Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Can’t a strategist ascend the throne? Volume 1: The Yellow Turban Rebellion, The Young Phoenix’s Clear Voice Chapter 8: Ambush in the Forest

“Are you getting a bit too excited?”

Qiao Yan glanced back at the Tian Family Fortress, confirming that the other side had no intention of coming out to check the fate of the person in front of the fortress, before heading towards the originally planned meeting point.

As soon as she said this, the system suddenly realized that it might have overdone its performance.

This felt somewhat微妙.

It quickly tried to cover up: [What I said is true, but don’t get too proud. The Tian family really doesn’t have any capable people. If you really encounter those skilled strategists, this method might not work. Actually, I—]

[I was just trying to boost your confidence a bit.]

Yes! That’s it!

Strategist System 068 thought righteously to maintain its dignity.

It couldn’t possibly admit that during its system assessment, it had to retake the beginner training level three times and only passed with external help. If not for that, it wouldn’t have come up with the idea of choosing a convenient identity to latch onto.

And precisely because of this, it felt particularly gratified by the host’s exceptionally proactive and outstanding performance.

Qiao Yan just smiled after listening.

Although she knew the other party was momentarily carried away, she didn’t plan to expose it. After all, the atmosphere group was quite cute.

For her, alone in the late Han Dynasty, this was undoubtedly a unique form of comfort and companionship.

“You’re right, this is just a small test.”

This was only her first step.

While the conversation between the person and the system was unusually harmonious, Liang Zhongning, pretending to flee for his life, and the pursuers from the fortress were also quite “harmonious.”

Liang Zhongning’s heart was pounding.

Not entirely because Dian Wei, with the ferocity of a tiger, was about to charge forward and cut him down with his twin halberds.

But more because he was indeed leading people step by step into a trap, feeling an overwhelming sense of joy.

Yan Qiao really didn’t lie to him!

This was the moment her plan to deceive and open the fortress gates came to fruition.

Those lying dead under the fortress were the ones with poor physique and slower speed selected during the day, while those following him in retreat were all elite soldiers.

Of course, there was some suspicion of picking the best from a bad lot.

But compared to the fortress guards, these Yellow Turban soldiers had more life-and-death combat experience and, in his view, the will to overthrow the Han Dynasty.

If they were facing off with one side inside the fortress and the other outside, they might be at a disadvantage, but being outside the fortress was different.

With the preparations already in place, if he couldn’t win this battle, he might as well write his name backward!

Similarly, those chasing behind him also felt confident of victory.

The information gap made these people, when opening the fortress gates to pursue, completely unaware that they hadn’t successfully shot down the enemy with two rounds of precise archery, and that the road wasn’t littered with Yellow Turban corpses.

Even seeing the enemy fleeing towards the distant forest didn’t raise much alarm.

They only knew they were here to reap the rewards of battle!

If it weren’t for the fact that the eldest young master Tian was assigned to the rear defense by the second master of the Tian family, he would probably have followed.

But now, this team chasing the Yellow Turban remnants, led by Dian Wei, also looked quite imposing.

Dian Wei took the lead, raising his halberd and charging forward, slashing towards the back of the last person, creating a gust of wind. The person in front almost had no time to dodge and was cut down.

With this, the Yellow Turbans in front panicked almost instantly.

Before they ran hundreds of steps and hastily fled into the forest, the entire team had already scattered like being driven by a beast.

To avoid Dian Wei’s unstoppable twin halberds and the blades of the fortress guards following him, these Yellow Turban bandits seemed to hit obstacles, splitting into two groups, and some even rolled on the ground to disperse, barely saving their lives from the halberds.

Once they had cover, they quickly hid behind the bushes and fled.

The young men from the Tian Family Fortress immediately laughed without giving these people any face.

They clearly saw that as these people fled and their formation scattered, the figure of Liang Zhongning, the Yellow Turban commander, clearly appeared in front of them.

This commander, who had been so arrogant during the day, now lacked his previous momentum.

He didn’t care about the safety of his subordinates, but rode alone on his mount.

Unfortunately, this horse had been injured during the last attack on the fortress, and perhaps something had happened on the way back. The horse now moved with a noticeable limp, clearly not much faster than their running speed.

