The seventh day of April.
Just as the Shicheng side was busy preparing for the canonization ceremony of the Protector of the Country, hundreds of miles away, the territory of Ashan Mansion was also bustling.
The wide Lu River flows across the mountains, and the surging water splashes waves on the rocks.
This river, known as the source of life for the Chili people, is still playing its role at this time and has become a natural barrier, protecting the last land of the Chili people.
The heavy rain had just stopped two days ago, and now the river was swollen.
The river bed, which was originally only half filled, was filled up within two days due to the heavy rainwater, and it seemed to continue to grow and spread to the surrounding areas.
Don't think too much, if this continues, then there will inevitably be a flood in places hundreds of miles away.
However, precisely because of this, the surging river water has made many tidal flats on both sides of the river difficult to use for landing, and a deep-water port has been built that can berth large ships.
If you exclude the rushing water, now is actually a good time to cross the river.
No.
On the east bank of Lushui River, tens of thousands of people were densely packed. At this time, they formed a long queue along the river bank. Under the command of the officer, they boarded the ship one by one in an orderly manner.
"Are there enough boats to cross the river?"
Among the sailboats, on the tallest ship, Lu Yuan held his hand on the railing and blew the cool river breeze for a while, then looked at the soldiers who were still busy boarding the ship. He turned around and asked.
"Your Majesty, since our army captured Ashan Mansion, we have been building boats. By the end of the year, we have more than a hundred boats, which can carry thousands of people.
On the navy side, in order to cooperate with this river-crossing operation, two naval forces came over, with more than a thousand ships.
The two boats combined can carry more than 80,000 people across the river in one trip.
This time our army dispatched more than 60,000 troops, enough to transport them all at once. Even including those army supplies, there would be no more than two trips at most.
The crossing can be completed in one day. "
Chu Wei, the navy chief next to him, said with confidence.
This is their navy's first show. Although it only carries transportation work, they don't have to go to the battlefield at all.
But firstly, it was to review the results, and secondly, it was also to show his face in front of the king.
The news that Shicheng was preparing to canonize the real protector of the country had already spread. As the naval commander and former general, Chu Wei naturally learned the news soon.
Although it is not clear what the origin of Huang Xuan, the real protector of the country who suddenly appeared, is. But the opponent's strength has been confirmed by many ministers in Shicheng.
The Immortal Dao Zhenren of Zhengba Sutra is comparable in strength to the masters of the second level of Xiantian.
Although it is a good thing for Chu State that such a strong and fierce man joins the Chu State, Chu Wei, who is helping to make further progress, feels great pressure.
In addition to Lu Yuan, the undoubted king, the only person in the military who was above him was General Zhou Qing.
Needless to say, Lu Yuan, the King of Chu, as the leader of the Chu Kingdom, no one would compare with him.
As a general, Zhou Qing was brought up by Lu Yuan, and his strength is also an innate master. Regardless of status, feelings, or strength, he far surpassed Chu Wei, and he did not dare to expect to surpass him.
But he didn't dare to dream about the position of general, but he was determined to compete for the position of the third person in the military.
After all, under Lu Yuan's sect, although in recent years there have been many named disciples who have broken through to the top level and become true disciples.
But the strongest among them, the ones who have done best, are their original four true disciples. Now they are the four generals Chu Wei, Li Liang, Han Shun, and Zhang You who are ranked front, back, left, and right. people.
And Chu Wei has always regarded the other three as exceeding his goals.
But now Huang Xuan was born. Although he did not hold a military position, he only received the special title of First Grade Protector of the Country.
However, with his strength and the authority of the king to appoint him as the general manager of the important affairs of Qianzhong County, Huang Zhenren was already the third most powerful person in the Chu army.
In terms of status, he far surpasses these second-grade generals from all directions.
That’s all.
After all, Chu Wei had nothing to be dissatisfied with after losing to a real person from the immortal realm who was equivalent to the second level of Xiantian. He was just better than him.
But the point is, according to the news he received, the leader of the Xichuan Kingdom will soon surrender and join the Chu court as an official.
