Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 1: The Yellow Turban Rebellion, The Clear Voice of the Young Phoenix, Chapter 21: Inside-Outside Coordination

Book:


Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 21

Xiaquyang, in the early history of the Western Han Dynasty, was established as the capital of the commandery after Emperor Jing suppressed the Rebellion of the Seven States. Although it was called Xiaquyang County, it was half a level higher than an ordinary county.

“Xiaquyang… Why add the word ‘Xia’ to Quyang?”

Dian Wei, who was told by Qiao Yan to recognize a few characters so they might come in handy later, found it quite a headache. He tried to change the subject by mimicking her.

Cheng Li explained beside him, “When the Qin Dynasty established commanderies and counties, they set up Julu Quyang County. When Emperor Gaozu established the Hengshan Commandery, Quyang County was included. However, there was still another Quyang in Julu, so they were named Upper Quyang and Lower Quyang respectively.”

Dian Wei looked at the map spread out before Qiao Yan and Cheng Li, trying to match the few characters he knew, but he couldn’t find the words “Hengshan.”

His confusion was so obvious that Qiao Yan couldn’t help but notice.

“Are you wondering why there’s no Hengshan?” Seeing Dian Wei nod, she replied, “Hengshan was renamed to avoid the taboo of Emperor Xiaowen’s name.”

She pointed to a spot on the map, “It’s now called Changshan Commandery.”

The Changshan of Zhao Zilong.

Dian Wei was still a bit confused, but Xu Fu, who was quick at memorizing, understood much better than Dian Wei. “So the former Julu of Qin was divided into Julu Commandery and Changshan Commandery, each with a Quyang. Changshan has Upper Quyang, and the one we’re planning to surprise attack is Lower Quyang in Julu.”

Seeing that Qiao Yan didn’t stop him from speaking, Xu Fu asked, “But since Lower Quyang is half a level higher than an ordinary county, does that mean it’s a fortified city if Zhang Bao is defending it?”

Qiao Yan and Cheng Li exchanged glances, both seeing the phrase “teachable” in each other’s eyes.

Cheng Li, with his deep knowledge, didn’t realize that Qiao Yan had been intentionally guiding Xu Fu along the way, thinking she was just bored and teaching both Dian Wei and Xu Fu. However, he could see that Xu Fu was indeed a promising student.

Moreover, Xu Fu had taken Qiao Yan as a role model, recently realizing the importance of winning through strategy, which made him more proactive in learning.

Cheng Li, being twenty-five years older than Xu Fu, saw this young man who volunteered to lead the horses as no different from a nephew, and now felt a bit of a fondness for his talent.

He explained, “During the Wang Lang Rebellion in the second year of Gengshi, Emperor Guangwu, then the General Who Breaks the Caitiffs, was forced to flee south to Xindu. After gaining Tangyang and Shi County, he had over four thousand men, and with the addition of two other forces, he gathered ten thousand men. With these sufficient forces, he was able to conquer Lower Quyang to the north and take Zhongshan to the south, establishing a foothold. According to this record, Quyang is indeed a fortified city. Without enough manpower, it would be extremely difficult to capture it through a frontal assault.”

When Qiao Yan brought the three of them to follow Huangfu Song up Gucheng Mountain, it undoubtedly confirmed this.

Gucheng Mountain is located outside Quyang City.

While the infantry was still on the way, Huangfu Song had already taken a group of light cavalry up Gucheng Mountain to scout the enemy.

Looking south from Gucheng Mountain, they could see the county town of Lower Quyang below.

The ancient moat was at least five to six meters wide, and in Lower Quyang, it was even more than ten meters wide. Qiao Yan looked into the trench and saw that the moat water had been temporarily drained.

But the absence of water in the moat didn’t mean they were lax. From the depth of the trench they could roughly judge, there must be many wooden spikes and sharp stakes buried at the bottom, making it even more difficult to deal with than if it were filled with water.

In front of the moat, there was also a row of horse stakes, forming a circle around the city.

“The Zhang brothers have almost taken the entire Ji Province, killing officials and burning government offices, with a call that gathers a hundred responses. I thought they might be lax here, but I didn’t expect them to be quite alert.”

