Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 2: At the Foot of Taihang Mountains, A Small Test of Skill Chapter 46 The Net is About to Close

The majority of the county’s residents are illiterate, but there are always a few who recognize some common characters. With the help of Lady Qin and Miss Cai, who have been distributing good seeds and explaining things to them these past few days, the content of the notice posted outside has become clear.

This is equivalent to a certificate!

The County Marquis is truly determined to ensure that even in a disaster year, Leping County will have some buffer.

Thus, if the bandits from the Taihang Mountains want to lay their hands on this, they will be directly opposing the entire Leping County.

The people below exchanged glances, each seeing the determination to protect private property in the other’s eyes.

“Marquis Qiao, rest assured, if bandits come, we will definitely capture them!”

With this attitude, it will be much easier for Qiao Yan to select some strong and healthy individuals from the county residents to carry out defense work.

In fact, if Qiao Yan hadn’t restrained these impassioned Leping County residents, some of them might have already taken up arms and marched into the mountains.

This truly reflects the fierce folk customs of Bingzhou.

Of course, in a way, Qiao Yan has to thank these Black Mountain Bandits.

If it weren’t for their timely attack, she wouldn’t have been able to quickly shift the residents’ mindset from “the new County Marquis habitually gives” to “you have to give to receive.”

And these bandits roaming the Taihang Mountains…

If used well, they could be an excellent source of manpower.

But the prerequisite is that she can swallow them up!

This is not an unprepared battle.

In the past month, she hasn’t just been building a model of Leping County and its surrounding terrain with clay; she has also been searching for a suitable location to suppress the bandits.

Without systematic study of military strategy, relying only on cleverness, she has to fill in the gaps with some crude methods.

Using the thirty thousand dan of grain as bait, she must first sharpen her tools.

One of these “tools” was entrusted to Lu Yuan.

Though she has kept a low profile this past month, she has been working on something crucial.

Apart from Qiao Yan’s intention to appoint her as the herald, on the second day after arriving in Leping County, she took some money given by Qiao Yan and found several women in need of household subsidies. She had them collect fallen leaves in the mountains, dry them, and string them together with ropes to create leaf cloaks.

This didn’t cost much—mountain leaves are readily available, and ropes are common. The wages for the women making these cloaks were also minimal, but their meticulous craftsmanship resulted in products that met Qiao Yan’s expectations.

Now, Qiao Yan holds the finished cloak and beckons a county clerk.

The clerk, bewildered, puts on this special garment and is instructed by Qiao Yan to lie down under a tree.

Since Lu Yuan specifically chose women with some experience in making clothes, the leaf cloak covers most of the body. At a glance, the clerk lying on the ground seems to blend into the surroundings.

In modern terms, this is akin to a unique camouflage suit.

“What does Mr. Zhongde think?” Qiao Yan turns to Cheng Li.

“It’s excellent for monitoring movements in the mountains,” Cheng Li’s eyes flash with delight.

Others might not grasp the deeper meaning of Qiao Yan’s move, but he certainly does.

To lure the enemy into a trap, one must appear to have minimal defenses, especially not setting up patrols on the adjacent mountains.

But this way, when the enemy arrives, their scouts might overlook the hidden observers.

Cheng Li had been wondering if, apart from the uniquely positioned granary, Qiao Yan should also have people hidden in the mountains to monitor, preferably those skilled in hunting in the mountains.

Now, with this garment, many troubles are avoided.

Simply have some clerks wear these cloaks and lie hidden in strategic positions.

After all, there are only two paths from the Taihang Mountains to the granary if one avoids the county town and sticks to mountain trails.

This greatly narrows the area they need to monitor.

In Cheng Li’s view, at most twenty people are enough to cover these necessary paths without being detected.

And twenty people—

This doesn’t even require selecting from the strong youths Qiao Yan chose yesterday; it’s enough to assign from the existing county clerks.

Qiao Yan doesn’t want too many people to know about this, not even informing Bao Hong, the Northern Army Commandant. She only has these twenty clerks follow her up the mountain.

Now, seeing them don the special cloaks, she paces before them, ensuring the disguise is perfect, and says, “I order you to lie in ambush at your positions for ten days, alternating between day and night shifts. But when changing shifts, you must detour north to Xueyao Ridge before finding your way back to the city. If anyone takes shortcuts via Bailong Path…”

Her gaze sweeps over them, with a hint of intimidation, and she slowly adds, “I think you wouldn’t want to see the consequences.”

