Chapter 213

Chapter 213

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 7: Eight Hundred Qin Rivers, Occupying Guanzhong Chapter 213: Achievement Settlement

Tian Feng, filled with curiosity about new things, gestured to the few subordinates who came with him and followed the steps of the two children.

Walking from the fields to the higher village plateau, he didn’t go far before he saw a scholar sitting under a tree, surrounded by a group of children.

Some who were carrying hoes and working on the road also stopped and stood in the outer circle.

Since Tian Feng’s attire made him look more like a traveling merchant, he didn’t stand out much.

Peering over the heads of the children in front, he saw the scholar unfold a large sheet of Leping Marquis paper on his lap.

It seemed that this was the “Monthly Report” they were talking about.

Although Leping Marquis paper had been sold in large quantities over the past two years, it was rare to see this size.

However, as Tian Feng looked around, he noticed that the children were quite accustomed to it.

One of the more active children even said to the scholar, “Officer Chang, tell us some interesting stories from the September issue!”

The adult next to him, presumably his father, patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t read about trivial matters, listen to the agricultural part.”

The child immediately muttered, “You’ve already planted most of your fields this year, missing one issue of agriculture won’t hurt.”

This remark immediately drew responses from a group of companions around him.

What caught Tian Feng’s attention was not the so-called trivial matters or agriculture, but the child’s address to the scholar in the center.

Someone who could be called an officer was most likely a subordinate official of Qiao Yan, the Prefect of Bingzhou.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of the people Qiao Yan promoted had no particularly notable reputation before their appointment, and this person’s surname was not distinctive, so Tian Feng couldn’t guess his background for the time being.

Naturally, he didn’t know that the person was Chang Lin, an officer from Shangdang County.

Correspondingly, Chang Lin also didn’t notice that an important figure from Ji Province had joined the crowd.

He had been responsible for supervising the affairs of Shangdang County for two years now.

His appointment at that time also represented Qiao Yan’s emphasis on the people flowing into Bingzhou.

However, Chang Lin himself was quite capable of handling miscellaneous affairs and could also read the received Leping Monthly Report to the children in the villages of Shangdang County during his leisure time.

The one he received now was the September issue.

It was no surprise that the children liked the interesting stories and facts in the Monthly Report.

For the majority who had not received education, compared to obscure and difficult articles, stories were naturally easier to understand. However, the miscellaneous section of this monthly report was somewhat special. After some consideration, Chang Lin said, “Let’s go in order this time.”

Going in order was fine, and for the children who had new things to listen to, hearing what they wanted to hear was enough to satisfy them.

They wouldn’t have any objections.

Moreover, the Leping Monthly Report, after Cai Zhaoji’s planning of its content became more refined, increasingly considered the universality of promotion.

Although from the perspective of literacy, it was impossible for these children working in the fields to read the entire monthly report, considering that the report also served as a means of spreading news by word of mouth, paving the way for public opinion warfare and cultural invasion, the content format of the report needed to gradually form a perception—

Even farmers who couldn’t recognize two characters could understand the content of the newspaper through others’ retelling, and even children could understand a broader world.

This was the goal Cai Zhaoji wanted to achieve.

Under this trend, besides Chang Lin, who was just reading the newspaper for fun in his spare time, there were also those who originally wanted to build their reputation through the recommendation for filial piety and integrity, but now chose to accumulate their reputation before entering officialdom by reading newspapers to their neighbors.

Qiao Yan had been away from Bingzhou for a long time and hadn’t heard of this trend, but Xi Zhicai, Lu Yuan, and others who were holding the fort for her knew about it. However, since reading the newspaper hadn’t produced any notable talents yet, they didn’t plan to report it to her.

But whether further reforms could be achieved was another matter. Chang Lin was now talking to the villagers about the literary section.

It contained a five-character poem written by Cai Yong, titled “The Kingfisher Poem.”

This was a poem that was not difficult for children to understand.

“The kingfisher comes to perch, spreading its wings to groom. Looking back, it produces a green color, swaying and fluttering with a light blue hue.” Such vivid descriptions were not hard to imagine as a bird perching on a branch, grooming itself.

For children with relatively innocent hearts, this was also a poem with a happy ending.

In the subsequent verses, it was written that the kingfisher escaped from the hunter’s bow and arrow and came to the gentleman’s courtyard. Its tame heart was sheltered by the gentleman, and here, both male and female were safe, living a long life.

