Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Can’t a strategist ascend the throne? Volume 1: The Yellow Turban Rebellion, The Clear Voice of a Young Phoenix, Chapter 15: To Leave a Name in History

Yes, Changshe…

It wasn’t until halfway through the journey to Yingchuan that the system suddenly spoke up like a zombie: “Wait! Did you have such a dangerous idea from the very beginning?”

As Cheng Li said, Qiao Yan won over the Tian family for her own use, killed Bu Ji and Zhang Bo, two Yellow Turban Commanders, continued to rise in status under Liang Zhongning, and sent Dian Wei to Dong’e to deliver a letter, bringing Cheng Li to Puyang for assistance—

The ultimate goal was Changshe!

Although the Yanzhou region had calmed down with the unification of the three Yellow Turban factions, in the Yu Province to the south, the battle between the Han army and the Yellow Turbans had reached a fever pitch.

Changshe was anything but peaceful.

In March of the seventh year of Guanghe, the Right Middle General Zhu Jun was defeated by Bo Cai.

The Left Middle General Huangfu Song led his troops and was forced to join Zhu Jun in defending Changshe.

Outside the county city of Changshe, the Yellow Turbans led by Bo Cai were closing in.

To be precise, Changshe wasn’t the only battlefield in Yu Province. But the similarity was that the Yellow Turbans were gaining the upper hand everywhere, for example—

In early April, the Runan Yellow Turbans defeated Prefect Zhao Qian at Shaoling.

Three days later, the Yellow Turban Army, continuing to tighten the encirclement, completely surrounded the Han army in Changshe, clearly aiming to completely suppress the Han army on this front.

So, on the second day after Cheng Li arrived in Puyang, Qiao Yan approached Liang Zhongning.

He had thought that Cheng Li, who came with Dian Wei, was, as Qiao Yan claimed, also a disciple of Zheng Xuan, and had come to take his strategist away. But Qiao Yan said that her teacher’s instruction was that if there was no sign of rebellion in Yanzhou, it would be better to see if the Yellow Turbans truly had the ability to overthrow and restore the world.

“Master Zheng observed the stars half a month ago and saw that Mars was dim, an unusual celestial phenomenon, indicating the decline of the Han’s fire virtue. Only the stars of Di and Fang were bright, corresponding to the regions of Yanzhou and Yu Province.”

Hearing this, Liang Zhongning looked a bit confused.

Astrology and divination were popular in the late Han dynasty, but for someone like him, who had little education before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, it was still a bit over his head.

But he understood some of it.

Mars, known as the Fire Virtue Star in folklore, and since Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, was the son of the Red Emperor and started the rebellion by slaying the white snake, the Han dynasty represented the fire virtue—

The dimness of Mars and the decline of the fire virtue were undoubtedly good news for the Yellow Turbans.

And “the brightness of the stars of Di and Fang,” corresponding to the regions of Yanzhou and Yu Province, also seemed like good news?

Then Qiao Yan said, “The changes in the stars are not clear to Master Zheng in Gaomi, so he sent me and Zhongde to Yingchuan to observe. Perhaps it corresponds to the battle between Commander Bo Cai and General Huangfu Song. This matter is of great importance, so I must leave Puyang. Farewell.”

With that, she bowed to Liang Zhongning and turned to leave.

Liang Zhongning was dizzy from the astrology talk, but he understood this last part.

He immediately slapped his thigh and made a decision: “Why go alone! The Yellow Turbans of Yu Province are in a stalemate with the Han army. It’s only fitting that the Yellow Turbans of Yanzhou go to support them.”

Liang Zhongning had some ulterior motives.

Qiao Yan said the celestial changes corresponded to Yanzhou and Yu Province. Having been flattered by the Tian and Xue families, he couldn’t help but feel he was a born commander, otherwise, how could his soldiers be so obedient?

And with Yanzhou coming first, it might be a sign that he would shine in the battle of Yingchuan.

Besides, wouldn’t it be safer to go with him than for Qiao Yan to go directly to Yingchuan?

What was there to hesitate about!

Two days ago, while inspecting the camp, he heard the well-fed soldiers asking when they would get a chance to fight.

Previously, Liang Zhongning had to vaguely respond, as he had no battles to fight.