Given the County Marquis’s track record of doing the seemingly impossible, even without specifying the punishment, they can’t help but feel a chill.

Seeing her intimidation effective, Qiao Yan softens her tone and adds, “But rest assured, whether the Black Mountain Bandits appear within these ten days or not, and regardless of who spots their movements, I will double your monthly salary.”

With this promise, the clerks are motivated to diligently perform their duties for the doubled pay.

While lamenting her dwindling funds, she assigns each to their predetermined positions.

The reason for having them detour north before descending is that the majority of the Black Mountain Bandits are located to the south of the mountain range.

Thus, to avoid exposure during shift changes, it’s natural to avoid the necessary paths.

After arranging this, she descends the mountain with Cheng Li.

This trip up and down the mountain, seemingly just to set up observation posts, actually takes quite some time. By the time Qiao Yan re-enters Leping County, it’s already sunset.

She looks back towards the Taihang Mountains, seeing the forest bathed in a golden hue, with the peaks shrouded in twilight.

In this sunset, her gaze lingers on the gentle slope behind the second peak, revealing a meaningful smile. “Mr. Zhongde, do you know the name of this mountain?”

“Please enlighten me.”

Qiao Yan says, “The front mountain is called Xihutai Mountain, and the back mountain, shaped like a lotus or a palm, is called Lotus Mountain, with peaks like Shan Zhang, Nan Zhang, and Hou Zhang. I intend to set an ambush at Hou Zhang Peak. What do you think, Mr. Zhongde?”

As she speaks, she points towards Hou Zhang Peak.

Cheng Li follows her direction and sees the peak, shaped like a palm, located along the path they just descended.

The Bailong Path, still visible through the shrubs, is cast in distinct light and shadow by the evening glow.

Considering the terrain and escape routes from the granary, he nods in agreement.

In the Taihang Mountains, there are indeed two paths down to the Leping County granary, but for quickly carrying grain sacks away, only one path remains—the very one they are discussing.








Qiao Yan strictly forbade anyone from passing through the Bailong Road where ambushes and scouts were active.

If you want to ambush midway, this is indeed a good spot.

This road was selected based on the location of the granary she had set up.

Cheng Li immediately noticed Qiao Yan making a mischievous expression and said, “But I won’t hide it from Mr. Zhongde, this mountain road leads upward, and it’s only when you reach the foot of Hengling that you’ll find a fork. You can set up an ambush at Houchang Peak or at Dajing Gully, but I prefer the former for another reason.”

“This Houchang Peak is adjacent to the stone wall of Bailong Road, and it has a name called Yanwang Cliff. Although I don’t believe in any prophetic theories, since this is my first battle after becoming the County Marquis of Leping, I naturally want to have a good omen.”

Cheng Li couldn’t help but feel that Qiao Yan’s words were quite childish, but…

“Houchang Peak side, under Yanwang Cliff, it does sound quite warlike. So, it seems that Marquis Qiao is determined to win this battle,” Cheng Li said with some emotion.

As soon as Cheng Li finished speaking, Qiao Yan quickly followed up, “Naturally, so the task of ambushing midway will be entrusted to Mr. Zhongde and General Bao.”

“…” Although he was momentarily choked by her response, Cheng Li had no reason to refuse this arrangement.

He knew that this situation wasn’t like the battle at Xiaquyang, where Qiao Yan had to act as a decoy to open the gates. She definitely wouldn’t participate in this nighttime melee.

In that case, to ensure the ambush was successful, it was better for him, as the strategist, to follow up the mountain and adapt to the situation.

For Qiao Yan, this was her first proper battle since arriving in Leping, and for Cheng Li, it was also an opportunity to showcase his skills.

“May I ask how Marquis Qiao plans to arrange for Dian Wei and Zhao Yun?” Cheng Li asked after some thought.

After some consideration, Qiao Yan replied, “Dian Wei has the strength to break through enemy formations, so I will assign him to Mr. Zhongde. If you see someone who appears to be of high status among the bandits on Bailong Road, have him capture them. As for Zhao Yun…”

Qiao Yan pointed to another mountain ridge north of the palm-shaped peak.

“I want to ask him to catch a swallow under Fenghuang Mountain.”

Cheng Li smiled, as this sounded like another good omen.

The mountain names in Leping were quite interesting.

Of course, the location Qiao Yan chose for the granary was even more interesting.

After receiving the news from the brothers who went to scout the area, Chu Yan couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“Setting up the granary at the southernmost end of Leping County, close to the mountains on the south and east sides, doesn’t this seem too convenient for us?” Chu Yan didn’t believe in any free lunches and thought this might be a trap.