Huangfu Song couldn’t help but frown at the sight before him.

Since he wanted a quick victory, he couldn’t afford to engage in a stalemate with a siege. Moreover, Zhang Jiao had spies everywhere in Julu Commandery. They had bypassed Qinghe to avoid the enemy’s scouts, so the battle for Lower Quyang should be quick, not slow.

“Fortunately, they’re not professional city defenders,” Cao Cao commented. “If they had set up another line of defense behind the moat, like a sheep and horse wall, Lower Quyang would be even harder to take.”

But this didn’t sound like something to be thankful for.

The current situation was already quite tricky.

Qiao Yan couldn’t help but glance at Cao Cao.

Thankfully, he wasn’t as much of a jinx as he was portrayed in the演义 for comedic effect.

Otherwise, if the city gates opened now and a group of people came out to throw a row of iron caltrops and deer antler stakes outside the city, it would really leave them more helpless.

In her opinion, the strong defense of Lower Quyang wasn’t too surprising.

Zhang Jiao, who could come up with a system of preaching, was undoubtedly meticulous in his thinking. In the situation where the Yellow Turban Rebellion had almost overturned the Han Dynasty, he was by no means a mere arrow that only knew how to charge forward.

The mutual support of three fortified cities and their increasingly northern locations made it easy to guess Zhang Jiao’s intentions.

He was leaving himself a way out.

If the Han army came from the southwest and encountered the Yellow Turbans, they could retreat step by step and defend the fortified cities, or perhaps…

Zhang Jiao had already guessed that he might die of illness in a few months and was leaving a way out for his brothers.

And if Lower Quyang didn’t have such defenses, it probably wouldn’t have been able to defeat the famously fierce Liangzhou army, which had defeated Dong Zhuo, who had replaced Lu Zhi in attacking Julu.

Of course, whether Dong Zhuo’s defeat was due to strategic conflicts with Guo Dian, the prefect of Julu, was still uncertain, especially since Lu Zhi was still on the front lines against Zhang Jiao and hadn’t been replaced.

But one thing was undeniable—

Lower Quyang was not easy to take.

Huangfu Song climbed higher, reaching the top of Gucheng Mountain north of Lower Quyang, and continued to look at the fortified city in the distance.

“If Lower Quyang were built against the mountain, we might be able to climb down from the high point for a surprise attack,” Huangfu Song said regretfully. “Also, climbing at night, betting that the guards wouldn’t expect us to come from Qinghe Commandery, might give us a chance to seize it.”

“But the situation in Lower Quyang is hard to see from here,” Cao Cao replied. “If the city’s defenses are well-organized, we might not even reach the city walls before encountering their main force. Then we would definitely fail to take the city, and even alert the enemy.”

Huangfu Song absolutely did not want to alert the enemy.

They had traveled quickly and had already screened their personnel, so they didn’t have the foundation for a direct encirclement.

In that case—

“We still need to find a way to lure Zhang Bao’s main force out of the city, or get our people inside for an inside-outside coordination,” Huangfu Song concluded after observing the scene.

Qiao Yan thought the same.

Although she wasn’t as experienced in combat as Huangfu Song, she was looking at it from a later perspective, applying historical siege tactics to the current situation and eliminating the impossible.

Lower Quyang, to show its status, had much thicker walls than an ordinary county city. The rogue tactics of soldiers running back and forth to dig out wall bricks and eventually collapse the walls, like Li Zicheng’s methods, were obviously not feasible.

Huangfu Song didn’t have enough soldiers for tactics like surrounding and attacking or leaving one side open.

The only options left were luring the enemy or inside-outside coordination.

Qiao Yan had some ideas for both methods, but by the time they returned to the camp set up by the rear troops, Huangfu Song, the commander, had already made a decision.

Send people into the city for inside-outside coordination!

“Actually, luring the enemy is also feasible, but it’s a bit more dangerous.”

Although Huangfu Song didn’t avoid discussing this operation with Qiao Yan, she consciously stood at the back and chatted with the system, “If someone went to the city to request an audience with Zhang Bao, claiming that the Great Virtuous Teacher had suddenly died of a serious illness and they were temporarily keeping it secret, asking Zhang Bao to send troops for help, he might believe it.”

