Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The next morning, Gongsun Zan, who was sleeping soundly with his beloved daughter in his arms, was woken up early by Xun You's messenger. He came to the top of the city wall with sleepy eyes and shouted with a sour face, "Xun Gongda, why are you not sleeping so early in the morning? Why are you calling me to come to the city wall to blow in the cold wind?"

Xun You smiled faintly and said, "I know Your Majesty worked hard in the fields for most of last night. Unless it's an urgent matter, I dare not disturb your rest."

"What's the emergency? Is that Lu Bu coming to attack the city?"

Gongsun Zan rubbed his eyes and looked outside the city, only to see outside the west gate a group of civilians, protected by large shields and archers, digging trenches with hoes, shovels, baskets and other tools.

"What's this for?" Gongsun Zan stared at Xun You in surprise. Then he understood. His still dazed mind suddenly cleared up. He said in disbelief, "He wants to trap my 30,000 troops in the city?"

"It is also!"

Xun You twirled his goatee as he gazed at Lü Bu's camp in the distance. "It's not just the west gate, it's the other three gates too," he said. "He's sent his men to dig a semicircular trench outside the drawbridge over the moat, cutting off our escape. He's even destroyed the floating bridge over the Li River. Once these fortifications are complete, he'll only need to leave a few archers outside. If we try to escape, it'll be a heavy price."

"How can this be possible?" Gongsun Zan immediately jumped up, "I will lead my troops out and fight him to the death!"

"Your Majesty, there's no need to worry!" Xun You calmed the impatient Gongsun Zan. "We need a decisive battle, but our forces are far from enough..."

Xun You narrowed his eyes slightly. "These trenches will take at least ten days or half a month to dig. This place is not far from the Anping and Qinghe garrisons. Your Majesty, send someone back immediately and have Ji Ji (Gongsun Zan's cousin Gongsun Fan's courtesy name) lead another 20,000 troops to join us. 50,000 against his 40,000, we should be safe!"

Gongsun Zan said, "Since you're going to send Ah Fan here, why not mobilize all the troops there? Ten or twenty thousand won't be enough. Lü Bu previously tried to use his numbers to bully the minority, but now I'll give him a taste of his own medicine. Gather all the forces of Hejian and Bohai and decide the outcome in one battle!"

"Xu Huang still has three thousand troops stationed in Boluojin..." Xun You reminded.

Gongsun Zan said unconcernedly, "Those few people are not a threat. We can have the nearby clans and troops trap them. I will then summon the troops from Changshan and Julu to come and help."

"Forget about the troops. Although they are well armed, they have never received large-scale training and have never experienced big scenes. Letting them come would only make things worse." Xun You immediately stopped Gongsun Zan's human wave tactics.

Many times, having more people is not necessarily useful. That group of people would inevitably flee when charged by Lu Bu's cavalry. Their defeat would not only impact Gongsun Zan's regular army formation, but also cause psychological panic to other soldiers. Calling them back would definitely be counterproductive. Xun You had a deep understanding of this when the princes of Guandong attacked Dong Zhuo.

Gongsun Zan had fought for so many years that he naturally understood this principle. He smiled and said, "Gongda misunderstood my intention. I wanted them to cooperate with the soldiers in the city to harass Lü Bu's civilians who were digging trenches."

He then explained, "The journey to Hejian and Bohai is quite long, and reinforcements won't arrive for ten days or half a month. We can't let Lu Bu trap me in the city before then."

Xun You smiled and said, "Your Majesty, your thoughts are very good!"

Gongsun Zan smiled complacently and sent people to various places to convey military orders!

In the next few days, Gongsun Zan would send some people out every day to harass the civilians digging trenches, and some nearby aristocratic tribes would also come to ride horses to distract the Tang army.

Zhang Mo originally wanted to use the siege as a pretext to lure away the troops stationed in Qinghe, Anping and other places to facilitate Gao Shun and the Cui family's work, so she was happy to cooperate with Gongsun Zan and dug the trenches very slowly.

At the beginning, Xun You thought that the other party was really harassed by attacks from both inside and outside the city, so the progress of the project was so slow. Until he learned that Xu Rong and Gao Shun also led troops into Jizhou, he suddenly felt that something seemed wrong.

"What's wrong? There are many rebels in Zhao State and Wei County. It's normal for Lu Bu to ask these two to help quell the rebellion!" Gongsun Zan said.

"Is there another plan?"

"What are they planning? Could it be that they can still attack our Qinghe Kingdom under such circumstances? Although I have transferred the garrison there, there are still county soldiers left in the major counties. With the help of the people inside the city, how can they capture it with only 10,000 or 20,000 people?"

"What if there is an internal traitor helping us?" Xun You asked.

It is said that Cao Cao thought that the Zhen family was on Lu Bu's side, so he sent someone to deliver a letter to Xun You by express horse. Although the misunderstanding was resolved the next day, he also sent people to retrieve the messenger, but after nearly a day, the people who were chasing the letter had no way to catch up, and the first letter was still delivered to Xun You.

At that time, Dintao was in an extraordinary period. In order to avoid any accidents, Gongsun Zan seized all the shops and houses of the Zhen family in Dintao that day, and killed all the followers. Several families related to the Zhen family were also implicated. From the clan leaders to the clan members, all were arrested and tortured. These people had never been traitors to Lu Bu, so of course they refused to admit it. Gongsun Zan was furious and wiped out all of them, killing thousands of people, young and old, men and women.

Gongsun Zan was just about to send people to Weijun to capture Zhen Yan and others, when the person who was chasing the letter arrived, and the misunderstanding of the Zhen family was resolved. Since the Zhen family was not an internal traitor, Guo Jia deduced that Zhang Mo must have a backup plan, so Xun You had no choice but to be cautious.

Gongsun Zan said, "Almost 80% of the noble families in Jizhou are dissatisfied with Lü Bu's new policies. There is no reason for the noble families of Qinghe and Anping to curry favor with him."

"Anything is possible. Don't you see that the Sima family of Henei is loyal to him?"

Gongsun Zan thought for a moment and said, "Even if there really is a traitor within, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if he takes over Qinghe State first. As long as I can defeat the big boss, Lü Bu, at Dintao, it will be easy to deal with those smaller ones later."

"Is Gao Shun just a nobody?" Xun You shook his head. "After following Lü Bu to Bingzhou, he pacified Baibo in Hedong, fought against Cao Cao's army in Henei, and defeated Ma Teng in Pujin. His military achievements are remarkable. Your Majesty must not underestimate him."

"Then what do you say we should do? Ah Fan's troops are already on their way. Are we going to send him back? What about us? The man outside the city is Lu Bu. I have so few men that I can barely stand a chance of winning against him head-on. If my army traps him inside, he can focus on suppressing the rebels and then come back to deal with me."

"This is indeed difficult!" Xun You frowned, thought for a moment and asked, "How many troops do you have left in Youzhou?"

Gongsun Zan said, "Fifty thousand!"

"Maybe he'll be transferred again?"

"Yes, I can..." Gongsun Zan suddenly paused and looked at Xun You with his wolf-like sharp and vicious eyes. Xun You was startled by his sudden look and asked, "What's wrong?"

Gongsun Zan said, "Lord Cao and I are allies, and his Yanzhou borders Qinghe State. Why doesn't he send troops to help me, but instead sends troops all the way from Youzhou?"