Amidst the blazing fires and the galloping horses, if one did not initially harbor misunderstandings and fears towards them, they would notice that there were only a few dozen horses constantly moving back and forth.

Unfortunately, the Yellow Turbans on both sides, now without leaders, only heard the thunderous sounds and the continuous drumming, and saw Huangfu Song leading the spirited Han army approaching step by step, as well as the strange armored figure appearing once again, but this time carrying a leader from each side, now standing next to Huang Fusong, perfectly echoing the proclamation of “the bandit leader has been captured.”

Any of these signs was a signal of impending disaster to them.

In any case, there would not be a thunderbolt from the sky striking down Huangfu Song.

In such a mentality, the first person subconsciously released his grip, letting his weapon fall to the ground.

Then the second person, the third person…

“The Yellow Turban army still has a long way to go to turn numbers into combat effectiveness,” Qiao Yan sighed.

At this point, she happened to see the appearance of the leader among the cavalry in the dust and smoke.

Sitting on horseback, it was a bit difficult to judge his size, but his appearance and the rough estimate of his height were very much in line with Qiao Yan’s impression of him.

And when it comes to the fact that numbers in the Yellow Turban army do not represent combat effectiveness, it seems that it always revolves around him.

Cao Cao.

The tens of thousands of Qingzhou soldiers he received after quelling the rebellion in Yanzhou were a typical proof of this statement.

It was obviously unrealistic for farmers to fight against professional combatants. In terms of strict military discipline, they couldn’t compare to regular troops.

In the Battle of Puyang, the Qingzhou soldiers failed to intercept Lu Bu for Cao Cao, instead causing Cao Cao to be burned on his palm in a big fire; in the Battle of Wancheng, the Qingzhou army not only failed to turn the tide for Cao Cao, but also looted their own people, which was a joke.

But one undeniable fact was that these Yellow Turban soldiers were still a particularly valuable human resource.

At the end of the Han Dynasty in particular.

So Qiao Yan absolutely could not let Huangfu Song kill all these people and be done with it.

She looked into the distance at the gradually calming tumultuous camp, straightened her clothes, and walked towards where Huangfu Song was.

The flickering flames around her were no longer in a chaotic state, but were spaced ten steps apart, illuminating the entire camp and sweeping away the chaos.

It was under the light of these torches that the Yellow Turban soldiers under Liang Zhongning and Bo Cai realized that their surrender might not have been such a wise decision.

The third party of Han troops was not as numerous as they had imagined!

But by now, there was obviously no room for them to regret.

Their weapons had been quickly confiscated, most of the long-range archers had been killed by Sun Jian and Fu Xie’s joint efforts, and the remaining few were mostly injured.

The most crucial point was that their food had quickly been taken over by the Han army.

The Han troops who had sallied out from Changshe were indeed insufficient in number, which also meant that there might have been a gap in their defenses that could allow them to escape.

However, when their food supplies were quickly taken over by the Han troops, it was equivalent to another iron chain tying up their hands and feet.

Qiao Yan found Huangfu Song near the food storehouse.

When she arrived, Huang Fusong was clearly interested in Dian Wei, the strong man who could run in heavy armor in the Yellow Turban camp, and was inquiring about him.

What made him think highly of Dian Wei was that not only did Dian Wei carry Liang Zhongning, the leader of the Yellow Turbans from Yanzhou, on his shoulders, but also when he was fleeing in chaos, he luckily came face to face with the enemy and knocked him out cold, capturing him directly.

If we were to talk about contributions, his were indeed considerable.

But Dian Wei, when it came to arranging an escape route for his hometown folks, seemed to have a bit of a clever and foolish appearance.

When he was asked by Huangfu Song, he seemed to be missing a string in his brain that promoted him, and Qiao Yan couldn’t help but feel that he was not in the right state.

Fortunately, there was someone else who could satisfy Huangfu Song’s curiosity.

Seeing Qiao Yan coming over, he cast a look that could perhaps be translated as “saved.”

Huangfu Song was indeed more interested in Qiao Yan.

In the state that Huangfu Song was in when he saw Qiao Yan earlier, Huangfu Song was almost the same now.

However, what Qiao Yan is doing now is obviously much more than just successfully gathering the three factions of the Yellow Turbans from Yanzhou into one.

If before, she only showed her insight into human nature and her ability to sow discord, then now—

The letter sent to Changshe City is enough to be called youthful righteousness and talent.

The strategy in this encirclement and siege is well in hand, a skill that is not ordinary.

