I would suggest this, filling all of your valleys slots. Then scout all of the lvl 10 valleys in a 30 mile radius of your city. If they contain archers then they are off the list, unless they contain just archers (pretty rare but awesome to find).
If then contain just archers attack with and equal number of cav and 1 scout.

If the contain cav (and less than 3 then other layers) send 25k archers, 1 pike, 1 sword, 1 cav, 1 phract AND 1 BALLISTA

If they contain a mix that doesn't include cav or archers, send 25k archers 1pike/sword/cav and phract

Send out 8 waves at once and come back in and hour and do it again. If ur valley spots are full the troops in the valleys you are hitting wont change. You will also get a lot of resources (ex. level 10 forest can give over 1mil lumber)

I would say medals from this method are about 1 in 10. It will take work but on S135 we have many marquis+ who didn't spend a dime