"You scoundrel!" After a moment of silence, the girl suddenly withdrew her hand and slapped Qin Longyang across the face. Qin Longyang cried out, clutching his face in pain, nearly brought to tears.
"Damn it, besides my mother, no other woman has ever slapped me before!" Qin Longyang grimaced in pain, holding one side of his face and glaring angrily at the girl.
However, when he saw the glinting dagger in her hand, he quickly coughed and said, "Alright! Since you're a woman, I won't hold it against you."
"Hah!" The girl scoffed, placing the medicine bowl aside and lifting one leg to press it against Qin Longyang's chest.
"Hold it against me? If it weren't for me patrolling the mountains a few days ago and finding you, you'd probably be hanging from a crooked tree by now! If I had known you were such an ill-mannered person, I would have left you to feed the wild dogs in the ravine!"
The girl applied a bit of pressure, making Qin Longyang feel as if a stone were pressing on his chest, suffocating him. His face turned red, but fortunately, the girl quickly withdrew her leg, allowing him to gasp for air, barely escaping with his life.
"What you say is true... Qin Longyang has offended you. I hope the young lady will be generous and forgive my rudeness!"
He had no choice; he was in the Yellow Turban's stronghold, and the girl in front of him was likely the "Saintess" mentioned by the soldiers, a person with significant authority. If he angered her, the life he had just saved might be lost again.
"Hmph!" The girl snorted, handing the medicine bowl to Qin Longyang. "You've been unconscious for several days, and I've been taking good care of you.You're staying in my room. If I hadn't found you pleasant, you wouldn't have received such treatment."
Hearing this, Qin Longyang felt deeply ashamed and struggled to get up to bow to the girl. "Thank you, young lady.
For your kindness, Qin Longyang has nothing to repay you with. If you ever need my help in the future, I will not hesitate to go through fire and water."
"Enough, enough, no need for all that," the girl smiled warmly, looking at Qin Longyang with interest. "I say, you should know who we are, right?"
"Y-Yes..." Qin Longyang nodded. "The Yellow Turban Rebellion..."
"Rebellion? Ha ha ha..." The girl burst into laughter. "I must say, General Qin, why continue to pretend? Your fame as a young hero has spread from Youzhou throughout the central plains. "
"The Battle of Youzhou in Zhuo Commandery, where our Yellow Turban General Guan Hai's fifty thousand troops were defeated, was all thanks to you, General."
"You... You know me?" Qin Longyang's face turned pale. It seemed the girl had known his identity all along, so why did she save him?
"Seeing that you are around my age and have less cunning than me," the girl said, rolling her eyes. "Do you really think it was by chance that I saved you? Although the Yellow Turbans are in decline, we still have many spies in Luoyang."
" Since you parted ways with Liao Hua, our people have been tracking you. Otherwise, you would have been left to rot in the wilderness."
At this, Qin Longyang felt a chill run down his spine. History books only recorded the most famous battles of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, after which the Yellow Turban army disappeared.
Who knew that after Zhang Jiao founded the Way of Peace for several years, its followers ranged from commoners to officials? In other words, the subsequent chaos in the central plains was likely part of the Yellow Turbans' long-standing plan!
"I've thwarted your plans multiple times; why did you save me?" Qin Longyang asked, staring at the girl.
"Guan Hai, despite being favored by my elder brother Zhang Jiao, was arrogant with his troops and had rebellious intentions. When attacking Youzhou, he disobeyed our orders multiple times and deserved to die."
"However, at that time, we were busy dealing with other warlords and had no time to manage him. It was a pleasant surprise that you, Qin Longyang, wiped out these fifty thousand rebels. Saving you is a fair trade."
"Elder brother?" Qin Longyang caught on to a key term and frowned at the girl.
The girl gave a faint smile and cupped her fists, saying heroically, "I am the Saintess of the Yellow Turban Sect, Zhang Yao!"
Zhang Yao... Qin Longyang couldn't recall this name from any books, but she seemed to have a deep understanding of the situation.
It seemed that after the Yellow Turban Rebellion failed, Zhang Yao either perished in battle or went into hiding, continuing to spread the teachings of the Yellow Turban Taoism and quietly observing the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
"You saved me; aren't you afraid that one day I will do to you and your Yellow Turbans what I did to Guan Hai and wipe you all out?"
"Heh," Zhang Yao chuckled indifferently, spreading her hands. "Don't you understand? The reason for the Yellow Turban Rebellion wasn't to overthrow the Han Dynasty with our strength."
"We are merely the vanguard of the anti-Han wave. As for who will ultimately overthrow the Han, you, Qin Longyang, should be the one who knows best, right?"