Now, these qualities are concentrated in a boy who is not even old enough to be called “young.”

He is too young!

A military warrior like Dian Wei, although Huangfu Song was pleased to see him, he also had Fu Xie, a brave, strategic, and not lacking in temperament, military officer by his side.

Considering this, he was not so urgently in need of Dian Wei.

But Qiao Yan is different.

He is a strategist who can turn the tide of battle…

When Qiao Yan came forward to greet him, he was not surprised to hear such words as “General, what arrangements do you have for these people?” from this child who was so perceptive.

At this moment, Bo Cai had already regained consciousness, along with Liang Zhongning, who had been knocked unconscious by Dian Wei at the beginning.

These two men only knew half of the current situation and even harbored some resentment towards each other.

Of course, what they couldn’t understand the most was why their struggle, in the end, would benefit the Han army.

For Liang Zhongning, the biggest blow was undoubtedly his military adviser, whom he relied heavily on, who seemed to have been on the side of the Han army from the beginning, and it was under her planning that the Yellow Turbans were defeated.

If Liang Zhongning’s mouth weren’t blocked by cloth, he would have to ask her what he had done wrong to make her act like this.

As he was in extreme turmoil, wanting to know what had happened and wanting to ask Qiao Yan for clarification, he heard Qiao Yan’s question.

Then he heard Huangfu Song’s unhesitating reply: “I discussed this issue with Gong Wei before, and Gong Wei gave me a reason that I feel I have no room to refute. He said that those who are advantageous are bandits, and those who are disadvantageous beg for surrender. This is the law of the country.”

The meaning of these words was clear—they were to be killed!

The implication of Huangfu Song’s words was that if these Yellow Turban soldiers could run to follow someone else and start a Yellow Turban uprising when they could gain benefits, and then beg for surrender to the court when they no longer had the benefits of this uprising, then what should the country use to restrain these people so that they would not run off and cause trouble the next time someone raised an uprising slogan?

So the best way was to kill all these people, which also happened to give a warning to others who wanted to join the uprising.

Liang Zhongning naturally understood the hidden meaning in Huangfu Song’s words. His temper for confronting Qiao Yan turned into a chilling fear.

He instinctively felt that his emotions were not quite right at this moment.

After all, his following of General Tian Gong’s uprising was for a just cause.

On this road, success is not the only outcome; even if he dies here, he should face it calmly.

However, before he could talk himself out of his fears, he unexpectedly heard Qiao Yan say, “I don’t think these people should be killed.”

“…?” Liang Zhongning subconsciously looked at Qiao Yan’s face, but he did not see any pleading emotion on her still calm face.

She just spoke to Huangfu Song with an extremely calm tone, mentioning her judgment of the current situation, “If it were normal times, I would not object to General Song’s view, but the purpose of beheading the Yellow Turban leader is to warn. But at this moment, who does the general want to warn?”

“Of course, it’s the other places that haven’t been pacified yet,” Huangfu Song replied.

In other words, it was Zhang Jiao’s brothers in Jizhou and Zhang Mancheng in Nanyang.

Qiao Yan asked again, “Wouldn’t that also inform them of the situation here?”

Huangfu Song was suddenly shocked.

Qiao Yan’s words really reminded him.

Did he really want this news to spread?

He immediately wanted to take Qiao Yan back to Changshe City for a detailed discussion, but he refused the invitation, citing exhaustion tonight, dirty and messy clothes, and the improper way to meet elders. S

he suggested meeting at Huangfu Song’s camp after tidying up tomorrow, which he agreed to.

“Young people still care too much about their image,” Huangfu Song commented.

Just as he finished speaking, he saw Zhu Jun glance at him.

The meaning in this glance was not hard to discern.

Zhu Jun could tell that Huangfu Song did indeed speak like that, but the tone was not so much a reproach for Qiao Yan’s youthful shortcomings, but rather sounded like the affection of an elder for a younger generation.

His deep infiltration into the enemy camp and his collaboration with them was not a rash act of impulse, but a bold and daring move that greatly appealed to him as a military commander.

If this young man were not under the Qiao clan of Liangguo, even though Qiao Xuan might have died this year and Qiao Yu had died in the attack of the Yellow Turban bandits, the most suitable arrangement for Qiao Yan would have been to send her to the ancestral land of the clan.

He was really tempted to ask if she was interested in joining his command.

Especially since they had won!