After all, Zhang Jiao was busy fighting Lu Zhi, and the nearest Bo Cai faction was already winning, clearly not wanting to share the credit with him.

But now it was different. He could use the celestial observation as an excuse for his “unauthorized” military action.

This couldn’t be better!

He immediately gathered his men, packed enough rations, and ten days after Qiao Yan mentioned her intention to go to the Changshe front, he led the army, leaving only a garrison in Puyang, and set off.

The system was once again stunned by this turn of events.

The skill points Qiao Yan gained from helping Liang Zhongning eliminate Bu Ji and Zhang Bo had already been added to her [Eloquence] skill before Cheng Li arrived in Puyang.

The improvement of such a skill is indeed hard to quantify.

But the system, seeing how effortlessly she spouted the celestial theory without a second thought, became increasingly aware of one fact.

This absolutely practical skill for a strategist, when placed on someone like Qiao Yan who is always thinking, is truly terrifying.

The step-by-step arrangements, in the system’s view, were not made on the fly but clearly planned out when she approached Liang Zhongning.

Now, this mixed Yellow Turban force, carrying ample rations from Yanzhou to Yingchuan, was definitely not going to assist Bo Cai in breaking the Han army’s defense of Changshe. On the contrary…

The system felt it might be necessary to light a candle for the Yellow Turbans.

It was out of this line of thought that it asked the question—

“Did you have such a dangerous idea from the very beginning?”

“If I said no, would you believe me?” Qiao Yan retorted.

No.

The system silently replied.

It glanced at its host.

While waiting for Cheng Li to arrive in Puyang and for Liang Zhongning’s mindset to become increasingly unbalanced under the flattery of the powerful families, Qiao Yan had some free time and tried to learn horseback riding.

Unfortunately, such a skill isn’t something you can master overnight, and the skill points she had couldn’t be wasted on it.

So, she was still sitting in a separate carriage, following the marching troops.

Cheng Li, however, fitting the Han dynasty’s requirement for scholars to master the “Six Arts of a Gentleman,” was riding a horse beside the carriage.

Qiao Yan lifted the carriage curtain to glance at him, then looked away, refusing to admit her frustration at still being a short-legged child.

But compared to the slight resentment Qiao Yan harbored…








Zudao’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, the system’s resentment is much deeper.

From Qiao Yan’s overly calm expression, it belatedly realized that it had been slapped in the face twice.

As a system with a decent memory, it clearly remembers that when choosing an identity for the host, it was aiming for her to directly latch onto the thighs of Cao Cao and Huangfu Song.

But now, while Huangfu Song and others are still trapped in Changshe, she has already led the Yanzhou Yellow Turbans, who respect her as a military strategist, straight to Changshe.

The scene of one inside the city and one outside the city is, no matter how you think about it, a bit微妙.

The second thing is that when Qiao Yan mentioned that the Han army would sweep through Yanzhou by June, and that she needed to find a way to survive before June, the system once suggested she seek refuge in a city within Yanzhou that had successfully resisted the Yellow Turbans, such as Dong’e.

But now, the strategist from Dong’e has already come under her command.

It’s not exactly投效, but it’s certainly moved by Qiao Yan’s rhetoric of “pacifying the Yellow Turbans of a province,” forming what the system sees as a collaboration between two high-level strategists.

And the powerful Xue family of Dong’e has contributed quite a few people to this endeavor.

This is not just a far cry from the system’s original suggestion—

It’s not even in the same ballpark!

This is a completely different matter!

The system couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

How did it initially see Qiao Yan as a pitiful little thing who had to endure humiliation and join the bandits for survival?

From the time she woke up in a pile of corpses to now, it’s only been a month, yet not only has her appearance improved from having enough to eat, but she has also transformed from someone who had never experienced the war era into the composed and commanding chief strategist she is now.

Liang Zhongning, though a bit飘, still respects Qiao Yan without any lessening.

On the way to Changshe, he even respectfully asked Qiao Yan to give him more指点.

What’s strange to the system is that Qiao Yan’s guidance to Liang Zhongning is not敷衍.

For example, today, her guidance topic was based on Wang Zongyi’s compilation of “Li Weigong’s Military Strategy Collection” and relevant records in “Records of the Three Kingdoms,” discussing the arrangement of圊溷 in a camp of ten thousand.

