Start practicing archery

Chapter 13: Wuzu Battle Soldiers
"After you go back, take a good look at this book of basic skills. It's best to memorize it in advance. It will be helpful for the assessment."

After Xu Bin finished emphasizing, he pressed the knife on his waist and was about to leave.

Old Xu laughed and said, "Binzi, why don't you teach Xiao Shitou a few tricks in advance so that it will be easier to deal with him when the time comes."

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

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

Old Xu pointed at his son and was about to teach him a lesson.

"Uncle Xu, Brother Bin must be busy with military duties, so there's no need to bother him."

Chen Sanshi knew what was going on.

He and Xu Bin had no friendship at all, so it was good enough that he was willing to give some advice. How could he dare to ask for more?

"Humph!"

On the way back to Poyang County, Old Man Xu said angrily, "Little Stone, don't argue with my stupid son. He thinks he's an official just because he's a small flag. He's always looking down on others!
“If he doesn’t tell you, the old man will tell you!

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

"If you have achieved a small success in blood training, you can become a small flag; if you have achieved a great success, you can become a general flag; if you have achieved a large success in bone training, you can become a hundred households; if you have achieved a large success in internal organs, you can become a thousand households.

"Of course, this is just the realm that each official position roughly corresponds to. The actual situation may be more complicated."

On the wobbly donkey cart, Chen Sanshi asked seriously, "What do the Wuzu and Zhenzu that Brother Bin mentioned earlier mean?"

Old man Xu explained patiently.

“Whether it’s a sect or a martial arts school, there are qualification requirements for 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 'Wu Zu', otherwise you can only become a 'Zhen Zu'.

“Wu Zu can further practice martial arts, receive resource allocations, and retain the qualifications for promotion to officers.

"As for soldiers, due to their limited talent, they cannot practice martial arts, train soldiers in formations and fight collectively, and are not eligible for promotion to officers.

"Archers and cavalry are both considered soldiers, but their treatment is slightly better."

"Hey, old man, my foundation is too weak, I am just a soldier in the battle!"

Chen Sanshi nodded thoughtfully, understanding what it meant.

The status of a Wuzu is equivalent to that of a college student graduating from a military academy in the previous life. He has the possibility of promotion, while a soldier can only be a soldier.

"I have told you everything I know."

Old Xu was a little embarrassed: "As for the technique, I didn't understand it clearly back then, so I'd better not mislead you. Go back and study it carefully."

Outside Poyang County, the two parted ways.

Chen Sanshi pondered over it secretly.

I must become a Wuzu, otherwise wouldn’t it be a waste of my time joining the army?

I don’t even know what my talent for martial arts is!

When I got home, the food was already prepared.

After our family's conditions improved, we basically had white rice, salted duck eggs, and often meat dishes for every meal.

Gu Xinlan no longer went out to work as a maid, but instead stayed at home as a full-time housewife.

At the dinner table, she mentioned Qin Xiong in surprise: "Brother Shi, did you know that the man named Qin is missing?

“His brother has been asking around for his whereabouts lately and he’s almost going crazy.

"Zhao San, who had a feud with him in the past, had his arm chopped off in the street. I heard that blood was spurting everywhere. It was scary."

Zhao San is also a famous bully, but his activities are not limited to their area.

"Fortunately, everyone in the village knows about our reconciliation with Qin, otherwise they would definitely come to our door."

Chopping someone's arm in the street?

The disciples of the martial arts school are really arrogant.

Fortunately, Chen Sanshi had the status of a military household, so even if Qin Xiong's brother suspected him, he would not dare to commit the crime in the street. At most, he would do something behind the scenes.

However, he also has to seize the time to improve his own strength.

After dinner, Chen Sanshi could not wait to go to the open space behind the house and read "Basic Gun Techniques for Soldiers" under the moonlight. It was called gun technique, but the content was actually a kind of standing practice, and there was no content related to weapons at all.

Each page of the book is painted with vivid images, representing a standing meditation movement, and there are a few lines of small characters underneath that describe in detail the precautions and experience of practice.

His photographic memory finally came in handy. It only took him a dozen minutes to memorize the thirty-six stances in his mind and start practicing them.

Chen Sanshi followed the instructions in the booklet, pointing his toes naturally forward, tucking his chest and straightening his back, sinking his shoulders and elbows, and keeping his head light and energetic. He imagined that he was holding something on his head and would not let it fall, and maintained standard movements.

The movements looked simple, but when he actually started practicing, he found that it was not what it seemed.

Following the movements in the image, after only a few breaths, Chen Sanshi felt changes in his body.

Starting from the soles of the feet, to the calves, then to the torso and arms, the whole body began to feel hot, as if the standing meditation was some kind of starter that opened some mechanism in the human body.

In this state, Chen Sanshi's physical strength and energy rapidly dissipated, and he was sweating profusely in just half an hour.

You have to know that after he mastered the archery, his physical fitness improved significantly, and he was definitely 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 persisted until he had learned exactly ten standing exercises. Finally, he could no longer hold on and sat down on the ground with a pale face.

"Thanks to the improvement in my physique brought about by mastering the art of archery, otherwise I would never have been able to make it to the tenth standing exercise!"

"I just don't know if I'm fast or slow compared to others?"

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

"Brother Shi, I made some food, do you want to eat some?"

A soft female voice came into my ears.

Only then did Chen Sanshi notice that Gu Xinlan had not rested but had been waiting for him and had even made him a midnight snack.

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

Practicing martial arts is indeed extremely exhausting!

After dinner, Chen Sanshi looked at Lan Jie'er's back as she cleaned up the dishes. He didn't even have the mind to think about that anymore. He was so tired!
I feel like I need to eat meat.

Even though his family conditions improved, he couldn't bear to eat meat every meal.

It seems that I need to be more generous to myself and not just save the money after I win something.

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

The next morning, before they got up, they heard Qin Feng coming to the village to look for his brother early in the morning. His attitude was obviously worse than before, and he was obviously a little anxious.

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

……

"Where's my brother?!"

Qin Feng gathered together all the ruffians who had served under his brother and questioned them one by one.

"Brother, we really don't know!"

A scoundrel with a pointed chin and monkey cheeks said, "The last time we met Big Brother was the night seven days ago.

"After dinner, he said he wanted to go to the county town to have fun and didn't take us with him. We haven't seen him since then..."

Another ruffian said cautiously: "Second brother, the county magistrate happened to be assassinated that night. Do you think it was the barbarian..."

"impossible!"

Qin Feng said with great confidence: "That barbarian will never kill civilians indiscriminately during this trip!"

He seemed to realize that he had said the wrong thing, paused, and then changed his words: "What I mean is that if he kills people indiscriminately, it will only expose more traces!"

"Second brother."

The hooligans looked helpless: "We've also found Zhao San. Apart from him, I really can't imagine who else would dare to harm Big Brother."

Qin Xiong made many enemies.

But basically they are orphans, widows, widowers and their only daughters, the kind of people who are easy to bully. How could they dare to cause trouble?
"I know someone!"

The thin scoundrel said, "The scholar from the Chen family had a feud with my eldest brother in the past."

"Chen family?"

"Yes, that guy who is the best hunter in Yanbian Village!"

(End of this chapter)