The Wei brothers and sisters had to take a small boat from Jiangwang's Mansion to a big boat every morning to get out of the southeast city gate, and then ride horses to the military camp outside the city. In addition to living in the Jiangwang Mansion in the city with her brother, Wei Yangyang trains with the Wei family army every day, and she trains as long as others practice, which is no different from ordinary soldiers. And she has to dress exactly the same as Wei Bingyue every day, so sometimes if others don't pay attention, they can't even tell that she is a girl.

On this day, the Wei brothers and sisters inadvertently saw the local soldiers in Gusu Mansion training, as if they saw a big joke, at first they were secretly watching, but later, they actually laughed out loud.

Gugu Guru Pei Youzhi said: "General Wei, what are you laughing at." After Wei Bingyue saw him, his laughter was still endless, and he said, "Just with these soldiers, you want to defeat the water and sea alliances?" ”

When he said this, Pei Youzhi's face was a little unbearable, and most of the martial artists had never read much, so he naturally spoke unceremoniously, so he shot back: "Our Gusu has been prosperous for thousands of years, the land of fish and rice, and it is not surprising that we have never fought a war all year round." However, the legendary Wei Jiajun, who has never been defeated, should practice and drill to open our eyes. ”

Wei Bingyue still had a smile on his face and said: "Pei guerrilla, do you know why the armies everywhere are named after places, such as the Lingzhou Army and the Shuzhou Army, but only our Wei Family Army is named after my Wei family's surname?" Pei Youzhi said: "Who doesn't know about this military department?" The Wei family army is related to each other and is very united, so it is named "Wei Jia Army". Wei Bingyue shook his head and said, "Wrong, today is just to give you some insight into why our Haixi soldiers are called "Wei Jiajun". ”

Jiangnan is not like Houwan County, which does not rain once a year, and at the end of February, it will rain from time to time. Wei Bingyue gathered the soldiers, he stood on the parade platform, and began to give orders, the order was very simple: "Today's exercise, four hours!" The herald loudly conveyed his order, and a flood of voices was heard on the parade ground: "Yes"!

Other generals and officials rushed to see the excitement, and the Qiantang Mansion guerrilla An Luo looked at the audience and said, "General Wei, you only have such a few people?" Half-mast? The Weijia Army was divided into six banners, of which five were sub-flags, each of which was in charge of five generals, who were stationed near Haixi Province in turn, and often changed guards; The main flag of the Red Battalion was stationed in Haixi Province, and the chief soldier was personally in charge. Each flag is divided into first-class soldiers, reserve troops, and logistics troops, and only the soldiers with the most fierce combat effectiveness can enter the top rank, therefore, the number of first-class soldiers in each flag is not much, only 5,000 people, and this time Wei Bingyue only brought 3,000 people, so An Luo said that it was "half-mast". Wei Bingyue nodded: "Yes, the soldiers are fast, and there are not many elites, and it is not possible to defeat pirates by relying on a large number of people." ”

Everyone was no stranger to his arrogance, and at the age of twenty, he was ordered to be in danger, and he became the banner master of the blue battalion of the Weijia Army, and was appointed as a general of the fourth grade; At the age of twenty-one, the left general of the Water Demon Kingdom fled all the way east with the regent of the Hays Kingdom, Cheek Wave Snow Butterfly, and almost jumped into the sea to feed the fish; At the age of twenty-two, he received an appointment, but he made King Fengquan wait for him for two months.

This resume, many people, can not do it in a lifetime. But as time passed, everyone finally knew where his arrogant confidence was.

When Shen Minghuang was eating at noon, when he heard the news of the Weijia Army's drills reported by Wang Chengdan, the chief soldier of Lingzhejiang, the three thousand soldiers had already stood in the heavy rain for three hours. When he rushed to the parade ground after eating, he saw the scene: the scene was silent, and 3,000 people, like 3,000 bamboo poles, stood upright in the rain. February in Jiangnan was still very cold, and the clothes were stained with water, sticking to the body, and it was cold and biting. Except for the northerners, who are not accustomed to rain, and the occasional soldier faints and is dragged away, the entire parade ground does not make any other sound.

He could barely see through the rain curtain that Wei Yangyang was also standing in the line, just like the others, straight and straight. This is Wei Shuping's only daughter, Wei Bingyue's own sister, and she has not been treated differently, which can be seen from the strictness of the Wei family's management of the army. It's been three and a half hours, six people have fallen, and the others are still standing upright.

Even Pei Youzhi, who was not convinced in the morning, couldn't stand it anymore and said: "General Wei, so be it, if you continue like this, I'm afraid you will be drenched." Wei Bingyue said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, whoever falls is not qualified to go to the battlefield." The high-ranking soldiers of our Weijia Army are trained in this way day after day. The four hours finally arrived, Wei Bingyue then ordered the team to be closed, the legs of the Wei family soldiers standing were stiff, and everyone only moved their legs and feet in place, and they were brought back by the officers of each team one by one. The onlookers were all convinced.

