Qiao Yan made her calculations and slept peacefully in this Yellow Turban camp.

The system really wanted to criticize her for being too bold, but judging from the reactions of the people outside the tent the next day, Qiao Yan’s actions were clearly not a problem.

Despite the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty and the continuous fighting during the Three Kingdoms, Northern and Southern Dynasties, it still could not change the people’s pursuit of etiquette and demeanor in this era.

Wang Xian’s calm escape from the fire was praised as a model behavior, which obviously was not an isolated case.

Liang Zhongning gathered the remaining soldiers overnight and saw this “disciple of Zheng Xuan” emerge from the tent with a radiant appearance.

Although dressed in rough and simple clothes, he couldn’t hide his scholarly aura.

Of course, from Qiao Yan’s own perspective, she was far from a true scholar.

In the memories assigned to her as “Qiao Yan,” the etiquette and upbringing required by the Qiao family of Liangguo regarding conduct, residence, seating, and lying down were not overly strict.

However, before crossing over, Qiao Yan’s understanding of the etiquette of the two Hans might have some errors due to the changes in the era over a thousand years.

But combining these two aspects to deceive Liang Zhongning, the Yellow Turban leader, was obviously not a problem.

At least for now, the other party felt that this young child, although appearing more slender and handsome in the daytime, was not someone easy to bully.

Those eyes, which were already slightly sharp in contour, appeared even more imposing as they scanned the Yellow Turban soldiers around.

“How many men did the leader bring with him this time?” Qiao Yan adjusted her sleeve and asked.

Liang Zhongning replied, “There are more than eight hundred.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the other party raise the corner of her lips, with a hint of mockery.

But before he could react, he heard her continue, “The leader can break Puyang City and can be the leader of a faction within the Yellow Turban Army.

It seems that he is not completely ignorant of military strategy.

Haven’t you heard of Sun Tzu’s Art of War? ‘If the enemy is in superior strength, evade him.

If your opponent is quick to anger, seek to irritate him.

Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.’ Dare I ask, how many people are in this Tian’s fort?”

Stunned by her words, Liang Zhongning hesitated for a moment before replying, “About a thousand?”

Qiao Yan was not surprised that he couldn’t give an accurate number.

Since Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the census work of the Great Han has been difficult to carry out.

Although the collusion between bandits and the killing of officials by powerful families is most rampant in the four provinces of Qing, Xu, You, and Ji, there are also many powerful families in Yanzhou.

After land consolidation reached its peak in the late Han Dynasty, the private armed population hidden among the powerful families was difficult to detect from outside the fort.

But even so, Liang Zhongning dared to cause trouble with the Tian family, which had at least a thousand people, with only eight hundred men.

In a sense, he was indeed capable.

Liang Zhongning felt a bit frustrated.

Even if he didn’t quite understand what Qiao Yan meant by “surround ten, attack five,” he could still understand the second half of the military strategy—since your numbers are fewer than others, you should either escape or avoid, anyway, there’s no need to fight.

He raised his eyebrows and asked, “Is this what you want to tell me after a good night’s sleep?”

To be honest, he didn’t really pin all his hopes of victory on this young boy, Qiao Yan.

If it weren’t for Zheng Xuan’s reputation and the fact that he just led his defeated soldiers back to Puyang, feeling somewhat unwilling, Liang Zhongning wouldn’t have resorted to such coercive means to make Qiao Yan come up with this idea for him, as a last resort.

But after a night of calm, he felt that his behavior was a bit ridiculous.

In this conflicted mood, if this young boy had come up and said he could fight, he would have been somewhat suspicious.

But now that the other party said they couldn’t fight, his stubbornness kicked in.

Fight! Of course, they should fight!

Who says you have to run if you don’t have enough people?

He hadn’t studied Sun Tzu’s Art of War, but he had heard of the Battle of Julu from the plays.

Even with fewer people, victory was possible.

Moreover, most of the soldiers he led were young and strong, while the enemy had people of all ages. If they were to fight outside the fort, it would be a one-sided battle.

—Of course, that incredibly strong guy would be an exception.

“I didn’t say that. I was just reasoning with the leader. Let’s go and see the fort first.”

Qiao Yan waved her hand, indicating for him to make way, and calmly walked out of the tent towards the outside.

A night of rest had restored her strength for walking, so at least she had no problem walking to the outside of Tian’s fort.