At that time, given the opponent's status and strength, no need to think too much, he will definitely be a first-level protector of the country.
By then, with the other party's position, he will probably be guarding another county, and there will be one more person with a higher status than him in the military.
In fact, if that's all it is, that's it.
After all, it is the right thing for each of the four counties of Da Chu to have an innate grandmaster to guard them.
But what worries Chu Wei is the current development trend of Dachu, which is getting better and better and more prosperous.
The innate masters in the country appear one after another like dumplings.
How many years has it been?
From the fourth year of Shenwu to now, in less than two years, there have been three more innate masters in Chu State.
At this rate, I'm afraid that in a few years, the number of innate masters will be doubled?
Well, although Chu Wei also knew that these were just his delusions.
What kind of person is the Xiantian Grandmaster? How charming is the Immortal Daoist?
How could these land-gods-like people choose to come to Chu State just because they have it?
But don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the eventuality.
Compared with the current upward trend of Chu State, I dare not say that there will be more, but it is still very possible that one or two more innate masters will be added in the next ten years.
Then comes the problem.
There are only four counties in the Chu State. Except for the king, each county now has an innate master watching over it.
Then what should be done with the one or two new innate masters that will emerge?
There are only a few positions with high authority that can exert the effect of an innate master.
The imperial army in the capital is the king's personal army. The military power here is absolutely impossible to teach.
Looking at Dachu, who not only has real power but can also exert the intimidating power of an innate master, the only one left with such a position is the navy.
The 50,000 Dongting navy, all the navy of Chu State, is here. It is unreasonable to give such an important force to a weak leader like Chu Wei who is not even a top-notch person.
There was not enough choice before, so let him temporarily serve as the naval commander. It's nothing, just follow the authority in urgent matters.
But now that there are more suitable candidates, it would be particularly unsightly and unreasonable to let someone with less talent lead the nation's navy.
You must know that in the Ning Kingdom to the east, the commander of the Ning Kingdom's 100,000 navy has always been the Wuchenghou Shangguan Ming, the innate master of the Eight Classics.
As the Chu State aspires to surpass Ning State, replace the other party, and become the overlord of Yangzhou, since it has the conditions, the configuration here cannot be bad.
The general manager of the 50,000 Dongting navy must be an innate master.
Otherwise, one side has an innate grandmaster and the other does not, let alone the difference in appearance.
Just if the two armies were fighting, and an innate master from the other side joined the battlefield, it would be a disaster for the Chu navy.
Therefore, promoting an innate master to serve as the chief naval officer is not only due to formal configuration, but also due to actual combat needs. This has to be done.
This is the general trend and cannot be violated.
Chu Wei knew in his heart that with the increasing development of Chu State, he would probably not be able to hold the position of naval commander for much longer.
But the naval commander cannot do it himself, so the deputy naval commander can always count on this position, right?
After all, he has worked hard and developed it from scratch. One ship and one sailor have spent countless painstaking efforts to build the Chu Navy to the current situation.
With this merit, it is definitely enough to be a deputy general manager who handles trivial matters.
After all, what kind of person is the Xiantian Grandmaster?
People's time is precious.
Either for practice, or for enjoyment, so I don’t have time to care about your trivial matters.
Based on this, there is a need for the navy to have a deputy general manager to handle these daily chores.
And as long as he secures his position as the Deputy Chief of the Navy, it is difficult to say how much more he will do. At the very least, he can firmly secure his position in the top ten in the Dachu Army.
Knowing that one's own qualifications are basically innate in this life.
Being able to reach this position under a group of innate masters has become Chu Wei's greatest expectation.
Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, I chose to personally lead the team to participate in this operation.
The purpose is to perform well in front of this king and master and remind the other party of his achievements. Don't forget your place when you talk about merit and rewards in the future.
Obviously, his performance played a role.
"Well, the boat is enough."
When Lu Yuan heard the reply, he couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction, then turned around and said with a smile: "You did a good job. In six years, you were able to manage the Navy to what it is now, which shows that you have put in a lot of effort.
However, the current naval force of 30,000 people is still not enough.
