Transmigration begins with archery training

"Take a good look at this basic training manual when you get back, and try to memorize it in advance. It will be helpful for the assessment."

After emphasizing this, Xu Bin pressed his hand on the knife at his waist and prepared to leave.

Old Xu chuckled and said, "Binzi, why don't you teach Xiao Shitou a few tricks beforehand? That way, he'll be better equipped to handle things later."

Xu Bin frowned slightly, glanced at Chen Sanshi, and said coldly, "I have other things to do."

"Hey kid, we're all from the same village, what's wrong with helping out?"

Old Xu pointed at his son, ready to give him a scolding.

“Uncle Xu, Brother Bin must have military duties to attend to, so there’s no need to trouble him.”

Chen Sanshi knew what was going on.

He had no connection with Xu Bin, and it was already kind of him to offer a few words of advice; how could he dare to ask for more?

"Humph!"

On the way back to Poyang County by donkey cart, Old Man Xu said irritably, "Little Stone, don't take my stupid son seriously. Just because he's a minor officer, he thinks he's an official. He's always looking down on everyone!"

"If he won't tell you, the old man will!"

"The first three stages of martial arts training are training the blood, training the bones, and training the internal organs, respectively."

"Those who have mastered minor blood cultivation can become junior officers, those who have mastered major blood cultivation can become senior officers, those who have mastered bone cultivation can become centurions, and those who have mastered internal organs can become commanders."

"Of course, this is just a rough estimate of the level that each official position corresponds to; the actual situation may be more complicated."

On the swaying donkey cart, Chen Sanshi asked earnestly, "What did Brother Bin mean by 'martial soldiers' and 'formation soldiers' earlier?"

Old Xu explained patiently.

"Whether it's a sect or a martial arts school, there are qualification requirements for their disciples, and the military is no exception."

"Generally speaking, there will be an assessment after joining the army."

"If you pass the test, you can become a 'military soldier'; otherwise, you can only become a 'battle soldier'."

"Wu Zu (military soldiers) can further cultivate their martial arts, receive resource allocations, and retain the qualification to be promoted to officer."

"Soldiers, due to their limited talent, cannot cultivate martial arts, are trained in unified formations for collective combat, and are not qualified to be promoted to officers."

"Archers and cavalry are both types of infantry, but they are treated slightly better."

"Hey, this old man's physique is too poor, I'm just a foot soldier!"

Chen Sanshi nodded thoughtfully, understanding what he meant.

The status of a soldier is equivalent to that of a college graduate from a military academy in a previous life; they have the potential to rise in rank. A common soldier, on the other hand, can only remain a common soldier.

"I've told you everything I know."

Old Xu was a little embarrassed: "As for the cultivation method, I didn't understand it back then, so I won't mislead anyone. You should go back and study it carefully."

Outside Poyang County, the two parted ways.

Chen Sanshi pondered to himself.

I absolutely must become a soldier, otherwise wouldn't my military service have been in vain?

I don't know how talented I am at martial arts!

When I got home, the meal was already prepared.

After our family's financial situation improved, we basically ate white rice and salted duck eggs at every meal, and often meat and vegetables as well.

Gu Xinlan stopped working as a factory worker and instead became a full-time housewife.

At the dinner table, she brought up Qin Xiong with great surprise: "Brother Shi, do you know that the man surnamed Qin has disappeared?"

"His younger brother has been searching everywhere for him lately, he's almost gone crazy."

"Zhao San, who had a grudge against him before, had his arm chopped off in the street. I heard that blood spurted everywhere, it was terrifying."

Zhao San was also a notorious bully, but his activities did not extend to this area.

"Luckily, everyone in the village knows about our reconciliation with the Qin family, otherwise they would definitely come knocking on our door."

Slashing someone's arm in the street?

The martial arts school disciples are truly arrogant.

Fortunately, Chen Sanshi had military household status, so even if Qin Xiong's younger brother suspected him, he wouldn't dare to commit violence in the street; at most, he would resort to underhanded tactics.

However, he also needs to hurry up and improve his own strength.

