Qiao Yan’s eyes widened.

This was more powerful than the cautionary advice she received from Huangfu Song earlier.

Becoming a filial candidate, promoted to deputy minister, and then transferred to the position of Northland Governor, these were not ordinary words.

These were Huangfu Song’s personal experiences.

During his rise to power, Emperor Liu Hong had already started selling official positions based on their rank.

If not for the imminent threat of the Yellow Turbans, Huangfu Song, as the Left General, would have undoubtedly had to spend a considerable amount of money to ascend to his position.

He didn’t want someone with the potential to be a pillar of the future to need twenty years to have such an opportunity.

Taking advantage of the chaos of the Yellow Turban Rebellion to place Qiao Yan in a suitable position for training seemed like a wise decision.

Moreover, Lu Zhi couldn’t take everyone with him now.

Otherwise, if discovered by Zhang Liang in Quzhou, he might be ambushed from behind, before he even reached Guangzong.

And this team used to deceive Zhang Liang wouldn’t be engaging in direct combat, so the commander-in-chief would actually be in a relatively safe position, which was particularly suitable for someone like Qiao Yan, whose ability to protect herself was slightly lacking.

Furthermore, this kind of training only served as an auxiliary to Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song’s breakthrough in the battle of Guangzong.

According to Huangfu Song’s understanding of Lu Zhi’s thoughts, he shouldn’t mind giving up this task.

There couldn’t have been a more suitable position than this.

Seeing Qiao Yan’s stunned expression, as if realizing Huangfu Song’s heartfelt intentions, Lu Zhi patted her shoulder and said,

“Yizhen, in his letter, Yizhen mentioned that your grandfather, Qiao Gongzu, had a feud with the Administrator of Nanyang, Chen Qiu,

but when he reached the position of the Three Excellencies, he still recommended him for a position.

Today, he conspired with me to promote you to the position of deputy commander, which can also be considered somewhat self-serving—”

“In the future, when people talk about this matter, they will certainly mention these two good deeds.

Huangfu Song and I, Lu Zhi, may not yet have the title of the Three Excellencies, but we possess the virtue of the Three Excellencies. Isn’t it delightful?”

With that, Lu Zhi chuckled to himself.

His voice was like a booming bell, and even when he laughed, there was a sense of resonance. “What do you think?”

Qiao Yan didn’t hesitate and replied loudly, “If General Huangfu and Lord Lu dare to entrust this matter to me, why not give it a try?”

For her, this was an incredible opportunity.

How many people could hold such responsibility at her age?

Even though she currently only had this position because Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi hadn’t reported to Luoyang yet, it could be said that they had already reached an unspoken consensus in recommending her jointly.

And to temporarily obtain this position was enough to make others envy her situation.

Moreover, this wasn’t a hastily made decision.

Since Lu Zhi was going to leave later in the night, he simply informed the news of Qiao Yan temporarily taking charge of the camp’s military affairs during the day.

His steady and cautious personality was evident in the division of troops into two routes.

Though the soldiers he favored to stay here were somewhat surprised that Lu Zhi entrusted the heavy responsibility of remaining behind to Qiao Yan, it was only a momentary surprise.

Because Lu Zhi immediately asked, “If any of you believe you have the ability to quell the chaos in Yanzhou, you may step forward.”

This was quite unexpected.

When they went north to Jizhou, their goal was to strike directly at the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but it didn’t mean they knew nothing about the situation in Yanzhou.

The combined forces of the three factions in Yanzhou were almost equal to their total number of troops.

Even though most of them were from humble backgrounds and might be considered a ragtag group, it didn’t change the fact that one person against three factions could be considered legendary.

Later, Lu Zhi left Liu Bei to assist Qiao Yan as her deputy.

“Xuande has excellent horsemanship and attire, although he may not be fond of studying, but he does have some talent in marching and arranging troops. Though it may be difficult to achieve victory, he is still a qualified deputy.”

The first half of Lu Zhi’s sentence brought a hint of embarrassment to the face of Liu Bei, who was only about twenty-five years old, but the latter half was indeed a commendation, which made him straighten his back again.

Qiao Yan tried hard not to laugh at the evaluation of Liu Bei, “Perhaps I can make use of your skills in dealing with people. Unexpectedly, today we have the opportunity to work together.”

Liu Bei replied with a cupped fist, “It seems the young lady has foresight.”

“Rather, I see talent in the commanders of our troops,” Qiao Yan replied with a bow. “Among the strong men recruited by Xuande from Zhuo County, I believe both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are extraordinary. If you have any need for their strength, you can assign these two.”

“But I must remind you,” Lu Zhi’s tone changed from the earnest advice to a more serious one, “do not underestimate Zhang Liang just because of your previous successes at Puyang, Changshe, and Xialuo.

