Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 2: At the Foot of Taihang Mountains, A Small Test of Skill Chapter 53: The Governor Restarts

Belonging to the book:


Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 53: The Governor Restarts

White-robed hero on an angry horse, clad in heroic armor, wielding the “Broken Mountains and Remaining Waters” Lethal Spear Technique.

What a great name!

This spear technique, Qiao Yan hadn’t heard of it before, but it didn’t sound like an ordinary one.

After flipping through a few pages, she realized her guess was correct.

The weapon corresponding to this spear manual is not an ordinary spear, but a dual spear.

To be precise, it’s a spear that can split into two sections for attack.

In the spear manual, the dual spear sweeps left and stabs right, smashes up and down, and is depicted in vivid detail in the character illustrations. When the dual spear is combined into one, both ends are spear tips, making it several inches longer than a regular spear.

So, this means—

“This spear is quite cunning…” Qiao Yan touched her chin and sighed.

She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that if the system thought this was the most suitable weapon for her, it gave her an idea of what impression it had of her.

No wonder it suggested exchanging conditions for her to write a practical conversation guide.

Looking at her own naive system, the contrast was truly hard to describe.

She thought this to herself but didn’t voice it out like she did with the check-in rewards.

Being able to make this deal, in a way, showed that her rookie system had some capability.

[Isn’t this spear manual a bit complicated?] The system, following Qiao Yan’s lead, couldn’t help but mutter.

But it immediately heard Qiao Yan reply, “No, this is actually beneficial for me.”

“Broken Mountains and Remaining Waters… this desperate spear technique is fierce and flexible, enough to compensate for some of my strength deficiencies.”

Currently in Leping, she wouldn’t have many opportunities for strategic planning in the short term, especially to earn strategist points as a [Strategist].

Unless there’s a corresponding opportunity or achievement, in this situation, it’s difficult for her to improve her physique by earning strategist points, so she can only rely on her own growth and training.

Restricting her physique and strength doesn’t mean she’s giving up on improving her martial prowess.

She can choose to fight with her brains!

Following the electronic spear manual displayed by the system, Qiao Yan sketched this special spear, ensuring the central connecting hub was flawless, so that the craftsmen in Leping County could replicate it.

With this blueprint, she could first make a wooden spear.

Leping currently has sufficient grain, and for winter clothing, there’s mulberry bark clothing. The yam she had high hopes for can only be planted in March, or perhaps, due to the extreme cold, it might need to be postponed until later.

During this period, she doesn’t have the conditions to interfere with the central decisions of the Han Dynasty, nor can she recklessly accelerate the development of various facilities in Leping County without considering productivity. In her spare time, it’s better to focus on self-improvement.

If anyone asks, she can say it’s because Zhao Yun’s spear looked more intimidating than swords.

As for physical improvement—

She has a plan for Leping’s development and knows her limits. She won’t forget she’s still a child growing up just because things are going smoothly.

Take it slow, one step at a time.

After getting a handle on martial arts, she picked up a bamboo scroll and wrote down her next plans.

Aside from the spear technique she just acquired, there’s limited work to be done in the harsh winter, but not everything comes to a halt.

For example, she could have Yang Xiu think of a rhyming text for a literacy book, which could be completed during the severe weather when people stay indoors.

Cai Yong, after enthusiastically writing several epitaphs for Qiao Xuan, is also quite interested in this.

After all, during the snowy season, the roads outside Taihang Mountains are harder to traverse, and Cai Yong, even without an official position, can’t visit friends and relatives, so he might as well join in this activity.

Moreover, Leping has already produced mulberry bark clothing under expedited conditions. With idle labor available and past experience in making Cai Hou paper, some mulberry bark can be used to try making mulberry bark paper.

Of course, the main focus is still on mulberry bark clothing.

Once the trade deal between Lu Yuan and the Tang family is settled, Leping will become a semi-supply factory, and this project won’t stop even during the agricultural off-season.

In fact, many of Leping’s original residents also want to join this work.

The wages Qiao Yan offers aren’t high, but having an additional income during this season, especially in a project closely watched by the County Marquis, seems like a good deal.

But Qiao Yan prefers to find something else for these residents to do.