The next day, when the rain stopped, Wei Bingyue also ordered the soldiers to show the Wei family formation, which was composed of five people into a formation, with one person in front holding a spear and going to stab the enemy from a long distance first; Two others stood behind him with shields in their left hands, shielding them from the people on either side, and the shield-bearers also held short knives in their right hands, so that if the enemy came close to the shield, he could kill them at close range. Finally, two people stood behind, with large knives in their hands, to protect the people in front. In a group of five, protect each other, rely on each other, trust each other's lives, and depend on each other for life and death.

Wei Bingyue introduced this formation to everyone, and said: "Because the south of the Yangtze River is a waterway, the cavalry cannot start killing the enemy, so we did not ride a horse, but came by boat, this shows the infantry formation, this formation is called "Butterfly Formation", colleagues, you can give your opinions. ”

He said "give advice", but his tone was quite proud. These five people unfold in turn, advancing and retreating together when they move, they are indeed like a fluttering butterfly, and those two shields are butterfly wings, which can kill the enemy with spears and defend with shields when retreating, which is much better than the five people who fight separately.

Although Shen Minghuang has been taught articles, calligraphy, history books, and the art of war by the best masters since he was a child, he has only talked about it on paper, and he has not actually seen it. So he doesn't know much about many issues. He asked directly: "General Wei, this formation is very good, but if one of them is killed, won't the butterfly formation be self-defeating?" What he asked was also what many generals wanted to ask.

Wei Bingyue nodded: "Your Highness is right, if a few of them are killed, then the butterfly formation will not be able to exert its power, but the magic of our Wei family's formation is that if the enemy breaks the butterfly formation, the remaining soldiers can be arbitrarily combined into a formation of two to seven people and continue to fight." He randomly ordered two soldiers and ordered: "Mandarin duck array!" The two men immediately turned their backs to each other, defending each other where they couldn't see from behind. Wei Bingyue explained: "This mandarin duck formation, the two of them must absolutely believe in each other, entrust their backs to each other, as long as they cooperate properly, the two can fight each other's five people." ”

He shouted at the soldiers again: "Taoyuan Array! All the soldiers immediately dispersed the butterfly formation and formed a trio with the neighbors, and among the three men, at least one shield bearer was responsible for protection, and the other two were responsible for killing the enemy. Wei Bingyue explained: "In the Taoyuan Formation, three people can block ten enemy troops. ”

He then ordered the soldiers to demonstrate the "Silent Annihilation Array" in groups of four, the "Liuhe Array" in groups of six, and the "Fairy Array" in groups of seven.

Shen Minghuang opened his mouth and asked: "This mandarin duck playing in the water is two people; Taoyuan three knots, it is three people; King Qin swept Liuhe is six people, and these can guess why they are named. What is the meaning of the silence of the four and the fairy of the seven? ”

Wei Bingyue knew that he didn't understand military affairs, so he explained in detail, saying: "The grandfather of the last general has a nickname, called "Four Kingdoms Annihilation", which means that when the army of the four countries in the north saw him, they came one by one and died, so the four-person formation is silence; And our Wei family has only men for generations, no women, when my sister was born, she belonged to the rabbit, and the fortune teller said that she was the jade rabbit in the hands of the fairy Chang'e in the Moon Palace to come to my house, so the family called her "little fairy", and my grandfather often named her when naming formations and weapons. This seven-person formation is taken from the seven fairies, so it is called the fairy formation. And our Weijia archery, the top archer can shoot seven arrows at the same time with a bow, and that archery method is also called "Seven Fairies". ”

The children of the Wei family are all military generals in Haixi, and only Wei Bingyue's third brother Wei Bingge serves in the Criminal Department, because he is white and clean, but he is ruthless when interrogating prisoners, so the thieves gave him the nickname "Jade Face Yama". Shen Minghuang found these nicknames very interesting, and asked: "My grandfather's nickname is "The Silence of the Four Kingdoms", what about the general guard?" Wei Bingyue said: "My father is nicknamed "Three Watches of Yama". Pei Youzhi said: "I've heard this, the people of the four countries call Wei Zongbing the "King of Weiyan". Wei Bingyue nodded.

Shen Minghuang asked: "Oh, it was the king of Hades who let you die for the third watch, and you won't live to live for the fifth watch, right?" Wei Bingyue nodded again. Shen Minghuang clapped his hands and said, "Interesting and interesting, this nickname is interesting, and the formation is also interesting." ”

Gifts were exchanged, Wei Bingyue showed the Wei family formation, and Wang Chengdan, the general soldier of Lingzhejiang, arranged for Gusu Mansion guerrilla Pei Youzhi to also take them to visit the battleship. Haixi Mansion is named because it is located in the west of Lehai, it is a place of extreme water shortage, although the name of "Lehai" is just a pond in the desert, but it is already the clearest and sweetest water source within a hundred miles of Haixi Province. With water, crops can be grown, livestock can be raised, and people can survive. The people of the four countries come to provoke all the year round, naturally because they have no water source and cannot survive, so they have to rob the sun of grain, gold and silver every year.