Now the Ningren are getting closer and closer, and the opponent's 100,000 navy troops are training at Chaisang Camp every day, and from time to time they run to the border to show off their power.
Baling City is right next to Chaisang Camp. If you beat a drum on the opposite side, you can hear it in Yingfeng City.
How can the capital of a country be so threatened by other countries?
The Dongting Navy has a quota of 50,000 people. Please hurry up and recruit them as soon as possible this year. If you don't have enough money, just send a report to the Ministry of War. I have already explained it and will approve it directly for you.
How about it? Do you have the confidence to do this well? "
Lu Yuan looked at his disciple with a smile.
Being looked at by his King Master with expectant eyes, Chu Wei suddenly felt a burst of pressure, and at the same time he also felt the trust and importance.
Thinking of the goal in his heart, he naturally could not back down at this time, and immediately said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, as long as the Ministry of War can give you enough money, I will be able to recruit all the remaining 20,000 naval divisions this year."
Well, we will be able to recruit 20,000 navy troops this year.
But the ships for the 20,000-strong navy will not be available until the year after next at the earliest.
After all, something like shipbuilding cannot be accomplished overnight.
Under normal circumstances, it would take less than two or three years to build a qualified warship.
So for this kind of thing, no matter how urgent Chu Wei urged it, the shipyard would not be able to conjure it up for him.
If you insist on changing, it's not impossible. Unless he can accept that the built ship will fall apart after a few months.
Well, let alone a ship for 20,000 people, the shipyard can also build a ship for 100,000 people.
But this obviously does not meet the requirements of the Navy, nor the interests of the Chu State.
If Chu Wei really dared to do this, let alone the credit in the end, Lu Yuan would not be sorry for the money he wasted unless he chopped off his head.
'At most, recruit all the people first, and then crowd each ship, and train five naval forces first. With enough manpower, slowly adding ships every year will be considered as accumulating veterans. '
Chu Wei thought so in his heart.
Of course, Lu Yuan didn't know what this disciple was thinking.
However, he also understands some of the difficulties of naval expansion. He knows that it is easy to recruit soldiers, but it is difficult to recruit ships.
But for Lu Yuan, ships and other things can be made up for slowly. If it really doesn't work, requisitioning domestic merchant ships can barely do the job.
Right now, the most important thing is to fill up the staff and recruit people first.
The pressure brought by Ning Guo was too great. Lu Yuan no longer had time to wait for the navy to grow slowly, so he had to do something to encourage it.
Fortunately, this little bit of disruption has little impact on the navy's foundation and will not affect future development.
The biggest problem is that the money spent every year will suddenly increase.
However, this is a difficulty that can be overcome by the wealthy Chu State.
Just think of spending money to buy a sense of security, it’s worth it!
Therefore, Lu Yuan was happy and promised: "If you can really raise the navy this year, then the title of General Wei that I promised you earlier will be given to you as a reward from the day the army is established."
Chu Wei was surprised when he heard this, and immediately thanked him and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will work hard and become a navy master this year."
Lu Yuan nodded, patted his disciple on the shoulder, changed his name, and comforted him: "If you work hard, Master will not treat you badly."
"Yes!" Hearing this kind tone, Chu Wei was excited, and he already understood that his expectations were stable.
With Master's promise, the naval commander would not dare, but he definitely has his own share of the position of deputy commander.
The future is still promising.
Looking at this scene, the smile on Lu Yuan's face became closer and closer. Just like those normal teachers treating their disciples, they are full of kindness and kindness.
He was quite satisfied with Chu Wei.
Since his debut, these true disciples, headed by Chu Wei and Li Liang, have firmly shouldered their responsibilities as disciples and helped the teacher Lu Yuan manage his army well.
But now, more than ten years have passed, and those disciples who were still a little immature have grown up one by one.
There are also twenty-one first-class true disciples under his sect.
Now these true disciples are not serving as captains of a county to guard one area. It is to hold important positions above general in the Imperial Navy.
It can be said that it is precisely with these people as the backbone that the Chu Army can achieve its current glory.
Among the true disciples, the one who performed most outstandingly was undoubtedly Chu Wei.
