“Can strategists even ascend the throne?”
Chapter 2: Yellow Turban Rebellion, The Strategist System
Three months.
No matter how the Yellow Turban Rebellion was sparked in February and quelled by November, one undeniable fact remained—
This ragtag group that rose in rebellion was plagued by chaos, and once the turmoil erupted, it quickly reached its peak.
If we say that the rural lands of Yanzhou might have offered a temporary refuge for the past three months, that was no longer an option.
The Yellow Turban Army’s sieges came with a tremendous demand for rations, and March was not the harvest season.
As a result, the grain stocks from the surrounding villages, along with those in the besieged fortresses, fell entirely under the control of the Yellow Turban Commanders of Yanzhou.
Qiao Yan pondered this and gazed at the lifeless body of an old man nearby, letting out a sigh.
The hurried and disorganized uprising turned this wave sweeping north and south into not the harvest of “seizing the wealthy and dividing the land” she had hoped for, but the grim scene before her.
Social chaos intensified from the late reign of Emperor Ling, and under the influence of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, society was closer to collapse than ever.
Of course, Liu Hong still sat on the emperor’s throne at this moment and might even change the era name to show the realm’s stability after quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion in November, leaving behind the title “disorder without damage called Ling.”
“They say Lobo Naer is a place where no birds fly; I think Daye Lake is pretty close to that.”
Qiao Yan tilted her head up to look at the deepening dusk.
In the usual countryside, one would witness birds returning home at dusk, but here, there wasn’t a single shadow in sight.
In fact, the slogans of the Yellow Turbans eclipsed the chirping that should be filling the twilight, faintly reaching her ears.
But that made sense.
After a poor autumn harvest last year and the famine during the harsh winter, whatever could sprout in the coming spring had already been thoroughly scavenged by the people, and anything usable for siege equipment had long been taken away.
No trees remained, meaning far fewer nests.
It was hard not to speculate that many of those birds had likely already become food for the starving.
Not even a vulture or crow could be seen hovering over the bodies.
If this was the case, then even though Daye Lake was a marsh, it probably held little fish to thrive in it.
Why? Because the Yellow Turban Army and refugees heading from Juye City to the Dong Commandery had already cleaned it out.
“Actually… it’s not like there’s no solution.” The system desperately tried to justify itself.
However, perhaps because it had chosen this identity, the strategist system numbered 068 had naively thought it would be an easy win, only now realizing tossing a starving ten-year-old into the chaos of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was a bit inappropriate.
Its tone revealed a hint of embarrassment.
It continued, “There are still towns in Yanzhou that have successfully resisted the Yellow Turbans and are not on their north-south routes.”
“You mean Dong’e?” Qiao Yan responded quickly.
Yanzhou had no shortage of famous figures from the Three Kingdoms.
Not to mention that Cao Cao’s hometown of Qiao County was right in Yanzhou, and across various places in Yanzhou, he had gathered a solid pool of strategists and generals. The first one recorded since the Yellow Turban Rebellion is—
Cheng Yu.
When the Yellow Turban Army attacked in 184 AD, the assistant magistrate of Dong’e County, Wang Du, responded to their call and burned the county’s storage warehouse.
However, Cheng Yu realized Wang Du was just looking to loot and had no real ability to hold the city, so he could only take his troops and camp outside.
Seeing this situation, Cheng Yu promptly went back into the city with the wealthy families to fortify their defenses and defeated Wang Du when he pushed to retake the city.
Dong’e, or rather the Dong’e currently guarded by Cheng Yu, seemed to be a good place at first glance.
But it was just a façade.
Qiao Yan drew a circle in the dirt with her finger—
This was her current location.
To the north of Juye City, where the Yellow Turbans had already breached, lay Daye Lake.
In the early impressions of the original “Qiao Yan,” her father Qiao Yu, the magistrate of Rencheng, though not extraordinarily capable, was a committed official.
His study had a map of Yanzhou, which was a boon for her as a successor.
From the perspective of the district divisions in Yanzhou, Daye Lake was at the crossroads of Jiyin, Shanyang, Dong Commandery, and Dongping, of which Dongping was situated further north.
Although Dong’e belonged to Dong Commandery, by the Western Jin period, it fell under the jurisdiction of Jibei, positioned just north of Dongping and close to the interchange of the two regions.
Seeing its selected host draw a dot in the dirt, the system’s expression grew serious.
“Dong’e, known in modern times as Dong’e County, is part of Liaocheng in Shandong,” Qiao Yan said, pointing to the dot she made.
She then tapped the southern indentation of the circle she initially drew, “Juye belongs to Heze, Shandong.”
“The distance between these two places is roughly three hundred li. A person can typically walk about 5-6 kilometers in an hour and cover 8-10 hours in a day, which means it would take around three days to reach there, indeed not far. However, don’t forget—
First, I’m not an adult and can’t walk that fast, and second, I don’t have enough food supplies.”
This isn’t just a casual trip.
Though it seemed the system’s presence meant that when Qiao Yan took over this body, whatever symptoms resembling an infection had vanished.
Even in the memories she received, the original “Qiao Yan” had somewhat regained her strength.
Yet still, she had to admit that in terms of age, stamina, and food supply, none of it supported the system’s plan to get to Dong’e.
Qiao Yan wasn’t just going to sit around waiting for help, but she knew she mustn’t act recklessly right now!
