Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Wang Kuang was watched closely by Han Hao. Apart from his personal belongings at home, he was not allowed to take even a pen from the government office.

When leaving the city, Lu Bu saw that Wang Kuang's soldiers were fully equipped with armor. Thinking of the severe iron shortage in Bingzhou, he asked the soldiers to leave the armor behind on the grounds that the armor was paid for with the hard-earned money of the people in Henei.

Wang Kuang argued with reason, but Lu Bu blocked Wang Kuang's argument with a casual remark, "The people of Henei no longer need your soldiers to protect them, so naturally they will keep their hard-earned money."

Wang Kuang refused to take off his armor, and Lu Bu said, "If you keep talking nonsense, make them leave their clothes behind." Wang Kuang could not defeat this fierce bandit, Lu Bu, so he had to let the soldiers take off their armor.

In addition to the troops stationed in Huai County, some of Wang Kuang's troops were also stationed in several counties near Baixing, but Lu Bu did not go to supervise them.

The autumn harvest had just passed and taxes had not yet been paid. Wang Kuang did not dare to commit massacre or looting. The other county offices were not like the government office, and there were not many things for him to move.

Wang Kuang failed to kill Lu Bu this time. Not only did he lose 800 soldiers of Han Hao's army, hundreds of whom were killed by Lu Bu in Huai County, but he also lost more than 3,000 sets of armor. What was even more hateful was that he lost all his face and offended Yuan Shao. He cursed Lu Bu more than 800 times along the way.

The day after Wang Kuang's troops left Ji County, the troops from Juyi Village who had been waiting in Baixing took action. The three teams traveled light and headed towards the three counties respectively.

Although there are no garrison troops in the counties, there are still some county soldiers, plus the powerful troops in the city. If the city cannot be broken into in a short time, by the time the powerful troops react and help defend the city, even if they attack, the casualties will be heavy.

Therefore, Guan Hai decided on a tactic: after the main group arrived at the destination, they would first ambush in a secret place outside the city, and send a small group with high martial arts skills to go ahead. After pretending to be merchants, they would directly kill people and seize the gate after approaching the city gate. As long as they could watch the city gate for a quarter of an hour, the vanguard cavalry of the main group could come and kill them.

The tactics used by Juyi Village this time were fast and accurate. Before the powerful families in the city could react, the three city gates were breached.

The bandits blocked the city gates and massacred the county soldiers first. Any family members who tried to resist were also killed. After eliminating the armed forces in the city, the next step was to confiscate the property and exterminate the entire family.

Everyone in the city was in a state of panic, including the common people. The autumn harvest had just passed, and the taxes for this year had yet to be paid. If the bandits plundered everything, they would have to sell their children and land to barely pay the taxes. Then, their entire families would starve to death. With no alternative but to face certain death, some tried to unite and resist, while others simply considered joining the bandits.

Just as the people were hesitating in panic, they found that the bandits did not care about their family wealth at all. They all went to the wealthy families, and robbed whoever's house was large and beautiful. Some bandits would come to them and ask about the character of the rich families in the city before taking action. If they were evil, they would kill their whole family. If they had a good reputation, they would loot everything. As for those who often helped the poor, they would not harm them at all.

Amid the worries of the people and the wailing of the powerful, the thieves looted the entire county and transported valuables out of the city in carts.

On the second day after the bandits entered the city, Wang Kuang, who was halfway there, received news that Henei was no longer his. Even though he knew it, he did not want to go back to help Lu Bu drive out the bandits. Instead, he gloated over their misfortune.

"Serves him right! He was robbed right after I left. Lü Bu only has a few hundred soldiers under Han Hao. I want to see how he's going to get rid of these thousands of Black Mountain bandits."

Xu You, however, looked gloomy, twirling his mustache as he sighed, "I never expected this! Lü Bu would actually make this move! It's truly ruthless and ruthless. As expected of Mr. Zhang, who is so highly regarded by the lord, he's truly brilliant!"

"What's both poisonous and spicy?" Wang Kuang was puzzled.

Xu You said, "I originally thought that Lü Bu was simply colluding with the Black Mountain Army and intending to send his troops through Baixing into Hanoi. I didn't expect that he was actually disguising his own soldiers as bandits to plunder his own territory."

"Robbed himself? Is he stupid?"