If we don’t count the Black Mountain Bandits previously entrenched in the Taihang Mountains, Leping hasn’t been affected by the Yellow Turban Bandits’ havoc.

Just as the cold and drought in natural disasters have more or less affected Leping, can a major epidemic really be avoided?

From a relatively scientific perspective, epidemics mostly break out in war zones, and after spreading, concentrated infection areas are in places like Luoyang, Nanyang, Jiujiang, and Kuaiji, where the population is relatively dense. “Wearing coarse clothes and eating wild herbs, living in thatched huts” families are often infected, which is common in the late Han Dynasty.

Neglect of food and water hygiene and environmental sanitation all contribute to the spread of epidemics.

Qiao Yan isn’t sure if the epidemic of the second year of Zhongping, which historically followed the quick suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, will still occur now that the scope of conflict and casualties have been reduced.

It’s also hard to say if Leping, under the protection of the mountains, will be affected.

All she can do is prepare in advance.

With mulberry bark clothing, the likelihood of falling ill from cold will be greatly reduced, guarding against the outbreak of epidemics in winter and spring.

But that’s not enough!

In her plan, the cleaning and tidying of houses should also be completed this winter.

She can’t expect all ten thousand households in the county to develop a healthy physique within this month—even if Hua Tuo himself were here, it would be impossible. All she can do is reduce the environmental impact on the epidemic.

These are the most urgent matters in Leping at the moment.

Qiao Yan put down her pen and looked out the half-open window, seeing the snow on the opposite roof connecting with the clear sky above, her mood lightened. Just then, a rare winter bird flew by, catching her eye.

Her thoughts drifted slightly, thinking beyond Leping.

Aside from previously submitting to Liu…








As written in Hong’s letter, it is hoped that the Son of Heaven will pay attention to the great epidemic after the war. When Bao Hong sent the letter to Luoyang, Qiao Yan also sent several letters at the same time.

The recipients were Cao Cao, Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi, and Zhu Jun.

From the letter received by the current Jinan Prime Minister Cao Cao, it is not difficult to see the ideas Qiao Yan wanted to express in these letters.

She first replied to Cao Cao’s greetings, mentioned the situation of the Qiao Xuan Memorial Temple built in Leping, and then shifted the focus back to what she most wanted to talk about.

[The Jinan State where you are, Uncle, is a place where people gather.

Last year, we saw a great cold, the ice on the waterways was thick, and boats could not enter the river. This year, with the cold wind like winter, it is expected that the heavenly power will not diminish.

Extreme cold brings illness, severe illness becomes an epidemic. This is not the work of ghosts and gods, nor can it be solved by hanging talismans. Only by covering the accumulated corpses in the wild, preventing contamination, adding clothes and drinking boiled water for the living, and timely closing doors…]

There are indeed many idealistic considerations in this.

For example, adding clothes and drinking boiled water for the living. Not to mention that when Qiao Yan sent this letter, the first mulberry bark clothing had not yet been produced. Even if it were made, she could not supply it to an entire country, especially since Bingzhou is much colder than Jinan and also needs this.

Drinking boiled water alone is easy now, but it was a luxury at that time.

The only feasible thing is to quickly dispose of those who died unexpectedly or from starvation before burial, to avoid bacterial growth and pollution, especially of water sources.

In addition, it is just as Qiao Yan expected, to carry out cleaning measures.

All she can do now is to remind these famous generals and ministers of the late Han Dynasty one by one, hoping that in their efforts to clean up the remnants or restore people’s livelihood, they will make some preparations for the possible epidemic.

The messengers have long returned, and Qiao Yan can only see from their replies that, due to her previous actions, they did not take her words as childish jokes.

As for how far they can go, Qiao Yan cannot deduce from their resumes.

She can only temporarily focus her attention back when Lu Yuan returns from Jinyang with good news, feeling a bit more at ease.

“Just as you expected, Marquis, the Wang family did not refuse this intermediary,” Lu Yuan reported. “The Tang family also needs this business to re-establish themselves in Bingzhou. Since Leping has obtained the bargaining chips, manpower, and raw materials for making mulberry bark clothing, it is not difficult to establish a position in the transaction.”

