Chapter 20: Dare You Question the General's Words?

“General, what I am about to share is my own insight, without allegiance to any school or sect.” Lin Chuan gestured toward the ranks. “When soldiers enter the battlefield, they must possess steadfast resolve as solid as a rock. The practice of standing postures trains the strength of the legs and feet, and steadies the spirit. If one is distracted by passersby during this practice, how can they endure the realities of true combat?”

Chen Yuanshan stared at Lin Chuan for a moment. “If I recall correctly... you’ve never studied military texts.”

Lin Chuan’s heart tightened, but his expression remained calm as he replied, “Indeed, I have not read any military treatises. But as a child, I hunted in the mountains with my late father and witnessed how a wolf, starved for three days, patiently stalked its prey.”

“Oh? Tell me more...”

“It can lie in the same spot all night, unmoving even if insects crawl into its ears.”

Lin Chuan paused, his gaze sweeping over the soldiers standing in formation.

“Later, I understood that it was not senseless waiting, but nurturing a certain kind of strength...”

“What kind of strength?”

“The fierce power to snap a throat in a single bite when the prey comes close.”

“Is hunting the same as warfare?”

“How could they be different? If you lose focus while hunting, the prey escapes; if you lose focus in battle, you lose your head. I have merely applied the mountain’s simple methods to people. Only by standing firm can one wait for the right moment; only by waiting for the right moment can one kill the barbarians.”

Pang Dabiao listened intently and couldn’t help but nod.

“Pang Dabiao, why are you nodding?” Chen Yuanshan glanced sideways.

“General,” Pang Dabiao was momentarily taken aback but quickly explained, “Listening to Commander Lin’s words, I feel deeply moved. If an eagle’s talons are unsteady, it cannot grasp a rabbit; if a soldier cannot stand firm, he cannot sever a barbarian’s neck. Commander Lin’s training method indeed holds great wisdom!”

Chen Yuanshan smiled faintly but made no comment.

“Let’s go see over there...” He noticed the target wall on the fortress rampart. Instead of wooden boards, it was made from barbarian leather armor.

Chen Yuanshan glanced at Ergou’s tattered cotton armor.

“Using barbarian leather armor as targets? How extravagant of you...”

“Using leather armor better tests the quality of arrowheads.” Lin Chuan followed behind. “The new triangular arrows I developed can penetrate two layers of leather armor.”

“Two layers?” Chen Yuanshan turned around. “Why did the battle report only mention one layer?”

“Because that was the battle report, and the barbarians only wore one layer.”

Lin Chuan met his eyes. “The second layer is the result of my actual tests. I left some room when reporting.”

Chen Yuanshan was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. He patted Lin Chuan’s shoulder with a spark of approval in his eyes.

“Leaving room? I think you’re afraid such a powerful weapon will be mistaken for junk by the blind.”

Lin Chuan said nothing, but took the quiver from Ergou’s hand, pulled out a triangular arrow, and handed it over.

“Since the general is here, why not try it?”

Chen Yuanshan did not take the arrow but looked at Ergou. “Let this lad shoot!”

The sun stood high overhead.

A sharp whistle sliced through the simple training ground.

Ergou drew the bow and nocked the arrow. The arrow pierced through two layers of leather armor, still retaining enough force to embed deeply into the earth.

Chen Yuanshan watched the vibrating fletching at the arrow’s tail, then turned to Ergou. “Boy, what is the draw weight of your bow?”

Ergou hurriedly lowered his war bow and knelt on one knee. “General, I can draw one shi and three dou.”

“One shi and three dou?” Chen Yuanshan raised an eyebrow. “In the capital city, that strength would qualify you for the Iron Arm Battalion.”

He gestured toward the leather armor on the target wall. “Try shooting through three layers.”

Lin Chuan’s heart stirred, but he saw Pang Dabiao had already run over and stacked another layer of armor.

Ergou drew the bowstring.

The boy’s arms tensed like iron, the bowstring arced full and bright in the sunlight.

With a soft “whizz,” the arrow tore through the first two layers and punched a bowl-sized hole in the third cowhide target.

“Excellent!” Chen Yuanshan clapped, praising loudly. “That power— even a barbarian sharpshooter might not match it!”

“Thank you, General!”