With Chang Lin’s word-by-word guidance, the children also started chanting.

“Fortunately escaping the hunter’s trap, coming close to the gentleman’s courtyard.”

“Tame heart entrusted to the gentleman’s simplicity, male and female ensuring a hundred years of life.”

To avoid standing out and being noticed, Tian Feng also joined in the chanting.

However, as he chanted, he vaguely remembered that this was not a poem Cai Yong had written recently, but one he had written during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han.

In the poem, the kingfisher encountered a gentleman who saved it from the hunter and also received a good ending of a hundred years of life. But for Cai Yong at that time, the appearance of this poem was more like promoting his beautiful vision, hoping to obtain a shelter that would keep him away from persecution.

However, things did not go as he wished, and he could only flee to Mount Tai, seeking shelter under the Yang family of Mount Tai.

But when the last four lines were chanted by the children, forming a nearly nursery rhyme-like chant, Tian Feng had no doubt that the original meaning would be erased, leaving only the beautiful ending story on the surface.

Thinking again that the Leping Academy in Bingzhou had welcomed Cai Yong’s friend Zheng Xuan and many literati companions, assisting in cultural creation and the compilation of Han records, it seemed that the kingfisher had indeed found a perch in the gentleman’s courtyard.

The scenes of people’s livelihood Tian Feng saw along the way were also a reflection of the Kingfisher Poem.

He intuitively felt that the promotion of this poem, like the praise for Huangfu Song in Ji Province back then, was a means to celebrate the prosperous governance of Bingzhou.

But this poem had a deeper meaning behind it compared to the folk song about Huangfu Song.

The kingfisher often symbolizes literati, so in this context, it was also a promotional song for the Leping Academy!

It was truly a brilliant move to recruit literati and talents from all over the world who intended to avoid disaster!

While Tian Feng was still pondering the dual benefits of this move, he heard Chang Lin shift the topic to the medical section.

Interestingly, the content of this section was also about birds.

But not the kingfisher, but the bird exercise from the Five Animals Play created by the divine physician Hua Tuo.

For the children who had just started chanting the Kingfisher Poem, imitating the movements of birds seemed like a natural thing to do.

They immediately followed Chang Lin’s movements, standing up with their hands raised, one foot lifted, arms spread, and eyebrows raised, starting the exercise.

Chang Lin said, “From the May issue to the current September issue, it’s just the last set of movements of the Five Animals Play. Those who are not in good health or don’t have the conditions to practice martial arts with swords, spears, and sticks can follow this set of Five Animals Play that all officials in the state government need to do, until they sweat.”

Chang Lin, without any airs of a civil official, demonstrated and explained at the same time.

He had come to Bingzhou two years ago and had been serving as an officer in Shangdang County since then.

In the past six months, his light and agile state was evident to all, and people felt that there must be something exquisite about it.

Tian Feng, watching this interaction between officials and civilians, felt both admiration and a bit of bitterness in his heart.

But before he could fully understand this emotion, he saw Chang Lin move on to the third part, agriculture.

In Bingzhou, most agricultural knowledge had already been passed on to others through the planting instruction system led by Qin Yu and others, so the agricultural section of this monthly report was not about farming or pig-raising techniques, but two pieces of news.

“The first is about a new crop called spinach.”

Using the name spinach instead of Persian vegetable was, of course, to reduce outsiders’ knowledge of its origin.

The Leping Monthly Report mentioned that spinach had achieved successful cultivation in Liangzhou, and now with the expansion of planting areas and the increase in seeds, it could also be supplied to Bingzhou. Those willing to plant could go to the state government to receive some seeds, adding another item to the dining table in Bingzhou.

The second was that since Guanzhong had just been stabilized, military farms needed to be established there, so experienced farmers were being recruited from Bingzhou.

Since there were no immediate battles in Guanzhong, these experienced farmers would receive only half the usual soldier’s allowance. However, one-third of the harvest exceeding the original output on the Guanzhong land would belong to them.

“This is a good deal!” one farmer said. “I heard that the yield per mu in Guanzhong is three dan, and our current yield, even for the best fertile land, is about nine dan, which means… each mu can yield two dan of their own harvest!”

According to the state government’s message, this part of the harvest was net income not subject to taxes.

Tian Feng was dumbfounded as he listened to this person continue to tell his companions, “According to our current farming efficiency with the curved plow and harrow, each household actually has an extra labor force. Earning an extra few dozen dan of income a year, why not!”

