Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Zhang Mo's IQ is not much higher than Lu Bu's, but her way of thinking is particularly flexible, and she is best at doing the opposite. When they were suppressing the bandits in Runan, everyone was thinking about how to defend the last isolated city, but she thought of doing the opposite and pretending to be a bandit to rob the city.

She was quick-witted and knowledgeable. As long as she suspected that the Huns had ulterior motives, she could understand what they were planning without much thought.

Zhang Mo said, "If I were King Xiu Tu, since I can't take the things here, I would go somewhere else to get them. I can't let myself lose everything."

Lu Bu's eyes turned cold, "You mean, they want to attack Taiyuan County?"

After being reminded by Zhang Mo, Lu Bu immediately understood. Putting aside whether the bribe could be successful, if it were him, he would certainly not be willing to lose more than 10,000 soldiers and get nothing. He would have to get some benefits before returning. And where in Bingzhou could be richer than Jinyang?

Zhang Mo's face darkened. "That's probably the case. These next few days, we'll just have to wait and see whether he leaves behind his supplies or takes them with him. If he takes them, he's trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain and attack Jinyang quickly. The Luliang Mountain Road is difficult to navigate. He only needs to leave a thousand men to guard the narrow passage, and it will be difficult for our army to catch up."

Lu Bu sneered, "He wants to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but I will make sure he never returns."

"Well, let's take advantage of their strategy and ambush them on the mountain road first, and catch them all in one fell swoop."

Lu Bu nodded. "The most suitable location is at the entrance of Wangfeng Valley, more than ten miles upstream. We only need to ambush five hundred men. Once I have intercepted his belongings, I will turn back and intercept him. I will then bury these men in the Luliang Mountains."

As he spoke, he picked up Zhang Mo and sat her on his lap. "Thank goodness you reminded me, otherwise I would have fought this battle in vain."

Zhang Mo leaned against him and said, "You're not stupid. You just got a little carried away by the compliments you received today. Remember this in the future. Don't get carried away just by a few nice words from others. You're going to be on a path where you could lose your head at any time. You must always keep a clear mind."

Lu Bu said seriously, "Madam, you are right. I will remember that."

…………

Three days later, King Xiutu gathered hundreds of carts of supplies and prepared to withdraw to the Hetao area. Lu Bu personally led a large army to intercept him. King Xiutu was secretly delighted to see that almost all of Lu Bu's troops had been dispatched. He ordered the soldiers carrying supplies to pretend to protect their supplies and try to break through, so as to detain Lu Bu's troops. He then led 8,000 cavalry to attack Lu Bu's camp. The small number of Han troops left in the camp pretended to resist for a while but were dispersed. However, they quickly regrouped after King Xiutu entered the mountain road.

King Xiutu rode non-stop from the Luliang Mountain Road to Taiyuan County, but was ambushed on the way. Most of his 8,000 men were killed or wounded. King Xiutu was shocked and frightened, realizing that his purpose had been discovered long ago and he had fallen into a trap. He didn't know how many more ambushes were ahead, so he didn't dare to enter Taiyuan County again. He led a group of remaining soldiers back to Xihe County, but was surrounded by the Han army at the exit of the mountain. In the end, all 8,000 men and horses were killed, and even King Xiutu was beheaded by Xu Chu.

Those who were transporting the supplies were almost killed or wounded by the joint attack of Lu Bu and Zhang Liao. In the end, only two or three thousand people escaped back to Hetao. The Southern Xiongnu was severely damaged by this battle, and Lu Bu's name became a nightmare for the entire Southern Xiongnu.

…………

The battle was over and the enemy was eliminated. Theoretically, Lu Bu's duties as a captain were also completed, and he could just pack up and leave with his troops.

Lu Bu originally thought so, but under Zhang Mo's persuasion, he still stayed in Xihe County at this time.

The reason is very simple. He took great pains to drive away the Huns who invaded the Han Dynasty and took back so many supplies. He couldn't just leave a reputation of being a brutal warrior in Xihe County. He had to take this opportunity to improve his reputation among the people. If he wanted to use Bingzhou as a base to fight for the world in the future, a good reputation would be crucial to him.

Therefore, he had to stay and complete the post-war cleanup work.

Fighting was not difficult for Lu Bu. Even if he was asked to lead his troops to Shangdang to pacify Bai Bo and Yu Furuo, there would be no problem at all. However, the complicated aftermath work was completely beyond his ability.

At the Lishi County Government Office in Xihe County, Lu Bu felt overwhelmed when he saw the account books piled up like a mountain in front of him.

He looked at Zhang Mo, then at the others, his face full of melancholy, "How should I deal with so many things?"

These account books were compiled by the grain transport officers after spending several days and nights. They were all materials intercepted from the Huns, including gold and silver jewelry, brocade clothes, silk fabrics, antique jades, etc., and of course countless grains and fodder.

If this was just the stuff from Lishi County, it would be easy to deal with. But the key point was that these were looted by the Huns from four counties, which had a population of over 100,000, including officials, wealthy families, and civilians. Lu Bu really didn't know how to return them.

Lü Bu had originally planned to withhold a portion of the proceeds to reward his soldiers and give the rest to the county magistrates, who would then decide what to do with them. However, Amo said that if he did so, most of the money would simply go into the pockets of the county officials. The people of Xihe might not even be able to plant their crops this spring. These hundreds of thousands of people would soon become either tenant farmers or refugees. What would be the point of his war then? Was it simply to concentrate wealth for the gentry to acquire more land and population?

War is a continuation of politics, and politics is based on people's livelihood. Regardless of the life and death of the people, it is better not to fight this war. It doesn't make much difference whether the people of Xihe are slaves of the Xiongnu or the Han people.

After being awakened by Zhang Mo, Lu Bu remembered that this was what he did in his dream after occupying Yanzhou and Xuzhou. He only fought to occupy territory. When he ran out of money and food, he asked the people for it, or robbed them. He never cared about their life or death, and never thought about managing the people's livelihood and economy. This time he was learning how to do these things in advance in order to conquer the world in the future.

Lü Bu was surrounded by military commanders, lacking any civil officials capable of governing a region. Zhang Liao was considered the most educated of these generals, but he was only nineteen years old and didn't understand much. He simply offered a general suggestion: "Distribute the grain equally among the people, quickly arrange for spring planting, and return valuables to the wealthy."

Lu Bu nodded, he also felt the same way, but then asked, "How should we divide so many supplies and people equally?"

Han Lai said, "It's okay if it's almost the same. How can every family get the same?"

Lu Bu subconsciously looked at Zhang Mo, asking with his eyes whether this was feasible.

Zhang Mo shook her head. Of course that’s not feasible!

After this war, many people from various counties fled, and many who resisted were killed by the Hu people. It is not clear how many people are left now. Among the remaining population, how many are good citizens and how many are servants and slaves of wealthy families. Now almost every household has been looted by the Hu people. No matter rich or poor, they are all about to starve to death. Also, will the food be distributed according to households or individuals?

By the time these statistics were calculated, it would probably be time for the autumn harvest, and the bodies of the people who had been robbed would have rotted into skeletons.

Furthermore, much of the land outside the city had been trampled hard by war horses. Ordinary people lacked oxen or farm tools, so they had to rely on stone hoes to loosen the soil. How long would it take? And who would cultivate those unowned lands?

Xihe suffered a severe blow this time, and everything needs to be rebuilt. No land can be left uncultivated.

Moreover, there is a gap between the rich and the poor among the rich households. No matter how you divide it, you cannot satisfy everyone.

"So what do you think we should do?"