bookcurios Chapter 280: Making Mischief Again
Chapter 280: Making Mischief Again
That night, after crying bitterly, Yuan Shao immediately summoned civil and military officials for a meeting. He asked Qu Yi to lead 10,000 troops first to enter the entrance of Cangyangu Valley in Luchang Mountain in Chaoge and besiege the Black Mountain Army in Yu Du. He himself would lead 10,000 troops to follow closely and destroy Yu Du first.
He also ordered Yan Liang to lead 10,000 troops to Huguan to destroy Liu Shi and Qing Niu Jiao.
In order to prevent the rebel armies from supporting each other, Zhang He and Gao Lan were ordered to transfer troops from various counties to block important roads such as Fukouxing and Baixing.
This time, Yuan Shao spent a lot of money to wipe out the Taihang Black Mountain bandits, and even ignored Gongsun Zan. Although he was unlucky that Yecheng was broken this time, it happened that Gongsun Zan was competing with Liu Yu and had no time to harass him, which was a blessing in disguise.
Yuan Shao promised food and grass to Lu Bu and invited him to join the encirclement and suppression of Heishan. This scared Zhang Yan. Yuan Shao came with great momentum. If Lu Bu was added, his Heishan would really be finished.
Zhang Yan hurriedly sent an envoy to meet Lu Bu, saying that the two families were now allies, and that he, Zhang Yan, always kept his word and would never unilaterally tear up the alliance in the future. He implied that he hoped Lu Bu would also abide by his promise.
In fact, when Lu Bu saw that Yuan Shao was so determined to suppress the bandits, he began to feel restless again. Although Lu Bu was not the same as the Lu Bu in history, some of his nature was still difficult to completely change, that is, he always wanted to get involved when he saw something that was beneficial to him.
For example, in his dream he seized Yanzhou and Xuzhou, and even formed an alliance with Yuan Shu. He also wanted to take the opportunity to destroy Yuan Shao, but after being persuaded by Jia Xu, he wanted to take the opportunity to destroy Heishan.
In this life, Lu Bu's strength is much stronger than in the dream. In addition, Zhang Yan was half-crippled by A Mo before. If he and Yuan Shao join forces, it will not be a problem to wipe out Heishan.
Lu Bu wanted to join forces with Yuan Shao, but he still asked Zhang Mo and Jia Xu for their opinions.
Jia Xu asked, "My lord, is your goal in suppressing the bandits to kill them or to capture them?"
Lu Bu said, "Kill some and capture some."
Jia Xu asked again, "There are millions of bandits in Taihang. How many do you want to kill and how many do you want to capture?"
Seeing Lü Bu's hesitation, Jia Xu asked in a different tone, "Or how much does the lord intend to take?"
Lu Bu said, "Based on Bingzhou's current situation, we can only take in about 200,000 at most."
"So, we're going to kill 800,000 people?"
Lu Bu was speechless for a moment.
Jia Xu continued, "Madam's plan for one county, two systems aims to take in around 200,000 people. Bo Huai has already taken in over 50,000. Some bandits who have heard the news are also preparing to accept the one county, two systems. My lord, you're willing to break the alliance and send troops and manpower, but in the end, you'll only take in these people. Why bother?"
Lu Bu was speechless.
Jia Xu added, "It's a bit far-fetched to talk about loyalty and trust with bandits, but if you can be loyal and trustworthy with them, who will question your loyalty and trustworthiness in the future? Although the world is in chaos, loyalty and trustworthiness must not be lost!"
Lu Bu bowed and said yes!
Jia Xu glanced at Zhang Mo and continued, "My lord, you should trust Madam. With her around, these Taihang Mountain bandits will eventually become good citizens of Bingzhou. Furthermore, Bingzhou currently has a one-county, two-system policy and has allied with Zhang Yan, while Yuan Shao and Heishan are sworn enemies. In the future, the bandits will likely turn their attacks towards Jizhou. Killing them will be of no benefit to us, but will benefit Jizhou."
Lu Bu bowed again, "Bu is being foolish again!"
Jia Xu said, "My lord, you often make mistakes, but you always ask for others' opinions. This is your greatest strength!"