“You’re underestimating it. I heard that the land in Guanzhong is not only fertile but also flat, making farming easier.”





It’s much easier to work here than in Bingzhou,” one person replied. “Since the official recruitment is still more than ten days away, I’ll discuss with my wife first to see if we should send our eldest son.”

This simple sentence revealed an unreserved trust in Qiao Yan to Tian Feng.

Guanzhong is indeed fertile land, but due to years of invasions from Liangzhou and Dong Zhuo’s subsequent rule, it has become a place that people dread to mention.

Yet these Bingzhou locals seem completely unbothered by the possibility of past events recurring.

But considering that in recent years, only the Xianbei nomads have trembled at the mention of Qiao Yan’s name, and there’s been no news of Bingzhou being targeted for winter raids, it doesn’t seem strange.

This is the result of solid achievements.

But that’s not the most baffling thing to Tian Feng!

The most baffling is the phrase “nine dan per mu”!

What does nine dan per mu mean?

If Ji Province could achieve such yields, Tian Feng would dare to urge Yuan Shao to take Youzhou and then march on Bingzhou tomorrow!

Unfortunately, such yields are in the hands of their opponents.

Hearing their casual tone about such astonishing yields, Tian Feng couldn’t help but suspect that even their so-called barren lands might yield similarly impressive results.

It’s precisely because of such yields that they can enjoy such a lifestyle.

Tian Feng felt that his trip to learn from them was well worth it, but he couldn’t help but speculate about the grain reserves in Bingzhou’s government storehouses, feeling a mix of awe and anxiety.

This Qiao Bingzhou…

“Whatever choice you make is up to you, but let’s get back to the Leping Monthly Report,” Chang Lin’s voice interrupted Tian Feng’s thoughts.

He quickly composed himself to avoid revealing his origins through his shocked expression.

But Chang Lin had already turned to talk to the villagers behind him and didn’t notice Tian Feng’s odd behavior.

The children, seeing that Chang Lin wasn’t directly discussing the content of the monthly report but instead had someone fetch an iron needle, a magnet, a dry leaf, and a basin of water, couldn’t help but gather around him.

This huddle made it difficult for Chang Lin to notice Tian Feng standing on the outskirts.

Under the eager gazes of the children, Chang Lin rubbed the iron needle on the magnet, placed it on the dry leaf, and then floated the leaf on the water. The needle, along with the leaf, rotated and eventually pointed north-south.

No matter how the children moved the leaf, it always returned to this direction.

“Officer Chang,” a child playing with the leaf turned to Chang Lin and asked curiously, “What’s the principle behind this?”

Chang Lin shrugged. “Different fields have different experts. You shouldn’t ask me about this. This is something the Leping Academy has come up with. If you ever get the chance to visit, you’ll learn the specifics and its applications. They occasionally recruit talented individuals in arithmetic, even if they haven’t studied at Leping Academy.”

He handed the basin back to the villager and flipped to the next page of the Leping Monthly Report.

Thinking that the fifth page was about geography and the sixth was the much-anticipated miscellaneous section, the children, despite their curiosity about the needle, stood attentively, ready to listen to Chang Lin’s stories.

In fact, they were captivated by the geography section before even reaching the sixth page.

This issue of the monthly report introduced the Qin Straight Road between Liangzhou and Bingzhou.

In these times, traveling for study or leisure was a luxury few could afford.

Even though these children were born in Shangdang County, Bingzhou, few would venture beyond their county when they grew up, let alone travel towards Liangzhou.

Hearing about this wide road built on mountain ridges, still free of weeds after three to four hundred years, the children’s eyes lit up.

The existence of Leping Marquis paper and the design of the monthly report allowed them to see illustrations of this road.

Though the drawings were crude, they were better than pure imagination.

Chang Lin explained, “Once the provincial government has gathered enough people to head to Guanzhong, they’ll take this road south.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the man who had earlier mentioned sending his eldest son to Guanzhong received envious looks from the children.

But since it wasn’t him going, he felt somewhat shortchanged.

Of course, the one with a more somber expression wasn’t him, but Tian Feng.

As a top strategist under Yuan Shao, Tian Feng had a keen eye for the long term. He couldn’t help but see how, if the children of Bingzhou were being educated to take pride in their region’s geography, they would grow up to be.

Ji Province’s satisfaction was merely based on this year’s decent harvest.