Seeing this scene, although Liang Zhongning was somewhat displeased with her three-part attitude, he thought it over and felt that he hadn’t really lost out.

Tian Family defended the fort, so they wouldn’t choose to attack rashly.

If her proposal had no hope of implementation, he could simply choose not to execute it, at most delaying the time to return to Puyang City.

With this in mind, he mounted his horse and followed her out.

He rode a horse, but most of the Yellow Turban soldiers he brought out were infantry.

In this era, those who could afford cavalry were either wealthy enough to purchase horses and food resources or local armies from the northern You, Bing, and Yong regions.

The Yellow Turbans were clearly not among them.

Even Liang Zhongning, as a leader, was only average in cavalry skills.

The entire team continued to advance towards the fort at the pace of infantry.

He slowed down his pace, walking side by side with Qiao Yan, who looked much shorter among the infantry, and asked again in a seemingly casual tone, “How much do you know about the defense of the fort?”

Qiao Yan replied, “May I ask if there are watchtowers or high towers in the Tian’s fort?”

Liang Zhongning’s expression relaxed for a moment.

This question from Qiao Yan was obviously not something an outsider would ask.

He replied, “No, there are only outer walls and watchtowers for defense.

We have asked the masons from Puyang City, and they said that Tian’s fort was built not long ago and has not been fully completed.

They only stored last year’s harvest and previous grain reserves there.”

This was obviously good news.

In later generations, forts were classified into castle-style, tower-courtyard-style, and tower-style.

The latter two had high towers as command centers and as high vantage points for firepower.

If Tian’s fort had such towers, even Qiao Yan felt she didn’t have such a great chance of breaking through.

It should be noted that in the early stages, Northern forts were exceptionally adept at defense against irregular troops and Yellow Turban bandits.

The fortresses built by Dong Zhuo later, such as the fortress in Mei that was comparable to a small city, aside, there were two famous records of fortresses in Yanzhou and neighboring Yuzhou engaging in large-scale battles with armies.

One of them was the battle record created by Xu Chu.

At that time, Xu Chu had not yet joined Cao Cao’s forces but was building fortresses with his clan’s strong men in his hometown of Qiao County to resist the Yellow Turban rebels in Runan.

Even with more than 10,000 Yellow Turbans defending the fortress under a barrage of arrows and stones, it was difficult to conquer.

The other battle was the defensive battle fought by the Li clan from Juye when Lu Bu attacked Yanzhou.

In this battle, Li Jin from the Li clan even defeated the famous Lu Bu.

From this, it can be seen that if a fortress had grown to a certain scale, it was not easy to break through with brute force, especially those with integrated command and control.

“If there are only high walls and watchtowers, it would indeed be better,” Qiao Yan continued.

“For most forts, there are only two ways to quickly conquer them. The first is to dig a secret tunnel from the bottom for a surprise attack. If there are people among the soldiers who are proficient in this method, it might be worth a try.”

Liang Zhongning shook his head. “This method is not appropriate. I have heard of this method, but the Tian family fortress maintains vigilance against the surrounding situation by adopting a strategy of ‘fortify the walls and clear the fields.’ If we really want to dig a tunnel, we would have to start from a much farther place. It would be more effort than it’s worth.”

She did not show any disappointment on her face and simply said, “Then there is only one way left, deceive the fortress.”

Liang Zhongning asked skeptically, “But I have already fought against the Tian family before. They have high walls, strong crossbows, and a rare tiger general. How could we deceive them into coming out?”

Qiao Yan replied, “That’s where I come in.”

Liang Zhongning didn’t miss the slight displeasure and arrogance in Yan’s eyes when she answered as “Yan Qiao,” but despite her young age, her emotional control was obviously not lacking.

Seeing that she quickly suppressed her annoyance, Liang Zhongning asked, “Do you still remember what you promised me before?”

He answered without much thought, “Of course, if we can break the fortress, the food and money inside will naturally be my spoils of war. Among the Tian family’s wealthy, those who have oppressed the people can be killed by me, but the rest must be let go. If these people have nowhere to go and are willing to join my Yellow Turban ranks, you won’t interfere.”

He casually waved his hand, “I remember all this, but let’s talk about it when we actually win.”

