My Cultivation Starting from Archery

"Are you alright?"

After waiting for a while, Chen Sansi stepped forward and helped Fatty Wang to his feet.

"Did you hear everything?"

With a dazed expression, Wang Zhi responded, "Yes, it was I who caused the death of my junior and the soldiers..."

"Then how come you haven't lost your head?"

Chen Sansi asked.

If it was a major blunder in commanding that led to the annihilation of an entire Elite Camp, the Main General would definitely be sentenced to death.

"..."

Wang Zhi kept quiet for a long time before finally speaking in a hoarse voice, "I had no choice at the time, do you understand? I had no choice."

He knelt back down to the ground and slumped sitting.

"In the fifty-seventh year of Longqing,

"Under the instigation of Yan Liang and others, the court summoned the Lord Governor back to the Capital City under false charges and threw him into the Imperial Prison.

"That same year,

"Nanxu Country launched a large-scale invasion.

"The Eight Camps were deployed to defend and counterattack.

"My real name is Tang Ruoshan, and I was the Xuanwu Camp Commander at the time.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"However, the defeat wasn't due to my miscommand.

"At that time, Nanxu Country had already seized many strategic fortresses, including Lingchuan Prefecture.

"If we didn't find a way to swiftly take back Lingchuan Prefecture, once Nanxu Country stabilized its footing, the south would be essentially lost.

"But Lingchuan Prefecture has treacherous terrain, easy to defend but hard to attack.

"The best strategy was to first breach through Kangning Prefecture on the eastern side.

"But such a breach was not easy to create.

"The ideal approach was to wait for the rest of the Imperial Army to arrive as reinforcements and launch a fierce attack with several times the manpower.

"But they didn't move!"

Wang Zhi became agitated: "The Emperor's Imperial Army was already assembled, yet they deliberately didn't set out towards Kangning Prefecture, why do you think that was?"

"They were waiting for you to be killed."

Chen Sansi provided the answer.

"Exactly!"

Wang Zhi spoke angrily, "The court wanted to use this opportunity to weaken the power of the Eight Camps, and it would be better still if a few generals died, making it easier for others to take over in the future!

"The Supervisor confined in the Imperial Prison was used as a hostage to threaten us!

"If we disobeyed and delayed until the Imperial Army had no choice but to intervene, it would only confirm the disloyalty of the Eight Camps, and what end would our master meet? The Eight Camps would surely be targeted for slow purge.

"Conversely, if the Eight Camps stood up and showed loyalty at this time, willing to lead the charge for the Imperial Army, it would prove that we were still under the control of the court, maybe then our master and the others could find a way to survive.

"I saw that very clearly.

"And it wasn't enough just to use flesh and blood to storm the city for the Imperial Army, there had to be one more person!"

Chen Sansi's brow furrowed slightly, "Third Young Master?"

Wang Zhi did not answer directly but instead spoke in a lower tone:

"Do you know when the Eight Camps were established?

"Seventy-two years ago, from the first year of Longqing, the year the current Emperor ascended the throne!

"Our master knew the Emperor since they were young, being a confidant within the hearts of the Emperor, otherwise, how could he have been granted the power to recruit troops independently?

"Even the fact that the common people called the Eight Camps the 'Sun Family Army,' the Emperor tolerated it.

"Guess why, specifically in the fifty-seventh year of Longqing, he could no longer tolerate it?

"Because a genius emerged from the Sun Family.

"Our master had a total of five children.

"The oldest and the second, died early in battles, and even if they were alive, their talents were mediocre; they would not have made significant strides in the path of Martial Arts.

"But the third, Sun Buhui, was a genius.

"Practicing Martial Arts for less than four years, he experienced countless battles, undefeated in all, highly revered in the military.

"In the past, the Emperor would tolerate the existence of a 'Sun Family Army' because he knew this situation would eventually end.

"Once our master retired or passed away, the court would straightforwardly gain a corps of elite troops, a perfectly advantageous arrangement, who wouldn't be pleased with that?