“Second Boss, that’s not quite right. This is actually a suitable location for storing grain,” the scout replied. “There’s a small lake to the south of Leping County, and the granary is set up to the east of the lake. If the granary catches fire, this is the fastest place to fetch water.”

“Moreover, since the county wall isn’t far from the sunny slope, the terrain gradually rises, and there aren’t many residential buildings at the edge of the county, making it convenient for the County Marquis to station guards and prevent any chaos.”

“This is just the usual habit of those high-ranking officials,” Zhang Niujiao laughed. “They don’t realize that too much defense only benefits us.”

Chu Yan still had some doubts, but if what the scout said was true, it might not be impossible.

He thought for a moment and asked, “Did you see any county officials guarding the surrounding mountains?”

“Do they have that many people?” The scout waved his hand. “There are some on the sunny slope to the south because there are two villages on the mountain, and there seems to be some activity recently. The mountain path passes through the village, so I didn’t dare to go through it to avoid being noticed. But on the eastern side, I walked back and forth twice without encountering anyone.”

Zhang Niujiao was delighted. “Great, then we’ll take that route.”

After hearing this explanation, Chu Yan suppressed his doubts, thinking that this might just be a coincidence.

Besides, with one group leading and the other supporting, there was still some room for error.

Considering the difference in numbers, this situation was even more advantageous for us.

When Zhang Niujiao gathered people to take action, Chu Yan didn’t stop them but instead took on the task of covering the rear.

But little did they know, the scout’s two trips back and forth had clearly exposed their movements under the watchful eyes of several county officials.

These officials, hidden in leaf-patterned uniforms, reported to Qiao Yan as soon as the scout disappeared from sight.

Of course, letting them easily find the granary was part of Qiao Yan’s plan.

She didn’t just want them to reach the granary; she wanted them to each carry away a bag of grain!

Otherwise, how could these strong laborers lose their ability to react quickly when the ambush was sprung?

Now that the bandits had personally verified the location of the granary, it should only be a matter of days before they arrived.

Qiao Yan decided to give them another push.

She went to the backyard of the county office where the ceramic wine vessels were stored.

The three people Yang Xiu had hired earlier, as she had mentioned, were now tasked not with expanding the production of supplementary fermentation but with updating the types of wine and improving quality based on it.

The other two, despite having experience working in wineries, had rarely been involved in core projects and were somewhat lost. Qiao Yan’s mention of pea sweet wine left them quite puzzled.

At this time, peas had already become an important component of the fermentation starter along with sorghum and mung beans, but no one had ever seen wine made directly from peas.

But Qiao Yan remembered having tasted this strong sweet wine before.

She thought that since it could be made in Vietnam, and peas had been introduced after Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions, it should be possible to make it here.

The wine enthusiast, however, was quite interested in this whimsical idea and creatively chose to ferment peas directly in ceramic jars.

Whether it would work or not, his willingness to try was something Qiao Yan greatly appreciated.

But she wasn’t here to check on the wine-making progress; she was here to pick up two jars of wine.

As she left with the wine jars, Xi Zhicai watched her back for a long time.

He hesitated whether to reveal his identity, especially since two days ago, Yang Xiu had returned from Qiao Yan and sat in the winery courtyard for a long time, muttering something like “indeed, it can’t be compared.”

Xi Zhicai didn’t know what had stimulated him, but after some probing, he found out that the boy had seen a special model in a room at the front of the county office. Further questioning would likely reveal his ulterior motives, and with Yang Xiu’s intelligence, he would undoubtedly notice something was off.

It just so happened that no one was allowed into that room except those permitted by Qiao Yan.

This really piqued Xi Zhicai’s curiosity.

He wondered what Qiao Yan had placed inside…

If he wasn’t mistaken, since the bait had been cast, and Qiao Yan, as the angler, was sitting calmly, the fish would likely arrive in the next couple of days, which was undoubtedly related to her plan to eliminate the Black Mountain Bandits.

But since he wasn’t planning to reveal his identity yet, all he could do was watch the two sides engage in battle under Qiao Yan’s control.

As if guided by some intuition, Xi Zhicai walked out of the side room in the backyard on the third night.

He looked up, intending to gaze at the moon, but instead saw Qiao Yan sitting on the roof of the county office, stretching her hand toward the distant mountains.

At that moment, the sound of the night watchman’s clapper echoed through the night in Leping County.