“But if there’s some secret signal between the brothers, it wouldn’t work. Such an unreliable method can’t be used.”

I don’t know if the system had a blind confidence in her recently, but it immediately replied: [If you go, you should be able to fool them.]

“…” That’s not necessary.

She did want to take advantage of the confrontation between the main force of the Yellow Turbans in Ji Province and the Han army to boost her reputation, but that didn’t mean she wanted to perform such a dangerous tightrope act.

Even though she knew that wealth comes from risk, she didn’t plan to use such a method.

Huangfu Song continued speaking from above.

He wanted to send people into the city, using a method similar to Qiao Yan’s previous one—

Defecting to the enemy.

Qiao Yan listened to the system muttering, [Huangfu Song might have been influenced by you to come up with this idea, I wonder if it can count as strategist points for you.] while also hearing Huangfu Song say from above, “Is anyone willing to go?”

This wasn’t a simple task.

In a siege, those who infiltrate the city mostly need to take on the task of opening the city gates and killing enemy soldiers on the walls. If discovered, their mortality rate is only higher than that of the first wave of attackers.

Huangfu Song’s words were essentially a call for a suicide squad.

But among the border soldiers who followed him, there were plenty who disregarded life and death, and those he summoned to the military tent were the elite among them. Immediately, there were waves of volunteers.

Huangfu Song felt much more at ease, but suddenly heard a much younger voice mixed in with the calls to battle, standing out because it was so out of place.

And because of her words, the military tent suddenly fell silent.

“I think they can’t go.”

He followed the voice and looked at Qiao Yan.

“Why?” Huangfu Song knew she wouldn’t make such a judgment lightly, and his face didn’t show any displeasure at being interrupted.

“People from the military have some traits that are different from others.” Qiao Yan’s gaze swept over the others in the military tent, smiling in response. “Especially the generals and commanders who have numerous kills to their names, so they can intimidate the barbarians just by standing in formation. People with such traits might be used to seeing each other, but to me, they’re too different from ordinary people.”

Her words calmed the old soldiers who had been a bit displeased with her interruption.

This was a genuine compliment.

There’s an essential difference between soldiers and bandits.

Qiao Yan continued, “General Huangfu, what kind of people do you think would choose to join the Yellow Turbans?”

Huangfu Song had thought about this question before. When he was appointed as the General of the Left and led his troops out, he had pondered repeatedly why the Way of Great Peace, which had previously been ignored and even treated as healers by local governments, could cause today’s situation overnight.

The answer might be simple and cruel—those who couldn’t survive naturally turned to them.

But he couldn’t say this so bluntly, at most he could reply with “refugees.”

Qiao Yan didn’t intend to debate this issue deeply with him, just continued:

“Let’s take the refugees as the general said. Most refugees can’t have full meals, so at this time they are haggard and thin, but the army’s diet includes a lot of meat to maintain combat and marching consumption, so their appearance is also different from civilians. This is another inappropriate point. But fortunately, there is another type of person who might join the Yellow Turbans, and they happen to be in this march.”

“You mean… wandering knights?” Huangfu Song had a flash of insight and immediately realized that, as Qiao Yan said, there was a more suitable group of people.

Qiao Yan said, “Some of the wandering knights, as the general has seen before, came to help lift the siege of Changshe, and they are not afraid of the hardships of marching, joining the general in marching to Ji Province. But there must be some who think that the Han Dynasty is too sick to save, and it’s better to join forces with the Yellow Turbans, believing that this is the way to fight for a peaceful world, so they are very likely to join the Yellow Turbans.”

Huangfu Song nodded and replied, “Yes, wandering knights can indeed take on this task, but they have already followed me north, which shows they are loyal to the Han Dynasty. To enter the city for such a task where a slight mistake could mean losing their heads…”

He really couldn’t say it.

But before Huangfu Song could finish, he heard Xu Fu, who had followed Qiao Yan into the military tent, suddenly say, “General, no need to say more, I am willing to go!”

Xu Fu didn’t make this decision rashly.

