Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The news sent by the Flying Eagle Team was rather rough. It just said that some bandits suddenly appeared in Zhongshan Kingdom recently. Gao Lan sent troops to suppress them twice, but he didn't kill a single bandit. Instead, all the troops he sent out disappeared.

That's right, the letter sent back said that they disappeared, not that the entire army was annihilated. Then a few days ago, Gao Lan personally led his troops to suppress the bandits. Unexpectedly, as soon as he left, the two counties of Liwu and Anguo, which bordered Anping State, were occupied by Gongsun Zan. The army left behind by Gao Lan hardly put up any resistance. Then Geng Lian, the prime minister of Zhongshan State, surrendered to Gongsun Zan, and other counties responded. Gao Lan also surrendered to Gongsun Zan, and Zhongshan State was declared to have changed its master.

"This is a rebellion by the entire county, not just Gao Lan!"

After listening to Du Fei's detailed report, Lu Bu could roughly guess who the main rebels were: Prime Minister Geng Lian, officials of all ranks, powerful Zhongshan clans, and generals in Gao Lan's army.

As for Gao Lan himself, perhaps he finally saw that the situation was irreversible and joined the rebellion, or perhaps he had already colluded with those people. The so-called sending troops out to suppress the bandits was just to gradually transfer the troops stationed in Liwu and Anguo counties to deceive Qu Yi.

"Is there any news from Junyi?" asked Lu Bu.

Du Fei said, "It's perfectly normal for bandits to appear in this world. General Qu didn't take it seriously at first, and even Yuan Zhi didn't notice anything was wrong until the two teams General Gao sent out to suppress the bandits disappeared. Yuan Zhi realized something was amiss and asked General Qu to take people to Zhongshan to investigate. General Qu agreed, but they moved too quickly. Before Yuan Zhi and his men could enter Zhongshan, news of the loss of Liwu and Anguo arrived. And then, as my subordinates just said, the entire county rebelled. As for how General Qu and his men reacted, there's no news yet. From the loss of the two counties to General Gao's rebellion, it was only two days. It's clear that all the localities had planned this long ago."

Lu Bu nodded and asked, "Where is Gong Yu?"

Du Fei said, "Juzhou Mu has just received the message."

"Have him pay attention to the powerful families in other counties and prefectures, and tell Junyi not to rush to send troops to Zhongshan. I suspect that there must be people in other places who are ready to make a move, and they may have even made plans. Pay special attention to Changshan State."

Among the five commanderies of Jizhou, Gao Lan of Zhongshan and Qian Zhao of Changshan were former subordinates of Yuan Shao, while the other three commanderies were Xu Huang, Wei Xu and Han Hao, all of whom were people Lu Bu could trust. It was absolutely unbelievable to say that they might rebel against Lu Bu, but the possibility of them being harmed by a coalition of local nobles and powerful people could not be ruled out.

Ever since the new land tax policy was implemented in Jizhou, Amo had anticipated that opponents would appear. Reform cannot be without bloodshed, and it is even more impossible for everyone to understand the current situation. There are always some people who, for profit, loyalty, belief, ideals, unwillingness, short-sightedness, helplessness, or self-righteousness.

If you want to rebel, there is always a reason.

Lü Bu said coldly, "It seems that the lesson learned in Hanoi is not enough to deter these people with ulterior motives. We must kill another group in Jizhou."

"Should we investigate the culprit in detail?"

"No need. To be able to so quietly cause the entire county to rebel, it must be that the vast majority of officials and powerful families were involved. They are just a group of clan thieves. Since the entire county is in rebellion, the whole county is guilty."

"What about the Zhen family?" Du Fei asked.

As the top leader of the Flying Eagle Team headquarters, there was almost nothing in Bingzhou that Du Fei didn't know. Some time ago, the third son of the Wang family married the fourth lady of the Zhen family, and the Zhen family also sent the beautiful fifth lady over. It was said that a fortune teller said that the fifth lady was the image of a noble person. The purpose of the Zhen family sending such a beauty was self-evident.

With these relationships and purposes, the Zhen family should not have rebelled. However, the powerful families over there were secretly making trouble. As a prominent family in Zhongshan County, it was impossible for the Zhen family not to have received any news. However, this matter was very strange.

