Chapter 40

Terms: Superior Strong Bow (not a proper name), Baodiao Bow, Martial Power, Speed, Hit Rate, Active Skill Point Shot, Within a hundred zhang, Arrows never miss, Additional, Piercing Effect, Damage Increase, Cooldown Time, A quarter of an hour. Also 'Superior Strong Bow' maybe 'Superior Strong Bow' but not a proper name.

Additional Active Skill Volley Shot, Ten-arrow Volley, Hit Rate 90%, Damage Increase 10%, Cooldown Time 5 minutes.

Additional Passive Skill Armor Break, When hitting a target 5% chance to break armor, Damage Increase 100%, After triggering cooldown is one two-hour period.

Baodiao Bow, Shen Tianxing.

Infinite Common Quiver, always keeps ten ordinary feather arrows in the quiver; feather arrow damage equals (martial force plus Suodu) divided by two.

Shen Tianxing, Sixth-Rank Expert.

Basic Archery Mastery; after comprehension, one can raise basic archery to mastery, which can greatly enhance the user's use of archery.

Intermediate Third-Rank Archer Summon Token; after use, can summon 500 Third-Rank Strong Archers; Martial Dao Realm Second-Rank Sixth Layer; upon death, can spend 1000 Slaughter Points to revive one person.

500 archers are also very useful to Shen Tianxing now; although their strength is not strong, as a ranged strike unit, they not only can suppress but also better kill enemies to gain Killing Value.

Qin Lie, Li Ming, Capital Commandant.

North City Gate, the troops, corpses, Imperial Court, merits, seeking merit, healing.

Finally, it was to ask them about their situation at the time, and incidentally ask about what Shen, the commander of a thousand, did while defending the North City Gate, whether he had left.

Your subordinate.

Qin Lie, Li Ming, Yang Hongyue, Shen Tianxing.

Marshal's Manor.

Shen Tianxing smiled and nodded, ordered Zhao Lingfei nearby, then casually found a horse and followed Yang Hongyue to the Marshal's Manor.

The Marshal's Manor had long been empty; Yang Hongyue had her soldiers garrison outside, then she brought Shen Tianxing to the study, and upon entering the study and closing the door, she shouted at him:

Sun Tiejun, Protector General, Sun Zhongquan.

If Sun Tiejun's death were investigated this time, once it is traced to you, you would have no foothold in the Great Zhou; Sun Zhongquan has countless ways to take your life.

Don't look at Yang Hongyue being so agitated; actually she is concerned about Shen Tianxing, only her expression shows reproach, but the anxiety in her expression cannot be feigned.

"The plan is flawless; no one will find out, unless General Yang you betray me, but that's impossible, right?"

"I, as General, can suspect you; why can't others? Don't forget that before Sun Tiejun's death, he kept saying it was you; even if they didn't see you, everyone will truthfully recount the situation at that time."

"You are the only point of suspicion; even if many people prove you weren't there, just one point is enough for Sun Zhongquan to want your life."

After Yang Hongyue finished speaking with a look of helplessness, Shen Tianxing still wore a carefree smile; with the system on him, whoever comes is the same, what is there to fear?

Qiao Yinxiang, Master Experience Card, Snow Cake.

"General, you're right; I was indeed rash, but if I'm not mistaken, Sun Zhongquan now has no time to consider his son's life or death; they must be plotting something big."

Yang Hongyue also had her interest piqued by Shen Tianxing's words.

"What big thing are they plotting? Could it be more important than Sun Tiejun's son?"

"General Yang, haven't you considered that 200,000 troops guarding Humen Pass could never break the city, and there's no need to sacrifice so many people just to exchange for a plan to annihilate the enemy's 100,000 troops?"

"This has certainly been considered, but it's only to end the battle quickly; otherwise, if we keep dragging on, the Imperial Court's grain and fodder will be insufficient, making a prolonged war impossible."

I was the first to oppose Sun Tiejun's plan, but he used this reason to convince me; if we kept fighting, we would likewise suffer heavy losses, and when grain and fodder run low, morale in the army will surely plummet.

But the situation is different on the Great Wu side; according to messages from our spies infiltrating Great Wu, their grain and fodder are sufficient to sustain fighting until next year.

Shen Tianxing.

"I don't think so; why didn't Great Wu pursue the victory this time? This is a major doubt, and Sun Tiejun's plan is based on this doubt."

"If Great Wu had pursued the victory and directly attacked An City, this plan would have been completely ruined; but we gave them five days, and there was not the slightest movement."

"If I'm not mistaken, they too are lacking in grain and fodder; otherwise, how could they pass up this great opportunity? The cause of the shortage is certainly their commander Fang Daode meddling from within."

Shen Tianxing had indeed considered and guessed, but being able to confirm the shortage of grain and fodder is largely thanks to Hong Yi; Hong Yi, as a Subsystem with radar functionality, although it cannot investigate plots unrelated to Shen Tianxing, can scan all information within the city throughout.

From the information gathered by Hong Yi's inspection, Shen Tianxing knew that the grain and fodder inside Humen Pass were insufficient, so he could conclude that Wan Qianjun had not pursued the victory; the key lies in grain and fodder.

"You mean Sun Zhongquan and Great Wu have colluded, and Sun Tiejun had a deal or cooperation with Fang Daode?"

"That's completely impossible; although Sun Zhongquan is arrogant and self-important, he has been loyal all these years, and colluding with an enemy nation is a capital crime; he wouldn't be so foolish as to put himself in danger."

Yang Hongyue also wasn't absolutely disbelieving; she merely raised the doubts in her heart.

Shen Tianxing laughed again, shaking his head repeatedly, and said:

"That's not necessarily true; what if they wanted to rebel? Our forces now probably number less than 120,000; if there were a change in Jingcheng and we were called to reinforce, how many could we send at most?"

"Normally speaking, we need to keep at least 100,000 troops here to guard Humen Pass; otherwise we cannot long resist Great Wu's offensive. Originally we had nearly 200,000 troops, leaving 100,000 and taking 100,000 would be no problem."

Now only left? Even if it's fewer, we still have to keep 80,000 people; then the remaining 40,000 rush back to Jingcheng—is that enough to deal with Sun Zhongquan?