He still had a mother to support in Yingchuan, and although he came here out of respect for Qiao Yan, he didn’t mean to joke with his life.

But along the way, he had seen Huangfu Song’s military organization and knew that if anyone could defeat the Yellow Turbans and restore the world, it would probably be General Huangfu.

And with their previous reconnaissance at Gucheng Mountain, and with Qiao Yan, Cheng Yu, Cao Cao, and others obviously planning for them, their chances of winning might not be low.

Xu Fu thought so, and others thought similarly.

Moreover, most wandering knights were still young, even at an age that could be described as “middle school second year” in modern terms. Having chosen to follow north, they had a desire to make a name for themselves. Now, hearing that they had a chance to compete with the first wave of attackers for merit, they were overjoyed.

When Huangfu Song asked the others in the army, the response was at least seventy to eighty percent.

Of course, with so many people gathered together, even if they were wandering knights who usually associated with each other, it would be hard to explain, especially since they didn’t have anyone from Julu Commandery. So Huangfu Song only selected a dozen or so people, including Xu Fu.

But what Huangfu Song never expected was that when he had some military supplies distributed as a token of surrender for these youths defecting to the Yellow Turbans, before they set off, he saw Qiao Yan sitting on one of the carts.

Even Cao Cao was startled by her action, “Niece, why are you doing this?”

Qiao Yan asked a question that Cao Cao found hard to refute, “Uncle, have you ever seen someone going to the enemy camp for inside-outside coordination bringing their little sister?”

“…No.”

“Then it’s very suitable for me to go as a cover.”

Xu Fu, who was forced to play the role of an older brother, suddenly felt that the burden on his shoulders was a bit heavy.

Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one responsible for Qiao Yan’s safety.

If you had to count, Dian Wei could also be considered a wandering knight. With his bandit-like appearance, it would be strange if the rebels didn’t consider him one of their own.

Huangfu Song wanted to stop Qiao Yan from doing such dangerous things, but he couldn’t argue with her twisted logic, so he had to let her go.

Especially since Qiao Yan asked before leaving, “Among these dozen or so people, besides me, is there anyone else who can stand on their own?” There seemed to be no second answer.

These wandering knights hadn’t experienced many battles under Huangfu Song’s command, and he didn’t know much about each of their backgrounds. When entrusting them with such an important infiltration mission, he even felt a bit uneasy.

But he didn’t need to worry about entrusting this important task to Qiao Yan.

After all, she had already…








Jing proved with her own performance that she is a sufficiently precocious wise person.

Seeing Huangfu Song still looking in the direction where the group had left, with a somewhat dazed expression, Cao Cao spoke up: “It’s not surprising that she would risk her life. With her intelligence and talent, if there were any changes in the city, she might be able to save the lives of these righteous men with her quick-wittedness.”

“Moreover, since the general has already agreed to let her take the risk, what we should do now is ensure that the siege battle must not fail, and we must succeed in one go. Otherwise, if this surprise attack fails, Zhang Bao will definitely tighten his defenses, which will be detrimental to the northern campaign.”

Huangfu Song understood Cao Cao’s advice.

As the commander, he should not be indecisive in this matter.

“I am not unaware of what Mengde is saying, but I feel that this woman is resolute and exceptionally intelligent. If she were to perish here, not only would I be unable to explain to Qiao Gongzu, but I also feel it would be a great regret for the Han Dynasty. But perhaps—”

“Perhaps it is in times of hardship that heroes are made.”

The group that had gone far had gradually disappeared from his sight. Huangfu Song withdrew his gaze, feeling a sense of emotion.

He had to admit that he was growing increasingly fond of this junior.

The group of more than ten people, all dressed in plain clothes and carrying iron swords, arrived at the foot of Xiaquyang City just as Qiao Yan had said—

Although they were not a group of emaciated refugees, when they claimed to be wandering knights from all directions who happened to arrive here and wanted to join, they did not arouse the suspicion of the city’s defenders.

Xu Fu, as Qiao Yan had instructed, after being let into the city by the guards, when asked why he was bringing a young sister, replied: “My sister was previously weak and ill, but after being given talisman water by a disciple of the Great Virtuous Teacher, she was able to extend her life. I came here to join and also wanted to ask General of the Earth for a talisman, to receive divine blessings. I just don’t know how much merit we need to achieve to have such an opportunity.”

