go of the huge shields, they might end up drowning.

However, they did not save much people. Cen Zheng waited for them to bring the soldiers out of the waters before he started looking for Shen Leng. However, he could not find him. Not only him – Wang Kuohai and Du Weiming were missing too.

“Find them!”

Cen Zheng rushed over to the side of the ship and pointed down to the sea. “Send people down. I want to see all three of them – dead or alive!”

His voice slightly trembled.

“Wait!”

Little fatty Chen Ran ran over, still dripping wet. He cupped his fist and said, “Shen Leng instructed me to tell you something. Please come nearer.”

Cen Zheng was rather skeptical, but went over to Chen Ran anyway. Chen Ran whispered something into his ear. After he heard what Chen Ran said, there was fear in Cen Zheng’s eyes. “Absurd!”

Chen Ran put on an act and sighed. “I could not persuade him.”

Cen Zheng looked in the direction in which the Qiuli men retreated in. He grabbed onto the side ship with both hands as tightly as he could.

The Qiuli ships headed off at full speed. Within a short period of time, they completely shook off the Great Ning Navy. The Qiuli men stood on the stern of the ships, cheering loudly. The way they brandished their machetes made them look extremely arrogant.

Shen Leng’s fishing boat that was almost completely wrecked was still attached to one of their battleships. The anchor was hooked onto the fishing boat; naturally, the Qiuli people did not bear to cut rope, hence it continued to haul it with them.

Shen Leng, Du Weiming and Wang Kuohai tied their belts to the bottom of the fishing boat. Using the fishing boat as a shelter, they surfaced from time to time to get air.

The battleships continued to head in the southwest direction. Shen Leng and the two other men had been submerged in the water for too long, causing their skin to develop severe reactions. However, the three of them knew that it was impossible for them to give up at this juncture.

After much difficulty of enduring the whole process, the Qiuli battleships started to slow down. Shen Leng took a sneak peak – the island was already right before their eyes.

The battleships were approximately 50 meters away from the island before they anchored the ships. If they were any closer, the ship might strike a reef and be stranded. Shen Leng and his men undid their belts and dived down to the bottom of a battleship. Soon after, they heard splashing sounds in the water. Three to four Qiuli men swam over to remove the anchor that was hooked onto the fishing boat. Thereafter, they swam to the shore.

Shen Leng and the two men were submerged in the water for another hour. They held onto the bottom of the ship and put their heads above the water without worrying about being seen. It was impossible for the people on the ship to see them from above.

When it was nightfall, the three of them swam ashore. They had observed earlier on that there was indeed a wooden tower on the island. It was at least thirty meters tall. There were a few people at the top of the wooden tower that were looking at the surroundings. If nobody controlled the tower, the Great Ning battleships would be discovered from a distance away.

After they got onto the shore, the three of them laid down on the sand and rested for a bit, warming themselves up. They had been in the water for too long, causing their bodies to be severely swollen.

“Over there!”

Shen Leng pointed to a reef at a distance away, that could vaguely be seen. The three of them got up and swiftly moved over. It was one of the blindspots of the watchtower. They huddled up together for a good moment before warming up again. They took out the rations that were wrapped in oiled paper, but realized that they were too soaked to be eaten.

“Tolerate. Tolerate till the second half of the night.”

Shen Leng got Wang Kuohai and DU Weiming to lean against each other for warmth. He secretly climbed onto the exterior of the reef on his own to observe. The lights on the island and stars in the sky were sparse. Evidently, they did not want to be discovered. The Qiuli people did not dare to be too ostentatious.

After a good amount of time had passed, Shen Leng climbed back to where he came from. He spoke in a soft voice, “The patrol team go over approximately once every thirty minutes. We have sufficient time to charge into the forest over there. In a while, follow me and run towards the forest. After we enter the forest, both of you help me keep an eye on the bottom of the watchtower. I will head up to kill the person keeping watch at the top. Our people are unable to make their way here in the middle of the night. The sea is too vast and obscure – they might deviate slightly on their way here and miss the island. Hence, I told Chen Ran to tell General Cen Zheng to advance when the sky is starting to be slightly bright. I need to keep watch from the tower.

“Battalion commander!”

Wang Kuohai grabbed Shen Leng’s arm. “Please be careful.”

Shen Leng smiled. His teeth were clean and very white. His smile was very pure too.

“Don’t worry. My goal is not to be just a battalion commander.”

After a while, he saw the Qiuli’s patrol team walk past. Shen Leng calculated the time for a bit before grabbing Wang Kuohai. “Let’s go!”

The three of them speedily made their way across the beach and entered the forest that was not that big. The trees here were different from those in the north, and even Jiangnan. They were extremely upright and they did not have that many branches. It was not easy for them to hide within the trees. Fortunately, it was too dark. Nobody expected them to secretly follow them as well.

After Shen Leng stopped, he nodded at both of them. Thereafter, he quickly approached the wooden tower. I scaled up the tower on his own. His actions were very swift, like a cheetah who was climbing up a tree.

Before the sky was dark, Shen Leng noticed that there were at least five people at the top of the watchtower. He was currently very cold and hungry. He was in the water for too long, affecting his speed. Hence, killing five Qiuli soldiers while remaining undiscovered was an extremely difficult task.