Lü Bu then remembered that the Zhen family's ancestral home was Wuji County, Zhongshan Commandery. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's investigate! If there's a hidden secret, forget it. But if you're trying to play both sides, don't blame me for not caring about our relationship."

The next afternoon, Qu Yi also sent someone to deliver the news of Zhongshan's rebellion. In the next few days, more and more news came from Jizhou. In addition to Zhongshan, many bandits suddenly appeared in Changshan and Julu. The captain sent troops there, but these bandits disappeared immediately like fish in water. As soon as you left, they popped up again like bamboo shoots after rain.

What's worse is that, like Zhongshan State, the earliest team sent out by Qian Zhao also disappeared inexplicably. Although this situation did not occur in Julu County, Xu Huang sent people to suppress it several times but to no avail. As soon as the army left the area, the bandits came out to plunder the villagers.

Qian Zhao and Xu Huang ordered the county lieutenants of each county to lead their troops out of the city to suppress the bandits. However, the several hundred county soldiers in each county were no match for the bandits. The county soldiers of some counties went out of the city to suppress the bandits several times, but suffered heavy casualties. The county lieutenants of several counties did not even dare to leave the city. The bandits robbed property, raped people, and plundered passing merchants in various villages, causing panic in the people of Changshan and Julu. There was not a single pedestrian on the road in broad daylight.

…………

"Dispersed garrisons?"

In Zhending County of Changshan State, at this time, Changshan's subordinate Cao Zhuban was offering advice and suggestions to Qian Zhao.

"Yes, since these bandits are so afraid of your troops, you might as well disperse the garrison troops to various counties, and then the bandit threat will be quelled." Zhu Ban explained.

Qian Zhao narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Gongsun Zan's five thousand troops have already entered Zhongshan State. Adding Gao Lan's former men, there are nearly ten thousand enemy troops in Zhongshan. With a powerful enemy at hand, if I disperse my troops now, wouldn't that give them the opportunity to defeat us one by one? This is inappropriate, inappropriate!"

Zhu Ban said, "General Qu is about to send troops here. He will deal with Gongsun Zan's army. We just need to stabilize Changshan."

Qian Zhao glanced at him thoughtfully and said, "Don't forget, I'm under the command of General Qu. If he asks me to send troops to help, I'll disperse my troops and where will I find more men in such a short time? The Tang King has no shortage of military commanders, and there are many people who want to replace me. If the higher-ups blame me, my position as commander will be over."

He sighed helplessly, "The officers from Bingzhou and Liangzhou under the Tang King have all followed him from the beginning and are deeply trusted by him. If we're talking about closeness, it's definitely not my turn to be the Changshan Commander. He simply saw that I was once valued under Lord Yuan, and he wanted to appease the people of Jizhou, so he appointed me as the Commander. I must be cautious and make no mistakes to keep this position. This bandit infestation seems serious and quite strange, but it's not enough to threaten Changshan's survival. If I divide my troops to garrison, Changshan will most likely be lost. By then, not only will I lose my position, I'm afraid I won't even be able to save my life. This is absolutely unacceptable!"

Zhu Ban was secretly delighted to hear that Qian Zhao's words not only sounded helpless but also had some complaints about Lu Bu.

He and some officials and powerful people in Changshan had already secretly defected to Gongsun Zan. Today he originally came to trick Qian Zhao into dividing his troops to give Gongsun Zan a chance to capture Changshan. However, if he could directly instigate a rebellion and take Changshan without using a single soldier, he would be the greatest contributor.

Zhu Ban feigned indignation and said, "General, although you were only an assistant under Lord Yuan in the past, you were deeply admired by him. Even if a close minister of his broke the law, you could execute him first and report him later. But now you live so cautiously. I really feel sorry for you!"

Qian Zhao smiled bitterly, "A new emperor chooses new ministers. What can we do about it?"

Zhu Ban probed, "General, why don't you just follow General Gao's example? I heard that after he defected to Gongsun Zan, he was highly valued. Not only did Gongsun Zan retain his original troops, but he also allocated him an additional 1,000 cavalrymen."

"Submit to Gongsun?" Qian Zhao was stunned for a moment, a look of horror on his face. "Have you not seen what happened to those traitors in Hanoi back then?"