Qiao Yan smiled at the letter from the Tang family head brought back by Lu Yuan. “The price is lower than I thought, but we still have a lot of profit. How did you talk to him?”

“This matter didn’t need me to say much. The Tang family’s status and reputation have not been as good as before, and unlike the Wang family, they don’t have many descendants with official luck. Although this is a good time to make money, it is better to accept the Wang family’s goodwill and take the path of both fame and profit.”

Qiao Yan first approached the Wang family, which also had some subtext. As a hereditary noble family, they would not be so short-sighted.

“Of course, I also told him,” Lu Yuan replied, “Marquis, just consider me as a fox borrowing the tiger’s might. I said this is the Marquis’s first in Leping.”

She wanted to consider Leping’s development process without standing out today, but what if she firmly established herself in Bingzhou?

Using “Don’t bully the young and poor” to describe Qiao Yan’s current state might not even be appropriate.

She is gradually gaining momentum.

Today, she can defeat the Black Mountain Bandits, make them work peacefully under her, and use mulberry bark clothing as a bridge to maintain relations with the Bingzhou noble families. So, who knows what she will do tomorrow?

The Tang family is a long-term and rising ally, and a quick accumulation of wealth this winter is not a difficult thing to judge.

“The envoy stands straight because the country is strong. This is the confidence the Marquis gives me,” Lu Yuan said, pointing to the convoy she brought. “The salt the Marquis wanted has been bought back, mission accomplished.”

The price of official salt cannot be changed at will. Lu Yuan’s confidence and firmness in facing the heads of the Tang and Wang families undoubtedly greatly increased the gains from this transaction, which was even more appropriate than Qiao Yan personally doing it.

It is not difficult to see that the noble family’s demeanor made the two heads speculate about her identity, and also led them to think whether Qiao Yan’s potential had made their families take the lead in showing goodwill to her.

Thus, in this transaction, she remained behind the scenes but became the biggest beneficiary.

The amount of salt in this batch was already more than Qiao Yan had prepared to stockpile.

But probably, good news cannot come one after another in this world.

In the first month of the second year of Zhongping, a piece of news that shocked Qiao Yan upon hearing it reached Leping.

At the beginning of the first month, a great epidemic broke out in the five provinces of Ji, Yan, Xu, Yang, and Yu.

The symptoms of the epidemic in these five provinces were indeed different, but once the epidemic started, if not managed properly, it would inevitably spread like a snowball.

And these places were where the Yellow Turban uprising was most active.

But should this be blamed on the Yellow Turbans? No!

The source of the uprising was the hardship of survival, and in such an environment where people could not survive, the first month was the easiest time for diseases to invade.

The environment of refugees in the late Han Dynasty was not created by the Yellow Turbans, but…

Coinciding with this great epidemic disaster, there was another piece of news.

The Provincial Governor System was restarted.

Liu Hong had previously told Qiao Yan that the Provincial Governor System was imperative. At this time, due to the epidemic, the people’s hearts were floating again, and he just happened to push it back onto the stage.

This is not difficult to understand. The many ills of the Han Dynasty have reached a state of no return, and Liu Hong, balancing and holding power, must administer the strong medicine of the Provincial Governor System.

Look at who the first batch of provincial governors are.

The three provincial governors are:

Liu Yu, Governor of Youzhou.

Liu Yan, Governor of Yizhou.

Huangfu Song, Governor of Jizhou.

Except for Huangfu Song, who truly rose to this position by military merit, and Jizhou, which is indeed one of the active areas of this epidemic, Yizhou, the Land of Abundance, is isolated from the outside, and Youzhou is far on the border, not within the scope of this epidemic!

With these two places under the jurisdiction of provincial governors, what about the rest of the provinces?

Cheng Li and Xi Zhicai looked at Qiao Yan at the head, seeing her face show a bit of gloom, but she quickly composed herself and returned to her usual calm and composed demeanor.

“In this decree, there is another order: Chen Wen as Governor of Yangzhou, Wang Yun as Governor of Yuzhou, Huang Wan as Governor of Qingzhou… Zhang Yi as Governor of Bingzhou.”

“Since the Provincial Governor System has been restarted, the position of governor is likely to be promoted to provincial governor—”

“Gentlemen, we will probably have to meet this Governor Zhang.”