Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

After living in the city, Lu Bu finally lived a normal life. He taught Zhang Chang and others martial arts every morning and buried himself in reading in the afternoon. He no longer had to do nothing all day like he did during the time he stayed in the wild.

Zhang Mo had already brought him several large bags of bamboo slips from the Records of the Grand Historian. Lu Bu basically spent all his free time studying Xiang Yu and Liu Bang.

One day, after lunch, Lu Bu was discussing the reasons for Xiang Yu's defeat with Wei Xu in the corridor.

Wei Xu continued, "I think the main reason is that Overlord didn't kill Emperor Gaozu at the Hongmen Banquet. How could he let someone escape with such a good opportunity? What a shame, such a shame!"

Lu Bu nodded thoughtfully in agreement, "It's a pity indeed. If that opponent dared to come, I would immediately sever his head and body to prevent any future trouble."

At this point, he suddenly changed the subject, "Even if he missed this opportunity, there would be many more later. It was because he didn't listen to Fan Zeng's advice and fell into Chen Ping's trap of alienating him."

Lu Bu compared himself in his mind. He knew that Hao Meng had rebelled in the first year of Jian'an and that Mr. Gongtai had been involved, but he lacked people around him who could plan for him. In addition, Chen Gongtai represented the gentry, so he could only pretend not to know.

Afterwards, Mr. Gongtai still made plans for him, but when he was in Xia Pi, he did not listen to him and was eventually defeated and killed.

This seems to be quite similar to Xiang Yu.

Wei continued, "That's one of the reasons."

"What are you discussing?"

Zhang Mo came over with a large bag of bamboo slips. Seeing Lu Bu and Wei Xu each holding a book and discussing something seriously, she asked curiously.

Lu Bu's eyes lit up when he saw her, "Why are you here?"

Zhang Mo handed him the heavy cloth bag in her hand. "This is the ninth volume, 'The Chronicle of Empress Dowager Lü'."

As he spoke, he glanced at the Annals of Emperor Gaozu in his hand and asked, "Have you finished reading the previous ones?"

Lu Bu nodded and said, "I don't want the rest. I only want to read the volumes on Xiang Yu and Emperor Gaozu."

"Why are you only reading these two volumes?" Zhang Mo asked in confusion. That day, when he had vowed to read, she had thought he was truly committed to studying.

Lü Bu said, "I just want to know why Xiang Yu, who was so powerful, lost to Emperor Gaozu. In terms of family background, martial arts, and courage, Xiang Yu was far superior to Emperor Gaozu. How could he lose to a mere village headman?"

"Have you come up with anything?"

Lu Bu nodded and shook his head, "I know a little bit, but I still feel it's not comprehensive."

He sighed softly, "Alas, my eyes are blurry and my head hurts from reading these days. You should get me a military book to read."

He still overestimated himself. The way of studying was simply beyond his control.

Zhang Mo took the bamboo slips from his hand and sat on the bench in the corridor. "Let me tell you why Xiang Yu lost to Liu Bang."

Books of this era had no punctuation marks, which was really a headache to read. Not to mention Lu Bu, she also had a headache reading them. Since he just wanted to study this, she might as well tell him directly. Otherwise, she was really afraid that Lu Bu would be considered nearsighted, and how would he go to the battlefield in the future.

"you know?"

Lu Bu looked incredulous. How old was she? Even if Wang Yun asked her to study, she wouldn't be able to read history books, right?

Zhang Mo said, "I'm just talking about this, you can just listen and take it as a reference to see if it's similar to what you think."

Lu Bu sat down next to her, pretending to listen attentively. "Then tell me."

"First, Xiang Yu was too powerful. His abilities were so great that almost no one could match him. As the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little. People who are too powerful often go to extremes of overconfidence, easily losing themselves, forgetting their own reasons, and becoming stubborn and self-willed."

Lu Bu reflected in his heart that in his dream life, his self-confidence was divided into different aspects. He had a mysterious confidence in martial arts, but in front of scholars, he was actually as inferior as Dong Zhuo.

As for being stubborn and self-righteous, there is a little bit of that!

"It's because he's too strong and focuses too much on his own strength, so he neglects his allies and subordinates."

"Where does this begin?"

Zhang Mo said, "What did he rely on to win every battle? He simply relied on military strength to defeat his opponents. The personal strength I just mentioned not only refers to his own martial arts, but also to his relatives. To conquer the world, how can one person or one family accomplish it?"

"As the saying goes, one man's shortcomings are counterproductive to three men's strengths, and three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Only by recruiting talents, appointing people to the right positions, and listening to others' opinions can we make more correct decisions. Xiang Yu obviously did not do this."

"Who is Zhuge Liang?" Lu Bu asked in confusion.

Zhang Mo choked. Zhuge Liang was still a little kid, and he spoke too quickly!

"Um... he's just a very smart person. What this means is that even if three not-so-smart people work together, they can still come up with a good solution."