A harvest that yielded less than half of Bingzhou’s!

What struck Tian Feng like a thunderbolt was hearing Chang Lin flip to the last page of the monthly report and say, “Alright, let’s talk about your favorite miscellaneous stories. But today’s story is a bit special—it’s not about our Bingzhou’s oddities, but about our neighboring Ji Province. It’s not entirely a miscellaneous story; it might also be an arithmetic problem.”

“To talk about this, we have to start from the coalition against Dong Zhuo two years ago. At that time, the allied forces at Suanzao were short on grain, so…”

Tian Feng: “…”

Oh no.

Even just hearing the beginning, Tian Feng could tell that Chang Lin was about to recount the story of Yuan Shao borrowing grain from Qiao Yan!

Regardless of how many copies of the Leping Monthly Report were in circulation or if only Bingzhou officials had access to it, as long as it included such engaging storytelling, it wouldn’t be long before the entire Bingzhou knew about Yuan Shao’s miscalculation.

The monthly report might have recorded this to prevent Bingzhou’s people from being deceived by such interest claims, but it also thoroughly humiliated Yuan Shao.

But what position did Tian Feng have to criticize this?

He was now “Yuan Feng,” not Tian Feng.

Qiao Yan and Yuan Shao were in absolute opposition.

Tian Feng was certain that if Qiao Yan had made such a misstep, Yuan Shao wouldn’t have missed the chance to strike.

This was a battle where no quarter would be given, regardless of age or gender!

Qiao Yan was not only unyielding in her opposition to Yuan Shao but also uncompromising in securing her own interests.

This specifically refers to milking the system for all it’s worth.

The last time she consulted the Strategist System was to inquire if she could earn strategist points by successfully promoting block printing in the future.

Three months had passed in the blink of an eye.

On her journey from Liangzhou to the surprise attack on Chang’an, she relied entirely on the accumulated resources from Liangzhou and Bingzhou and seized fleeting opportunities, hardly depending on the system’s help.

So much so that the system felt like it was just a cheerleading squad, there to hype up Qiao Yan after her victories.

But being a cheerleader wasn’t new to the system. In such cases, it knew its place and accepted reality.

However, when Qiao Yan asked about her recent strategist points and achievement settlements, the system fell silent for a while before slowly opening the panel.

[Name: Qiao Yan]

[Faction: ?]

[Occupation: Strategist (?)]

[Age: 17 (years old)]

[Physique: 95 (100), Strength: 80 (100), Intelligence: 82 (100), Luck: 86 (?)]

[Remaining distributable points: 54]

[Skills: History Lv7, Eloquence Lv9, Agitation Lv10, Artifact Appraisal Lv4, Archery Lv12, Horseback Riding Lv11, Painting Lv3, Calligraphy Lv7, Field Archaeology Lv5, Numismatics Lv3…]

[Remaining distributable skill points: 18]

[Strategist Points: 530 (Every 10 strategist points earned grants 3 distributable attribute points and 1 skill point)]

530 strategist points!

Since returning to Bingzhou after the campaign against Dong Zhuo in Luoyang during the Guangxi era, Qiao Yan had achieved additional accomplishments including [Dissuading Qu Yi from joining Yuan Shao], [Dong Zhuo’s Rebellion: Assisting Lü Bu and Wang Yun in killing Dong Zhuo], [Dong Zhuo’s Rebellion: Resolving the chaos caused by Li Jue and Guo Si in Chang’an], and [Persuading Zhang Xiu to defect and averting the Wancheng Incident].

These were achievements derived from historical events.

Additionally, there were routine strategist point events, such as Qiao Yan’s pacification of Liangzhou to uphold Han rule, which naturally earned strategist points.

But as the system numbly looked at this string of strategist point events, it couldn’t help but question the logic of its internal program.

Those achievements were one thing.

Whether “assisting” Lü Bu and Wang Yun in killing Dong Zhuo was truly “assisting” or “leading” wasn’t crucial; the result was what mattered.

Resolving the chaos caused by Li Jue and Guo Si in Chang’an could indeed be called resolved after both were dead.

With Zhang Ji captured, Zhang Xiu had completely submitted, and the Wancheng Incident was no longer a possibility, so that achievement made sense.

But why did Qiao Yan tricking Liu Xie into becoming a woodcutter count as—

[Helping the lord achieve the goal of escaping and breaking free]?