“Can strategists not ascend the throne?”
The system stuttered for a moment.
It seemed like it just heard something weird.
But Qiao Yan didn’t appear to think she’d said anything shocking.
How should I put it? If you cover one shocking event with another, people often overlook the first one—it’s just common sense.
The Strategist System 068 was indeed a rookie system, just as Qiao Yan suspected.
It churned its “brain” trying to pull out a response from its memories.
“While it’s true that a strategist may contribute to a faction’s strategy, but… the Yellow Turban Bandits will certainly be quelled this year by General Huangfu Song and other Famous Generals of the Late Han, and under Guangzong City, he even piled up the heads of a hundred thousand Yellow Turbans to create the Pyramid of Skulls.”
“I know,” Qiao Yan replied calmly.
A hundred thousand heads made into a Pyramid of Skulls was definitely scarier than whatever scene lay before her.
Under the system’s “watch,” she approached a nearby corpse.
Having mentally prepared herself for the appearance of someone who died from starvation, and with previous experience seeing dead bodies in tombs, Qiao Yan remained composed as she pulled one of the corpse’s tattered outer garments.
But calling it an outer garment was generous; it was more like a rag that looked so tattered it barely sparked any desire to loot.
At least it was sufficient for Qiao Yan to fashion herself a new covering.
While she draped the “new” piece over herself and tied the sleeves with strips of cloth, she continued, “Of course, I know, not only will the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jiao pass away this year, accelerating the government troops’ efforts to pacify the Yellow Turbans, but I also know that while the current Yellow Turban Army seems formidable and booming, they are not as long-sighted as the later Yellow Turban Rebels.”
After the Zhongping era, the Yellow Turbans in Runan and Yingchuan shifted their blind resistance and wandering to farming, which seemed much more sustainable than attacking cities while dragging innocent civilians into it.
“So why do you want to…?” the system was baffled by her choice.
If she wasn’t careful and got chopped down by the Middle General sent to quell the bandits, she wouldn’t even live to see twenty, completely wasting the identity it helped her select.
But what it saw in Qiao Yan’s face, dirty and battered as it was, was nothing but a pair of eyes filled with extreme calm and determination.
“First, chaos reigns in the Yellow Turban Army, making it easier for me to conceal my identity. There must be quite a few young kids among the nearby refugees. Second, the group that left the bodies hasn’t gone very far, and I can’t guarantee how long I’d last out here at night. Third, I need to gather resources to enhance my strategist points.”
When she mentioned resource points, the system noticed her caressing the dagger hidden in her clothes.
Thanks to the legal allowance for carrying personal weapons under the Han Dynasty’s adoption of the Qin system, they wouldn’t have thought to search her, believing her to be at death’s door due to the plague rather than viewing her as a potential meal or booty.
This wasn’t hard to understand.
During Emperor Liu Hong’s reign, four major plagues had already instigated deep-seated panic among the people, with no one able to predict if a sudden illness would spiral out of control.
In fact, they weren’t being overly cautious.
The spring following the second year of pacifying the Yellow Turban Rebellion saw yet another major plague, occurring less than a year ago.
Qiao Yan went on, “In times of chaos, great talents emerge. Before the Han military invades Yanzhou to quell the rebellion, I need to secure my footing first.”
With her implied readiness to draw the dagger at a moment’s notice and the aggression radiating from her, the system found it hard to respond again, ultimately managing only one line—
“But you are a child of loyalty and virtue…”
This statement was laden with heartbreak.
To the system, Qiao Yan’s choice seemed no different from chasing quick cash.
Just the thought of this host, whose goal was to become the world’s greatest strategist, now adding a “bandit” entry to her resume, sent it into a system blackout.
After all, in this late Han era, reputation was a deadly affair.
However, just as it was settling down its thoughts, it heard its host muttering, “A dog-headed strategist counts as a strategist, right?”
“……？？？?”
Sadly, the system didn’t get a clear explanation from Qiao Yan.
Wise in the art of conversation, she smoothly diverted the topic.
It did receive one response from her—the reason she stubbornly allocated her initial attribute points to her physique.
“As you previously said, top-notch strategists score between 85-100 in intelligence; my jump from 79 to 82 isn’t significant enough. It’s better to boost my weak points first.”
“When the Eastern Wu’s Grand General Zhou Yu died at only thirty-five, his successor Lu Su lived just to forty-five, and genius Guo Fengxiao kicked the bucket at thirty-seven. If you ask me—”
“It’s the strategist who laughs last…”
“To live longer than anyone else, like Sima Yi, don’t you think that makes sense?” Qiao Yan asked.
【……】The system momentarily froze.
It didn’t quite get why it felt like this was a twisted logic, yet somehow it made a weird kind of sense.
The very person being used as a prime example seemed a little off in a vague way.
It belatedly realized that its host, who adapted to situations quicker than anyone, had already leveled up their 【Eloquence】 skill from lv4 to lv5 during that exchange.
This couldn’t help but make it suspicious that it had just become a target for her skill experiments.
