Less tedious way to call values from the command line?

I currently have:

int main(int argc, char* argv[]){
   char* array = argv[1];
   char* test = argv[2];
   char*p;
   char*q;
   long check;
   long checker;

   check = strtol(array, &p, 3);
   checker = strtol(test, &q, 3);
   printf("Check: %ld\n", check);
}

What would be faster/ more efficient way of calling the values from the command line without having to create a new variable (p,q,check,checker) every time a new value is called? ie. ./program 1 2 3

Also, why do values such as -9 return 0?