This made Liang Zhongning, hanging on the horse and fleeing, look even more滑稽.

Dian Wei, having promised the second master of the Tian family to chase and kill Liang Zhongning, now saw the Yellow Turbans scattering and the target unable to flee on horseback, knew it was time to act.

He immediately shouted, his left heavy halberd like a meteor chasing the moon, thrown from his hand straight towards Liang Zhongning’s back.

And he himself quickly caught up in three steps.

Liang Zhongning wasn’t entirely庸才.

The sound of the incoming attack and the sudden sense of crisis made him instinctively press against the horse’s back, and the iron halberd narrowly missed his back.

He couldn’t help but hold his breath.

If his reaction had been any slower, he would have been killed!

Fortunately, in this tense mood, he hadn’t forgotten to observe his surroundings and didn’t miss the mark he had made on a tree earlier, knowing this was their counterattack point.

He turned to look back.

In the action of falling and rising, the distance between him and Dian Wei was getting closer, even close enough to see the杀气 on the other’s face, which inevitably made his palms holding the reins sweat.

Victory or defeat hinged on this move!

He twisted his body, turned the horse, and rode along the remembered path between the pits.

Dian Wei, without suspicion, followed.

When Liang Zhongning turned back, all Dian Wei saw was the other’s uncontrollable fear, never imagining that the Yellow Turban commander’s solitary fleeing posture was just bait.

And those who had previously dug the pits, though not capable of digging a tunnel under the fortress, had no problem digging these traps deep and wide.

Among these people were skilled farmers and hunters, in a sense, the work Qiao Yan assigned them was quite fitting.

So now, these pits welcomed their official testers.

Dian Wei, focused on the fleeing Liang Zhongning ahead, inevitably neglected his footing.

Moreover, he had walked this path before when invited by the Tian family to assist.

He remembered that although there was a small patch of forest here, the road was indeed quite smooth.

However, following Liang Zhongning’s path, he was lucky enough to avoid the first two pits but ultimately couldn’t escape the third one.

Just as he reached out to grab the tail of the limping horse, the horse suddenly leaped up, dodging his hand.

He immediately lost his balance and fell forward.

If it had been flat ground ahead, it would have been fine, but—

It was a pit deep enough for him to fall into horizontally.

In the night, a dull thud echoed.

It was the sound of Dian Wei falling into a pit more than two zhang deep.

In his already running state, he crashed headfirst into the inner wall of the pit due to inertia.

Before he could recover, more than a dozen sandbags came crashing down on him.

At this depth, it was already difficult for him to jump out, let alone with heavy objects falling on him.

Then, additional weight pressed down on the sandbags.

It seemed someone thought the sandbags weren’t enough and decided to add their own weight.

Even with Dian Wei’s Herculean strength, it was hard to exert force in such an unfavorable position. Instead, the weight pressing down on him made him feel suffocated.

He could also hear the clashing of weapons outside the pit.

“Too much!” Dian Wei growled in anger, trying to push the weight off with his arms, only to feel the weight of two more people added on top.

This could be explained by a lack of skill, and indeed, he had been less cautious in the face of imminent victory over the Yellow Turban Bandits. But this kind of suppression, not even giving him a chance to fight head-on, was truly frustrating!

Even without seeing the outside situation, he could guess that he wasn’t the only one who had fallen into the trap. The men he had brought must have also been caught in the Yellow Turban Bandits’ scheme.

From the fact that the sandbags and people on top of him hadn’t been moved, he could also guess that the Yellow Turban Bandits were still in control.

And it was likely a one-sided advantage.

Otherwise, someone would have tried to rescue him, relying on his bravery to turn the tide.

In fact, it was pretty much as Dian Wei had guessed.

The pit in the forest was just for him, but the traps didn’t stop there.

The Yellow Turban soldiers he had previously scattered quickly regrouped after dispersing into the woods.

With their movements, long ropes resembling tripwires were pulled up in the dark night, and about twenty soldiers who hadn’t gone to the fortress with Liang Zhongning had already climbed trees, each carrying a bag of dirt.

Almost at the same time Dian Wei fell into the pit, the sand thrown from the trees and the tripwires on the ground were activated, targeting those following behind Dian Wei.