Shen Leng secretly approached to stop of the tower. He lifted his head and looked up through the small cracks. He could see two Qiuli men sitting there, resting. He had a feeling that there were another two to three people who stood there keeping a lookout. It was too dark for them to see anything, but they did dare to let their guards down.

The top of the watchtower was not small. It could hold at least a dozen men. There were probably archers on standby during the day as well. Shen Leng climbed along edge and made half a turn before heading towards the two men who were sleeping. He took a deep breath and flipped himself up. He quickly covered the mouth of one of the men and sliced his throat with his dagger. In the next second, he did the same thing and sliced the throat of the other man, who was sleeping.

Not far from him, there was a man who was holding up a pair of field glasses looking far into the distance. He heard some sounds and turned his head around to take a look. All he saw was an arm extending over to him; the dagger in the hand of that arm stabbed him right in the throat. He could not even make a single sound.

Shen Leng took out his black cord sword from his back. The black cord sword was too heavy – because of it, Shen Leng almost drowned in the sea a couple of times earlier. However, it was impossible for Shen Leng to toss the sword away. He would never do such a thing in his entire life.

The blade light flashed – the black cord sword directly cut off the neck of a Qiuli man, causing his head to fly upwards. Shen Leng leapt forward and headed for the last Qiuli man. He stood before him; before he could even scream, Shen Leng stabbed him in the mouth, causing the sword to pierce right through to the back of his head. He rotated the sword and the man died on the spot.

Shen Leng piled the five corpses up. He realized that there were quite an amount of food there. Unexpectedly, he still had enough strength to scale down to distribute some to Du Weiming and Wang Kuohai. He instructed them to take the opportunity to swim over to a Qiuli battleship, that was dozens of meters away from them, and hide there while nobody was there, after they finished eating.

Waiting was the hardest part, especially when they were physically exhausted. It took a lot of willpower for them to stay awake and stop themselves from falling asleep.

Shen Leng leaned against the tower and looked up to the sky full of stars. He thought of Li Tuming.

“Indeed, I don’t have a star of my own – I can’t become a marquis. Battalion commander has one, I can see it. How great.”

Chen Ran told Shen Leng what Li Tuming said before he died. Shen Leng felt as though someone stabbed him in the heart.

He tried his best and did whatever he could to train his soldiers, but he was not a deity. He could not ensure that each and every one of his subordinates would leave the battlefield unscathed.

 

“Everyone, please fight for your lives and live. If you don’t have a star, I will take you people with me and forcefully take them from other people and hang them above your heads…”

Shen Leng let out a long sigh. He turned and looked at the biggest and roundest moon.

“Master Cha must be sleeping now…half a year. I need to make full use of the time and rush back. Master Cha said that if I’m late, she will have a child with another man…that’s too scary.”

“In the future, when I have a child with Master Cha, what should we name him? She is called Cha Yan, so Leng Cha (Note: It means cold tea)? No, no. I like how Master Cha looks when she smiles. So, Leng Xiao (Note: It means sneer). Hell no…”

“Could it really be that sir has never liked a woman before? Later on, if he gets a wife and has children…Master Cha and I can play with them…”

Shen Leng made himself laughed. He looked down. Nobody was paying attention to where he was.

“Changning?”

Shen Leng suddenly thought of the word ‘Changning’. ‘Chang’ stands for long in ‘long time’, and Ning was derived from ‘Great Ning’. The meaning behind the name seemed great. Hence, he decided that if he were to have a child with Master Cha in the future, be it a boy or a girl, he or she would be named Shen Changning.

Even though it was not currently a harsh winter, but early fall, the night on the island was exceptionally cold. Shen Leng curled himself up at the top of the watchtower, rubbing his hands and feet from time to time.

It was starting to get brighter; Shen Leng stood up and began to do jump squats. He did a few dozen jump squats in a row before his body started warming up. He stood up and looked far ahead. He vaguely saw a mast.

Shen Leng laughed, as he muttered to himself.”

“We did it!”

At this timing, the Qiuli men were still sound asleep. By the time they realized that the Great Ning battleships were approaching, it would be too late. Shen Leng used a bow belonging to one of the men on the wooden tower to shoot soldier, who was about to blow the bugle horn to warn them, helping the main forces stall more time.

Finally, someone yelled. The Qiuli men were jolted awake. When they rushed out of their barracks, some of the Navy’s combat soldiers had already gotten onto the shore. The person who was charging right in front was a fella who ran in an adorable manner. His name was Chen Ran.

When Great Ning’s combat shoulders were on land, what could possibly stop them?

Shen Leng did not even get down from the wooden tower. He stood there waving to his comrades. Thereafter, he sat down and giggled to himself. He laughed so hard he felt his facial muscles were about to cramp.

The battle ended very quickly. There were six to seven hundred Qiuli troops on the island, and there were two battleships on the other side of the island. A hundred odd men escaped in the two battleships, while the four hundred over soldiers out of the five hundred odd remaining soldiers were killed, while capturing the remaining sixty to seventy people, who might serve some purpose later on.

Cen Zheng climbed onto the watchtower and heard soft snoring sounds. He looked down and saw Shen Leng, who was deep in slumber. He must be feeling very uncomfortable sleeping in the curled up position.

He took off his overcoat and placed it over Shen Leng’s body. He turned around and faced the sea. The general, who placed his hand on the peidao on his waist, was personally standing guard for Shen Leng.

The red tassels on his helmet fluttered in the wind. The general had a smile on his face.