In the Scripture of Great Peace, divine talismans and incantations are called divine blessings, and it is said that “the sacred words from heaven are often given to people, used by divine officials to respond to the qi and come and go, and the people who obtain them can use them.” The method of healing is to burn the talisman to ashes and mix it with wine to drink.

This absurd method of healing is a classic superstitious practice, and Qiao Yan, before her time travel, naturally would not have remembered such things.

But when she was acting as a strategist for Liang Zhongning, she had obtained a copy of the “Scripture of Great Peace” to pass the time, and now she could use some fragments from it to give them some credibility.

These words were also repeated by Xu Shu.

The minor rebel leader of the Yellow Turbans who let them into the city had never seen anyone who could speak so fluently and knowledgeably about these matters.

He thought to himself that someone with such awareness, who also had the martial prowess to wield a sword, would be a great asset to their side.

Moreover, in his perception, bringing a female family member was equivalent to bringing a weakness, making them seem less threatening.

Xu Fu’s question about whether merit could be exchanged for divine talisman water also put him at ease.

He patted Xu Fu on the shoulder and said: “If you really want this divine talisman to heal your illness, you should have gone directly to Guangzong. Why did you come here? But you can rest assured, the divine powers of General of the Earth are second only to the Great Virtuous Teacher. If you are truly sincere in joining, you will definitely have this opportunity.”

“Brother, how could I not want to go to Quzhou and Guangzong?” Qiao Yan, still sitting on the cart, covered her mouth and coughed twice. “But brother is afraid that the frequent wars at the border of Julu and Guangping would be detrimental to my illness. On the other hand, the area around Xiaquyang is stable under the mighty name of General of the Earth, making it a good place.”

“That is indeed the case,” the minor rebel leader replied.

Their place is very stable!

Seeing Qiao Yan’s sickly appearance, which did not seem feigned, he felt quite sympathetic towards Xu Fu’s difficulties as an elder brother. At this moment, he suddenly turned his gaze to Dian Wei.

This man, from his physique to his aura, did not seem like an ordinary person!

“May I ask who this is…?” He saw that although the other party looked somewhat fierce, when he intentionally tried to intimidate him with his aura, the man only looked at him blankly, making him wonder if he was overthinking it.

Dian Wei did not even bring his most handy heavy halberd on this trip, as carrying that weapon would make no one believe he was an ordinary recruit. He only brought a sword to ensure he could fight if necessary.

Hearing the minor rebel leader’s question, he immediately grinned: “I heard that being a Yellow Turban means you can eat your fill. When I was traveling with these kids, they often complained that I ate too much. They said the cart of food was meant for you. I thought, since I was going to join anyway, it wouldn’t matter if I ate some in advance.”

“…” Dian Wei’s straightforward words left the minor rebel leader speechless.

He looked at the wandering knights who had come to join and saw that their faces clearly showed anger but dared not speak, thinking that a troublemaker had somehow mixed in.

But being able to eat… wasn’t a big problem.

With his size, if he could fight, having enough courage and strength, even eating enough for one person wouldn’t be an issue.

Such a person who only sought to eat his fill was undoubtedly the easiest to control.

After having someone spar with Dian Wei, the minor rebel leader’s eyes lit up.

“A tiger general, truly a tiger general!” He immediately went to Zhang Bao to report this, specifically about Dian Wei.

Zhang Bao, among the three Zhang brothers, was entrusted by Zhang Jiao with the responsibility of guarding Xiaquyang, and he was indeed a steady person.

Hearing this, he did not get excited by the minor rebel leader’s enthusiastic praise, but instead asked:

“Are you sure there’s no problem?”

Perhaps because he had recently received a letter from his elder brother mentioning his poor health, Zhang Bao had been feeling uneasy. However, with the surrounding areas responding to their call and the previous prefect of Julu already dead at his hands, logically speaking, as long as the front lines were not defeated, there should be no problem.

Thinking this way, he still did not neglect to make a routine inquiry.