They had won a victorious battle, pacifying the largest group of Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou Province, and even “exterminated” the Yellow Turbans in Yanzhou.

Even for Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, who had control over the military, they must have been feeling quite proud.

Although these soldiers who had risen up could not be killed for the time being, they had to be recruited for their own use, which might take some effort, but it was certainly much easier than fighting all over a province or a region as they had estimated before.

Especially now that they could free up their hands to support the other fronts.

On the twenty-sixth day of the third month, the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang killed the prefect Chugong, and the leader Zhang Mancheng and his deputy Zhao Hong stationed themselves with tens of thousands of troops in Wancheng.

Given the location of Wancheng, if troops were sent to the Yi River and directly to the Yi Pass, they could control the Central Plains and advance on Luoyang.

This was clearly a very dangerous situation.

Although the defenses of Luoyang’s eight gates had been arranged before the troops arrived, the Yi Pass relied on the danger of Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Pass, and the defending general was an old veteran who had been in charge of defending for a long time, not a pass that could be taken down by relying on the tactic of overwhelming numbers.

Backed by Luoyang, there was no shortage of supplies for a protracted war.

However—

The instigative power of the Yellow Turban army, or rather the call of the great celestial master Zhang Jiao, had been completely understood by Huangfu Song during these days when he was facing the Yellow Turbans head-on.

The fact that Zhang Jiao’s disciple Ma Yuanyi had been able to collude with people in Luoyang city before, planning to strike a blow at the heart of the city, could not guarantee that there would be no uprising in the Guanzhong area when Zhang Mancheng attacked the Yi Pass.

Zhu Jun was keenly aware of the potential danger posed by the Yellow Turbans’ ability to incite rebellion, especially given their past actions.

He knew that even with the defenses in place, the situation was precarious.

He turned to Huangfu Aong and said, “General, we must act swiftly and decisively. We cannot afford to underestimate the Yellow Turbans’ resolve. We should consider sending reinforcements to the Yi Pass immediately to bolster the defenses.”

Huangfu Aong nodded in agreement.

He realized the gravity of the situation and knew that they had to act swiftly to prevent any further escalation of the conflict.

“We will send reinforcements to the Yi Pass at once,” he declared. “We cannot allow the Yellow Turbans to gain any further ground. We must crush this rebellion once and for all.”

With that, orders were dispatched, and troops were mobilized to reinforce the Yi Pass.

The fate of Luoyang and the entire region hung in the balance, and Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were determined to do whatever it took to protect the city and quell the rebellion.

At present, Qin Jie, the Commandant of Jiangxia, has been promoted to the position of Taishou of Nanyang and has taken the lead in commanding the troops against Zhang Mancheng.

However, to prevent the loss of important territories in the capital region, it would be best to quickly divide the troops and pursue the enemy.

Meanwhile, news from the northern front indicates that Lu Zhi’s forces are steadily advancing.

While this may be proceeding according to his plan to eliminate the bandits, it is not good news for the Emperor Liu Hong, who is eager to crush the Yellow Turbans.

Huangfu Song understood the situation well and couldn’t help but feel a bit worried about Lu Zhi’s method of advancing.

After some thought, he said to Zhu Jun, “Gong Wei, I’d like to discuss with you the deployment of troops after this.”

There was a large map of the Han Empire in the room where they were.

Huang Fusong stood up and pointed to the map.

Their current location, Yingchuan, was not far from Wancheng.

After pacifying the Yellow Turban rebellion in Yingchuan, it was natural to advance to Wancheng.

However, Huang Fusong did not intend to waste time by concentrating all his forces there.

The news of their early completion of the suppression of the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou Province, as Qiao Yan had said, was something he actually didn’t want to spread so quickly.

As long as they could suppress this news for a while, so that it didn’t reach Zhang Mancheng in Nanyang and the great celestial master who was in Jizhou, they could completely launch a swift attack—

Directly to Huanglong!

He would agree with Qiao Yan’s suggestion to spare the lives of the Yellow Turbans, recruit them, and not follow Zhu Jun’s suggestion to guard against people thinking that “there is profit in being a bandit, and no profit in surrendering,” and thus not have any serious intentions of following the uprising.

This was all part of his considerations.

“I remember that Sun Jian, who was appointed as the military sergeant by Gong Wei, gathered young men from Huai and Si, and these people are skilled in water activities, right?”

Huangfu Song’s gaze did not leave the map as he moved back and forth between the Ying, Ru, and Zhi Rivers between Changshe and Nanyang, and the rivers that crisscrossed within Nanyang Prefecture.