I have been dealing with this man for a long time and know well that he is not easy to deal with. Unless there is a heaven-sent opportunity, do not rashly engage in battle.”

Qiao Yan also tried to straighten her face that didn’t look too serious. “General Lu, rest assured. Once the battle at Guangzong is settled, I have a plan in mind for what should take precedence over what. I am well aware.”

Whether entrusting such a heavy responsibility to a young child was the right decision or not, Lu Zhi couldn’t confidently give a definite answer.

But from Huangfu Song’s words, he saw a talent among his disciples that might even surpass Gongsun Zan—someone who had not yet achieved the title of the Three Excellencies but possessed the virtues of the Three Excellencies.

Having pondered over it for some time, he decided to take a chance.

As he led the troops towards Guangzong, he looked back at the camp and saw sparse lights in the dark night.

Without hesitation, he urged his horse forward.

Tonight was a good time to travel.

He didn’t have the luxury of wasting time on a decision that had already been made.

Meanwhile, as Lu Zhi led his troops away and the troops that were creating the illusion of reinforcements from Luoyang also departed, almost half of Lu Zhi’s camp was left empty.

However, the lights in the main tent did not go out.

Qiao Yan flipped through the roster of military personnel that Liu Bei had just sent her when suddenly the system spoke up: “Wait… doesn’t this seem familiar? I remember I urged you to join Cao Cao before, but when Changshe was besieged, you were outside the city while Cao Cao was inside.”

“Yes,” Qiao Yan replied, stacking the roster to the side.

“If last night I mentioned that you had met Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan and could choose one to serve under, if you chose Liu Bei, you would be serving under him now, but…”

The system widened its virtual eyes when Liu Bei was still in the camp, only to see the future founding emperor of Shu, serving under Qiao Yan.

This relationship seemed to have reversed again.

However, seeing Qiao Yan’s calm demeanor, the system began to wonder if there was some strategist’s trick that it hadn’t figured out.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get a reply from Qiao Yan.

After roughly estimating the pressure on these soldiers, she stretched and walked out of the tent towards the place where she had rested.

As for Dian Wei, he seemed to have forgotten that he had only entered into a temporary employment relationship with Qiao Yan and was standing guard dutifully outside the tent.

So much so that…

Qiao Yan woke up to the sound of the system alarm, and when she stepped out, she saw two figures wrestling not far from her tent.

In broad daylight like this, everything was clearly visible, and Qiao Yan couldn’t fail to notice that the two figures in close combat were none other than Dian Wei and Zhang Fei!

Seeing Lu Yuan standing outside the tent, seemingly hesitant about whether to wake her up or not, Qiao Yan asked, “What’s happening?”

“The commander just sent Zhang Fei to double the number of people cooking inside the camp.”

That was indeed Qiao Yan’s order.

Lu Zhi led the troops away, which was good, but she couldn’t reduce the number of people cooking and making fires in the camp.

Otherwise, Zhang Liang in Quzhou City would definitely notice that there were fewer people here.

Lu Yuan sighed helplessly. “Dian Wei, the guard, said that. But he looks fierce and claimed that he needs a lot of food.”

Liu Bei probably didn’t expect that someone would use such a reason to arrange a sparring match just to make it legitimate.

Perhaps if Qiao Yan had woken up a little later… she’d have been quite clever.

Qiao Yan found it amusing in her heart but didn’t show it on her face.

Instead, she walked calmly with her hands behind her back to where the two were grappling.

The two fierce warriors, having restrained their strength a bit, were at a stalemate for a moment, unable to determine a winner.

Suddenly, amidst the deadlock, they heard a light cough from Qiao Yan.

In the moment when they subconsciously stopped their movements, they heard her command in a clear voice, “Dian Wei, Zhang Fei, attention!”

The two glanced at each other, then immediately stood in front of Qiao Yan, shouting in unison, “Yes!”

Qiao Yan surveyed them, her expression unreadable.

She simply said, “Leave the camp! Find a suitable tree trunk and bring it back to me as a flagpole.”

Military orders were like mountains.

Both of them didn’t know what Qiao Yan wanted the flagpole for, but they subconsciously began to step forward.

However, before they could take two steps, they heard Qiao Yan say from behind, “Wait, have your fill of food first.”

“…Even though it’s good to have food to eat, why does this sound like a dig at us?” Although this little incident caused some rumors in the camp, those on the walls of Quzhou City were unaware of these trivial matters.

Zhang Liang ascended the city wall.

He had been informed at dawn that the Han army had received reinforcements, which already made him uneasy.

Now, as he looked around, he saw a giant tree being erected in the enemy’s camp, which made him even more unsettled.

On the flag fluttering from the giant tree was a large “Qiao” character.