"What do you mean?" Qin Longyang frowned.
"Some things lose their meaning if spelled out. Let's just say that both Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi, despite being high-ranking officials, could easily be demoted or removed..."
Zhang Yao smiled mysteriously. "They were smart to resign and retire instead of returning to the capital, avoiding execution. That was something I didn't foresee."
"Did you have a hand in that?"
"Mmm-hmm~" Zhang Yao raised an eyebrow smugly, seemingly pleased with her plan. The smile made Qin Longyang shiver.
Causing the downfall of senior court officials without lifting a finger, this Zhang Yao was no ordinary person!
As the two stared at each other in silence, a hurried shout came from outside: "Saintess! Something's wrong! A group of insurgents suddenly attacked from the mountain, catching us off guard. Our brothers have suffered heavy casualties; you must leave quickly!"
"Insurgents?" Zhang Yao stood up abruptly, her eyes still fixed on Qin Longyang, as if contemplating how to deal with him.
Qin Longyang quickly raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, "They're definitely not my people. You know all my troops are in Youzhou; they wouldn't know this area."
"I know they're not your people. I'm just deciding whether to take you with me." Zhang Yao smirked.
Qin Longyang shook his head vehemently. "Please don't. I'm just a burden. Leave me here; at least I'm a government official and can stall them for you."
"Hmph, fine. So, you're on our side now." Zhang Yao suddenly left with an enigmatic remark, leaving Qin Longyang worried. What if the insurgents mistook him for a Yellow Turban spy and killed him?
Before he could think further, the shouts and clashes outside grew louder. The remaining Yellow Turbans were wiped out in less than half an hour. Two of the insurgent leaders, both in their fifties or sixties, exuded a formidable presence, clearly seasoned veterans.
The insurgents began searching for stragglers, and Qin Longyang, thinking quickly, deliberately smashed the medicine bowl to make noise. "Help! Is anyone there?"
Sure enough, after a couple of shouts, the door was kicked open, and nearly ten insurgents rushed in.
"Who are you?" a squad leader asked.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Qin Longyang immediately burst into tears. "I'm the soon-to-be governor of Langya Commandery. I was intercepted by a group of bandits a few days ago while traveling from Luoyang."
"They found nothing of value on me, so they held me here. If you hadn't come to my rescue today, I would've been dead!"
"Langya?" The squad leader frowned. "Why would a governor be traveling alone? Don't worry; we're the insurgents from Qingzhou, here to eliminate these Yellow Turban remnants. You should come with me to see the generals."
"Thank you, thank you!" Qin Longyang nodded gratefully and obediently dressed himself before following the squad leader.
"Generals! We found a captive in the inner room who claims to be the governor of Langya Commandery," the squad leader announced, bringing Qin Longyang before the two generals. They both locked eyes on Qin Longyang, making him shiver with fear.
"Langya Commandery? Langya is in Xuzhou; why are you in Qingzhou?" The long-bearded general scrutinized Qin Longyang and his waist token, which indeed indicated Langya Commandery.
"Thank you, generals, for saving me. I won't lie; here's what happened..." Qin Longyang explained the situation, and the generals' eyes gradually changed from suspicion to excitement. The armored general grabbed Qin Longyang's shoulders with delight.
"Are you truly Qin Longyang, General Qin?"
"Yes..." Qin Longyang nodded in confusion.
The two burst into laughter and then simultaneously knelt before Qin Longyang, shocking him.
"General Qin! Please accept our obeisance!"
"This is too much!" Qin Longyang hurriedly tried to lift them. "Why are you doing this?"
"General Qin, I am Lu Zhi, also known as Lu Zigan, and this is Huangfu Yi Zhen, otherwise known as Huangfu Song!" To Qin Longyang's astonishment, the two elderly, vigorous generals before him were none other than the former Generals of the Household who had resigned from their positions.
Qin Longyang, shocked beyond belief, hurriedly tried to help them up. However, Lu Zhi grasped Qin Longyang's hand and said, "General Qin, to be honest, since Yi Zhen and I resigned from our posts, we heard rumors of a young man in the court who spoke out in defense of us, even though he had never met us."
"From that moment on, we resolved to find that general and pledge our loyalty to him! General Qin, please accept the title of 'Lord'!"
"Lord!" they both shouted in unison, and the surrounding soldiers also knelt and shouted in unison. Qin Longyang was moved to tears, his voice trembling.
"... How could someone like me deserve the assistance of such esteemed gentlemen and so many brave and righteous men? It is a great fortune indeed!"
"In that case, from this moment forward, if I, Qin, am to achieve great things, I will need the full support of all of you! I thank you all in advance!"
"We are willing to give our lives for our lord!"