Chapter 004
Dian Wei?
Today's Dian Wei has not yet received Cao Cao's evaluation of him as "the evil man of ancient times", and he has not even completed the feat of killing someone in the street to avenge the Liu family of Xiangyi.
In the eyes of Liang Zhongning, who was in charge of a "region" at that time, this man was a man from Chenliu who was ignorant of the immensity of the world. When the Yellow Turban Army was unstoppable, he instead served under the command of the local tyrant. Now, relying on his own strength, he dared to come and make trouble.
Isn't it a good target for him to attack someone who is seeking death like this?
What's more, the Puyang Tian family has been rooted here for many years, and they must have stored a lot of grain and gold and silver.
Although he captured Puyang City, he had not yet broken through Tian's fortress outside the city, which was like a piece of fat meat that had not yet entered his mouth.
Even before the department reported it, Liang Zhongning had a map of the place spread out in front of him.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, powerful people lived together in clans. The Puyang Tian family was no exception. Their fortress was built ten miles outside the Puyang city.
If it weren't for the fact that the Han Dynasty did not ban swords among the people, and because of the discussion between Emperor Wu of Han, Gongsun Hong, and King Wuqiu Shou in the past, there were few restrictions on bows and crossbows, resulting in the improved heavy crossbows equipped in the Tian's fortress being quite powerful.
He had already surrounded the fort at this time!
There is no need to hesitate now.
On one side was the approaching Bu Ji army, looming over his head.
On one side was a reckless man who came out of the fort to meet the enemy and provoke them. It was very likely that he was the breakthrough point for capturing Tian.
Moreover, the three front lines of the Yellow Turban battlefield were located in Guangzong, Yingchuan and Nanyang. It was not his turn to face the imperial army head-on. Liang Zhongning, who was very proud of his abilities, had been anxious for a month because he had no place to make achievements.
All these things made Liang Zhongning deeply feel that if he did not act early in the face of such a God-given opportunity, and wait until the Changsha Army continued to consolidate its victory after its first victory over Zhu Jun, he would really be useless!
"Give me my gun!"
This was the decision Liang Zhongning made after careful consideration after hearing Dian Wei's name.
The next day, in order to prevent chaos in Puyang City, he left a part of the Yellow Turbans to garrison there, and led his 500 trusted aides and 300 recruited Yellow Turban warriors out of the city.
Qiao Yan could only see from his locked position that the Yellow Turban leader did not seem to stay in the same place, but he was unable to learn the opponent's latest movements.
However, she didn't have the leisure to care about what kind of trouble Liang Zhongning would cause in Puyang City for the time being.
According to the system, although she is in a space that can be understood as a parallel world, historical materials can still be used as evidence before she creates enough butterfly effect.
In this way, Liang Zhongning will not die at the hands of the famous Han general Fu Nanrong until August this year. At least now she does not have to worry about the other party losing his life and wasting her props.
Instead of worrying about this, you might as well worry about yourself.
Just as she had guessed before, children like her who were only about ten years old were not uncommon in the Yellow Turban camp, so it was not difficult for her to blend in.
Her dusty and dirty face made it difficult to tell whether she was a man or a woman, and it made her look no different from everyone else.
What’s more…
In the earlier battle to capture Juye, the refugees driven by the moth bandits formed the front barrier, resulting in many casualties. Even with the help of internal supporters in Juye city, they could not change a single thing.
Fighting - for an irregular army like the Yellow Turban Army, it is not a task that can be taken lightly.
Zhang Jue copied the rules of the Buddhist monastic community to establish his own religious mission, and in deifying himself and gaining widespread support, he achieved something that no one had ever done before.
However, only a few of his disciples were capable of marching and deploying troops.
Qiao Yan looked through the scattered hair in front of her at the group of people who were receiving food, and she found that most of the people as young as her were left alone.
This made her, who suddenly appeared in the camp, not seem very conspicuous.
But the reason is that the elders of these children have passed away.
Qiao Yan couldn't help but sigh in his heart for who knows how many times, but he didn't stop. Instead, he followed the team and received today's rations.
Food is scarce nowadays, so the Yellow Turban Army naturally won’t provide these people with very good food.
The piece of cake that was handed to her has a more formal name called "Qiu".
It is a dry food cake made by adding water to cooked rice, mashing it, kneading it into cakes, and then drying it.
