My Cultivation Starting from Archery

"Drive!"

Chen Sansi rode Qian Xun straight ahead.

When he reached the middle of the common folk's column, he noticed something amiss up front.

The people seemed to have encountered a deluge or a ferocious beast; the originally orderly lines had scattered in disarray, nearly beyond control.

"What's wrong, the barbarians couldn't have circled to the front so quickly!"

Chen Sansi sped up and clearly saw several flags being held aloft, all belonging to the Great Sheng Dynasty, and upon the general's banner, the name of Youzhou General Jing Fuhu was clearly written.

"Where are you deserters coming from?!"

The young general who had previously whipped and killed several of the commoners came forth: "I see you're wearing armor befitting a general! Yunzhou is in urgent need, how can you desert!"

"?"

Chen Sansi didn't even have the chance to speak.

"Not killing you deserters will fail to establish the might of the Sheng Army!"

The young general said as he lifted his spear, ready to strike, but someone called out to stop him.

"Halt!"

Another general on a black horse slowly approached, wielding an Azure Dragon Crescent blade, flanked by many fully armored generals, all young, at most in their mid-twenties.

"Princely Heir!"

Yin Hanwen treated the newcomer with great respect: "Isn't this man a deserter who should be executed?"

"Find out the situation in Yunzhou first."

Cao Fan squinted his eyes and asked: "Where do you hail from?"

"An Ding Prefecture, Po Yang Thousand Households, Captain Chengxin Chen Sansi."

Chen Sansi introduced himself.

"So you are that Chen Sansi?"

Cao Fan was slightly surprised.

His followers exchanged glances, clearly having heard the name before.

"Is it you who captured that useless Yuwen scion?"

Yin Hanwen asked with interest: "The battle reports say that you were surrounded by thousands of cavalry. With you in the Bone Forger Realm, how did you do it?"

"Luck, nothing more."

Chen Sansi could feel the disdain in their words; he took note of this in his heart, but now was not the time for such pettiness. The priority was to resolve the issue of the pursuing enemy.

But the other party simply wouldn't give—

"I knew it, no point in asking you."

Yin Hanwen scoffed: "Surely you captured him when he was alone, right? The battle reports are probably local officials exaggerating to flatter you. That Yuwen scion is a well-known good-for-nothing, what's so impressive about capturing him? His Majesty actually praised you personally."

"Why did you flee?"

Cao Fan asked sternly: "To my knowledge, Yunzhou is in a total state of emergency. You've just been awarded a royal decree not long ago. Shouldn't you have defended your city to the death? Why abandon it and run here? We're almost at You State's territory past Huanwen County."

"I—"

Chen Sansi felt frustrated.

He realized these men were likely high-ranking officials' sons. Their arrogance was normal, but why wouldn't they even give him a chance to speak?

"He is not a routed soldier, nor a deserter!"

A cold voice spoke up.

"Miss Sun?"

Cao Fan greeted familiarly: "I was wondering why I hadn't seen you in Liangzhou. They only said you went to Yunzhou with Brother Bu Qi to be a Selection Officer. I would never have expected you'd go to such a trivial county town, what was its name?"

"Princely Heir."

A pale-faced Sun Li rode up beside her junior brother: "How can you accuse Sansi of desertion without knowing the facts? Don't you realize that if it weren't for him, I, my junior brother, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians would have perished under the barbarians' blades."

"Exactly!"

Sun Buqi also rushed over, recounting the tale of the battle at Po Yang, where a thousand remnants broke through six thousand barbarian marauders.

"Sun Buqi, are you blowing smoke?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yin Hanwen disbelieved: "Him, a Bone Trainer, killing a barbarian Refining Internal?"

"He has the Nine Dragon Body, no worse than any of you!"

Sun Buqi said discontentedly: "Speak more respectfully."

"Even if what you're saying is true."

Yin Hanwen said: "In the end, didn't you still flee the city?"

"There were special reasons for that!"

"Brother Bu Qi, why are you so protective of him? That's favoritism! Abandoning the city and fleeing on your own is a serious crime!"

"Yuwen, are you asking for a beating?"

"Brother Bu Qi, who can you beat?"

"..."

"Enough, quit arguing."

Cao Fan gave a bow to the young man: "Could you please inform us of the specific situation inside Yunzhou borders? Especially An Ding, Taining, and Lingfeng Prefectures."

Chen Sansi had to prioritize the overall situation: "Directly fifty li behind us, there are three thousand barbarian cavalry, and to the southwest, another twenty thousand barbarian marauders. My spy's report indicated that the highest-ranking among them is a Refining Organ Commander, with also a Divine Sect Meridian Passage expert."

"I'm not asking about that."

Cao Fan shook his head slightly: "There's no need to worry about pursuers here; not far ahead, Huanwen County has already called in over thirty thousand soldiers for defense, plus the natural barrier of the Hongze River; they won't be able to cross it."

"What I want to ask Brother Chen about is the distribution of barbarian troops within Yunzhou and the specific combat situations, especially in An Ding, Taining, and Lingfeng Three Prefectures."

"I'll do it!"

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Sun Buqi took over the conversation, sharing all they knew about the situation.

"Oh?"

Cao Fan gestured, and immediately two people spread out a map in front of him: "According to this, the situation is that the Three Prefectures are still holding; that makes things easier! Next, we will only need to send thirty thousand troops to An Ding Prefecture and twenty thousand to Taining Prefecture. Once these two are relieved, Lingfeng will naturally be saved, and then we can coordinate with the main forces of the Northwest Three States to retake Yunzhou territories."

"That's great."

Yin Hanwen showed joy: "Princely Heir, let's quickly report to General Jing so that he assigns some troops for us to command. The Selection hasn't officially started yet, and we're about to make a great contribution."

"Hmm."

Cao Fan nodded, signaling to pack up the map: "Brother Chen, now that we've met, come with us. General Jing will assign troops for you to command based on your realm, and you surely wouldn't want to miss the chance to earn military honors."