The sixth year of Yanxi (AD 226) was an extremely dull year. There was not much to say, it was just military training. After Zhang Fei came to Luoyang, Chen Chong re-appointed him as the general of chariots and cavalry and handed over all the affairs of Sizhou's military training to him. Wei Yan, the general of Wei who was originally in charge of the Shanglin Army, was transferred to Yuzhou to recruit troops. After the recruitment was completed, he went to Shouchun to serve as Zhuge Liang's deputy. At this time, Pang Tong, Yu Fan and others also left the capital and went to Qinzhou, Yanzhou and other places to expand their armies. Chen Chong had high hopes for them and said before leaving: "Feng Xi, Feng Xi, should be held high!"
Whether military training is difficult or easy depends mainly on the efforts of the general. Many people think of military training as very complicated, but in fact, when it comes down to it, it is nothing more than diligence. If a general can familiarize himself with the art of war, practice hard every day, and pay attention to the morale of his soldiers, how difficult will it be to develop a strong army? But the difficulty of everything lies in the willingness to work hard. You can do it in one day, but what about one month? So what a year? A person's biggest enemy is his own laziness. The hard work of the past years may only take half a year of laziness and disappear like catkins.
At this point, Chen Chong was still very relieved about Zhang Fei. Ever since the two got acquainted, Zhang Fei would set aside a certain amount of time to practice martial arts every day. On weekdays, he would also try his best to collect some rare local martial arts. Over the decades, Zhang Fei was not only proficient in bows, horses, swords, but also He has studied the Qiang fighting skills of the Qiang people and the lasso of the Western Regions. He can be said to be a well-deserved "martial arts fanatic". This kind of attitude towards martial arts is the key to why Zhang Fei is called the enemy of ten thousand people. However, Zhang Fei was not only strict with himself, but also harsh with his soldiers. If his subordinates were slightly dissatisfied, he would flog them arbitrarily. This might be able to train an elite soldier who can fight, but it would not make him a strong soldier who can unite his superiors. Therefore, Chen Chong asked Zhang Fei to place the military camp near the river bridge, and go to the military camp from time to time to check on the soldiers to make up for Yide's shortcomings.
On this day, Chen Chong went to Heqiao camp again for inspection and found Zhang Fei scolding a personal attendant. When he went to find out, he found out that it was because of his poor maintenance that he damaged Zhang Fei's two bottles of wine, which made Zhang Fei angry. Dafa, the obscene words collected over the years poured out, and the relatives and friends were scolded so hard that they couldn't hold their heads up. Seeing that Zhang Fei was about to whip his whip again, Chen Chong quickly stopped him, and then said solemnly: "Yide, how many times have I told you that the army is not a place for drinking! When you brought wine into the army, Xuande He was so angry that he wanted to kill you with a sword, and now that he is gone, he has returned to his old ways?" Zhang Fei then calmed down his anger.
The two patrolled the military camp twice, and the mountains to the west were already dark, so Zhang Fei left Chen Chong to eat in the camp. He turned back and pointed at a deer dragged from Mashan behind him, and sighed to Chen Chong: "I am angry not for anything else, but because I caught a deer and wanted to use it to entertain my brother. The deer meat must be well matched." Only the wine tastes good!" Chen Chong replied with a smile: "Eating venison with my brothers tastes good even without wine. When we were in Taoyang, how could there be any wine?"
Zhang Fei said dissatisfied: "Brother, what you said is wrong! How can a mere wine be compared to my home-made wine!" When he talked about his hometown, he couldn't help but feel a little sentimental, and added: "It's a pity that I left my hometown as a young man and haven't learned how to make wine from adults. Craftsmanship, now that I think about it, my Peach Blossom Wine will be lost to me."
But Zhang Fei was different from Chen Chong. His sentimentality came and went even faster. He soon changed the topic and happily discussed the details of military training with Chen Chong. He said: "Brother, after so many years of fighting, I have an experience. Although during military training, we all say that we should learn from each other's strengths, but if you just blindly imitate others and imitate other people's tactics, it will be difficult to be stronger than others. "
Chen Chong became interested. He raised his body slightly and asked with a smile: "Oh, what do you think Yide has to say?"
Zhang Fei gave it a try, and after he cut off a large piece of venison from the roasted deer leg and swallowed it whole, he replied slowly: "Soldier training requires not only diligence, but also experience and Environment. Why are the Han people in Youyan famous for their martial arts skills? It is because we in Yandi are not only martial arts since childhood, but also often have to deal with the barbarians in the border areas. All counties and counties have lived with horses since childhood. In peacetime They go hunting in the mountains and ride horses to join the army during wars. How can one or two years of hard training catch up with this habit that has been cultivated since childhood?
"The same goes for those barbarians. They have been hunting since they were young, killing wild animals, crossing mountains and swamps, and doing everything on horseback when sitting, lying, eating, and sleeping. Therefore, our cavalry and horsemanship are naturally inferior to others. This is natural. principle."
Chen Chong smiled and said nothing when he heard this, while Chen Xiu, who was accompanying him, asked: "Then why did the country win against the barbarians many times, but we won?"
