Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Lu Bu had no idea that someone was targeting him. At this moment, he was reining in his horse and stopping outside the city of Dingtao, thinking about how to catch Gongsun Zan and give him a beating.

"The disparity in military strength is not that big, so why did this guy get so scared that he retreated into the city?" Lu Bu said in confusion.

In terms of military strength in the world today, only Gongsun Zan can rival the Tang Dynasty. Lu Bu sent 40,000 troops from Bingzhou first because he wanted to fight Gongsun Zan first. According to Gongsun Zan's warlike character, he must have wanted to defeat Lu Bu's troops in one fell swoop so as to completely occupy Jizhou. Unexpectedly, he did not play by the rules this time.

Dingtao was the seat of Julu County. The city wall was more than four zhang high and the city defense was quite complete. There were also nearly 30,000 troops under Gongsun Zan in the city, so a forced attack was simply unrealistic.

"Maybe he was frightened by the destruction of the two thousand White Horse Volunteers in Shiyi," said Ma Chao.

Qian Zhao said, "According to Zhu Ban, Cao Mengde's advisor Xun You is now serving as Gongsun Bogui's chief advisor. This incident in Jizhou was also secretly orchestrated by Cao Mengde. Gongsun Bogui may have retreated to avoid our attack based on his advice."

Lu Bu nodded slightly. This was indeed Cao Mengde's style!

"No matter what the reason, he has already escaped into the city. The most urgent thing is to think about how to catch him." Qu Yi said with a depressed look on his face.

Some time ago, he was forced into Bairen City by Gongsun Zan, and he hid there like a grandson. He finally waited for the king to send a large army, thinking that he could vent his anger, but unexpectedly, the other party escaped. Qu Yi led his troops out of the city to pursue them, but he only had a small battle with the rear team. It was so frustrating!

"Since he has retreated, he must be hiding inside and fighting with us. I guess we can't find him." Qian Zhao said helplessly.

Qu Yi turned to look at Zhang Mo, who had remained silent the entire time. "Little Doctor...Princess, do you have any ideas?"

Zhang Mo spread her hands, "There's really no way to catch him!"

Qu Yi looked frustrated. "Even you can't do anything about it. Are we just going to waste time with him like this?"

Although he was not very clear about the current financial situation of the Tang Dynasty, he knew that the army had to collect food and grass from the people for this expedition, which showed that the family's wealth had been exhausted. The clan bandits in various parts of Jizhou had not yet been pacified, so the Tang Dynasty army could not afford it no matter how he thought about it.

"No, you have a group of smart people around you, but you didn't consider how to deal with this situation before sending troops?" Qu Yi obviously didn't believe that she really had no way, and continued to ask without giving up.

Zhang Mo said calmly, "I've considered it!"

"and then?"

Everyone looked at her at the same time, and Lu Bu's face was full of question marks. During that time, he was busy deploying troops and generals. The strategic issues were all decided by Amo, Jia Wen and those people. He didn't know if they had any plans for this situation.

She said nonchalantly, "Since he wants to hide, then let him hide forever!"

"What do you mean?" Qu Yi was puzzled. Did she really intend to keep wasting time?

"It's hard to catch a mouse in a hole, so why not trap it inside?"

Zhang Mo explained, "Dingtao is located at the confluence of the Ji and Li rivers, surrounded by water on three sides, forming a natural moat. It would be extremely difficult for an outside enemy to capture the city, but... now these three sides of water have become an obstacle to his troops."

She pointed to the only spot on the west side without a moat and said, "Send the people to dig a trench and build a mound here. Then, dig a semicircular trench outside the drawbridges on three sides of the moat. Divert the river water to the outside of the moat and add another canal to completely trap him in the city. Then, we only need to leave 5,000 archers stationed behind the trenches on all four sides. If he emerges, we will shoot him with crossbows. The rest of the troops can go ahead and pacify Zhao State, Wei County, and even Changshan."

Zhang Mo's idea was based on the self-preservation strategy of Gongsun Zan who was defeated and trapped in Yijing in history. His men dug more than ten trenches along the Yi River, piled earthen mounds as high as five or six feet in the trenches, and built camps on the mounds. Yuan Shao's army was helpless against him.