Although this production method prevents the food from going bad, it is far less delicious than the rice crust of later generations because of the control in the production process. It is even so dry that it is difficult to swallow.
Unfortunately, the only water available here is the water from the lake in Onoze.
Qiao Yan felt that he should really be grateful for the novice protection period provided by the system.
Since there was absolutely no way for her to find a place to boil the water alone at this time, the effect of [protection from environmental epidemics during the protection period] undoubtedly greatly increased her chances of survival.
The newbie, Strategist System 068, was probably more conscientious than Qiao Yan. He looked at his chosen host with a sense of guilt as he filled his stomach with a mouthful of dry food and a mouthful of raw water without any complaints. He then huddled in a corner, listening to the conversation between two other young boys who were not much different in age from him.
The difficulty in swallowing food made the two men look somewhat painful, but perhaps, this distortion of their faces was more due to the resentment and hatred that could not be concealed.
The younger one suppressed a sob, swallowed the last half of the biscuit, and whispered, "Brother, I miss mother."
The older one could only pat him on the shoulder, not knowing how to comfort him.
Then the younger one continued, "The rice cakes that grandma used to make were much better than this dry cake. Grandpa would also make white cakes with sweet wine on his birthday, but grandma... grandma and grandpa are both gone."
Now only the underage brothers are left to depend on each other.
But no matter how bitter it is, in the face of the threat to one's life, one can only swallow it down with dry food and water.
This kind of situation was not uncommon during the massive Yellow Turban Rebellion.
The two brothers' voices gradually faded away.
The system saw that Qiao Yan's eyes were slightly disturbed and he suddenly stood up at this moment, so it quickly dissuaded him: [You must not try to persuade these two people to join you at this time, when you don't know what their personalities are like...]
"Don't worry." Qiao Yan replied in a voice that only he and the system could hear. "If I were in a high position, I might be moved by this scene, but now I can't even protect my own safety. I won't do such a stupid thing."
Compassion and sympathy at times like this are such a luxury.
Qiao Yan is a normal-minded adult who knows his own worth. He would never try to strike up a conversation with the other party at this time.
[Then you...] The system asked in confusion.
"I'm going to do something bad."
Qiao Yan said she was going to do something bad, but from the system's point of view, her face did not show any burden at all.
She first put the ill-fitting dress on inside out, tied it into an even shorter style, put her messy hair behind her head, smeared another layer of mud on her face, walked around the camp again, and when no one noticed her actions, she stood in the queue to receive food again.
[……?] 】
The system watched dully as Qiao Yan walked along the line without any burden to the person distributing dry biscuits, and... took another piece of biscuit.
In ordinary disaster relief measures, relief tickets were often stamped or the rice was collected by shaving the eyebrows to prevent false claims. However, this kind of management was not easy to achieve in the complex composition of the Yellow Turban Army.
Under such circumstances, it is natural that some people would come up with the idea of receiving two portions of food.
But just now the system saw the Yellow Turban Army who was distributing food stabbed a man to death with a knife, and claimed that the army had come twice. They also said that they had distributed relief rice porridge to wealthy businessmen and had a good ability to recognize faces, so they reduced the number of people in the team receiving rice cakes.
Now that it suddenly saw Qiao Yan doing such a dangerous thing, how could it not be worried!
That’s not right either. It’s a system. It has neither heart nor courage.
As if sensing the system's thoughts, Qiao Yan walked to a secluded place, stuffed the rice cake into his clothes and said, "Do you really think the food distributor can recognize people? He just randomly picked a poor guy. In fact, he wouldn't be able to recognize you if you changed your clothes a little bit."
The only unlucky one was the person who was chosen to serve as an example to scare the monkeys.
Whether or not he committed the act of impersonating others for the second time is no longer important.
Because the dead cannot defend themselves.
He was chosen because he was alone here.
Qiao Yan saw the twists and turns clearly, but what was even clearer was that she had no power to change the situation at this moment. The only thing she could do was to make her life a little better, and then -
Go ahead with her plan.
She was still in Juye Lake at this time, but after walking for half a day, they officially entered the territory of Dongjun.
After another half a day, they arrived at the Huzi River.
In the past, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built the Xuanfang Palace in Puyang, which was right above the Huzi Weir. From then on, the upstream area from below the Xuanfang Palace was separated by a river embankment, with only a ditch remaining. A group of thousands of people could cross the ditch, which was much easier than crossing the river.