“There should be no problem. They also brought a young girl of about ten years old, wanting to ask General of the Earth for a divine talisman to heal her illness. I saw that the elder brother’s concern did not seem feigned,” the minor rebel leader confidently replied.

But how could he know that Xu Fu’s concern was not that of an elder brother for his sister, but rather that of a fan for his idol.

Zhang Bao was obviously not entirely reassured by this answer and asked again: “Then what about the movements to the west and south that I asked you to pay attention to?”

He patted his chest and replied: “Leader, you can rest assured. Since you asked me to pay more attention, I have not slackened for a single day. However, with the eight passes of Luoyang sealed, only a few teams dare to come out to eliminate the bandits. The current situation on all fronts is still under the control of the Great Virtuous Teacher. Is the general worrying too much…”

Before he could finish, he was kicked by Zhang Bao.

Zhang Bao frowned and scolded: “What do you know? Lu Zhi, that old scholar, is someone even my elder brother has to be cautious about. His tactics are not few. Although Xiaquyang is peaceful today, it does not mean that imperial troops will not attack tomorrow. If something goes wrong, see how you will explain it to my elder brother.”

“As for the tiger general you mentioned…” Zhang Bao analyzed the information the minor rebel leader had told him and indeed found no problems, diverting some of his attention to the described Dian Wei. “Bring him to me tomorrow.”

But he probably would not live to see Dian Wei.

The infiltration of Xiaquyang was not quite like Qiao Yan’s previous stint under Liang Zhongning.

Because there was no process of gaining trust through achievements or at least a period of interaction!

Instead, once they were sent into the city, as soon as Huangfu Song saw the signal they raised from Gucheng Mountain, he would attack at night.

It had to be a quick and decisive battle!

Qiao Yan and her group, because of Dian Wei the tiger general and Xu Fu who could eloquently discuss the essence of the Way of Great Peace, gained the favor of the rebel leader and were assigned a courtyard in the city to settle in.

Once the door was closed, she recovered from her sickly state and began planning the night’s operation.

Her current physique was indeed much better than before, allowing her to wield Huangfu Song’s side sword by the Jishui River and behead Bo Cai, but Qiao Yan was still very self-aware—

With her current abilities, if she were to really clash head-on with someone, it would be no different from seeking death.

Those soldiers who had experienced real battles on the battlefield would not need much effort to take her down in a direct confrontation.

Ensuring that the deceptive rhetoric could convince the Yellow Turbans in the city, she had already completed most of her task.

Just now, from the time they entered Xiaquyang’s east gate to arriving at this temporary resting place, Qiao Yan pretended to be sick and coughed, but in reality, she was looking around for a temporary hiding place.

She had already made up her mind.

As for how the others would get to the east gate to assist Huangfu Song, there was also a perfect reason.

Most of the cart of food they brought had been half-heartedly accepted by the minor rebel leader.

In this half-hearted acceptance, the acceptance part was naturally higher, as the cart was nominally food, but in reality, most of it was preserved meat.

At that time, the minor rebel leader was thinking about how to report Dian Wei’s situation to Zhang Bao and then take him under his command, so he didn’t pay much attention to it, saving Qiao Yan the prepared explanation.

Now, among the remaining food, besides dried cakes and white cakes, there were also a few packages of preserved pork.

This was cooked properly by Xu Fu using the local tools, sliced thin, wrapped, and sent to the city wall at nightfall.

The reason given was also quite convincing.

Since they had been let in, they were now part of the Yellow Turbans. It didn’t matter if they were familiar with others in the city, but they should first establish a good relationship with the few they had initially met.

Especially the minor rebel leader, who was the second-in-command in Xiaquyang. If they could get him to put in a good word with Zhang Bao, Xu Fu’s request for talisman water for his sister would probably not be difficult.

To show sincerity, none of them brought their long swords.

The minor rebel leader, who had been praised by Xu Fu and the others, forgot about the kick he had received from Zhang Bao earlier due to his somewhat arrogant attitude.

He sat with them on the city wall, enjoying the slightly cool night breeze and eating the still warm meat, feeling extremely happy.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was on guard duty and had to strictly follow Zhang Bao’s rule of not drinking alcohol, he would have really liked to have a couple of drinks.