Some fell, others were blinded.

In the next moment, swords, spears, and halberds attacked from all sides.

Even if it were the regular garrison troops from Puyang City in this ambush position, they would have had a hard time reacting immediately, let alone the fortress guards who were good at defending from a stronghold but lacked coordination in open combat.

What made them even more panicked was that their leader, the “general” Dian Wei, had already fallen into the enemy’s trap, and his fate was unknown.

To make matters worse, Liang Zhongning, with some quick wit, immediately shouted, “Dian Wei is dead!”

Dian Wei was furious, but his voice was muffled by the layers above, unable to reach anyone.

The sounds of slaughter didn’t last long before they quieted down.

It was clear which side had won.

By the time Qiao Yan arrived in the forest, Liang Zhongning had clearly executed her order of “not letting a single fortress pursuer escape” quite well.

These men were either dead or injured, and as long as they were still breathing, regardless of whether they were too injured to move, they were all tied up.

Especially Dian Wei.

Liang Zhongning had brought a lot of ropes. When Qiao Yan asked him why, he honestly replied that it was for transporting food after victory, but now they came in handy for tying people up.

The burly and imposing man she had seen from afar had first been knocked unconscious by the heavy weight, then wrapped in countless ropes, looking like a bundle of goods.

Liang Zhongning still thought it wasn’t enough and poured water on the ropes to make them tighter.

“…The Rebel Leader is indeed thorough,” Qiao Yan said, almost laughing at the scene.

But Liang Zhongning’s actions were appropriate.

Qiao Yan did find Dian Wei, such a fierce warrior, quite appealing, but that didn’t mean she would give him a chance to escape while they were still enemies.

However, it seemed Qiao Yan wasn’t the only one with ideas about Dian Wei.

In the thrill of victory, Liang Zhongning had forgotten how he had nearly been killed by Dian Wei’s halberd when he was acting as bait earlier.

He didn’t kill Dian Wei outright but went through the trouble of pulling him out of the pit and tying him up, partly because of Qiao Yan’s earlier arrangements, and partly because…

“This is a true warrior!” Liang Zhongning exclaimed. “I wonder if there’s a chance to recruit him to our side.”

The night was dark, and Liang Zhongning didn’t have searchlight eyes, so he couldn’t see the fleeting look of exasperation on Qiao Yan’s face.

He continued, “Our victory in Yanzhou is certain. This brave man from Chenliu should know what choice to make.”

Liang Zhongning couldn’t help but be intrigued by this fierce general.

To gain the upper hand in the competition with Rebel Leaders Bu Ji and Zhang Bo, it all came down to comparing achievements and manpower.

Comparing achievements?

The imperial vanguard was still being held back by Rebel Leader Bo Cai at Changshe. In terms of achievements in Yanzhou, the three of them were evenly matched.

Comparing manpower?

What could be more convincing than having a mighty general who could lead an army?

Dian Wei was truly the most courageous and powerful man he had ever seen.

If he could be recruited…

“Rebel Leader, let’s take the Tian Family Fortress first,” Qiao Yan interrupted his daydream. “We can’t afford to delay. Please proceed with the plan as soon as possible.”

“Right, right,” Liang Zhongning nodded.

Recruiting a fierce general was still uncertain, but the food supplies in the Tian Family Fortress were something tangible they could get.

Some things could wait.

He clapped his hands, and a burly man who had been hiding in the forest and hadn’t shown himself at the fortress earlier came out.

This man had been a butcher before joining the Yellow Turban Army, and his appearance matched Qiao Yan’s general perception of what a butcher should look like.

Now, he had changed into the clothes stripped from Dian Wei before he was tied up, and his build was somewhat similar.

But the aura that came from sheer strength was obviously not something that could be easily faked.

Fortunately… if the aura wasn’t enough, props could make up for it.

Qiao Yan pointed at Liang Zhongning and said to the fake Dian Wei, “Carry him as a trophy.”

This guy had been shouting insults outside the Tian Family Fortress for so long that even in the dark, the Tian family members would surely recognize him.

With such a distinctive trophy, there was no worry about failing to infiltrate in disguise!