Recruit talents widely? Lu Bu pondered this sentence. Compared with Cao Cao, he really had too few people available. Apart from Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and Chen Gong, there seemed to be no one else with outstanding abilities. And he usually only asked Chen Gong for advice. This was probably due to his own shortcomings!

In contrast, Cao Cao had many military generals in the Xiahou and Cao families, but he had more counselors around him, such as Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai and other civil officials, whose number far exceeded his.

Thinking of this, Lü Bu suddenly realized: Wasn't Xu Chu Cao Cao's personal bodyguard? Why was he now following Wang Yun? Could it be that he had followed Wang Yun before he followed Cao Cao?

Zhang Mo, unaware of Lu Bu's thoughts, continued, "It was because Xiang Yu failed to identify and appoint the right people that Chen Ping and Han Xin defected to Liu Bang. Looking at the contributions these two men made to Liu Bang, you can see how much Xiang Yu missed out on such great talent."

"For example, he wasn't clear about rewards and punishments. Military positions weren't based on merit, but on personal connections. He was generous to his own clansmen, but stingy to his subordinates. But Liu Bang was different. When Han Xin asked for the title of Fake King of Qi, he made him the real King of Qi without hesitation. Although Liu Bang didn't want to, he acted generously and looked good on the surface!"

Lu Bu nodded in agreement, as if Cao Cao was very good at this, which was why so many talented people came to him. However, he was obviously not as good as Cao Cao. Sometimes when he got angry, he would beat and scold his subordinates for trivial matters.

"Secondly, Xiang Yu was too suspicious. Once someone alienated him, he would start to suspect this and that. Even good subordinates like Fan Zeng and Zhongli Mei left him because of his suspicion."

When Lu Bu heard this, he couldn't help but wonder. In terms of suspicion, Cao Mengde was obviously more suspicious than himself, but why were his subordinates still loyal to him?

"Third, Xiang Yu was too brutal, slaughtering civilians at every turn, which completely destroyed his people's hearts. Liu Bang, on the other hand, constantly sought to win their favor. The support of the people is crucial to success or failure."

Lu Bu frowned even deeper. This was even more wrong. Although he had plundered civilians, he had never massacred a city. On the other hand, Cao Cao had massacred countless cities. In comparison, shouldn't the people be on his side?

"Another very important point is that Xiang Yu killed King Huai of Chu and lost his righteousness."

Lu Bu thought again, this point actually applies to him. He killed Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, was called a slave of three surnames, and his reputation was ruined. In terms of righteousness, he lost to Cao Cao.

Zhang Mo concluded, "It boils down to these points: Xiang Yu was too conceited, too stingy, too suspicious, and too cruel, which is why he lost. Liu Bang, on the other hand, was clear about rewards and punishments, valued talent and knew how to use it, winning the hearts and minds of the people. Although many later generations viewed Liu Bang as a cowardly, despicable, and shameless villain, it's undeniable that he was far more skilled at employing people than Xiang Yu."

At this point, Zhang Mo thought of Lu Bu in history and couldn't help but remind him,

"You can't conquer the world by yourself; talent is key! Also, you need to have a long-term vision and a broad mind. Also, sometimes you can't be too straightforward or too rigid; you still have to pretend when you need to. Being despicable is actually one of the keys to success."

Lu Bu fell silent again. Compared to that fellow Cao Cao, he was indeed not very good at pretending. Could this be one of the reasons for his loss?

Seeing that Lu Bu was still in a daze, Zhang Mo waved her hand in front of him and asked, "Have you figured it out?"

Lu Bu nodded and then shook his head. "I understand a little bit now, but there are still some things I can't understand, such as his suspicion. Did Emperor Gaozu never doubt his own subordinates?"

"I doubt it. I definitely doubt it."

"As the saying goes, if you doubt someone, don't employ him; if you employ someone, don't doubt him. Although he may not be able to do this completely, he can endure it, and he knows in his heart that now is the time to employ people. Didn't you see that after he became emperor, those who were more powerful than him were all eliminated one by one by him, and most of them were done by his wife... uh... his wife."

"Liu Bang's way is, before the flour is ground, I will quietly watch you jump around, and feed you grass and beans if you want to eat them. Once the flour is ground, it's time to get rid of it."

"As long as you have absolute control, it's actually more satisfying to fatten people up and then slaughter them!"

Lu Bu nodded slightly, it seemed to make some sense, but he still felt something was wrong.

He frowned and pondered for a long time, and suddenly realized that there was a difference between Xiang Yu and Cao Cao's suspicion. Xiang Yu was suspicious of his own people, while Cao Cao was mostly suspicious of outsiders.

Seeing that Lu Bu seemed to have an epiphany, Zhang Mo smiled slightly. Perhaps this Lu Bu could really be educated!

"There's still one thing that's unclear."

Lu Bu continued, "The history books also record that Emperor Gaozu's men massacred cities. Although they did less than Xiang Yu, they did it. Why did he win the hearts of the people? Is it because he massacred fewer people that they support him?"