"That's not because we are better at equestrian skills than others, it's because the country has found a different way." Zhang Fei fiddled with the campfire with branches: "The reason why we can win is that our armor is excellent and our weapons are sharp. The barbarians are far incomparable. Secondly, we are Good horse breeds such as the sweat horses were brought from the Western Regions and carefully bred. They are naturally much more powerful than the horses raised by the barbarians chasing water and grass."
He stretched, stood up and stretched his legs, and said to Chen Chong: "I don't know the big principles of governing the country, but if my brother wants to train a navy that can win the war, he must try to train the cavalry in the same way as he trains the cavalry. They are better than the Wu people on the ships. Even if the quality of the soldiers is inferior, they still have to be able to win the battle. But I think it is still too difficult to win the battle simply by relying on the soldiers to practice their water skills."
Chen Chong looked at Zhang Fei standing in front of him and felt quite emotional. He thought to himself: After so many years, Yide has matured a lot! Then he said with a smile: "What Yide is thinking, I have already thought about it. We are preparing a brand new building ship, which is guaranteed to scare the souls of Wu people when we meet on the battlefield!"
Zhang Fei was greatly surprised after hearing this. He quickly approached and asked, "What kind of big ship is it?"
Chen Chong did not answer directly, but pretended to be mysterious and said: "A kind of golden-winged ship!"
Everyone was very confused after hearing this, what is a golden-winged ship? They couldn't imagine how the building boat had wings. Could it be that there were large sails loaded on the sides of the building boat? But what benefit does this have for combat? Everyone couldn't figure it out, so they simply stopped thinking about it.
In fact, this is a new building boat secretly conceived by Chen Chong and Zhuge Liang. The so-called golden wings do not mean adding sails, but adding shooting poles on both sides of the ship. They are exactly the ones Zhuge Liang installed at the head of Hefei City. In the original water battle experience, Huang Quan planned to use boarding battle to win, but in fact it proved that this combat method was too rigid and not enough to win. So Chen Chong thought, simply load the racket poles on both sides of the ship. In the water battle, the Wu people's high-rise ships would be smashed by the racket poles equipped with stones if they got even slightly closer. However, the Wu people's ships would not be able to defeat the Han navy. Interspersed with battles, his usual tactics completely failed. Zhuge Liang had already drawn a sketch of this kind of ship. He said that when the ship was flying, it looked like a giant bird flapping its wings, so he called this kind of ship golden wings. However, the specific production and training would take a while to be perfected, so Chen Chong did not discuss it in detail with Zhang Fei and others.
At the end of the dinner, Zhang Fei mentioned that there was still a shortage of men in the army recently, and he wanted to ask Chen Chong for some civil servants. Chen Chong had always agreed to Zhang Fei's request, so he asked him who he wanted specifically. Zhang Fei casually mentioned a few names, and as expected they were all descendants of the old ministers, and then there was Chen Chong's son-in-law He Yan. When Chen Chong heard this, he squinted his eyes and asked Zhang Fei: "Has anyone come to you to ask for mercy?" Zhang Fei smiled shyly: "My old friend asked me to do a little favor, so why make it so tense?"
Chen Chong sighed and asked: "What about Uncle He Ping? Who asked you to help?"
Zhang Fei came over and whispered: "Your A'suo came to me in private, crying and asked me to find a job for her husband-in-law as the bookkeeper. Can I refuse?" Then he patted Chen Chong on the shoulder, UU Reading Shune smiled and said: "Brother, there is no need to avoid suspicion too much. You have found a good son-in-law. I have met Uncle Heping in private. He speaks well and has an excellent memory. He is obviously a talented man!"
At this point, Chen Chong couldn't refuse anymore. He just told Zhang Fei to be just as strict with these people and not to treat others favorably, and then he left and returned home. On the way back home, Chen Chong felt a little depressed. After spending so long with his family, he and his family knew each other very well, but except for his wife Dong Bai, everyone still couldn't understand each other. Now Chen Chong will no longer be sentimental about this. He just feels more and more that after Xuande's death, there are really very few like-minded people. Even those who once fought bloody battles together are now deeply separated. In the world Do you still have a confidant? When Chen Chong mentioned this question, he thought of Qu Yuan again. Qu Yuan said, "When the whole world is drunk, I am alone awake; when the whole world is turbid, I am alone pure." He couldn't help but think that if Qu Yuan met a close friend, he would not throw himself into the Miluo River. Living in this world, sometimes the most unbearable thing is this endless feeling of loneliness.
After returning to the mansion, it was already late at night. Chen Chong changed into a loose robe and went to the study to study military affairs. At this time, Xun Ma suddenly broke in and said, "Prime Minister, someone outside left a letter saying it was for the Prime Minister."
Chen Chong said "Oh" and put down the pen in his hand, but did not take the letter immediately. There are more than a hundred people sending letters to the Prime Minister's Office? I'm afraid that something that Xun Ma sent specially was not reserved by ordinary people, so Chen Chong had to ask clearly first: "Whose letter is it from?"
Xun Yu presented the letter with both hands and said with great respect: "This is a letter sent by Beihai Guan Ning's entrustment, specifically stating that it should be handed over to the Prime Minister."
"Oh?" Chen Chong was extremely surprised after hearing this, and immediately opened the letter and read it.
