Chapter 599

Chen Wuji was eating lunch when he saw Peng Jingxuan.

His face bore the feeling of being a stubborn sort, dark and long, with a hint of brutishness.

Although the Battle of Ningyuan City ended quickly, it still surprised Chen Wuji in many ways.

The first to bear the brunt was Tang Yu's Mad Dog Style Tactics.

This made Chen Wuji very curious how Tang Yu trained his troops, how he made them so frenzied they disregarded their own lives, ignored enemy attacks, and only thought of slaughtering.

Next, it was Xie Fengxian and his subordinates' ferocity.

Lu Ping'an had praised Lu Ji countless times, but up to now Chen Wuji still hadn't seen how fierce Lu Ji was; however, he had personally witnessed the ruthlessness of this Confucian General, Xie Fengxian.

In that battle, to let the soldiers stand firm and climb quickly on the newly built Siege Ladder, he ordered the whole army to take off their shoes. He himself went even further, not only taking off his shoes but leading the charge bare-chested.

On the battlements of Ningyuan City, in those three hours he led troops up twenty times.

If not for the ladders being too few and reinforcements insufficient, that night Ningyuan City should have given Tang Yu no chance to shine.

A general obscure beside Lu Ping'an suddenly fought such a brilliant battle, nearly shocking Chen Wuji senseless; even when he first heard the news, he almost thought he had misheard.

Clearly both officers and soldiers could fight well, yet under Lu Ping'an they seemed to have become mere mascots.

Where exactly the problem lay in this matter, Chen Wuji still hadn't figured out.

Besides these two, the third most surprised was Peng Jingxuan.

The Battle of Ningyuan City was fought too fast, ended too swiftly; the problems Shi Dao left behind in Guangtongzhou for Chen Wuji were truly many, so much that Chen Wuji hadn't even had time to inquire about the surrendered troops.

After the army entered the city, the surrendered troops were confined to the drill grounds; these past few days no one had asked about them.

As for Peng Jingxuan himself and what he had done, Chen Wuji was learning about it for the first time today.

"Let's eat first, we can talk while eating." Chen Wuji gestured to the seat opposite him.

Peng Jingxuan was not polite either, he answered with an assent and sat down cross-legged.

The food was abundant, fine white rice, the dishes were stir-fried in big pots by the Huotou Army, containing both meat and vegetables, a perfect mix of meat and vegetables.

"If I gave you the same troops as Xie Fengxian, do you think you could withstand that night's siege?" Chen Wuji asked after taking a sip of tea.

Peng Jingxuan had just stuffed his mouth full of rice, his cheeks bulging, he quickly swallowed hard and asked, "Who is Xie Fengxian?"

"Eat slowly, don't rush to answer." Chen Wuji said, "You don't know Xie Fengxian?"

Peng Jingxuan stared for a moment, then gave an embarrassed smile, "Sorry, I spaced out, I know."

He bit his chopsticks, thought seriously for a while, then weighed his words: "Even if the general gave me the same troops as Xie Fengxian, I think I still couldn't hold the line. Xie Fengxian's troops are indeed stronger than mine, but I've always had the impression that he wasn't normally that formidable."

"I don't know what happened that day, but it seems it can't be counted as his normal ability."

Chen Wuji nodded slightly, "I intend to let you be the deputy, overseeing the training of these surrendered troops; are you willing? Whether you are or not, let me first hear your thoughts."

"I have no objections." Peng Jingxuan said bluntly.

"As long as the general gives me a chance to earn merit later, I'll do anything now. Not to mention that training new soldiers is a cushy job; even if you let me work in the Huotou Army, I can handle it."

Chen Wuji smiled, "You're straightforward, fine, let's eat."

"Yes!"

Peng Jingxuan answered with an assent, his chopsticks instantly flew up; in the blink of an eye his cheeks bulged again, then in another blink they flattened, and in yet another blink the food on the plate was gone.

"Here, give General Peng another serving!" Chen Wuji ordered.

Watching Peng Jingxuan eat made his appetite suddenly surge.

"General, I'm about done..." Peng Jingxuan said a little embarrassed.

Chen Wuji waved his hand, "No need to pretend, I can see you're not yet satisfied, eat your fill."

"... Yes!"

"Training new soldiers, there are some things I need to tell you first." Chen Wuji, while the food hadn't arrived yet, repeated what he had told Chen Yuan and Chen Li.

Peng Jingxuan understood this troop better than anyone, and he wanted to hear his explanation.

"Deputy General understands, this move of the general kills two birds with one stone, achieves two gains." Peng Jingxuan had no further doubts, instead he praised, "Deputy General has always believed that solid training is what gives a troop its true combat strength."

"On the battlefield, honing skills depends on the person; some troops without training get on the battlefield and become ever more fierce, like Tang Yu's forces under his command; while other untrained troops might be crippled as soon as they hit the battlefield, afterward losing morale and unable to muster any combat strength, examples of which are far too many."

"The Deputy General had advised Shi Dao several times to train troops, but he paid no heed."

Chen Wuji smiled, "Looks like this is exactly what you wanted."

Peng Jingxuan blinked, "Hasn't the general always done this?"

"No, my troops include those who have had proper training and those who rushed onto the battlefield with no experience at all." Chen Wuji said, "But I likewise believe that whether training is solid determines a troop's combat strength; in fact I have always wanted to train properly, only previously lacking the conditions."

Faced with Chen Wuji's open-hearted casual chat, Peng Jingxuan didn't know what to answer, after holding back for a long he ended up uttering a mere "yes."

Chen Wuji laughed heartily, looked up and saw the Personal Guard bringing up the food, he waved and called out, "Eat, eat, eat your fill, no need to talk."

"... Yes!"

The screening and registration of the surrendered troops took a full two and a half days to finish.

As Chen Wuji expected, the number of surrendered troops that remained was over nine thousand, just a few thousand short of ten thousand.

On the day it ended, the New Soldier Camp was formally established, and training began that very night.

A twenty-li night run in the deep night to whet the appetite.

As Chen Wuji, who rose to prominence through night battles, Chen Yuan, Chen Li, and Peng Jingxuan, when devising the training methods, immediately added Night Training into the mix.

Deep-night raids seemed poised to become a required course under Chen Wuji's command.

Actually, in this era night battle was quite an unfamiliar term.

Yet Chen Wuji not only succeeded, but even preserved this tradition and showed signs of developing it further; the deep-night sieges of Xie Fengxian and Tang Yu are typical Night Battle Upgrade Iteration Version.

In those busy, dizzying days, Chen Bushi finally arrived.

As a contemporary pioneer of the Chen clan, Chen Bushi truly embodied the excellence of being a brick of the Chen clan—wherever needed, he would go—being both literary and martial, capable of anything.