Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 2: At the Foot of Taihang Mountains, A Small Test of Skills Chapter 49: Change of Era to Zhongping

Book: Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 49: Change of Era to Zhongping

Qiao Yan’s immense interest in yams was something Xi Zhicai couldn’t miss unless he was blind.

She talked about planting yams on the slopes, but it was more like a verdict than a question.

Xi Zhicai imagined the slopes covered with yams, their skins causing him hives, and felt his vision darken.

But then he thought, no matter how long the yams grew, the edible part was underground. At most, he’d see a patch of green, not enough to make him flee Leping with his belongings.

He asked, “How do you plant these yams?”

Yams were different from beans and wheat. In Xi Zhicai’s experience, he’d never seen farmers systematically planting yams.

But Qiao Yan wasn’t clueless. Her idea to plant yams wasn’t spur-of-the-moment; it was the most suitable choice for her.

She replied, “Months ago, I met Master Yuanhua in Ji Province. Besides mentioning yams for medicine, he also talked about propagating them through tubers. Since yams boost energy and benefit the spleen, he was quite interested. A neighbor happened to be experimenting with it, so I asked a few questions.”

Qiao Yan’s calm expression made Xi Zhicai miss that, after Qiao Xuan became her excuse, Hua Tuo, the renowned physician who indeed met her during Zhang Jiao’s debates, was now her banner.

But no one could verify this with Hua Tuo anyway.

By the time she left Ji Province, Hua Tuo had already moved on, traveling to practice medicine.

Xi Zhicai listened as she continued, “Master, rest assured, this isn’t a frivolous act. According to Master Yuanhua, yams have high yields and are very filling. Since the mountain slopes haven’t been cultivated due to lack of manpower, and we now have surplus grain, why not try? If successful, it could benefit more than just this county.”

“But speaking of which—”

Qiao Yan glanced at Xi Zhicai’s hives-covered hand and asked, “Master, is it just the yam skins you’re allergic to, or can you not eat yams at all?”

“Is there a difference?” Xi Zhicai asked, confused.

He had to admit, while he excelled in strategy, he was clueless about farming and medicine.

That night, the yam sample that prompted Qiao Yan’s decision was stewed into soup.

Even if Han Dynasty cooking couldn’t compare to later times, making soup was no issue.

To prevent the strategist from falling into his own trap, Qiao Yan carefully had a county physician on standby and only let him eat a small amount. Seeing no allergic reaction, she relaxed.

She chose yams not just for famine relief but also for their medicinal value.

Xi Zhicai’s early death was likely due to widespread malnutrition and his lack of self-care. Without a renowned physician, Qiao Yan dared not experiment with medicinal supplements, but dietary supplements were worth a try.

Seeing he wasn’t allergic, Qiao Yan sighed in relief.

But planting yams wasn’t as simple as a snap of the fingers.

She had thought the process troublesome, perfect for tempering the Black Mountain Bandits’ impatience. Now, she had to prepare for these challenges.

For instance, land.

In modern times, with fertilizers to restore soil fertility, yam rotation required intervals of two to three years. In ancient times with limited resources, restoring fertility in five to ten years was considered good.

But Qiao Yan needed to quickly accumulate a stock of yams for both food and medicine. Fields used for yams could later be planted with soybeans to restore nitrogen or left fallow for two years.

Thus, yams’ high yield could offset these drawbacks.

Moreover, in the unpredictable late Han Dynasty, only what you held in your hands was reliable.

Still, considering the first year as a trial, Qiao Yan decided to divide suitable mountain land into two parts for planting over two years.

This was the first time Xi Zhicai saw the terrain model Qiao Yan had made since he started advising her.

He finally understood why Yang Xiu had reacted the way he did.

But seeing it now, not for warfare but for farming, felt oddly out of place.

Yet, the model’s precision captivated him, making him overlook the strangeness.

“This is the area for tilling this autumn and winter,” Qiao Yan pointed to the flagged region. “The rest is for next year’s planting.”

This was the first task for the Black Mountain Bandits.

Yam planting required deep plowing the previous winter, so these strong laborers had to prepare the marked area and plan the ditches in advance.

Of course, besides land, yam tubers for planting needed to be found.

Fortunately, the Taihang Mountains were ideal for yams, especially near the Qin and Yellow Rivers, the origin of Iron Rod Yams.

With August still here, collecting enough tubers for planting by October was feasible.

While searching, the bandits had to build winter storage “warehouses” for the yam tubers, prepare enough fine sand, and gather materials for next year’s yam vine supports.

Additionally, they had to complete Qiao Xuan’s ancestral temple before winter for Commander Bao Hong’s return to Luoyang.

Calculating all this, the bandits’ numbers were just enough.

But calling them Black Mountain Bandits wasn’t quite right anymore. Lured by the promise of food, perhaps Black Mountain Reform Team was more fitting.

Shortly after being captured by Leping’s army and villagers, the remaining bandits in the Taihang Mountains were also tricked down.

“Tricked” might not be the right word, as Qiao Yan promised food in exchange for labor and never reneged.

But these mountain-dwellers had to follow Qiao Yan’s orders, becoming her labor force.








They were divided into several teams, with no direct contact between them.

In this way, although their combined numbers were quite impressive, there was no real opportunity to seize grain and collectively defect.

Zhang Niujiao was a bit frustrated.

He was somewhat carefree, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see that the people working with him to build the ancestral temple were quite satisfied with the current arrangement of having food to eat. After all, the county officials Qiao Yan had brought in distributed food based on their workload.