Qiao Yan withdrew her gaze from him and looked ahead, her steps steady. “Rest assured, I will finish this as quickly as possible so that I can return to Gaomi sooner.”

In this case, according to the agreement, she naturally would not do anything to slack off.

---

Their campsite from last night was only four or five li (around 2-2.5 kilometers) away from the Tian family fortress. In less than two quarter-hours of walking, Qiao Yan could already see an open area ahead.

In the distance, surrounded by solid walls, was the Tian family fortress.

The location of the fortress was ideally situated on high ground, perfect for easy defense and difficult offense. However, the area around Puyang was a flat plain formed by the Yellow River sedimentation, lacking natural elevation.

Unable to find a suitable high ground, the Tian family settled for a location far from the official road yet close to a water source.

Originally, the Tian family thought that this location could serve as a support point for Puyang City.

Even if bandits attacked, they only needed to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Unexpectedly, with the rise of the Yellow Turbans, collusion within Puyang City, and the betrayal of the city, the Tian family fortress fell into the hands of the Yellow Turbans.

As a result, the Tian family fortress became a peaceful place outside the city.

As Liang Zhongning had said, when Qiao Yan looked around, she saw that there were no tall towers inside the fortress, only watchtowers and corner towers surrounding the thick walls of the fortress.

Perhaps due to the hasty construction, the surrounding moat was only half dug, and there was still some disorder that had not been completely cleaned up.

Scattered around were arrows that had been shot out during Liang Zhongning’s attack on the fortress two days ago, as well as the bodies of Yellow Turban soldiers left behind from earlier.

Of course, Qiao Yan could clearly see the situation in front of her, and the Tian family member responsible for patrolling the watchtower also saw the returning team.

Even without training, Qiao Yan could see that a figure flashed on the watchtower, obviously going to report the news.

“Are you going to make us attack again?” Liang Zhongning gestured for the team to stop, then saw another volley of arrows from the distant walls, which gave him a headache.

The Tian family was obviously prepared for his possible return, and the fortress had already formed a highly ordered defense system.

It was clear that if he attacked rashly, the casualties would likely be greater than last time.

Qiao Yan shook her head at his words.

She certainly wouldn’t do such a foolish thing.

Since she had said she would deceive them, she naturally had to use some tricks.

Under Liang Zhongning’s gaze, Qiao Yan borrowed a sword from a soldier and drew a square on the ground.

This was the shape of the Tian family fortress ahead.

After that, she used the sword as a pen to slowly draw out the landing points of the arrows shot from the fortress within the visible range on the ground pattern.

The people inside the fortress were alert to what actions these Yellow Turbans, who were making a comeback, would take, but Qiao Yan seemed overly relaxed.

With Liang Zhongning’s approval, she then led more than two hundred people to circle around the fortress.

It was also worth thanking Liang Zhongning, the leader, for his persistent attempts to find a breakthrough outside the fortress in the two days before Qiao Yan arrived.

He left behind many traces of skirmishes.

When she returned to the pattern she had drawn earlier, after about half an hour, a few more lines appeared on the ground.

Qiao Yan turned around only after completing these tasks, and unsurprisingly saw a trace of impatience on Liang Zhongning’s face.

If it weren’t for his consideration of her identity as an unexposed disciple of Zheng Xuan, he might have wanted to stab her with the new spear in his hand.

Little did he know, every arrow landing point Qiao Yan drew was a faithful replica from the actual battlefield, not just random scribbles.

What he saw was only that while Qiao Yan was making these moves, someone from the distant watchtower was gesturing provocatively towards him several times.

Qiao Yan noticed this interaction and a barely perceptible smile flashed across her lips. “If the leader is free, why not go beyond the range and taunt them?”

Liang Zhongning: “…?”

“Just kidding.” After saying these six words, she suddenly changed her previous relaxed attitude, and her tone became more serious, showing a dignity beyond her age. “Now, let’s talk about something serious. I would like the leader to do two things for me.”

Liang Zhongning nodded, indicating she could go on.

“The first thing, please select the best shooters from the ranks and give them to me to arrange.”

Liang Zhongning agreed.

This was not difficult for him.

After a pause, Qiao Yan continued, “The second thing, the leader mentioned earlier that it is not easy to dig a tunnel to attack the fortress from the inside.

So, if it only requires digging a hole deep enough for people to fall into and not be able to climb out, how long would that take?”