Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

As night fell and darkness enveloped the entire city of Handan, it fell into silence. However, at this moment, a richly decorated courtyard in the city was ablaze with lights and bustling with activity.

Maids in gorgeous clothes shuttled around, plates of exquisitely prepared food were brought up, and officials and gentry were flattering them to the utmost. Lu Bu and his wife just watched and listened quietly until a few servants came up with a few jars of fine wine. Lu Bu, who had been holding back for half a day, finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"I issued a ban on alcohol on the first day I entered Yecheng. Didn't Magistrate Cui know about it?"

His face showed no joy or anger, but his eyes were as cold as a knife.

Cui Jian was about to pour wine for Lu Bu, but when he saw his cold gaze, he couldn't help but stop and had a bad premonition in his heart. The people who were chatting and laughing below immediately fell silent and looked at Lu Bu.

Cui Jian reacted and pretended to be dumbfounded, "Your Majesty has issued a ban on alcohol? Why didn't this humble official receive it?"

Of course he knew that Lu Bu had issued a ban on alcohol, but he thought that Lu Bu, a common border man who had followed Dong Zhuo in his tyranny for many years and was accustomed to luxury and debauchery, would be very susceptible to such behavior. That was why he organized the people to welcome him and set up a banquet to entertain him, just to flatter him. Unexpectedly, he accidentally hit the horse's leg today.

Cui Jian said this, hastily putting down the wine jug and bowing his hands in apology. "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was indeed unaware of the prohibition. I saved this fine wine several years ago and have been reluctant to drink it. I heard that you were passing through Handan, so I brought it out to entertain you. Since the famine began last year, no one in Handan has brewed wine anymore. I hope your Majesty will understand."

"Really? County Governor Cui doesn't know about the prohibition, but he knows everything about my itinerary?"

Cui Jian shuddered at the murderous intent emanating from Lü Bu. Realizing the gravity of the situation, his legs gave way and he fell to his knees, kowtowed repeatedly. "Your Majesty, I have no intention of spying on you. It was my relatives and friends in Yecheng who came here a few days ago and told you that you were planning to return to Bingzhou and might pass through here. That's why I made these preparations. These actions are entirely out of respect and loyalty to you, Your Majesty. I hold no malice in my heart."

"Even if you had ten guts, you wouldn't dare to have any ill will towards me!"

Hearing Lü Bu's words, Cui Jian slowly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that his lord was quite easy to fool. He was about to stand up when Lü Bu added, "The Handan County Magistrate has wasted his life and money, disregarding the lives of the people. He indulged in drinking and merrymaking during a time of great disaster, openly violating the prohibition on alcohol. He deserves death! Come, drag this official out and execute him on the spot!"

Righting the law on the spot?

Cui Jian's face turned pale, and he trembled and begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, please spare my life, please spare my life... I really didn't know there was a ban on alcohol. I am loyal to you..."

Before he could finish his words, two guards rushed in from the doorway. Cui Jian was terrified and struggled while shouting incoherently, "I am from the Cui family of Qinghe. Cui Jigui is my uncle. Also, the Shaofushi of Zhao State, the Yuanshi of the Cangcao, the Yuanshi of the Bingcao, and the Yuanshi of the Hucao are all elders of my clan. You can't kill me, you can't kill me..."

Lü Bu sneered, "Your Cui family is truly formidable. The financial, military, and civil administration of Zhao are all in your family's hands. So, is this Zhao my own, or your Cui family's?"

Seeing the increasingly strong murderous intent in Lu Bu's eyes, Cui Jian's head, which had been stunned by fear, suddenly came to his senses. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Everyone present was so scared that they didn't even dare to breathe heavily. Among them, Cui Zhi, a clerk of the warehouse department who came to the banquet, fell to the ground and trembled uncontrollably, cursing Cui Jian in his heart as a fool.

"Drag him out!" Lu Bu shouted sternly.

The guards dragged Cui Jian, whose face was as pale as death, outside. Just when Cui Jian thought he was doomed, he heard another voice from inside.