Xu You rolled his eyes at him. "He's very clever. This move can not only eliminate the tyrants in these three counties, but also obtain a generous amount of military funds. If he leads the troops to drive out the bandits, he will be a great benefactor of Hanoi. He can play both the black and white sides alone."

"How are his soldiers going to get in?"

Xu You rolled his eyes at him again and wanted to yell, "Are you stupid?"

Xu You, though a man of wealth and lucrative ambition, had a decent temper. He patiently explained, "With the Black Mountain bandits invading, do you think they can still block Jiguan Pass? The only troops closest to Henei who can rescue them are your Henei army and the Bingzhou army at Jiguan Pass. He's deliberately stripping your soldiers of their armor to anger you, precisely because he doesn't want you to return and drive out the bandits, which would allow his Bingzhou army to enter."

Xu You shook his head and said, "My lord, you have done something wrong this time!"

Wang Kuang understood that the three counties here were repeatedly breached by bandits, and the Henei nobles would definitely let Lu Bu's Bingzhou army in for the sake of their own safety.

"No, how can I let this guy succeed in his evil plan? I will turn around and go back to drive out the bandits. Once I drive these bandits away, I wonder how he can let the army in."

Wang Kuang was impatient and immediately wanted to lead his troops back to rescue Henei.

"Wait!" Xu You called him.

"What's wrong again?" Wang Kuang asked impatiently.

"There's something wrong with this."

"What's wrong? Didn't you explain it clearly just now?"

Xu You said, "Three thousand of your soldiers are unarmored, and of the remaining seven thousand, only three thousand are properly armored. If these bandits are disguised Bingzhou troops, can you defeat them?"

Wang Kuang choked. According to the report from the visitor, there were four to five thousand bandits in the three cities. Ten thousand against four to five thousand, they could definitely win under normal circumstances. But if these were Bingzhou troops, the result would be different.

"So are you going back or not?"

Xu You thought for a moment and said, "No."

All the decisions Xu You made were based on Yuan Shao's considerations. The people Wang Kuang was leading into Jizhou would become Yuan Shao's troops. It was not certain whether they could defeat Lu Bu's men when they returned, but even if they could, they would certainly suffer heavy losses.

After driving away the bandits, Henei still belonged to Lu Bu. It was only a matter of time before the Bingzhou army entered Henei. They destroyed Lu Bu's plan to drive out the bandits himself, but it only made it more difficult for Lu Bu to govern Henei in the future.

But if they go back and fail to drive out the bandits but are instead driven out by them, the loss of men and horses and the loss of face are minor matters. The key is that their failure will further highlight the success of Lu Bu's Bingzhou army, and they are purely there to serve as a negative example.

Wang Kuang was no longer stubborn and refused to listen to advice, but he was still not happy to see Lu Bu take over Hanoi so smoothly.

"Let's expose his trick and let the people of Hanoi see his true face." Wang Kuang said angrily.

"Revelation?"

Xu You looked at him with amusement. "There's no shortage of smart people in the world. What I can think of might be beyond the reach of others. But even if I do, what good does it do? Lü Bu's move is clearly an attempt to use his military might to intimidate the rebellious factions in Hanoi. If anyone dares to criticize him at this moment, believe it or not, he'll destroy them next. In this world, the rules are decided by fists."

Xu You paused for a moment and continued, "Also, Lü Bu's generosity in sparing you this time is telling the people of Henei that he, Lü Fengxian, is not a narrow-minded person. Regardless of whether you have opposed him in the past, as long as you obey him in the future, he will still forgive you."

Xu You sighed, "I played both black and white, and used both kindness and force. Not only did I completely lose to Mr. Zhang this time, but I also paved the way for Lu Bu."

"Then this is my fault?" Wang Kuang asked with a bit of guilt.

Xu You shook his head. "Even if you hadn't caused this scene in Huai County, his gang of bandits would still have come out to plunder when our troops withdrew from Hanoi. Your incident only served to earn him more fame."

He pondered, "Actually... I'm confused. There are several major bandit groups in Baixing. How did Lü Bu bribe them all? Lü Bu just helped my lord defeat Zhang Yan and Gongsun Zan not long ago. It doesn't make sense for Zhang Yan to turn around and become friends with Lü Bu right away."