“Can strategists really not ascend to the throne?”
This chapter marks the moment when the net will tighten.
Most of the county folks can’t read, but there are always a few who recognize some common characters. Plus, thanks to Madam Qin and Miss Cai who have been distributing good seeds and explaining things over the past few days, everyone understood what was written on the notice posted outside.
This is equivalent to a certificate!
This County Marquis is truly determined to ensure that Leping has some wiggle room even in disaster years.
So, if those bandits from the Taihang Mountains try to get their hands on this, they’re really going head-to-head with Leping County.
The crowd looked at each other and saw the shared determination to protect their property in each other’s eyes.
“Don’t worry, Marquis Qiao! If any bandits come, we will definitely catch them!”
With that kind of attitude, it’ll be much easier for Qiao Yan to select some strong folks from the county to start defense work.
If it weren’t for the fact that Qiao Yan kept these passionate Leping citizens in check, there might have been folks ready to grab their tools and head straight into the mountains.
That really reflects the fierce spirit of the people in Bingzhou.
And in a way, Qiao Yan should probably thank those Black Mountain Bandits.
If it weren’t for their sudden attack, she wouldn’t have been able to swiftly change the county folks’ mindset from “the new County Marquis is habitually giving” to “you get what you pay for.”
And those bandits roaming the Taihang Mountains…
If used right, they might actually be a fantastic resource.
But that’s only if she can swallow them whole!
This wasn’t going to be an unprepared fight.
For the past month, she wasn’t just piling up the terrain of Leping County and its surroundings with mud; she was also looking for a good spot to deal with the bandits.
Without having systematically learned military strategy, she could only fill this gap through some clumsy methods.
Using those thirty thousand stones of grain as bait was one part of it, but having the right tools was equally important.
One of those “tools” was entrusted to Lu Yuan.
She hadn’t had much presence for a month, but she was working on something crucial.
Apart from Qiao Yan intentionally considering Lu Yuan for the position of attendees, she went out on the second day after arriving in Leping County with some money Qiao Yan had given her, seeking out a few women who needed extra household support to gather fallen leaves from the mountains. After drying them, they strung them together with ropes to make pieces of leaf armor.
This didn’t cost much—the fallen leaves in the mountains were readily available, the strings were common items, and the pay for the women making this wasn’t high either, but their careful handiwork made the final product nearly meet Qiao Yan’s expectations.
At this moment, Qiao Yan held the completed armor in her hands and waved to a county clerk.
The clerk, bewildered, donned this special outfit, then was directed by Qiao Yan to lie down under a tree.
Since Lu Yuan specifically sought out women skilled in making clothing, this leaf armor had few uncovered spots. At a glance, the clerk lying on the ground looked like he blended right into the earth.
In modern terms, this was equivalent to an alternative camouflage suit.
“What do you think, Mr. Zhongde?” Qiao Yan turned to Cheng Li.
“Using this for monitoring movements in the mountains is brilliant,” Cheng Li said, a glimmer of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Others might not catch the deep meaning behind Qiao Yan’s actions, but he surely wouldn’t miss it.
To draw the enemy into a trap, it was necessary to appear relaxed despite being guarded; at the very least, they couldn’t have patrols on the neighboring mountains.
However, this meant that when the enemy arrived, those sent to scout would inevitably be less vigilant.
Cheng Li had been considering whether, besides setting the granary in a particularly unique position, they should hide some scouts in the mountains, and they had to be the type expertly skilled at tracking in rugged areas.
Now, with this clothing, a lot of trouble was undoubtedly saved.
They just needed to have some of the county clerks wear this clothing and lie in ambush in suitable positions.
After all, the road from the Taihang Mountains toward the granary didn’t pass through the county city but only went along two mountain paths.
This greatly narrowed the range they needed to patrol.
Cheng Li figured they would only need about twenty people to cover these essential routes, and they definitely wouldn’t be discovered.
And twenty people—
That didn’t even need to come from the young men selected by Qiao Yan yesterday; just pulling people from the original county clerks would suffice.
Qiao Yan, not wanting more people to know about this plan—even excluding Bao Hong, the military officer—only took those twenty clerks up the mountain.
Now, seeing these folks donning the special outfits one after another, she walked around them to ensure there were no issues with the changes, then said, “I command you to lie in ambush at your respective positions for ten days, alternating between day and night. When shifting positions, you must detour north to find a way down the mountain before returning to the city. If anyone sneaks down via the White Dragon Road…”
Her gaze was piercing as she swept over the crowd, an inherent intimidation evident in her eyes, before slowly adding, “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see that consequence.”