“Luckily you came to find me at this time. If it were later in the night, we would have to change shifts,” the minor rebel leader said. “Just in time, the food in the city, especially meat, is not distributed every day. I’ll save some to have with drinks later.”

Xu Fu and another young man closest to the minor rebel leader exchanged glances, both seeing the relief in each other’s eyes.

If it were someone else, it wouldn’t have been so easy to get close to them.

The slight reluctance in their eyes was quickly driven away by the latter part of his sentence, “The county magistrate of Xiaquyang is really not a good person. The government storehouse doesn’t even have a few bottles of wine. It’s really a case of drinking a little less, but fortunately, he left a beautiful wife…”

He seemed to realize that his words were inappropriate and immediately stopped, awkwardly changing the topic, “By the way, since you all have come, is your sister doing well?”

Xu Fu calmly replied: “Don’t worry, she is just a bit weak. She has already rested by now.”

Qiao Yan, of course, was not resting.

After Xu Fu and the others left, she also left the temporary resting place. After walking two streets, she stopped at a water vat at the end of an alley, originally used for storing water to put out fires, and jumped in without hesitation.

The layer of moss on the outer wall of the vat showed that it had not been used for a long time, and there were even some cracks.

This was the hiding place she had chosen for herself.

She couldn’t stay in the original place.

Once chaos broke out in the city, it was hard to guarantee that no one would think they were the ones who caused it. As for other residences, she didn’t have the ability to climb over walls, and it might cause other troubles.

This place was just right.

There was only a little water left at the bottom of the vat, and Qiao Yan, who had even mixed with the Yellow Turban Army, wouldn’t mind the water reaching her ankles.

She carefully hid herself in this inconspicuous vat and put the lid back on.

However, she chose this place to hide not just because it provided cover, but also because in ancient siege warfare, there were almost no records of street battles.

This was quite different from modern times.

Why was the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one open often used to lure the enemy out of the city and wear down their will to fight to the death? It was because once the city was breached, the most suitable method was not to stay in the streets and houses seeking shelter, but to try to break out of the city to save one’s life.

Therefore, this place was much safer than anywhere else.

Almost as soon as she finished this action, on the east gate’s city wall, Xu Fu suddenly pulled out a dagger from his sleeve.

The minor rebel leader, who had only eaten meat without any wine to accompany it, certainly could not be drunk, but after chatting with these sensible young men for a while, his guard had already been lowered, and his eyes showed a bit of laziness.

Moreover, in his line of sight, there was no sign of any enemy attack outside the city.

The moat and horse stakes below the city wall gave him an unparalleled sense of security.

Even when Xu Fu reached out and pressed his shoulder at this moment, he only felt that he was too approachable, making this new recruit trust him greatly.

But at this moment, he drew his knife!

With the sleeve covering it, the dagger did not even reflect a cold light, but directly, in the next moment it entered the other’s line of sight, it had already been thrust into his heart.

The minor rebel leader looked at the young man in front of him in disbelief, only to see that the face that had previously seemed spirited now appeared especially calm, as if the act of drawing the dagger and killing had been deeply considered.

This was clearly not the behavior of an ordinary wandering knight!

At this moment, he still had many questions to ask, but as the dagger was pulled out, he could only fall down unwillingly.

And in his remaining vision, he saw that at this moment, it was not just Xu Fu who was taking action on the city tower.

The tiger general he had particularly favored grabbed a Yellow Turban soldier’s sword and quite arrogantly cut down three people in a row.

What made him die even more uneasily was undoubtedly—

After the first exclamation of discovering something unusual here, what was clearer was not the movement of reinforcements from the city, but the sound of horse hooves and the marching footsteps and the clanking of armor from the plains outside the city.

Unfortunately, he could no longer see what kind of team it was.

Xu Fu pushed his already lifeless body aside and rushed to the winch on the city tower.

Since Qiao Yan had entrusted him with such an important task, giving him such trust and guidance, he must do it beautifully!

He clearly saw that in front of the team rushing from outside the city, a banner with the characters “Huangfu” was fluttering in the wind!

That was the team he was to welcome!