It seemed that the system had just heard something strange.

However, Qiao Yan did not think that she had said anything shocking.

Well, as long as something shocking enough covers another, people tend not to care about the previous one.

The system now focused on her choice of allegiance, rather than the way she allocated her points.

And the strategist system 068 was indeed a novice system, as Qiao Yan had guessed.

It racked its “brain” to come up with a sentence from its memory to try to refute her.

【Although, according to the positioning of a strategist, as long as you strategize for one side, it counts.

But… the Yellow Turban bandits will definitely be pacified by famous generals like Huangfu Song at the end of this year.

They were even able to pile up a hundred thousand Yellow Turban heads at the outskirts of the capital.】

“I know,” Qiao Yan replied calmly.

How could she not know that the Yellow Turban Army had no future?

A hundred thousand heads piled up at the outskirts of the capital was much more terrifying than the scene before her.

Under the “watchful eye” of the system, she walked to a corpse here.

Having a certain psychological preparation for the appearance of people who died of starvation, and having seen dead people in tombs before, Qiao Yan calmly stripped off the outer garment of one of the corpses.

But to call it an outer garment was an overstatement; it was just a piece of rag.

Fortunately, it was enough for Qiao Yan to change into a new outer garment.

As she changed into this “new” clothes, gathering the cuffs with a strip of cloth, she said, “Of course, I know. Not only did the great teacher Zhang Jiao die of illness this year, accelerating the progress of the imperial three armies in suppressing the Yellow Turbans, I also know that although the current Yellow Turban Army seems mighty and vigorous, it is not as farsighted as some later Yellow Turban bandits.”

After the pacification of Zhongping, the Yellow Turbans in Runan and Yingchuan turned from blind resistance and roaming to a way of maintaining themselves through farming.

Comparatively, they had a more sustainable power than the current Yellow Turbans, who were coercing the civilians into attacking cities.

【Then why would you…】The system couldn’t understand her choice.

If she were accidentally killed by the military officer who came to suppress the bandits, wouldn’t she not even live to see those twenty years? It would completely waste the identity she had chosen.

But all it saw was under Qiao Yan’s dusty and dirty face, a pair of eyes that were extremely calm and decisive.

She said, “First, it’s easiest to conceal my identity in the chaos of the Yellow Turban Army. There shouldn’t be too few children among the nearby refugees.

Second, the team that just abandoned the corpses hasn’t gone far yet. If I don’t catch up with them, I can’t guarantee how long I can survive in the wild after dark. Third, I need strategist points to get more resources.”

When Qiao Yan mentioned resources, the system noticed that she touched the dagger in her arms.

In the Han Dynasty inherited from the Qin Dynasty, it was legal for individuals to carry weapons.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be records in the “New Jians of Juyan” of soldiers selling swords to civilians, guaranteed by fellow villagers.

And this dagger was handed over to them by Qiao Yu when he and his wife and daughter were traveling west to Luoyang and encountered bandits.

Perhaps originally, it was a tool for ending lives in troubled times, but now in her hands, it was just a handy weapon.

It should also be grateful that in the eyes of these people, the original owner was on the verge of death due to an epidemic.

So not only did they not consider her as spare food, they didn’t even search her body, leaving her with this weapon.

This is not difficult to understand.

During the reign of Emperor Liu Hong, four major epidemics in the fourth month of Jianning’s fourth year, the first month of Xiping’s second year, the spring of Guanghe’s second year, and the second month of Guanghe’s fifth year, had already formed a deep-seated panic in the minds of these people.

No one could guarantee that a minor illness wouldn’t develop into an uncontrollable situation.

In fact, these people were not overly cautious.

In the second year after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was pacified, in the spring of Zhongping’s second year, there was another major epidemic, which was less than a year away from now.

Qiao Yan continued, “In times of chaos, one sees outstanding figures and talented officials.

Before the Great Han’s army marches to Yanzhou to pacify the rebellion, I must first stand firm on my own.”

In her vaguely holding the dagger, ready to draw it at any time, there was a clear aggressiveness and initiative, making it difficult for the system to remain speechless again.

Finally, it could only hold back one sentence —

【But you are a loyal subject…】

This sentence sounded so heartbroken and indignant.

In the system’s view, the choice Qiao Yan made was no different from seeking quick death.

Thinking that this host, who obviously aimed to become the number one strategist in the world, would have to add a record of “joining the bandits” to her personal resume,

it couldn’t help but black out the screen.

Because in this late Han era, reputation was indeed a very fatal thing.

However, just as it had made up its mind, it heard its host mutter, “Doesn’t a dog-head strategist also count as a strategist?”

System: 【…???】

Unfortunately, the system did not get a clear explanation from Qiao Yan.

Qiao Yan, who was well-versed in the art of language, smoothly diverted the topic once again.

During their journey, the system did get a reply from Qiao Yan, explaining her reason for decisively adding the initial attribute points to her constitution.

“As you said before, the top strategists, in terms of intelligence, are between 85-100. Going from 79 to 82 doesn’t make much difference. It’s better to first shore up a weak point.”

“Dong Wu’s Grand Commandant Zhou Yu died at the young age of thirty-five, and his successor Lu Su only lived to be forty-five. The brilliant Guo Fengxiao fell at the age of thirty-seven. In my opinion—”

“A strategist who have laughs the longest was better than those who died early, like Sima Yi. Don’t you think so?” Qiao Yan asked.

【…】The system stuttered again.

It didn’t know why, but it felt like this argument was a bit twisted, yet strangely logical.