This man was given a heavy responsibility by himself and took on the responsibility of building the navy.
Then, without any experience at all, he relied on constantly poaching people from various countries, worked hard to place orders in major shipyards, and worked day and night to discover domestic talents. With such perseverance, he worked hard to create what Chu Chu is today. The situation of the National Navy.
With such great contributions and such dazzling political achievements, it was naturally impossible for Lu Yuan not to see it.
So Chu Wei was overly worried.
Lu Yuan always kept his achievements in mind. Even if he didn't show up today, he would be rewarded in the future.
'It's just that the disciple Chu Wei's cultivation qualifications are still a bit lacking. Although I have given many spiritual elixir rewards over the years, he has also collected a lot of resources himself.
But after practicing for more than ten years, he is now only at the first-class mid-level cultivation level, not even the late-stage level.
Based on this level of cultivation, it would be good if he could have first-class peak strength before he was sixty years old. If you want to go further and break through the innate, it is probably impossible in this life.
But then again, even if he has the innate talent to break through, I don't have the extra resources to train him.
Now the divine blood elixir in my hand, as well as the spiritual energy in the spiritual jade tablet, are all left to Brother Sun and He'er. What little is left can only cultivate a few first-class warriors, but cannot cultivate innate talent at all.
This is all life. '
Lu Yuan thought of this and secretly shook his head.
Although Chu Wei worked diligently, his relationship with him was not as good as that of Sun Siwen and his son.
Even if there were resources to cultivate innate masters, priority would be given to those close to oneself.
In terms of closeness and distance, Chu Wei's status in Lu Yuan's heart has always been outside the top ten. If there are really good things, it won't be his turn at all.
So, it doesn't matter, even if I want to cultivate him, the other party doesn't have that fate.
'Forget it, in the past few years, let Chu Wei take the position of deputy general manager and act as the general manager.
Then, when Brother Sun becomes a genius, he will be sent to the Navy to be the general manager for a few years, so that he can get a good training in military matters.
By then, with Chu Wei, an old man in the army, Brother Sun will be able to adapt to the army quickly and easily. '
With a slight sigh, Lu Yuan made arrangements for the ownership of Chu Wei and the future navy.
Just as the disciple thought.
With such a huge force of fifty thousand navy, Lu Yuan would only hand it over to someone with enough strength and trust to lead it.
Obviously, in these two aspects, Chu Wei is completely inferior to Sun Siwen.
But the other party also has some hard work, so the rank of second-grade guard general and the position of deputy naval commander are the rewards for the other party.
As for whether this disciple will accept this arrangement?
Judging from the conversation just now, it is obvious that the other party has this understanding and has accepted his fate.
There was no need for Lu Yuan to worry too much.
Lu Yuan was naturally very relieved to have such a "sensible" disciple.
Just in time.
Soldiers and horses from various ministries have boarded the boats one after another. More than a thousand sailboats are floating on the river. Looking up, you can't even see the head.
The commander and army on the other side of the river looked at the navy army, which was like a black giant beast. They were nervously busy back and forth on the river bank, desperately digging fortifications, and being on strict guard.
For Lu Yuan, who did not hide his actions at all, he just glanced at it and laughed it off.
This time when he was going to conquer Dachohe Country again, he had no idea of conducting a sneak attack.
This time we send troops, what we want is uprightness, what we want is absolute crushing.
Otherwise, there would be no way to intimidate the Great Chowa Kingdom, no way to frighten the other side, and no way to make the other side surrender.
He glanced at Huang Xuan who was following him, and then looked far south.
Hundreds of miles away from here, in the land of Kunhai, Li Xiong should have received the order now and is leading the Kunhai army to launch an attack on Dachohe Kingdom.
There are three innate combat powers, one is the ordinary first level, one is equivalent to the second innate level, and one is equivalent to the third innate level, plus nearly 200,000 troops from the north and the south.
With such great strength, what could be done to stop the now-shattered Ochōwa Kingdom from being crushed majestically?
"Pass an isolated order and send out troops!"
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze, looked at the countless soldiers looking at him on the deck below, and made his own majestic voice.