But Gusu is completely different from Haixi, there is a lot of water here that seems to be inexhaustible, and the streets are full of small bridges and flowing water, and people who watch it are envious. The Hercynian soldiers thought it was already the largest source of water, until they saw the sea, the real sea.

Including Wei Bingyue, all the Haixi people were stunned, and the turquoise blue water in front of them was boundless, making waves. Wei Yangyang was very happy, she walked on the beach, letting the sea water wet her shoes and socks, this is water that she can't drink in a lifetime.

She couldn't even help it, leaned down, took a handful of seawater with both hands, and put it to her mouth. "Salty? It's worse than the water in the desert. She let go of her hands in disappointment. Except for Lehai, the other water sources in the Haixi area are bitter and astringent, and even horses refuse to drink it, but even if it is bitter water, it takes half a day to encounter it. I didn't expect that this vast sea, so much water, is actually salty.

Qiantang Mansion guerrilla An Luo looked at her and said, "Miss Wei, there is salt in the seawater, which cannot be drunk, you have to steam it." "Steam?" She asked curiously: "Ann guerrilla, like, like steamed buns?" Anluo nodded and said, "Yes, put the water in the pot and boil it over the fire, the water vapor will reach the lid of the pot, it will turn into water droplets, and the water droplets can be drunk, and after the pot is steamed, what remains in the pot is salt." It's the salt we use to eat. ”

Haixi does not produce salt, and the salt needed must be transported from the Central Plains, so Wei Yangyang was very surprised and said: "It turns out that the salt we eat is like this? Wei Bingyue also asked: "Then if you want to drink water like this to make salt, wouldn't it cost a lot of firewood?" It's still a lot of money. ”

Anluo continued: "We have rivers and streams in our city, so we don't usually need to steam seawater to drink, but this is just a way for fishermen to run aground and get stuck on a small island during fishing. Moreover, as long as you dig a large hole in the beach at low tide, the sea water will wash into the pit at high tide, and after being exposed to the sun, the sea water will be dried to get salt. Although he is a military general, he has a peaceful personality and speaks clearly, so Wei Yangyang likes to talk to him very much.

Throughout the day, the siblings encountered many things that they had never encountered before, and they even boarded the battleship. The battleship was 100 feet high, had four floors, was rowed by 80 rowers at the same time, could accommodate thousands of people at the same time, and could be equipped with red-coated cannons, which could fire at enemy ships as they went. Wei Bingyue had never been exposed to naval warfare, so he asked a lot of questions, and An Luo answered them one by one.

Wei Bingyue asked: "An guerrilla, we northerners are not water-based, if we want to fight on a warship, what should we do?" An Luo said: "We people in the coastal area can swim since childhood, you need to learn to swim first, and then learn to walk on the boat, you have to practice walking on the boat as smoothly as on the ground, then you can practice fighting on the ship again." Wei Bingyue asked again: "Then, how long will this take?" ”

Pei Youzhi finally found an opportunity to squeeze him, so he said, "General Wei, when you came from the canal by boat, did anyone get seasick?" Wei Bingyue said: "Yes, most of them have, not to mention soldiers, I, who can swim, got off the boat and arrived in Gusu, and I slept for three days, so that my head was not dizzy." Pei Youzhi smiled and said: "That's it, the northerners are completely influential, and if they want to practice, it will take a year or two to say the least." ”

After he finished speaking, he walked away, Wei Yangyang was very unconvinced, and said to his brother: "This Pei guerrilla really looks down on people, they can get on the boat to fight, and so can we." I'm going to learn to swim tonight. Wei Bingyue looked at her and said, "You? Wei Yangyang said: "Well, if you teach me, I will definitely learn." Wei Bingyue said: "Then you don't have to wait for the evening, you can learn now." As he spoke, he kicked Wei Yang into the sea.

Everyone was shocked and wanted to save Wei Yangyang. Wei Bingyue said with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, you can learn to swim by kicking into the water, that's how I learned it." An Luo, with a very good heart, said anxiously: "General Wei, you learned it in the river, this sea is different from the river, it is very dangerous. ”

As they spoke, a wave came, Wei Yangyang was gone, Wei Bingyue was in a hurry, everyone looked around, only to see that she had been washed away by the sea, her head looming, obviously about to drown. Pei Youzhi found a few soldiers with good water skills, came to her with ropes, wrapped her arms, and dragged her back to the shore. Fortunately, there was no danger, she just choked on the water and was not injured. Only then did Wei Bingyue know that the sea looked calm, but compared with Ma Zhan, it was very dangerous. Naval warfare was not as simple as he imagined.