Not far after crossing the river, the city walls of Yuncheng appeared in front of us.
Zhang Bo, one of the three generals of Yanzhou, came from Fan County of Dongping and had already taken Yuncheng first. He was meeting Bu Ji here.
After the two sides met, they continued to march westward. Together they had a force of over 10,000 people. In addition, Liang Zhongning had already conquered Puyang first, so the county lieutenants of Linqiu and Juancheng both fled and surrendered without a fight, allowing the Yellow Turban Army to face fewer battles.
This is good news for Qiao Yan who is in the Yellow Turban Army, but perhaps it is not a good thing for those with slightly better-off families in these two cities.
Qiao Yan listened to the noise in the city after the Yellow Turbans rushed into the city. His face was tense for a moment, as if he was restraining his emotions by gritting his teeth.
The system wanted to make a few more jokes. When she walked here, if someone familiar with her would definitely notice that she was rounder than a few days ago. This was caused by the extra bread she received at each meal tied around her body. But now it simply remained silent.
"Zhang Jue is a very capable man," Qiao Yan said after letting out a long sigh, "but he forgot one thing. When it comes to interests, the thirty-six teams will fight on their own, and military discipline will inevitably be weakened. This is not the way to save the Han Dynasty from collapse."
The setting sun shone on a flag on the top of Juancheng City, and she looked at that place for a long time.
After all, the system couldn't read her inner thoughts, nor did it know what she was thinking. All it could see was -
Its host once again touched the dagger in his arms, as if it was a sign of determination, and then took advantage of the lapses in management when the Yellow Turbans entered the city to plunder and left the team.
This time was different from the previous time when they were starving while following the Yellow Turbans' trail.
She had a few hidden dry biscuits with her, which could at least sustain her for two days.
And in her sight, only the mark that locked Liang Zhongning's position was emitting a faint light.
Where is Liang Zhongning?
Under the starry night, the Yellow Turban leader was fleeing with his remaining troops.
Before leading his men to Tian's Fortress, he never thought that he would face such an embarrassing situation.
The Chenliu Dian Wei, whose name he heard for the first time, was much more than just the immense strength his men reported!
That's just a freak of infantry combat!
The gun in Liang Zhongning's hand broke when he was trying to escape, leaving only half of the gun barrel.
For a military commander, if even his weapon is broken, it is undoubtedly only one step away from being separated from his head and neck.
During the previous two days of stalemate, with the help of Tian's crossbow, he had lost most of his soldiers before he even reached the fort. On the last day, he was rushed in front of by the fearless strong man, who grabbed the barrel of his gun and was about to knock him off his horse.
Fortunately, one of his subordinates was quick-witted and decisively cut off the barrel of his gun with a long knife, and then faced the "ferocious beast" for him.
If not for this, he would have died at the hands of Dian Wei long ago.
But his loyal follower died on the spot.
Liang Zhongning, holding the idea that "as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood", immediately turned his horse back and headed back to Puyang.
But the mood when coming and when leaving were completely different.
When he came, he was full of hope of capturing Tian's Fortress, which seemed like taking something out of a bag. However, when he left, he was in an extremely embarrassing situation.
Although it was still spring, there was a burning sense of embarrassment on his face. Even the stars and the moon could not change his extremely bad mood.
When he noticed a person standing high up on the mountain path ahead blocking the road, this self-torturing bad mood undoubtedly reached its peak!
But before he could throw the broken gun in his hand to teach the person who was blocking his way a lesson, he saw the other person's face clearly.
The moonlight shining through the trees on both sides of the mountain path just happened to shine on the face of the person blocking the road.
What surprised Liang Zhongning was that the other person was very thin. It was not because there was any cognitive error in his vision in the dark night, but because the person was actually a child of only ten years old!
A child who shouldn't be here!
Although this man was wearing an ill-fitting tattered cloth robe, his expression and features revealed a noble demeanor that was different from that of the people in the countryside.
This face blurred by the moonlight had a maturity that was totally inconsistent with his age, and a mystery that Liang Zhongning could not fathom.
Just as he was about to rein in his horse and stop, facing his anger that could erupt at any time, the other party smiled calmly, bowed to him, and said loudly from a high place:
"Yan Qiao of Gaomi has been waiting for the commander for a long time."
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