Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

If she had not been forced to do so, Zhang Mo would not want to kill people indiscriminately. However, this time there was no solution other than killing people.

"Go to my study and get the letter from the middle compartment on the second shelf of the left bookshelf." Zhang Mo instructed Juxiang, who had been promoted to her bodyguard and maid.

Juxiang is twelve years old this year. She has a big ponytail and wears a men's shorts, which makes her look clean and neat. She also learned martial arts from Lu Bu with Zhang Fan and others. She has been practicing diligently in recent years and her martial arts have improved greatly. It is not a problem for her to knock down three or four ordinary soldiers alone. In addition, she has been educated and is smart, so Zhang Mo took her with her.

As for Juxiang's sister Hexiang, who was almost taken as a concubine by Lu Bu, she married Zhang Fan, who is now a military marquis in Juyi Village, two years ago.

Juxiang quickly brought the letter that Zhang Mo mentioned, and Zhang Mo gestured for her to give it to Lu Bu.

"This is the information about the prominent families in Hanoi that I asked the Flying Eagle Team to investigate after I returned to Bingzhou. It was just delivered two days ago. I originally planned to give it to Du Ji so that he could gain a better grasp of Hanoi County."

Lu Bu opened the envelope, and Zhang Mo explained:

"Henei County is full of aristocratic families. In a short period of time, my people have only investigated a few families in Wen County and Xiuwu County, including the Sima, Zhang, Chang, and Yang families. I briefly explained the Sima family to you last time. Next is the Zhang family, descended from Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu in the Western Han Dynasty. They are a truly prestigious family, having produced Si Tu and Tai Wei. The current head of the Zhang family, Zhang Fan, had the father of Zhang Yan, who served as Tai Wei in the second year of Zhongping. He was acquainted with my father, but he has passed away."

"Let's talk about Zhang Fan. Zhang Fan was a martial artist from Henei. He didn't care about fame, wealth, or official positions. He loved helping the poor. His family had no extra money, and he was a true man of integrity. His two younger brothers, Zhang Cheng (who shared the same name as the son of Zhang Zhao of Wu) and Zhang Zhao (who shared the same name as Zhang Zhao, the general who assisted Wu), were both righteous men. Last year, Zhang Cheng wanted to raise an army to support the Guandong Army, but Zhang Zhao persuaded him not to. The family had originally wanted to move to Yangzhou to avoid disaster, but the war against Dong Zhuo was fought too quickly, and Dong Zhuo died too soon, so the family stayed and remained in Henei."

"This is a noble family, and the three brothers are all talented and famous. They must be recruited and cannot be moved."

"The third family, the Changs, though now in decline, still have members throughout Wen County. The Flying Eagles have inquired about a Chang family member who was arrested by the prefect, Wang Kuang, last year after getting into an argument. At the time, Wang Kuang was raising an army to fight Dong Zhuo. Lacking money or food, he found fault with officials and civilians, arrested them, convicted them, and then forced them to atone for their sins with money or food."

"The Chang family has a young man named Chang Lin. He sought out Hu Mubiao, a fellow villager of Wang Kuang, and through Hu Mubiao's mediation, he finally managed to get his uncle out of jail. Last year, Chang Lin moved to the Shangdang Mountains to avoid the chaos. It's said that he has excellent moral integrity and often brings scriptures to the fields while working. When he rests, he sits in the fields and reads. He's quite influential in the clan, has high moral character, and is extremely talented. He could be recruited to serve us."

"The fourth Yang family is from the same lineage as the Hongnong Yang family. They can be said to be an aristocratic family among aristocratic families. However, the branch in Xiuwu County, Hanoi is a side branch of the Yang family. The current head of the family, Yang Jun, once studied under the great scholar Bian Rang. He often provides relief to the poor and is a man of both virtue and talent."

Speaking of the Yang family, Lü Bu couldn't help but think of Yang Chuo, who had colluded with the Hu people to massacre Jiuyuan. He asked, "Are Yang Chuo and this Yang Jun related?"

Zhang Mo shook her head. "I don't know about that, but even if they are from the same clan, the crime cannot be extended to family members. If Yang Junruo is as hateful as Yang Chuo, then he can be killed. However, this person has a very good reputation in the village and can be used."

There are many powerful families in Henei County, as well as many talented people. Although it will be difficult to take over at the beginning, if Lu Bu can win over the hearts of the people in Henei, he will suddenly have many more people available.