"However, the emergence of Sun Buhui changed everything.

"Buhui, exceptionally talented and highly ambitious, even declared that he would take over the Eight Camps in the future.

"This... touched the Emperor's raw nerve.

"For the Great Sheng Dynasty, having a Supervisor like Sun was an asset, a model of harmonious monarch-subject relations.

"But if the Sun family were to produce another Governor, the nature of the matter would change completely."

"By then, the Eight Camps would truly become the 'Sun Family Army,' and the Sun family would no longer just be Sealed Border Governors but akin to a princely state of a different surname."

"The court, how could it possibly allow such a thing to happen?"

"And yet all the generals in the Eight Camps are very supportive of him."

"How could the Emperor allow this situation to occur?"

"Thus, he took advantage of a major court case to incarcerate Lord Governor Sun in the Imperial Prison."

So that was it.

From Chen Sansi's perspective, there were only two solutions in this situation.

First, Lord Governor Sun dies, and the Sun family is stripped of military power, at least placed under house arrest."

Second, Sun Buhui dies."

Once again, Wang Zhi's voice came to his ears.

"But after all, I watched my junior brother grow up, how could I bear to see him die?"

"I thought of many ways, even considered rebelling."

"But with the master detained in the Imperial Prison, if we acted, he would be the first to die."

"Moreover, at that time, there was no second Martial Saint in the Eight Camps, it was simply not possible to win."

"In the end, I could only lead my junior brother Sun Buhui to attack the city, prepared to die with him, and use one camp's brothers to buy a retreat for the Eight Camps."

"But... I didn't die, I didn't die!"

"I also don't know how I possibly didn't die."

Wang Zhi's eyes were bloodshot, his face pained: "I was the first to climb the city wall, not retreating a step, continuing to fight until I lost consciousness, but I just did not die!"

"When I woke up, I was in a bed, and Nanxu Country had already been repelled."

"At that time, Bu Qi and Sun Li, who were still mere children, stood by my bed, asking for their third brother..."

"The master also returned."

"He said that from then on, our fate as master and disciple was finished, and told me to take care of myself."

Chen Sansi asked, "Because of the death of the third son of the Supervisor?"

"No."

Wang Zhi trembled all over: "His old man did not blame me for that."

"He said it was his own incompetence, unable to protect his own son, and also blamed the younger brother for his youthful impulsiveness, that he should bear the corresponding consequences."

"The reason he sent me away was because at the time, only the younger brother needed to die, not to lead to the annihilation of the entire Xuanwu Camp, too rash, not fit to be a general anymore..."

"What happened after?"

Chen Sansi asked, "Did it just end like that?"

"No, it didn't end!"

Wang Zhi raised his head: "Not long after, the master avenged us!"

"He went back to the Capital City alone and outside the Imperial Palace, he stabbed to death the Minister of War who had long delayed sending troops and then left the Capital City openly."

Killing someone in the Imperial Palace?

Wasn't that almost the same as doing it in front of the Emperor's face?

Why didn't he act before?

Chen Sansi wondered.

Could it be that after the incident, Lord Supervisor had made another breakthrough in Martial Arts?

"Rumors from the outside."

Wang Zhi explained, "The master had broken through to a realm above Martial Saint."

Above Martial Saint...

The Immortal Path?

Chen Sansi felt it was far off.

He currently was still vague about the realm above Refining Internal, only knowing it was called Hua Jin."

And with everything having turned out this way, with Lord Supervisor not rebelling, could the Emperor still tolerate him?

Unless...

The two of them couldn't kill each other!

Chen Sansi recalled again the matter of the Emperor's many years of spiritual cultivation."

Upon reflection, the conflict between the Eight Camps and the Imperial Family seemed significant."

But, he still had to go to the Governor Mansion."

Because according to the court's nature, if one truly reached a certain level in Martial Arts, who knows how they might try to control him."

Compared to that, the Governor Mansion was still the best place to go."