After Jia Xu finished speaking, he bowed and took his leave. Zhang Mo looked at Lu Bu's depressed face and couldn't help laughing.
Lu Bu walked over to her, caught her, and kissed her hard on the lips, "Are you making fun of me?!"
"No no……"
She quickly covered her mouth as it leaned forward again, "I just thought my husband was so cute when he was being lectured just now!"
Lu Bu took her hand away, held her in his arms, and pecked her on the face again.
"You can say your husband is mighty, handsome, gentle, and considerate, but you can't say he's cute. Only little brats are cute!"
Zhang Mo laughed and said, "Yes, yes, you are right!"
Lu Bu picked her up and walked to the couch in the inner room of the office, where he held her in his arms and lay down together.
It was a bit chilly in the late autumn evening, but lying in his arms felt like holding a heater, warming my whole body.
Lu Bu held her in one arm, gently stroking her hair with the other, and said, "Yuan Shao's move this time is so drastic, I'm afraid it will also extend to Jingxing Road. Will Juyi Village be in danger?"
"Don't worry, my village is fully equipped with crossbows and catapults. The valley entrance is narrow, and we have Ziyi's branch village outside to support each other. No matter how many people he brings, they won't be able to attack us."
"What if Zhang Yan recruits your troops to join him in fighting Yuan Shao? You've just returned from looting in Hanoi, so it's hard to find excuses to refuse. Otherwise, why not reveal your identities to Zhang Yan?"
Zhang Mo hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's not do that yet. This army hidden in the underworld is very useful to Bingzhou. This is also our trump card that no one else knows about."
She nuzzled her face into his arms, found a comfortable position, closed her eyes, and said slowly, "At worst, I can go with Zhang Yan to fight Yuan Shao. My Golden Eagle Guards are as powerful as your Flying Bear Army, and with our unique equipment, there's nothing to be afraid of... Although Zhang Yan was weakened by me this time, Yuan Shao was also weakened by Gongsun Zan at Jie Bridge, and without your help, I suspect the final result will be a draw. Or maybe we don't even have to wait until the end. As long as Tao Sheng leads his family to surrender, Yuan Shao will know that his family is safe and sound, and he won't cling to Heishan anymore. He's not as strong as he used to be, and he can't afford to waste time..."
As she spoke, her voice became lower and lower, and she actually fell asleep in a daze. Lu Bu hooked the quilt at the end of the bed with his foot, covered her with it, and still held her in his arms without moving.
Although he had been a father in his dreams and is a father now, he never knew that pregnancy would be so difficult for a woman. At first, she had morning sickness and vomited everything she ate. When it was serious, she even vomited out the bitter water in her stomach. Now the morning sickness has finally improved a little, but she is not in a good mood. Aunt Xu said that when her belly gets bigger, her legs will often cramp, and she can't sleep well at night because of the baby in her belly. She has frequent urination at night, it is inconvenient to turn over, and her back hurts.
Thinking about how she was still outside when she gave birth to the little one and even almost had a miscarriage, Lu Bu felt that no matter how much he felt sorry for her, it was not enough.
Lu Bu was sleeping with his wife inside, completely forgetting that Zhang Yan's envoy was still waiting in the lounge outside the earth building.
In order to take care of Amo, Lu Bu has moved his entire office into the earth building. Fearing that frequent visitors would affect his wife and children, he built several other houses outside the earth building, which include a reception room, an office, and a lounge for visitors to rest.
Except for the trustworthy people around Lu Bu who could enter the earth building directly, everyone else had to meet him in the office outside. At this time, the messenger felt uneasy when he saw that it was dark and Lu Bu had not responded yet.
It's hard for Zhang Ping to say. If Lu Bu doesn't agree, he can add more clauses to the "one county, two systems" system.
The messenger paced restlessly around the room a few times, then came to the door and said to the guard, "Please tell the envoy that I have something to say and ask him to come out and see me."
The guard went to the earth building to pass on the message, and after a while he came back and said, "The envoy cannot see guests at this moment, please wait a little longer!"
Unable to see guests? The envoy looked at the earth building with a puzzled look on his face. What did this mean?