Under this seemingly fair distribution, even though he was once a leader of the Black Mountain Bandits, he couldn’t get an extra bowl of food during mealtime. He had to work as fast and well as everyone else during the day.

In such a situation, he couldn’t help but think that there was probably no chance to persuade them to escape together.

After all—if they could survive by working, who wouldn’t want to earn a living by their own skills?

Although most of those who turned to banditry had some sense of opportunism, wanting to try the taste of plunder in this chaotic situation, when the majority chose to follow the rules, they would indeed become more restrained due to the herd mentality.

But… how should I put it? The food was pretty good.

Zhang Niujiao very sincerely commented.

The ancestral temple, which was already two-thirds completed, quickly reached its final stage in ten days thanks to the efficient workforce.

The inscriptions written by Cai Yong, including the “Stele of the Late Grand Commandant Qiao Gong,” the “Inscription of the Yellow Axe,” and three other elaborate tripod inscriptions, had already been copied onto stone by Cai Yong and sent to Jinyang City. They were then completed by skilled craftsmen and returned.

Qiao Yan caressed the engraved characters on the stele in front of the temple, silently sighing in her heart.

Although Qiao Xuan was no longer in this world, the evaluation of him as “firm but not cruel, authoritative but not fierce, acting upon hearing of benevolence, and residing in righteousness” would surely be passed down to future generations.

What about her? What kind of evaluation would she leave for future generations?

Qiao Yan couldn’t predict the answer.

She only knew that she was walking steadily on the path of developing Leping, and what role this gradually developing Leping would play in the impending chaos, she couldn’t give a clear answer.

But overthinking was useless.

For now, all she had to do was scatter those who had been building the ancestral temple and assign them to other labor projects.

So, after passing through Leping County and seeing Chu Yan learning to weave bamboo baskets, Zhang Niujiao was taken to the site where the yam storage warehouse was being built.

According to Qiao Yan’s words—

After all, it’s all construction work, and practice makes perfect.

Zhang Niujiao felt that after Leping’s training, he might transition from a bandit leader to a construction craftsman, and Chu Yan would likely graduate from the weaving industry.

What kind of situation is this!

After finishing his bowl of rice, he heard the supervisor say that the yams to be planted in Leping County next spring would have an extremely high yield, which was why they were feeding these potential bandits so well.

Zhang Niujiao eavesdropped and still found it somewhat unbelievable. But perhaps because he was captured by Qiao Yan’s people, he felt that nothing this young County Marquis did would be surprising.

Maybe she really could pull it off.

So he thought about it and found another reason to stay.

He would first learn how to plant this special and high-yielding crop, then take the opportunity to escape with his men.

In this mindset, which was either explaining his actions or trying to convince himself, time passed until September of that year.

September marked the peak of the yam harvest season. Qin Yu and Xu Fu received a task from Qiao Yan to visit Huaiqing Prefecture and returned to Leping in mid-to-late September.

The wild yams in Huaiqing Prefecture were plentiful. Besides carefully uprooting the mature Iron Rod Yams and bringing them back, they also harvested a handful of yam beans.

From a planting perspective, these should be called bulbils and can also be used for planting, but the yams grown from these usually take an extra year.

Thus, with enough planting stock, the yam beans might as well be used as a dietary supplement.

Later, after learning from Qiao Yan that yam beans also have spleen-tonifying and deficiency-replenishing effects, they became Xi Zhicai’s drinking snacks, which made her eyelids twitch.

She couldn’t help but feel like she was watching someone drink iced cola while claiming it had no calories.

Fortunately, although Leping hadn’t stopped researching the alcohol industry, it hadn’t developed a brewing industry either, making it almost impossible for Xi Zhicai to drink excessively.

While pondering how to use yam skins to curb his drinking, Qiao Yan directed the laborers to store the yams in the previously built storage compartments, layering them with fine sand and stacking them up for storage until next year.

By the time all this was done, it was already October.

It was also in this month that news from the capital arrived in Leping County.

Due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which had caused earth-shaking changes across the various regions of the realm, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, located within the Eight Passes, decided to change the era name to Zhongping, signifying the hope of quelling the remaining forces after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and perhaps also a belated celebration of the execution of Zhang Jiao and other Yellow Turban leaders.

Whether for the above reasons or for auspiciousness, the seventh year of Guanghe now had another name: the first year of Zhongping.

A change in era name often meant amnesty and also signified that most positions in Luoyang would undergo changes.

No matter how much Bao Hong felt that life in Leping was stress-free and comfortable, he now had to return to the capital as soon as possible due to his career ambitions.

However, before leaving, Qiao Yan asked him to take a letter to Luoyang.

“This letter is?”

“Please deliver this letter to Palace Attendant Bi Lan.”

Qiao Yan pointed to the newly formed mountainous area and said, “I previously heard from Yuanhua that yams don’t need much water when breaking through the soil, but when the foliage is lush, they require ample irrigation. Unfortunately, in this regard, Leping is not as convenient as Huaiqing Prefecture.”

“Palace Attendant Bi Lan has some ingenious ideas in construction. I would like to ask General Bao to deliver this letter and inquire if he has any inventions that could be useful here.”

This matter wasn’t too troublesome, and Bao Hong immediately agreed.

But Bao Hong never expected that his agreement would turn him into a laborer, and Qiao Yan wanted to send letters to more than just Bi Lan.

By the time he left Leping, his team was also carrying gifts for Fu Shou, gifts for Ma Lun, thank-you gifts for Liang Hu, gifts for Grand Commandant Yang Ci…

And a box to be presented to His Majesty, along with a memorial written by Qiao Yan after consulting with several strategists.