Given that the things this County Marquis did were all filled with an unexplainable sense of incredibility, they felt a shiver down their spines even though she didn’t explicitly mention the punishment.
Noticing her intimidation had worked, Qiao Yan softened her tone and continued, “But don’t worry, regardless of whether the Black Mountain Bandits appear in these ten days or who discovers their movements, your salaries for this month will be doubled on my word.”
With that assurance, it was enough to ensure these county clerks would fulfill their duties for the sake of doubled pay.
With a pained heart over her dwindling treasury, she positioned each of them at the spots she had previously decided on.
The reason she forced them to head north before descending was that the vast majority of the Black Mountain Bandits were scattered along the southern route.
So, to avoid exposing their tracks during a change of shifts, they naturally needed to dodge the main paths.
After arranging this, she finally descended the mountain with Cheng Li.
This stroll up and down the mountain seemed just like setting up lookout points, but it didn’t take a short amount of time. By the time Qiao Yan re-entered Leping County City, it was already sunset.
She looked back at the Taihang Mountains and saw the entire forest covered in a layer of golden hue, casting a warm glow over the high peaks.
In this sunset, her gaze fixed on the second peak behind the gentle slope in the distance, a meaningfully deep smile emerged on her face. “Mr. Zhongde, do you know why this mountain is named?”
“I would like to hear the details.”
Qiao Yan said, “The front mountain is called West Tiger Terrace Mountain, while the back mountain is shaped like a lotus and a palm, thus named Lotus Mountain, which includes peaks like Mountain Palm, South Palm, and Back Palm. I intend to set an ambush at Back Palm Peak. What do you think, Mr. Zhongde?”
At this point, she pointed towards the Back Palm Peak.
Cheng Li followed her指示的方向看去，正见那果如手掌一般的山峰中被乔琰称为后掌峰的位置正延伸而去，
那条在灌木掩映之中依然显得有些分明的白龙山道，又被黄昏夕照投射了一层分明的光影。
He thought about the terrain and escape routes he had seen from the granary direction and nodded.
There were two decent routes leading down from the Taihang Mountains to the granary position in Leping County, but if they had to quickly retreat with grain bags, there was only one road left, and it was this path…
“Qiao Yan strictly forbids anyone from ambushing scouts on the White Dragon Path.”
Now, if you’re looking to pull off a mid-way ambush, this is actually a pretty sweet spot.
This is the road chosen for the granary she set up.
Cheng Li noticed that Qiao Yan was sporting a rather mischievous grin and said, “But, to be honest with you, Mr. Zhongde, this mountain path climbs up, and it’s not until you get below Hengling that you hit a fork. So, we could set an ambush at the Back Peak or at Dajinggou, but I prefer the former for a reason.”
“The Back Peak is right next to the White Dragon Path’s rock wall, which has a name—Yama Wall. Now, I don’t believe in prophecies or anything, but since this is my first battle after becoming the County Marquis of Leping, I ought to start things off on a good note.”
Cheng Li thought Qiao Yan sounded a bit childish, but…
“The Back Peak side, under Yama Wall, does sound rather valiant. It seems that County Marquis Qiao is determined to win this battle.” Cheng Li said with a hint of admiration.
As soon as he finished, Qiao Yan jumped on the chance: “Naturally, so this mid-way ambush business is entrusted to Mr. Zhongde and General Bao.”
“…” Cheng Li was momentarily taken aback by this response, but he saw no reason to refuse the arrangement.
He realized this wasn’t anything like the battle at Xiaquyang where Qiao Yan had to play the bait. In a chaotic night fight, there’s no way she’d put herself in danger.
In that case, for the sake of safety, it made sense for him, the strategist, to go up the mountain and adapt on the fly.
This was Qiao Yan’s first real battle since arriving in Leping, and for Cheng Li, how could this not be a chance to shine?
“I wonder how County Marquis plans to arrange for Dian Wei and Zhao Yun?” Cheng Li thought for a moment before asking.
After some contemplation, Qiao Yan replied, “Dian Wei has strong assault capabilities, so I’ll leave him under Mr. Zhongde’s command. If he spots the highest-ranking scoundrel on the White Dragon Path, let him go and capture them. As for Zhao Yun…”
Qiao Yan again pointed to another mountain ridge on the north side that looked like a hand.
“I want him to catch a swallow under Phoenix Mountain.”
Cheng Li chuckled; that sounded like yet another good omen.
The mountain names around Leping were quite amusing indeed.
And, of course, the granary location Qiao Yan picked was even more intriguing.
After receiving news from the scouts sent to survey the area, Chu Yan couldn’t help but mumble to himself.