After listening for a long time, Lu Bu asked in confusion, "So, except for the Sima family, the other three are all noble families. We must win them over. You also said that you want Sima Yi to work for our son in the future. So who should we kill?"

After this investigation of the Hanoi nobles and powerful families, Zhang Mo realized a problem more deeply. That is, the noble families she thought were vampires before actually had people with noble character and outstanding talents. Many people from noble families could spend all their fortunes to help the poor, and they took pleasure in it. Regardless of whether they were truly of noble character or did it for fame, Zhang Mo believed that she could not even do half of what they could do.

In order to continue their rule, the ruling class of this era attached great importance to the moral education of their descendants. On the contrary, the powerful landlords had no political power and would do anything for money.

As the saying goes, poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people. People with a high level of education generally have higher quality. Therefore, those aristocratic families in the late Eastern Han Dynasty who were hyped up by later generations did not really disregard the lives of the people for the sake of family interests. At least a large number of them attached importance to the development of people's livelihood.

Compared to the aristocratic families of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the aristocratic families of the late Eastern Han Dynasty were much better off. From the investigation, it was clear that, aside from the Sima and Yang families, who were relatively wealthy, the other two families were relatively poor, especially the Chang family.

So who should be killed?

Zhang Mo stroked the little bun's fur while saying, "Kill those wealthy and powerful people."

She pointed to Xiuwu, Huojia, and Jixian, all near Baixing, and said, "Target the wealthy people in these three cities."

Lu Bu looked at these three places and asked doubtfully, "How can the troops get through?"

"We can't use your own men. Send Anren and raise the banner of Zhang Yan and the Black Mountain comrades on the Baixing Road. They'll let us go. But... before that, we have to have Du Ji take up his post. Only then will Wang Kuang and Yuan Shao's troops withdraw from Hanoi. We can take advantage of this gap to do our work."

Lu Bu's troops could not pass through, but it was still possible for Du Ji to take a few people to take up the post. However, judging from the degree of resistance of the people of Henei to Lu Bu, this trip was very dangerous. After all, Du Ji was not the prefect of Henei appointed by the court, and Henei County was not under the jurisdiction of Bingzhou. Lu Bu did not obtain Henei through military conquest. If he met a brutal person, he could just kill Du Ji. Who could say anything?

Without the imperial appointment letter and without an army to accompany him, Du Ji's trip was tantamount to committing suicide.

Lu Bu obviously thought of this and became more depressed. If Du Ji was killed in Hanoi, not only would he lose an important talent, but his prestige would also be completely lost. In order to reduce the chance of Du Ji being killed, he could only go to Chang'an to ask for a legitimate appointment letter as a talisman.

Although the dignity of the Han Dynasty was trampled to pieces by Dong Zhuo, there were still many people who respected the Han Dynasty in that era. Du Ji had the appointment letter from the Han Emperor, so those who wanted to kill him had to think carefully.

Zhang Mo saw that Lü Bu looked unhappy, and knew that he also understood the key point. She asked, "What is the current situation in Chang'an?"

Lü Bu said, "According to my brother Zhongkang, the current Taicang Commander, Bo'an (Xu Ding's courtesy name), has secretly relayed news that after Dong Zhuo's death, Li Su and Li Jue shared power. In the first year, they listened to the ministers' advice, and relations were relatively harmonious. However, this year, they've been frequently demanding money and food under the pretext of lacking military pay. When their demands were unsuccessful, they've resorted to plundering and becoming increasingly disobedient, appointing and dismissing officials at their own whim."

"Li Jue recently attempted to forcefully marry Princess Tang, the widow of the Prince of Hongnong. She was also a fierce woman, and to preserve her chastity, she hanged herself in her boudoir the day before their wedding. The two Lis, having tasted power, have been slaughtering officials who oppose them at will. The situation in Chang'an is now not much different from that during Dong Zhuo's reign."

Lü Bu said helplessly, "I originally thought these two would fight among themselves, but I didn't expect them to get along so well. The government is now completely controlled by these two. What Li Su fears most is my becoming too powerful, so he won't give me a letter of appointment."

Zhang Mo said, "The only way to deal with this is to find an opportunity with Li Jue. Find someone in the former Liangzhou army who has a good relationship with Li Jue and go to Chang'an to see him. See if you can bribe him. You and Li Jue are not on bad terms, so this will be a piece of cake for him. He might even do you a favor."

Lu Bu nodded and said, "Then I will send someone there."

"Be quick."