Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

When the list arrived, Qu Yi was on his way to Changshan State. Sitting in his beloved BMW, he took the paper and read the two lists of names over and over again. He curled his lips and said, "I'm not Sun Wukong. I don't have the Fiery Eyes of a God. How can I tell which list is the demon?"

The man was a little confused after hearing this and bowed, asking, "General, what about this matter..."

"Call the commander!" Qu Yi interrupted him with a serious look on his face.

The man was stunned and quickly changed his words, "Commander, what should we do about this? The captain can only delay it for a day or two. If he doesn't take any action, those people will start to suspect him."

Qu Yi did not answer, but just narrowed his eyes and looked down at the visitor, wondering what he was thinking.

The man's scalp tingled under his gaze. Just as he was about to speak again, he heard Qu Yi say, "Go to the side and wait while this commander discusses this with the military advisor."

"Yes!"

The man retreated obediently. Qu Yi turned to look at Xu Shu. His face no longer had the arrogance he had just shown. He said rather depressedly, "Zi Jing (Qian Zhao's character) is afraid of killing the wrong person and being implicated, so he's throwing this difficult problem to me. What if I kill the wrong person? Will the king think I've been bribed? What if Zi Jing has already been bribed, and both lists he gave me are of people loyal to the king? Then wouldn't he have tricked me? Military Advisor, what do you think we should do about this?"

Xu Shu did not answer his question directly, but asked, "What kind of person is Captain Qian?"

Qu Yi said, "He and the little doctor... the princess's senior brother Liu Xuande, were close friends. Back when the Ten Eunuchs rebelled, Le Yin, the chief secretary of General He Miao, was killed. He helped collect the body and return it to his hometown for burial. On the way, they encountered bandits. Everyone else fled, but he tearfully pleaded with them. The bandits, sensing his righteousness, let him go. From then on, he rose to fame. Later, he was recruited by Yuan Benchu ​​as an official. When one of Yuan Benchu's close ministers broke the law, he executed him first and reported it later. Afterwards, Yuan Benchu ​​not only didn't blame him, but actually admired his decisiveness."

Xu Shu nodded, "So, Captain Qian is a good person."

He took the list from Qu Yi's hand, glanced at it, and asked, "Clan bandits are everywhere in Changshan, with as many as three or four thousand, and as few as five or six hundred. With such a big commotion, why didn't anyone report it to Captain Qian beforehand?"

Qu Yi spread his hands, "How should I know?"

Xu Shu sighed softly, "It's all because of mutual distrust! The people don't trust their officials, and officials don't trust each other. Even you, General, not only doubt Captain Qian, you even distrust the King of Tang."

"How can I not trust the king?" Qu Yi glared.

Xu Shu glanced at him. "General, you're afraid that if you mistakenly kill a few people, the king will doubt your loyalty. This is a sign of distrust. The king is wise and powerful. As long as you can eliminate the bandits and protect the country and the people, even if you do mistakenly kill a few people in the process, why would the king blame you or doubt your loyalty?"

Qu Yi was speechless for a moment. He had just been dwelling on a dead end. As long as he could give Lu Bu a satisfactory result, the process was not really important. Lu Bu had killed so many people in Hanoi, and there must have been many who were wrongly killed.

Xu Shu continued, "Whether it was Changshan or the previous Zhongshan, someone was bound to report the situation at the beginning. However, the rebels were well-prepared, and with so many officials and powerful officials colluding, the informers were likely to face a disastrous end. Aside from those within the rebel group, no one knew who was loyal and who was treacherous. If they weren't careful, they could easily tip off the rebels, leading to a situation where everyone felt insecure. As a result, some chose to play it safe, while others simply joined in the fray."

"Then tell me, what should we do now? Otherwise, if we kill half of them, we will always kill the right ones." Qu Yi said.

Xu Shu shook his head. "The reason they were able to incite such a large-scale rebellion this time is because the Tang Empire's new policies affected the interests of most of the noble families. However, looking at this list, regardless of who is loyal and who is treacherous, there are still many people in Changshan who side with the king. How can you, General, massacre all these loyal and good people?"

"No, didn't you just say that killing a few people by mistake was okay? Why is it not okay now? What are we going to do? Can you explain it clearly in one go?"

Xu Shu rolled his eyes at him. "General, you misunderstood me. I meant an accidental killing, not half as you said."

Seeing that Qu Yi was about to get angry, Xu Shu smiled and slowly told him the solution to the problem.

"In this situation, it's difficult to distinguish loyalty from treachery based on one-sided statements. Even if you or the Governor of Ju Province personally went to Changshan, there might still be traitors deliberately spreading rumors and harming loyal and honest people. General, you don't need to worry about who is loyal and who is treacherous right now. As long as the most important issue is resolved, the matter will be settled."

"What's the main problem?"

"A clan traitor! The root cause of this rebellion in Jizhou isn't the number of officials who defected to Gongsun Zan, but rather the clan traitors who have banded together to cause chaos. General, you could emulate the methods the princess used to deal with the powerful aristocratic families in Bingzhou. Reduce the number of powerful families' troops. Anyone who supports you without hesitation is a trustworthy person. Otherwise, they are undoubtedly internal traitors, and you can slaughter them all."

Qu Yi's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Then we don't know how many units each of them has. If they just randomly pull out a few hundred people to do the job, we don't know what will happen."

Xu Shu said, "This matter needs to be handled by the Governor of Juzhou. He has been in Jizhou for so many years, he should have a good idea of ​​the strength of each family. Moreover, this falls under his management. He will also be responsible for restoring the troops who have been separated from the wealthy families and freeing them. The general is only responsible for killing people and suppressing the rebels."

Qu Yi nodded, "Got it!"

He beckoned over the soldiers sent by Qian Zhao and ordered, "Go back and tell Captain Qian to ignore them and try to make excuses. I'm sending a thousand vanguards to help him shake things up. As long as Gongsun Zan's army doesn't arrive, they won't dare to cause any trouble."

"Yes!"

The man received the order and hurried back to pass on the message.

Qu Yi was about to call Qu Shu over when Xu Shu suddenly stopped him and asked a very important question, "General, are there any spies in your army?"

Qu Yi was silent for three seconds, then replied truthfully, "Yes!"

“How many people can you trust?”

"Among my 10,000 troops, except for my own 2,000 troops and the 1,000 Bingzhou troops given by the lord, the rest may be bribed."

"How many of the five thousand people we brought here are our own?"

"Only two thousand!"

Xu Shu frowned, "That won't work! If someone were to defect in the middle of the battle, General, with only two thousand men, it would be impossible to defeat Gongsun Zan."

Qu Yi said, "The situation in Jizhou has become so serious this time, the king will definitely send more troops."

Xu Shu worriedly said, "I'm afraid that if the king's army doesn't arrive, Changshan will be like Zhongshan, overthrown by a combination of internal and external enemies."

"Then what should we do? Otherwise, I can ask Han Hao and Wei Xu to transfer some troops over. They are all Bingzhou soldiers and can be trusted."

"No, your other half is still in Weijun. Commander Han has to guard against them as well as external enemies. How can he split his forces? Commander Wei can't move either."

"Then we can only wait. If Zijing is truly loyal, with me and him, we can hold out for ten days or half a month without any problem."

"hope so!"