“Setting the granary at the southernmost part of Leping County, with both the south and east sides not far from the mountains—doesn’t that seem too convenient for us?” Chu Yan didn’t buy into any lucky break; he suspected it was a trap.
“Second Leader, that’s not quite right; this is truly a suitable place for grain storage.” The scout replied, “There’s a small lake south of Leping County City, and the granary is east of the lake, not far from it. If it catches fire, we can get water quickly.”
“Plus, because just outside the county walls is Yangpo, with the terrain rising, there’s hardly any housing built near the edge. It actually makes it easier for the County Marquis to have people on guard since no nearby houses allow for some sneaky business.”
“That’s sort of the flaw of those high-ranking officials.” Zhang Niujiao chuckled, “They have no idea that over-preparing just gives us an opening.”
Chu Yan still had some doubts, but if what the scout said was true, it did seem like a possibility.
He thought for a moment and asked, “Did you see any county officials guarding the surrounding mountain ridges?”
“They don’t have that many people,” the scout waved his hand, “There are some by Yangpo, because there are two villages there that have stirred up some activity lately, and the mountain road runs through the villages. I didn’t dare to pass through for fear of being spotted. But the eastern path? I went back and forth twice without running into anyone.”
Zhang Niujiao’s eyes lit up, “Great! Then let’s take this road.”
Hearing this explanation, Chu Yan contained his doubts and pondered that it was probably just a coincidence after all.
Besides, one side makes the move while the other supports; there was some margin for error in that.
And considering the number difference between the two sides, it tilted the advantage in his favor.
When Zhang Niujiao called for the group to set off, he didn’t hesitate to take on the task of bringing up the rear.
Little did they know that while the scout was going back and forth, he was clearly under the watchful eyes of five or six pairs of peering eyes.
These county officials, hiding under leaves and uniforms, reported the scout’s movements back to Qiao Yan as soon as he slipped out of sight.
Of course, letting the scout get to the granary was part of Qiao Yan’s plan.
She intended to have these people reach the granary and walk away carrying a grain sack each, if possible!
Otherwise, how else could she deprive these able-bodied workers of their chance to quickly adapt when an ambush hits?
Now that the stash of food had been verified by the Black Mountain Bandits in person, they should be arriving within the next two days.
Qiao Yan decided to give them a little more help.
She strolled again to the backyard of the county office where the wine ceramic vessels were located.
The three people previously hired by Yang Xiu weren’t working on expanding the supplementary fermentation production as she had said. Instead, they were focused on updating the types of wine and improving quality based on that.
The other two had some experience working in a winery, but they couldn’t get a grip on the core processes, and right now they were stumped by the mention of pea sweet wine that Qiao Yan brought up.
Peas had now become an important ingredient for brewing, along with sorghum and mung beans, but no one had actually seen a wine made from them.
But Qiao Yan distinctly remembered having tasted that strong sweet wine before.
She thought, since it could be made in Vietnam, and considering Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions brought peas here, it should be possible to make it here too.
Meanwhile, the drunkard was clearly intrigued by this whimsical idea, creatively stuffing peas directly into a ceramic pot for fermentation.
Whether it would actually work or not remains to be seen, but his willingness to take a stab at it was something Qiao Yan genuinely appreciated.
However, she wasn’t there to check on the brewing progress but rather to grab a couple of jars of wine.
As she was leaving with the wine jars in hand, Xi Zhicai had been staring at her back for a while.
He hesitated whether to reveal his identity or not, especially since Yang Xiu had sat in the brewing courtyard pondering for ages after returning from Qiao Yan two days ago, mumbling something about how “it really can’t be compared.”
Xi Zhicai had no idea what had spurred him on; after some roundabout questioning, he finally found out that the boy had seen a unique model in one of the county office rooms. But asking further would surely expose his ulterior motives, and someone as clever as Yang Xiu would undoubtedly notice something off.
And it just so happened that besides the people Qiao Yan permitted, no one could sneak into that room.
This really stirred Xi Zhicai’s curiosity.
What on earth had Qiao Yan hidden in there…
And if he guessed right, since the bait had been cast, and with Qiao Yan firmly in control of the fishing rod, the fish should be arriving within the next couple of days, which was obviously linked to her scheme to eliminate the Black Mountain Bandits.
But since he didn’t plan on revealing his identity just yet, all he could do was watch both parties go at it, initiated by Qiao Yan’s command.
Feeling some instinct pulling him, on the night of the third day, Xi Zhicai stepped out of the side room in the backyard.
He raised his head to gaze at the moonlight, only to find Qiao Yan sitting on the county office rooftop, extending her hands toward the distant mountains.
At that very moment, the midnight watch was sounding in Leping County.