What is圊溷? It’s the toilet in the military camp.

This is not a trivial matter.

The arrangement of toilets in a march of ten thousand is especially important, as improper handling could easily lead to瘟疫, causing particularly severe consequences.

Liang Zhongning earnestly noted what Qiao Yan said, treating it as a treasure, and immediately went to discuss with the logistics personnel of the Yellow Turban Army on how to improve upon getting off the carriage.

Cheng Li exchanged a knowing look with Qiao Yan after seeing his performance.

“Zhongde先生, with your life-and-death friendship with the young men of the Xue family in defending Dong’e, you should also know where these people are located in the army?”

After Cheng Li received her示意 to approach the carriage, Qiao Yan asked in a low voice.

Previously in Puyang, Qiao Yan couldn’t interact too much with these people, but now the situation is different.

On the march, with the Yellow Turban Army’s combat readiness, no matter how orderly the march, there will inevitably be some chaos.

This is also a good time for her to gather people together and say a few words.

Hearing her question, Cheng Li nodded and replied, “Tonight I will gather the people.”

She also gave the same arrangement to Dian Wei, gathering the Tian family’s people.

Liang Zhongning, having just received what he felt was an important task to improve his marching and deployment abilities, had no extra energy to notice that the “always thoughtful” strategist would sneak out of the army in the middle of the night during the march to gather certain people in the wilderness for a动员大会.

The term “动员大会” was secretly named by the strategist system itself.

Because in its view, if Qiao Yan just wanted to assign tasks to these undercover agents in the Yellow Turban Army, she didn’t need to sneak out of the army herself.

She could have let Cheng Li act as her mouthpiece to issue the instructions.

With Cheng Li’s intelligence, there would be no misunderstandings, not to mention his decisiveness and determination, which ensured that after confirming his并肩作战 with Qiao Yan, he would thoroughly implement every task.

But Qiao Yan explained to the system that some words, given Cheng Li’s previous履历, he would never think to say.

And it is these words that are necessary to make the Tian and Xue families, originally powerful clans of Yanzhou, willing to risk their lives for her plan.

Qiao Yan stood in front of these people, then paced back and forth in front of them.

Among these people, she also saw a few familiar faces.

For example, the eldest son of the Tian family, Tian Yan—

She originally thought that Tian Tao, the family head, would never let his son take such a risk, but he also appeared here.

But now his expression is completely different from the day in the dungeon when he wanted to eliminate her.

In these days, whether it’s Tian Yan or the others here, they have all witnessed her methods within the Yellow Turban Army.

Even if she didn’t stand on a rock to make up for her height difference, it didn’t stop them from feeling that this ten-year-old child in front of them had an aura that made them look up to her like a towering mountain.

When she stopped pacing and stood in front, as if she had something to say, they almost instinctively held their breath, just wanting to hear what she had to say.

Qiao Yan slowly opened her mouth.

“Today, I called everyone here, just to say a few words, whether you listen or not is up to you.”

Her tone was calm, but her words seemed to hide thunderous changes.

Her next words undoubtedly confirmed this intuition.

“In my childhood, I followed my parents to read poetry and military strategy, seeing the vastness of the universe, I developed雄心壮志, wanting to grow up and serve the country by讨贼立功, and after years, to have inscribed on my tombstone, ‘Tomb of the Han’s late General Marquis Qiao.'”

“Now, there is no opportunity to决战边关, kill the great enemies of the Xianbei and Qiang, and建功封侯, but today the Yellow Turban bandits are rising, and the Han’s ancestral temples are不安, if we can讨黄巾平兖豫, it’s not impossible to achieve the vision of those years!”

Her gaze swept over each person’s face, and she said word by word:

“I am like this, and so are you all.”

“You were born into powerful families, you should know that in our great Han,异姓不可封王, but you can earn yourself a亭侯县侯, leaving your names in the history books, not just in the fearful words of the乡党.”

Under the stars and moon, her eyes seemed to have a蛊惑意味 that made people’s blood boil.

Or perhaps, she just抓住了 these powerful families’不甘于只是豪强的那点野望, and at this moment, she clenched it tightly, igniting it.

“Qiao Yan is not talented, but I dare to ask you all to listen to my调配, to strive for a青史留名!”