Considering she was still within Juye’s territory, seeking temporary shelter among the local powerful individuals who might have a stake in the future wouldn’t be the worst choice.
Too bad the future general, Li Dian, would rise to prominence, but he was just about four or five years old this year, and who knows if his uncle Li Gan had already gathered his three thousand retainers by now?
It’s not like I was affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion; it’s just a total unknown.
Compared to the more predictable Cheng Yu, this option feels way less reliable.
After she said that, the system went silent for a while.
This reaction made it hard not to feel that this self-proclaimed Strategist System 068 had an air of a total newbie.
But thinking that way, she was just wiping away the little circles and dots on the ground, saying, “Of course, I don’t blame you. If I hadn’t been chosen by you, I wouldn’t even have a second chance at life.”
Whether it was her imagination or not, the glimmer she had noticed since waking up seemed to flicker as she spoke those words.
Instinctively, she raised her hand towards that light, and the next moment, a faintly glowing transparent screen appeared before her.
Qiao Yan’s eyes twinkled.
That light was unmistakably the panel of the Strategist System.
However, at a glance, Qiao Yan felt the panel looked a bit too simplistic.
In front of her were only two displayed items: one was the beginner’s gift bag, while the other was an empty character inventory.
The second item was the character information displayed in the center.
[Name: Qiao Yan]
[Faction: Han (Initial Faction)]
[Occupation: Strategist (System Assigned)]
[Age: 10]
[Physique: 28 (100), Martial Power: 15 (100), Intelligence: 79 (100), Luck: 65 (?)]
[Remaining Distributable Points: 3]
[Skills: History lv7, Eloquence lv4, Artifact Appraisal lv4, Painting lv3, Calligraphy lv4, Field Archaeology lv5, Numismatics lv3…]
[Remaining Skill Points: 1]
[Strategist Points: 0] (For every 10 Strategist Points earned, automatically gain 3 attribute points to distribute and 1 skill point to distribute)
[Special Status] Beginner Protection Period (During this period, immunity to environmental illnesses, countdown: 364 days 23 hours 42 minutes)
This was her external aid that would accompany her in this era.
However, this simple character panel left Qiao Yan with plenty of questions.
The attribute panel provided by the system was undoubtedly an evaluation of her physique, martial strength, and intelligence.
Except for the luck part marked with a question mark, everything else was clearly on a percentage scoring scale.
So here’s the question: what level corresponds to a full score on this percentage scale?
Moreover, in the list of skills, some were ones she had already mastered before and could still use in this late Han period, but their levels still seemed to involve a subjective assessment, for instance—
[Eloquence].
That was what Qiao Yan thought and subsequently asked.
The system replied: [I can’t tell you the specific standard for maximum values as per regulations. I can only say that the top-tier strategists and generals you know won’t have scores below 85 in corresponding areas.]
Once it said that, Qiao Yan had a rough idea of what that score meant.
[As for skills, I can tell you that we have a default evaluation standard. If you enhance skills through assigned skill points, information will be transferred in a form akin to memory transfer. However, the effects will be slightly inferior to those you already mastered.]
“And what about Strategist Points?”
This currently overly simplified panel clearly wasn’t the complete form of the system.
Surrounding the central character panel was a ring of mist serving as a barrier.
While the system explained her attributes and skills, Qiao Yan reached out and noticed a prompt on the panel—
[Sign In][Unlock after reaching 10 Strategist Points]
[3D Map][Unlock after reaching 100 Strategist Points]
[Masterful Strategy][Unlock after reaching 300 Strategist Points]
…
The names were tempting, but unfortunately, her current Strategist Points were still a big fat zero.
The system responded: [Strategist Points come in two parts. One is earned through strategic actions that yield positive results for your faction, or by helping someone rise within a power structure.]
“So, that means I can earn points by assisting someone like Cao Cao who has become a ruler to take territory and grow power, or aiding Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan to become the inheritors of Yuan Shao, right?”
[You could say that. The other way is to gain points through completing strategic actions that trigger strategist achievements. Since we’ve chosen the late Eastern Han period, the system has automatically generated a series of hidden achievements. You’ll have to explore those on your own, but choosing a suitable faction is always a good start.]
Qiao Yan nodded noncommittally.
The system didn’t notice her little concerns upon hearing the explanation and continued on.
Perhaps it was because it had been prepping for this introduction for a long time; it became more fluent and confident in its speech.
If the system didn’t lack a physical form, Qiao Yan would have doubted she’d see a smug little brat puffing out its chest, reciting its script loudly.
[Finally, I must remind you, the goal of the Strategist System selecting a host is to become the number one strategist in the world; otherwise, your second life will end when you turn 20. You wouldn’t want to live just twenty years, would you?]
[So… if I were you, I’d definitely cherish those Strategist Points and raise your intelligence enough to compete with the major strategists out there. Otherwise—]
[Wait!!]
[What are you doing?!!]
Right when the system was giving her friendly advice to quickly boost her intelligence stat for the strategist goal, Qiao Yan had already propped her chin up with one hand and casually allocated her initial 3 attribute points into physique.
Then, without hesitation, she placed that one initial skill point into lv4 [Eloquence].
“Don’t worry about that,” Qiao Yan replied, brushing off the system’s sudden shocked exclamation. “By the way, I want to ask something—”
“You said, if I were to become a strategist for the Yellow Turban Army, would that count as being a strategist?”