Qu Yi clapped his hands and praised with a smile, "Excellent! I knew your princess had a different mind. We were always thinking about how to lure him out of the city, but you were thinking of trapping him. As long as his troops can't leave, we can defeat the bandits and then slowly come back to deal with him. He thought we couldn't do anything to him by hiding in the city, but he didn't know that he was courting death."

Ma Chao said, "The food and supplies in his city won't last that long!"

Lu Bu laughed and said, "Given Gongsun Zan's character, he will lead his troops out of the city to engage us while we are setting up defenses outside!"

"That's also a dead end!" Qu Yi laughed heartily.

"Since we have a solution, why are you still standing here? Go back to the camp and get ready!" Lu Bu ordered.

"Yes!" Everyone answered in unison and turned back to the main camp. Qu Yi and the others went ahead, while Lü Bu and his wife rode slowly behind. Zhang Mo looked at the vast terrain ahead and said, "Let's slow down the progress of the project for the next few days. We don't need to invest too much manpower at once."

Lü Bu asked with a smile, "Madam, your intention to blockade him is fake, but your intention to lure him into sending troops from Qinghe and Anping to support us is real, right?"

"My husband is the one who understands me best!" A sly smile crossed her beautiful face. "Ziyuan sent a flying eagle back two days ago with news that Qinghe County has made all the necessary arrangements. We're just waiting for news from here and from General Gao. When Mr. Wenhe and I were formulating our strategic plan, we envisioned that Gongsun Zan would draw troops from Qinghe, Anping, and even Hejian and Bohai to engage us in a decisive battle."

She smiled slightly. "After all, this time Jizhou is in rebellion. This is a perfect opportunity to destroy our Tang Kingdom. If we're a little luckier, perhaps we can divide the world in one battle. Gongsun Bogui is no coward, he will definitely give it a try. As for Cao Mengde, no matter who wins or loses, it won't affect him much. Even if Gongsun Zan doesn't want to fight, he will do his best to cause this war to break out."

"If Gongsun Zan wins, Jizhou, under the manipulation of Xun You and the thieves within, will inevitably repeat the same drama as today. Gongsun Zan will be used as a pawn, and Jizhou will eventually belong to Yanzhou. If our Tang Kingdom wins, after such a war, the national strength will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult to launch a large-scale war for several years. Yanzhou will watch the fire from the sidelines, operating in secret, but will not suffer any losses. Why not?"

Lü Bu interjected, "But Cao Mengde miscalculated Madam's ambitions. This time, you don't just want to expel Gongsun and quell the internal thieves. You want to incorporate the entire Ji Province into the territory of our Tang Kingdom, drive Gongsun back to You Province, or even... destroy him outright!"

"It's too early to just wipe them out!" Zhang Mo rode leisurely on her white horse. "If we don't completely eliminate those rebels in Jizhou, there will be no peace in the rear. We must take one step at a time and turn Jizhou into another Hanoi. Only then can we continue to advance into Youzhou."

Lü Bu's expression grew increasingly excited. "Even if we can't continue to take Youzhou, after this battle, the situation in Hebei, and even the entire north, is completely in the hands of the Tang Empire. Who else in the world can compete with the Tang Empire?!"

"The battle hasn't even started yet, and you've already predicted that our army will win?" Zhang Mo looked at him with amusement.

Lü Bu smiled and said, "With Madam, Wenhe, Yuanhao and others planning everything, and me personally leading the army, and with renowned generals like Wenyuan, Ziyan, and Junyi, and the support of tens of millions of Tang citizens, how can we not win?"

"Even so, my husband, do not be arrogant and underestimate the enemy. As long as the world is not unified, other changes may occur. Cao Mengde's Battle of Red Cliffs is a lesson for us. If our army wins this battle, there will be no princes in the north who can threaten our Tang Dynasty. However, the waters in the south are more complicated. Although Cao Mengde relied on the aristocratic families in history, he also competed with them. Now, judging by the incident in Jizhou, he seems to have completely compromised with the aristocratic families. In the future, we will have to deal with the entire aristocratic family group in the south. You can imagine how difficult it will be."

Lu Bu said confidently, "With my wife here, I believe any difficulty can be solved!"

Zhang Mo rolled her eyes and said, "I'm also a human, not a god!"