It belatedly realized that its host, who accepted the situation very quickly, had already upgraded her 【Eloquence】 skill from level 4 to level 5.

It was hard not to suspect that it had become her target for testing skills.

As for whether this skill should be called 【Eloquence】 or 【Seduction】, even after flipping through the system’s database again, the strategist system 068 couldn’t find a rebuttal and fell into silence.

It was only when Qiao Yan had followed the traces left by the Yellow Turbans for some distance that the system, realizing it had found a loophole in Qiao Yan’s actions, suddenly raised its voice and said,

“No! You are just a child of about ten years old. As you said, even traveling is still a problem. How can you make yourself a strategist in the Yellow Turban Army and gain the trust of the Yellow Turban leader in Yanzhou, Bu Ji?”

Qiao Yan felt that having such a jittery fellow in her ear was, in a sense, a good thing.

For example, the empty feeling of hunger in her stomach had dissipated somewhat.

She earnestly replied, “But have you ever heard the saying, ‘Zheng Xuan, from Xuzhou to Gaomi, encountered tens of thousands of Yellow Turban bandits, and they all bowed when they saw him.'”

【…Say it in plain language.】

Qiao Yan couldn’t help but feel like laughing.

It wasn’t a person asking her to speak plainly, but the system itself.

There was a kind of cold humor in it.

But she still explained, “You can understand it as, although the Yellow Turbans are rebels and bandits, they still respect intellectuals.”

After some thought, she added, “Besides, I don’t intend to contact that leader, Bu Ji.”

Qiao Yan had another idea.

This idea even received “friendly support” from the system.

More accurately, this support came from a newbie gift pack in the system’s backpack.

There was no newbie outfit or anything like that, only an item called the “Designated Character Locator,” which was very useful for strategists.

In chaotic times, the lag in information transmission could easily cause one to miss out on crucial information.

At this time, Cao Cao was still under Huangfu Song’s command and did not have his own troops.

Liu Bei was wandering through the Yellow Turban battlefields and had not yet become the County Officer of Anxi due to his achievements in pacifying the Yellow Turbans.

Sun Jian had only just gathered a group of teenagers from Xiapi County and was appointed as a military sergeant under Zhu Jun.

To accurately locate these people, one might need a bit of an advantage.

But Qiao Yan had no intention of saving this locator for later use.

Under the system’s self-pitying gaze, she entered a line of text into the locator’s target object—

One of the thirty-six leaders of the Yellow Turban Army, Liang Zhongning.

Just as she completed this step, a flicker of fire appeared in the dim twilight, marking the temporary campsite where the team that had abandoned her at dusk was stationed.

Qiao Yan was extremely fortunate that the body she was using, due to years of illness, had been supplemented with food, so she did not suffer from the common night blindness of ancient times.

In the glow of the stars and moon, she stood on a mound not far from the camp, able to clearly see the boundary between the Yellow Turban soldiers and the refugees.

Now was the time for her to blend in.

She was truly on the verge of being too hungry to walk.

---

Locked in by Qiao Yan, Liang Zhongning, one of the three leaders of the Yellow Turbans in the Yanzhou region, had already arrived in Puyang.

Puyang was the eastern county of Puyang, where the first battle for control of Yanzhou between Cao Cao and Lu Bu took place.

Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Jue preached the “Taiping Jing” and aimed to spread the Taoist teachings of benevolence, dividing followers into thirty-six regions, with a total of over ten thousand people.

Each region had its own leader, called a “qu leader.”

After Ma Yuanyi’s plan to move around the capital was exposed by his disciples, the qu leaders in the eight provinces rebelled ahead of schedule.

Among them, there were three qu leaders in Yanzhou: Bu Ji, Zhang Bo, and Liang Zhongning.

Zhongning was not his given name but his courtesy name.

If you were to call him by his given name, it would be Liang Jing, and Liang Zhongning, who had already taken control of Puyang, was staring at the lights in front of him.

Most of the Yellow Turban qu leaders were disciples who had followed the teachings of Zhang Jue in their early years and had earned Zhang Jue’s trust.

By distributing good medicine according to the teachings of Dahan Fushui, they attracted people who also believed in the teachings of Huang-Lao, gradually gathering a following.

Liang Zhongning was no exception.

However, among the thirty-six qu leaders in the eight provinces, there were differences in seniority.

Although he had arrived in Puyang first, in terms of his subordinate relationship to the Yellow Turbans in Yanzhou, he should be considered Bu Ji’s deputy.

To be honest, Liang Zhongning looked down on Bu Ji a bit.

During the Han dynasty, even common people often had courtesy names after reaching adulthood, but Bu Ji and Zhang Bo did not.

Although they had not received courtesy names from Tian Gongjun when they followed Zhang Jue’s teachings, they temporarily gained positions above him because of the haste of the rebellion.

As soon as he thought that Bu Ji would soon come with his troops from Juye City and would quickly surpass him, Liang Zhongning couldn’t help but feel a little less pleased with himself than when he had captured Puyang.

Just as he was feeling troubled, he suddenly heard a report from his subordinate that the prominent family in Puyang, the Tian family, had gathered the officials and people who had scattered in all directions after the defeat, intending to retake the city.

Liang Zhongning immediately stood up and slapped the table. “What ability does Old Man Tian have to boast against me?”

His subordinate replied timidly, “It is said that this person has recruited a new follower from Chenliu. This person is incredibly strong, named…”

“What’s his name?” He raised his eyebrows, clearly wanting to vent his displeasure.

“His name is Dian Wei!”