Chapter Six: Zha Yu

  "You few go upstream and scare the fish for me, and drive them down. Hu Meng, you two go downstream and drive the fish up."

  "Everyone follow suit." Hu Meng instructed, since Dragon Brother wants to play catch fish, everyone will cooperate a bit, being "caressed" by the cold wind is better than being "caressed" by fists.

  Both men were ready and staring at Long Chen. Long Chen focused his mind, gripped the sharp stick tightly in his hand, then tapped it lightly in mid-air, indicating that they could begin.

  "Ah...... oh...... eh...... huh...... ah...... oh...... eh...... huh." Each word was drawn out long and high, with a lingering tone. Even Long Chen couldn't help but get goosebumps, let alone the fish.

  Downstream is also unwilling to show weakness: "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" The voice is urgent and high-pitched, the rhythm is extremely intense, it's like they're already on the "battlefield"!

  Under the two voices that could be called against the sky, Long Chen was only a moment of daze and then quickly calmed down, waiting for the arrival of the fish.

  Under the moonlight and the weak reflection of the fish scales, Long Chen quickly took action, and the sharp stick swiftly pierced into the water. Due to the refraction of light in the water, you can't directly pierce where you see the fish, but should instead aim at an angle slightly to the side. When piercing fish, it's best to hit the head or body of the fish; if you only graze the edge, it's basically useless. Those experienced fishermen had to rely on their rich experience to figure out this rule for piercing fish, but for ordinary people, it was very difficult. This thing about light refraction wasn't something that ancient people could easily understand, but Long Chen was an exception. On his first try, relying on his sense of touch, Long Chen knew he had hit a fish, and then swiftly swung the sharp stick, adjusting its position to aim the other pointed end at the target and fiercely pierced it again.

  Although the process of catching fish is short, it bursts with human reaction force, arm strength, observation power and calculation power in this time, so catching fish is really a technical work, which is difficult to master. Under the simple conditions without fishing nets, how much sweat has been condensed behind Liu Dezhong's pot of braised fish?

  Long Chen smiled and whistled, "Set up a fire, roast fish."

  Hu Meng and others were shocked: Oh my goodness, it really caught a fish!

  Everyone found a place behind the rock wall to avoid the wind, reduced some dry branches, lit a fire, and then took two thicker branches. Long Chen used a short knife to sharpen them into sharp heads, inserted the fish, and held them over the fire as a roasting fork. Of course, this task didn't require Long Chen to do it himself, Hu Meng alone held two "forks" and was fully responsible for roasting the fish.

  "Brother Long, where did you get that short knife? It's really beautiful." Niu Er was also taken care of by Long Chen that day, so now he showed a very respectful attitude. However, when he saw the knife that Long Chen had just taken out, his eyes lit up with excitement.

  "Hehe, it was a gift from the general." The short knife was not only sharp, but its scabbard was also exquisitely crafted. Seeing Niu Er's envious expression, Long Chen directly tossed the short knife to her.

  "Thank you, Dragon Brother, I'll take a look and return it to you right away." Niu Er was delighted as he played with the short knife.

  "What did you just say? Did General give it to you?" Hu Meng asked subconsciously again.

  "Uh-huh." Long Chen nodded.

  "Is there nothing else General, besides sending his sword?"

  "I was appointed as a general flag officer." Long Chen said calmly, a general flag officer was indeed not in his eyes, and even in his heart, he thought that the position of Mao Jun now was not impossible for him to obtain. The late Ming dynasty was a chaotic era, but it was also an era full of opportunities, a good era for great men to build their merits. In later generations, the Republic was basically at peace, with no wars for decades, which made soldiers somewhat confused about their own value, this was the helplessness of warriors born in peaceful times.

  For special forces like Long Chen, they are often dispatched to the border for missions or go abroad directly to launch a strike, but that can only be considered as small-scale skirmishes. The scene of thousands of troops galloping across the fields, which is what hot-blooded men yearn for, can only be savored in dreams.

  But now it's different, this turbulent world that is destined to be ups and downs, isn't it a grand stage for men to gallop horizontally?

  But Hu Meng almost fell off the stone he was sitting on, and the two fish almost went straight into the fire. Luckily, he managed to pull back just in time, or else everyone would have had to eat charred fish.

  "Boss, you've really risen quickly." Hu Meng felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart. The other party was just a soldier he had brought back from the riverbank to prepare for conscription not long ago, but in just a few days, he had become his superior. However, thinking about it again, the other party's skills and methods were also reasonable, they had risen through their own abilities, what did he have to be jealous of?

  "It's a bit fast, right? Do you know General Rang?" Long Chen asked casually.

  "Ah, sir, I'm just a small flag under General Ruan's command. General Ruan is my direct superior." Hu Meng secretly wiped away his sweat, implying that General Ruan was also your previous superior, Dragon Chen, and you didn't even know.

  Long Chen's face also showed a bit of embarrassment, perhaps he had been the "prison boss" for too long and didn't even know who his own captain was before.

  "Hehe, I'm going to take over Ren's position." Who would have thought that by rising up the ranks, he would actually replace his former superior.

  Hu Meng heard this and gently put down the roasted fish in his hand, then stood up and kicked those few subordinates.

  "I, Hu Meng, will from now on receive orders only from you, sir. If you tell me to go west, I will never go east. From now on, all matters will be decided by your wise judgment alone!" Hu Meng knelt down on one knee, his attitude extremely sincere.

  Those soldiers also came to their senses and realized that from now on, they would be under Hu Meng's command. They hastily knelt down behind him.

  "I am willing to be at your beck and call."

  Long Chen knew that Hu Meng was showing his loyalty to him and wanted to become his confidant. After all, a general flag officer had five small flags under him, and if Hu Meng could gain Long Chen's trust, he would be able to suppress the other four small flags in terms of status.

  Long Chen gently helped Hu Meng up, "From now on, we are all brothers of our own family, so let's not say such things."

  Hu Meng realized that Long Chen had acknowledged him and didn't decline, standing up to continue roasting the fish. Niu Er also carefully returned the short knife to Long Chen.

  The fish was done, and Hu Meng took out a small stack of oil paper from his pocket, which contained some salt, and sprinkled some on the steaming fish. The fragrance of the fish became even more intense.

  Six big men eating two fish is naturally not enough, but it doesn't matter, there's a stream nearby, and of course, there's this awesome General Flag. After finishing the fish, everyone couldn't help but sneak glances at Long Chen, who nodded his head. This counts as him treating his subordinates to dinner for the first time, no matter what, he has to make sure they're full, right?

  Then, the "ups and downs" sound came again, and Long Chen caught nine fish of different sizes before stopping. Hu Han roasted four more, and took the other five back, guessing that there won't be many fish in this stream for a while, and Liu Dezhong might return empty-handed if he comes to catch fish again, after all, there are only so many fish in one water area.