After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Just as he spoke, the opponent’s arrow had already been shot. Fu Tinghan immediately swung his long sword towards the direction the arrow came from, but his movements couldn’t keep up with his eyes. His sword only brushed the arrow slightly, yet it still flew forward, albeit in a skewed direction.

As Zhao Hanzhang heard him shout, she turned her head. From the corner of her eye, she saw the incoming arrow, and without any particular thought, her body instinctively leaned to one side. Just as she moved, the arrow flew past her eyes, its feathers grazing her left cheek...

As soon as the arrow flew past, Zhao Hanzhang turned to look and saw the archer had already released a second arrow. Her face changed dramatically, and she shouted at Fu Tinghan, "Get down!"

Fu Tinghan didn’t look back. He was facing her and immediately dropped to the ground. However, just as he moved, the arrow struck his rear shoulder. Due to inertia, he was carried down from the horse by the force of the arrow...

Qiu Wu and Fu An, who were protecting Fu Tinghan but were some distance away, were horrified and exclaimed, "My Lord!"

Zhao Erlang turned his head, his eyes wide open, shouting, "Brother-in-law!"

Fueled by anger, Zhao Hanzhang aimed at the person who shot the arrow just as Fu Tinghan fell off the horse. She hurled her spear at him with the expert technique of a javelin throw. The archer had just lowered his short bow and tried to dodge on horseback upon seeing the spear, but it was too late—the spear hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Without looking at the result after casting her spear, Zhao Hanzhang kicked her horse’s belly and rushed to catch Fu Tinghan, who had fallen from his horse. However, just as she reached out, another arrow hit Fu Tinghan’s horse. It reared up, neighing, its hooves about to stomp on the fallen Fu Tinghan...

Zhao Hanzhang immediately urged her horse to leap toward it. As it was about to land, she collided with it, causing it to slightly deviate. Zhao Erlang, who was the closest, acted without a second thought—he dismounted and punched the neighing horse, flipping it over and revealing the obscured Fu Tinghan underneath.

Wang Nai and Xie Shi witnessed the series of incidents, realized something, and shouted from afar, "Protect the commander, beware of hidden arrows!"

The Zhao Family Army had undergone such training. Following Qiu Wu’s command, the nearby cavalry immediately slaughtered the surrounding enemy troops, then formed up together, shielding Zhao Hanzhang and others in the center, concealing them from outside view.

After colliding, Zhao Hanzhang quickly dismounted, bending down almost the moment Zhao Erlang struck the horse. She reached down and dragged the exposed Fu Tinghan out. Seeing his pale face but still conscious, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She glanced at his back, grabbed the base of the arrow, and with a strong pull, broke off the arrow feather, leaving only a short stub.

She pulled him up, pushed him onto a horse, and mounted quickly herself. Glancing at Gou Chun, who had taken over most of the camp, Zhao Hanzhang gritted her teeth and ordered, "Sound the gong for retreat, all troops withdraw from the camp. Wang Nai, Xie Shi!"

Wang Nai and Xie Shi also fought their way over and responded in unison, "At your service, General."

"I order the two of you to pursue Prince East Sea together with Zhao Erlang. Pursue him for no more than eighty miles, and regardless of whether you catch him or not, return after eighty miles."

Her gaze turned cold, and she lowered her voice slightly, "Round up the remaining troops. Capture as many prisoners as possible, and those you can’t, drive them into the nearby mountains and forests. Be wary of Gou Chun!"

Wang Nai and Xie Shi acknowledged.

Zhao Hanzhang snorted coldly and said to Qiu Wu, "Bring the trusted aides, let’s go!"

Zhao Hanzhang kicked her horse’s belly, causing the trusted aides surrounding them to immediately disperse. As Zhao Hanzhang passed by the corpse, she reached out to retrieve her spear and, along with Fu Tinghan, charged out.

Prince East Sea’s men naturally didn’t stop them. They avoided them from a distance, while Gou Chun glanced back when he had a moment, squinting at her murderous aura with some regret.

But there were still many remnants of Prince East Sea’s army. Though they were a defeated force, they outnumbered them several times over. It was fine as long as the two armies cooperated, but if any discord arose, who knew if they wouldn’t rekindle their morale and counterattack?

So Gou Chun watched Zhao Hanzhang and her group leave without hindrance.

Zhao Hanzhang took Fu Tinghan out of the battlefield. Their medical tent was set up at the shallow river crossing because it was the only safe place.

The army doctors waiting outside saw them return and quickly went to meet them. "Is the General injured?"

Zhao Hanzhang dismounted and helped the pale-faced Fu Tinghan down. "It’s Fu Tinghan; he took an arrow in the back."

The group hurriedly brought Fu Tinghan to the medical tent. Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the location of the wound and breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her heart was still tense. In this era, the mortality rate from infections was high, especially from arrow wounds...

Zhao Hanzhang suppressed her inner anxiety and turned to Qiu Wu, "Send scouts to keep an eye on Gou Chun and Gou Xi. If they make any moves, inform me immediately."

Then she called over two trusted aides, quickly wrote a brief letter for them, and said in a deep voice, "Take this to the main tent at once and have Mr. Ji and the others act according to the orders once they receive it."

The trusted aides accepted the letter and left at once.

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Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but pace back and forth, occasionally glancing at Fu Tinghan.

The armor Fu Tinghan could remove was taken off, and what couldn’t be was cut away with scissors, quickly exposing the shoulder wound where the arrow had struck.

Fu Tinghan was in pain; he could only talk to Zhao Hanzhang to distract himself, "We don’t have evidence for this matter, and with our current strength, it’s not wise to antagonize Gou Xi. If I’m not mistaken, Gou Xi may not even know about this."

Zhao Hanzhang’s expression was grim. "Even so, we cannot be unguarded."

Both of them were smart, as were Wang Nai and Xie Shi, who were present. Although the archer wore the uniforms of Prince East Sea’s forces, he was on horseback and wielding a short bow. It was clear he couldn’t have been one of Prince East Sea’s men.

The army doctor quickly devised a method to extract the arrow. He told Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, "The Lord’s arrow wound is not deep, luckily it’s from a short bow; if it were one of our commonly used longbows, at this distance it might have pierced through him."

Zhao Hanzhang awaited his "but."

"But the arrowhead is specially designed to catch and tear at the flesh, and pulling it out will take a lot of flesh with it, leading to significant bleeding."

Zhao Hanzhang frowned. "Can’t we use a knife to cut it out piece by piece, avoiding the flesh?"

The army doctor shook his head decisively, "General, we don’t have that skill; we can only force it out."

Zhao Hanzhang gnashed her teeth. Fu Tinghan was already feeling dizzy and said to Zhao Hanzhang, "Let them do it; the longer this arrowhead stays, the worse it will be. The best military doctors are here; you can’t possibly send me back to Xiping for surgery."

Moreover, the doctors in Xiping may not be better than the military doctors.

Zhao Hanzhang fell silent, and after pondering for a moment, she nodded. She personally took a cloth strip, tied it around a piece of wood, and placed it in his mouth for him to bite on. She and two soldiers then held him down, and she signaled to the army doctor, "Do it."

The army doctor sighed in relief, coaxing Fu Tinghan to relax his body as much as possible. Then, at the moment he let his guard down, he yanked the arrowhead out. Blood spurted out, and he immediately pressed it with a piece of clotting bandage. Fu Tinghan’s whole back tensed up, and then, as he loosened his grip on the cloth strip he was biting, he slumped against the pillow and passed out.

Zhao Hanzhang was a bit anxious, "He’s passed out!"