As for whether the skill should be called 【Eloquence】 or 【Persuasion】, the Strategist System 068 found itself backpedaling into silence, unable to dig up a rebuttal after scouring its database.
It wasn’t until Qiao Yan ventured a bit further, following the traces left by the Yellow Turbans, that the system suddenly found a loophole in her reasoning and raised its tone: 【Wait! You’re just a child of around ten; as you said, even traveling long distances is a challenge for you! How do you plan to become a strategist among the Yellow Turban army and earn the trust of Yanzhou’s Yellow Turban Commander Bu Ji?】
Qiao Yan felt as if this flustered fellow was yelling in her ear, which, in a way, turned out to be somewhat beneficial, chasing away her empty stomach pangs a bit.
She replied with perfect seriousness, “But have you ever heard the saying, Zheng Xuan from Xuzhou meeting tens of thousands of Yellow Turban bandits on the road, and they all bowed to him?”
【……Speak human language】
Qiao Yan almost chuckled.
This system wasn’t the one making her say things the way humans do; it just had that odd humor vibe going on.
Still, she elaborated, “You could understand it as, although the Yellow Turbans are chaotic bandits, they still value cultured people.”
She thought for a moment and added, “Besides, I don’t plan on approaching Commander Bu Ji.”
Qiao Yan had different thoughts.
This thought even received “friendly support” from the system.
To be precise, this support came from a new player starter pack hidden in the system’s backpack.
There wasn’t any starter gear in there; just one item that might be quite useful for a strategist—a thing called the 【Character Locator】.
In chaotic times, the delay in information could easily cause one to miss the mark.
Cao Cao was still under Huangfu Song’s command and hadn’t taken on any forces of his own yet.
Liu Bei was bustling around the Yellow Turban battlefield, still not appointed as the Anxi County captain for his efforts against the Yellow Turbans.
Sun Jian had only just gathered a bunch of local youngsters in Xiapi County and was now serving as a military officer under Zhu Jun.
If she wanted to pinpoint their locations accurately, she probably needed a little extra help.
But Qiao Yan didn’t plan to save that locator for later.
Under the system’s dejected gaze, she typed in the target for the locator—
One of the thirty-six commanders of the Yellow Turban army, Liang Zhongning.
Just as she finished typing, a flicker of firelight appeared in her line of sight amid the dim night at Daye Lake.
That was where the troop that had abandoned her was temporarily stationed at dusk.
Qiao Yan was thankful her body, having been weak for years, was used to some food supplements and didn’t suffer from that ancient common ailment of night blindness.
Under the light of the stars and moon, she stood atop a small hill not far from the camp, clearly seeing the boundary between the Yellow Turban soldiers and the refugees.
Now seemed like the perfect time for her to mingle in.
But honestly, she was about ready to collapse from hunger.
As Qiao Yan locked onto the location, the commander Liang Zhongning among the three Yellow Turban leaders in Yanzhou had already arrived in Puyang.
Puyang was the same place that would later witness the first battle in the struggle for Yanzhou between Cao Cao and Lü Bu.
Before the Yellow Turban uprising, Zhang Jiao preached the 【Scripture of Great Peace】, using the 【Way of Great Peace】 to enlighten the world, dividing his followers into thirty-six groups with leaders called commanders.
Ma Yuanyi’s plans to build connections in the capital were exposed by his underlings, leading to the thirty-six commanders to rise in rebellion across eight provinces, with three of them in Yanzhou—Bu Ji, Zhang Bo, and Liang Zhongning.
“Zhongning” wasn’t his name but his courtesy name.
If you addressed him by name, it should be Liang Jing, and he was currently in Puyang, staring blankly at the flames in front of him.
Most Yellow Turban commanders were early disciples of the Great Virtuous Teacher, having gained Zhang Jiao’s trust. By distributing good medicines in line with the talisman water theories, they had gradually gathered followers who believed in the teachings of Laozi, and Liang Zhongning was no exception.
But among the thirty-six commanders across eight provinces, there were clear hierarchies; even though he arrived first in Puyang, within Yanzhou’s Yellow Turban structure, he should be considered Bu Ji’s second-in-command.
Honestly, Liang Zhongning looked down on Bu Ji a bit.
During Han times, even commoners had a courtesy name once they became adults, yet Bu Ji and Zhang Bo lacked one. While they were under the Great Virtuous Teacher’s guidance, they hadn’t received a name from the General of Heaven, but because of the hasty uprising, they found themselves in positions above him temporarily.
Just thinking of how Bu Ji would soon command troops coming from Juye City above him made Liang Zhongning feel less thrilled about seizing Puyang than he did earlier.
While he was munched in thought, he suddenly heard news from his subordinates that the wealthy Tian family from Puyang was gathering officials and civilians who had fled in all directions, planning to reclaim Puyang.
Liang Zhongning slammed his hand on the table, jumping up, “What does that old thief Tian think he can yell at me for?”
One subordinate, trembling, replied, “I heard he recently recruited a guest from Chenliu, someone incredibly strong, named…”
“Named what?” His brow furrowed, clearly intending to vent the irritation brewing inside.
“His name is Dian Wei!”