"and many more!"

The guard stopped at the door. Cui Jian looked back and saw that the person who spoke was the beautiful princess.

Zhang Mo said to Lü Bu, "Although Magistrate Cui is guilty, he is still the head of a county. Executing him right there is against the law. It would be better to detain him first, and then publicly announce his crimes after a thorough investigation."

Cui Jian was overjoyed to have the opportunity to turn the situation around, and hurriedly praised the princess for her wisdom.

Lu Bu looked at Zhang Mo in confusion. Zhang Mo lowered her voice and said simply, "Killing him alone is pointless. We can use this incident to do other things."

Lu Bu didn't quite understand what she was going to do, but he still said to Cui Jian, "Since the princess is pleading for you, I will let you live for a few more days and put you in jail first."

Cui Jian was taken away, and Lu Bu had the wine removed. The others continued to eat, but everyone had no appetite. No one dared to speak during the meal, and no one even dared to chew. The banquet ended in such a depressing atmosphere.

That night, the news that Cui Jian was imprisoned by Lu Bu spread to the ears of all officials in Handan. On the second and third days, it reached the ears of officials in other places in Zhao State, and even reached Ju Su and Cui Yan in Yecheng.

Among them were loyal ministers of the Cui family who actively worked to exonerate Cui Jian, and they pleaded with Ju Su and the newly appointed Zhao captain Wei Xu, giving them gifts and money. Wei Xu accepted them all with a smile, made a list of the names of these people and the gifts they sent, and then sent it to Lu Bu.

There were also some people who saw the situation clearly and chose to stand on Lu Bu's side without hesitation.

Although Lu Bu killed nobles and powerful people, he did not destroy them all without reason like Cao Cao did when he massacred Pengcheng. Lu Bu was reasonable and based on evidence. Although he killed people, he also valued loyal people. For example, in the Sima family of Henei, after Du Ji was promoted to the governor of Sizhou, Sima Lang was directly promoted from a county magistrate to a prefect, which was a step to heaven. The second son of the Sima family was also highly regarded by Lu Bu and his wife in Jinyang. It is said that he was taught by the princess herself, and he must have a bright future.

So, as long as you are loyal and can do practical and good things, Lu Bu will still promote and reuse you.

As for uniting to rebel against Lu Bu and join Gongsun, regardless of whether all the people in Jizhou are on the same page with him, just look at the fate of those people in Henei who rebelled. Moreover, according to the current situation, Gongsun Zan will sooner or later be destroyed by Lu Bu. Taking this path is to seek self-destruction.

Therefore, these people who saw the situation clearly launched an ancient purely manual flesh search within a few days, actively collecting evidence of Cui Jian and those people mentioned by him at the banquet and presenting it to Lu Bu.

Lü Bu looked at the pile of bamboo slips on his desk, feeling very pleased. He smiled and said, "Madam is truly amazing. By imprisoning one person, she can also bring down a large number of people. This will completely reshuffle the Zhao officialdom. I think those who submitted these memorials can be promoted and given important positions."

Zhang Mo flipped through the bamboo slips one by one and said, "It's not that simple. How do you know there aren't people here who flatter or take advantage of others' misfortunes? And just because Cui Jian is guilty doesn't mean everyone associated with him is guilty. There may be a lot of false accusations here, so we can't just smear everyone with the same brush."

Lü Bu was puzzled and asked, "Aren't you trying to clean up the aristocratic families? Isn't this your chance? Regardless of whether they are guilty or not, let's kill the Cui family of Qinghe first. Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys."

"How can we ever completely eliminate all the aristocratic families? Aren't the Wang family of Taiyuan, the Sima family of Henei, and the Zhang family all great aristocratic families? Moreover, after we clean out the old ones, new ones will appear. If the system is not changed, we will never be able to eliminate them at all."

She sighed softly, "This problem will take a long time to resolve. For now, we can only kill some of the evil and disobedient ones, leaving the clean families behind. We'll give up some of our interests, and they'll give up some of theirs, and we'll find a balance and coexist peacefully."