After finishing his meal, Chen Sanshi couldn't wait to go to the open space behind the house and start reading "Basic Spear Techniques for Soldiers" under the moonlight.

It's described as a marksmanship exercise, but the content is actually a kind of stance training, with absolutely no mention of weapons.

Each page of the book features a lifelike illustration representing a stance exercise, with several lines of small print detailing precautions and practice tips.

His photographic memory finally came in handy. In just over ten minutes, he memorized all thirty-six stances and began practicing them.

Following the instructions in the booklet, Chen Sanshi naturally pointed his toes forward, tucked his chest and straightened his back, relaxed his shoulders and dropped his elbows, and kept his head upright with a light and agile posture, imagining that he was holding something on his head and not letting it fall down, thus maintaining the standard of his movements.

The movements looked simple, but when he actually started practicing, he found that it was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

Following the actions shown in the image, Chen Sanshi felt a change in his body after only a few breaths.

Starting from the soles of my feet, down to my calves, then to my torso and arms, my whole body began to feel hot, as if the standing meditation was some kind of activator, opening up some kind of mechanism in my body.

In this state, Chen Sanshi's physical strength and energy were rapidly depleted, and he was drenched in sweat in just half an hour.

It should be noted that after he mastered archery, his physical fitness improved significantly, making him one of the best among those who had never practiced martial arts. But even so, he began to feel tired after practicing the fifth stance.

He gritted his teeth and persevered until he had mastered exactly ten stances, at which point he finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground, his face ashen.

"Thanks to the improvement in my physique brought about by my mastery of archery, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have been able to persist for the tenth stance!"

"I just don't know if my speed is considered fast or slow compared to others?"

After finishing his training, Chen Sanshi's first feeling was hunger, the kind that made his eyes dizzy.

"Brother Shi, I've made some food, would you like some?"

A soft female voice reached my ears.

Chen Sanshi then noticed that Gu Xinlan hadn't rested and had been waiting for him, and had even made him a midnight snack.

Without saying a word, he rushed into the house and wolfed down five white steamed buns and a bowl of rice mixed with lard in one go, and even then he still felt a little unsatisfied.

Practicing martial arts really takes a huge toll!

After finishing his meal, Chen Sanshi watched Lan Jie'er's back as she cleared away the dishes, and he didn't even have the energy for that anymore. He was so tired!

I feel like I need to eat meat.

Even though his family's financial situation improved, they still couldn't afford to eat meat every meal.

Looks like I need to be more generous to myself; I can't just focus on saving up silver after getting loot.

Exhausted, Chen Sanshi lay on the bed, and Lan Jie'er massaged him to relax his body. He soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, before they even got out of bed, they heard that Qin Feng had come to the village to look for his brother again, his attitude noticeably worse than before, clearly indicating that he was in a hurry.

Chen Sanshi ignored him and went to the military camp to report after breakfast.

……

"Where is my brother?!"

Qin Feng gathered all the scoundrels and ruffians who used to work under his brother and questioned them one by one.

"Second brother, we really didn't know!"

A rascal with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face said, "The last time we saw our boss was seven days ago at night."

"After dinner, he said he was going to have some fun in the county town, but he wouldn't take us with him, and then I never saw him again..."

Another rogue cautiously said, "Second brother, the magistrate was assassinated that night. Do you think it might have been the barbarians..."

"impossible!"

Qin Feng said with unusual certainty, "That barbarian will definitely not kill civilians indiscriminately on this trip!"

He seemed to realize he had misspoke, paused, and then corrected himself, saying, "What I meant was that his indiscriminate killing would only expose more clues!"

"Second brother."

The hooligans looked helpless: "We've also looked for Zhao San, but we really can't figure out who else would dare to harm our boss."

Qin Xiong had many enemies.

But they are mostly orphans, widows, widowers and their only daughters—people who are easy to bully. How could they dare to cause trouble?

"I do know someone!"

The skinny rogue said, "That scholar from the Chen family had a grudge against my elder brother before."

"Chen family?"

"Yes, that's the best hunter in Yanbian Village!"