“Who taught you to shoot like this?”

Ergou instinctively touched the short bow in his hand, a weapon he crafted himself from black pine and wolf sinew.

“No one taught me, General. I hunted rabbits in the mountains as a child, and after many shots, I learned.”

“Another mountain’s simple trick?”

Chen Yuanshan turned to Lin Chuan, his gaze probing.

“General,” Lin Chuan took over, “In the mountains, people live by their prey, not by masters. Miss ten shots, and you go hungry for ten meals; miss a hundred, and you won’t see spring.”

Chen Yuanshan was silent for a moment, then suddenly took his own carved bow from a personal guard and handed it to Ergou.

“Try this.”

Ergou was stunned, looking at Lin Chuan.

Seeing Lin Chuan nod slightly, he dared to reach out and take the bow.

The carved bow was astonishingly heavy in his hands. He took a deep breath and drew, but could only pull it halfway.

“General’s bow... I can’t draw it.”

Ergou’s face flushed red as he returned the bow.

“If you can’t draw it, then train,” Chen Yuanshan chuckled. “I’ll return in three months. If you can draw this bow by then, I’ll gift you ten jin of wolf sinew and a hundred triangular arrows.”

Ergou’s eyes brightened, his hand trembling slightly on the string. “Really?”

“Do you doubt the general’s word?”

Lin Chuan gave a sharp kick. “If I say it, I won’t fail the mission!”

“Fail what mission?” Chen Yuanshan laughed heartily. “I don’t want your lives—I want the arrows in your hands! Faster than the barbarians’ horses, deadlier than their blades, more accurate than their eyes!”

“Understood, General!” Lin Chuan clasped his fists in response.

Chen Yuanshan fixed his gaze on the triangular arrowhead in Lin Chuan’s hand and suddenly spoke:

“Tell me, you lured me here and kept me watching the target wall for half an hour—what exactly are you up to?”

At this, everyone around was stunned.

Pang Dabiao and Hu Dayong exchanged bewildered glances.

Lin Chuan, however, remained composed. He pulled three arrows from his quiver and lined them up on the stone table.

The arrowheads gleamed in shades of bronze, wrought iron, and new steel, each shining like a different kind of blade in the setting sun.

“General, please look,” Lin Chuan pointed to the rightmost arrowhead.

“This is the ‘Wolf Fang Arrow’ made by the capital’s armory. Each costs three taels of iron and is worth half a shi of millet. The middle one is wrought iron from Iron Forest Fortress, using half the iron but still able to pierce one layer of leather armor. The leftmost triangular arrow...” He paused. “It’s forged from pig iron ore, able to penetrate two layers, and costs even less.”

Chen Yuanshan’s eyes suddenly lit up. “You mean Iron Forest Fortress can replicate the capital’s arrows?”

“Not replicate, improve.”

Lin Chuan produced a blueprint drawn by Blacksmith Zhao, with iron filings still clinging to the parchment.

“The armory’s arrows emphasize ‘regular shape,’ engraved flying tiger patterns, precise measurements. Our arrows only ask: can they kill? If Iron Forest Fortress opens a furnace for arrow production, costs could drop to thirty percent of the capital’s, producing at least eight hundred arrows monthly.”

“Eight hundred?” Pang Dabiao exclaimed. “General, that’s half the output of the capital’s armory!”

“But there’s a problem.”

Lin Chuan looked toward the rear hills outside the fortress, where dense vegetation and faint animal trails were visible.

“Iron Forest Fortress lacks iron. There is a mine in the back hills, but unfortunately, it belongs to Lord Zhang privately.”

Chen Yuanshan frowned. “Lord Zhang?”

“General,” Pang Dabiao whispered, “he’s the same Zhang Yuanwai who once sent birthday gifts to the Ministry of Revenue.”

“Oh...”

Chen Yuanshan’s eyes turned cold as he looked at Lin Chuan.

“You and Lord Zhang... have a grudge?”

Lin Chuan’s heart sank.

“General, your insight is keen. Indeed, I have a grudge with him.”

Lin Chuan spoke loudly and clearly, “That Lord Zhang forged IOUs and attempted to forcibly take my betrothed, who has yet to marry.”

His eyes were steady, his tone calm.

Yet, upon hearing this, several people nearby changed color.