Zhu Jun understood Huangfu Song’s meaning and replied, “Yes,” adding, “This man has served as the county magistrate of Yandu, Yuxi, and Xiapi, and is well-respected. His bravery is not inferior to Fu Nanrong. Last night, he was instrumental in defeating the bandits, and our side relied heavily on his military prowess to move freely within the Yellow Turban camp.”

Zhu Jun had an eye for talent and naturally praised Sun Jian highly.

Having witnessed the battle yesterday and the defense of the city in the past few days, Huang Fusong immediately said, “Very well, Gong Wei, please do not delay. Tomorrow, we will march to Nanyang, with Sun Wentai as your deputy, and join forces with Qin Jie as soon as possible to capture Zhang Mancheng. The southern waterways are easy to escape, so in the battle to expel the Yellow Turbans, we must not let any of the major leaders escape.”

Once they were given the opportunity to appoint another leader, it was very likely that they would return.

Under Zhu Jun’s command, Sun Jian and other young men skilled in water activities were the most suitable for launching a surprise attack at this time.

And Huangfu Song had a clear understanding of his own goals.

Yanzhou no longer needs to be fought over; they can pass through directly and advance to Jizhou, quickly joining forces with the northern front.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Huangfu Song’s usually stern and cold face.

Time is extremely critical for anyone in a military position.

Huangfu Song now had the initiative and couldn’t help but feel pleased.

It was at this moment that a guard outside came to report that Qiao Yan was seeking an audience.

“Please let him in!”

Huangfu Song was immersed in the pleasant surprise of the impending dual-front battle, completely unaware that the tone of the guard’s message was somewhat subtle, as if facing something difficult to understand.

It wasn’t until the door of the “temporary command post” in Changshe City was pushed open and a figure in white entered the room that Huang Fusong belatedly realized, if he hadn’t misheard earlier, that the personal guard who had accompanied him in battle seemed to be implying something…

Surprise?

Zhu Jun was the first to recognize the figure and was so shocked that he jumped up.

“You…”

What he saw was not a young boy who had changed his clothes and came to see him and Huangfu Song out of concern for his personal image, but a girl in heavy mourning clothes, dressed in white.

Returning to the girl’s attire did not affect the recognition of her identity.

Her commanding and decisive performance in the battle against the Yellow Turbans last night would not be diminished by her change of attire.

At most, it was the white mourning clothes that made her complexion appear slightly paler, looking a bit exhausted.

That’s all there was to it.

However, this sudden scene brought an indescribable shock to Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song, who had already formed the understanding that “she is the granddaughter of Qiao Xuan and indeed has the demeanor of her grandfather.”

Not only because of the reversal of gender!

But also because of the special meaning that must come with this attire.

Considering that before Qiao Yan came to pay his respects, he had found some white cloth clothes used for funerals in the city, it was not a difficult task.

The drought and cold of last year would not spare the people of Yingchuan, and not to mention the farther ones, several elders of the Zhong clan in Changshe had passed away this spring due to seasonal changes, plus the casualties from the Yellow Turban attack on the city.

So, after confirming that the props could be obtained, she chose without hesitation to wear mourning clothes at this time, appearing before Huang Fusong and Zhu Jun as a woman.

Before she made this move, the system couldn’t help but ask why she said that.

After all, such actions were somewhat offensive.

But Qiao Yan explained that whether it was inappropriate or not was not to be judged by the rules of interaction between superiors and subordinates.

As she had told the system before, everything she did this time was to build up her reputation, just like before.

Since she wanted the fame of suppressing the Yellow Turbans, she had to take it all, without any waste, all falling on her own shoulders.

On the shoulders of Qiao Yan, the daughter of the Qiao clan!

With her military achievements already established, why not add to her growing reputation, ensuring that future generations would mention her as one of the emerging talents during the Yellow Turban Rebellion!

Under the incredulous gazes of the left and right commanders-in-chief appointed by the court, Qiao Yan bowed deeply, “The daughter of the former magistrate of Rencheng, Qiao Yan, pays her respects to the generals.”

“My parents were both killed in the chaos of the Yellow Turbans. As their child, I must do my utmost to eradicate the bandits. Even in death, I have no regrets. Now that I have achieved some success, I do not seek personal gain. I only ask that when the two generals march out, you allow me to lead the way, and I will take their heads to Yanzhou to honor the spirits of my parents in heaven!”

After finishing her words, she bowed deeply again.