Chapter 163: Lu Bu Enters the Game
On the way north to Bingzhou, Lu Bu led thousands of Bingzhou cavalry. He, who was always flamboyant, actually showed some uneasiness. His mood was extremely complicated, and he felt even more timid as he was close to home.
In fact, at the beginning, Lu Bu fled Chang'an and wanted to surrender to the two Yuans.
After all, on the surface, the world situation is still headed by the two Yuans, and Lu Bu has also seen the prosperity of the Central Plains. He is not very willing to return to Bingzhou, nor does he want to bring war back to Bingzhou.
For this purpose, Lu Bu even brought Dong Zhuo's head with him as a means of advancement.
Dong Zhuo killed the Yuan family in Luoyang, and Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo, which was a favor to the two Yuans, so Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu should naturally treat him with courtesy. What's more, he also had thousands of elite cavalry in Bingzhou.
In the original historical trajectory, Lu Bu was in a rather miserable state when he left Chang'an, with only dozens of cavalrymen left by his side. He had successively defected to Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, but both of them regarded him as a mere thug, and were unwilling to accept him, and even wanted to kill him.
Yuan Shu was fine, he just didn't like Lu Bu and didn't want to accept him. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, was ready to get rid of Lu Bu after using him to deal with the Black Mountain Army.
That's why Lu Bu later had to choose to start his own business and launch a surprise attack on Cao Cao's Yanzhou.
However, after Li Ru's analysis, he realized that the two Yuans were not worthy of support. In addition, due to the arrangements of various parties, Lu Bu actually had thousands of Bingzhou elite cavalry at this time. With the capital for starting a business, Lu Bu chose to return to Bingzhou.
On the warhorse, Li Ru looked at Lu Bu with a complicated expression, like a child returning home, and sighed secretly in his heart.
He lost in the end.
He saw through Wang Yun's beauty trap and reminded Dong Zhuo, but it was meaningless.
At that time, Dong Zhuo was no longer the heroic, straightforward, quick-witted and decisive hero of the Northwest, but a butcher fool who had lost his ambition and indulged in pleasure.
Relying on the elite troops of Xiliang in his hands, he hid in Chang'an, acted recklessly, and deceived himself into dreaming of becoming an emperor, turning a blind eye to the changes in the situation in the world.
He repeatedly advised Dong Zhuo to take advantage of the civil strife among the princes in the Guandong region and, in the name of the imperial court, first pacify Gongsun Zan of Xiliang and then march eastward to Hulao Pass, so as to cleanse the Central Plains and accomplish his great cause while the princes in the Central Plains were still unstable.
But Dong Zhuo had no reaction and just drank and had fun every day.
At that moment, he knew that he had lost.
Dong Zhuo's fall was too fast, too fast to be normal. Similarly, Wang Yun's expansion was too fast, too fast to be believed.
Behind all this, there is the calculation of the aristocratic family, but Li Ru is powerless to stop it.
He had a clear understanding of the world situation and people's hearts, but was quietly infiltrated by the aristocratic families.
In order to survive, he had no choice but to compromise, temporarily living under Lu Bu and coming to Bingzhou.
He was very clear about what those people were planning. They simply wanted to use him and Lu Bu as tools, place them in Bingzhou, and restrict the development of Tian Ze and Gongsun Zan.
Because Tian Ze and Gongsun Zan, like them, were not accepted by the aristocratic families and were considered outliers.
The aliens are only fit to live in remote and barren places like You, Bing and Liang, and they should restrain and conquer each other to give the heroes who are truly accepted by the aristocratic families time to compete with each other.
Even though he knew it was a trap, he had no choice. This was his only choice. Otherwise, where else in the world could accommodate him?
Although Bingzhou is a sparsely populated area with poor land, the people are brave and strong, and there are also the Southern Xiongnu as thugs, so it is not a problem to mobilize tens of thousands of troops.
It may not be possible to conquer the world, but it is still possible to protect oneself.
Li Ru was a top wise man of the time. Liu Biao, Liu Yao and other princes of the world were all his former pawns. He single-handedly planned the world and created a relatively balanced situation, paving the way for Dong Zhuo to rise to the east.
Although it is no longer useful, it has enabled Li Ru to have a profound grasp of the general situation in the world.
Hebei is not a place to stay for long.
Those people forced them to go north to Bingzhou just to drive the tiger to devour the wolf and let them defend against Tianze.
The order to recruit talented people, the Jixia Academy, and Tian Ze's various reforms in Youzhou made Li Ru very clear that the northern leader had a deep foundation and great talent, and it was difficult to shake him. Not to mention Yuan Shao in Jizhou, who was known as a role model in the world, had many soldiers and generals, and had the strong support of the Hebei family behind him. He was also the driving force behind their northward march, and he should not be made an enemy.
Li Ru knew very well how capable Gongsun Zan was in the Western Liang. Dong Zhuo's hometown was in the Western Liang, so he had also troubled this suddenly appearing White Horse General. Even Lu Bu led his army to fight against Gongsun Zan.
As a result, he didn't gain any advantage at all and was even fooled.
As long as Gongsun Zan doesn't go ahead and challenge Lu Bu to a duel, the White Horse Volunteers will be an unstoppable force for them.
Their only way out might be to wait until they are strong enough, wait for the opportunity, go south to Sili, and then go east to the Central Plains.
However, this is just Li Ru's fantasy, and he does not have much hope for it.
Although Lu Bu is brave, he is simple-minded and not a good leader. As a general, he is not loyal enough and lacks character and magnanimity.
Li Ru estimated that the best outcome for him would be to occupy Bingzhou and retire there.
No matter which warlord you surrender to, you will most likely be treated as a mascot, and your life and death will be in the hands of others. If you are not sure, you may be killed.
The future is bleak, but we still have to keep going.
Li Ru smiled bitterly, but unconsciously touched the letter on his chest.
Jia Wenhe, is your promise trustworthy?
After arriving in Bingzhou, Lu Bu began to show his skills.
At this time, Tian and Yuan were in confrontation. Yuan Shao was unable to take care of Bingzhou, and Tian Ze was busy with internal affairs and was temporarily unable to get involved in this chaotic place.
Zang Ba occupied nearly half of Taiyuan and Shangdang counties along the Taihang Mountains and was fighting against the remaining Baibo bandits. Xu Huang also occupied a small part of Yanmen County.
The rest of the counties were still unowned lands, occupied by some small warlords and the Southern Xiongnu.
Zang Ba knew that he was no match for Lu Bu in a field battle, and he also had Tian Ze's order, so he did not make any move. He continued to fight the Baibo bandits and attract refugees.
Anyway, he was in the mountains, and no matter how powerful Lü Bu's cavalry was, they couldn't enter the mountains. When it came to mountain warfare, a relatively remote field, he was afraid of no one except Zhang He.
Lü Bu, leading thousands of Bingzhou cavalry, roamed freely in Bingzhou. The Southern Xiongnu, who had been causing trouble for Bingzhou, were terrified and fled like dogs that had lost their homes.
The people of Bingzhou had suffered from the barbarians and bandits for a long time. Facing Lu Bu, who was like a savior, they all lined the streets to welcome him.
Although Lu Bu and his Bingzhou cavalry had followed Dong Zhuo for a long time and developed the bad habit of plundering the people at will, they restrained themselves a lot under Li Ru's persuasion and Lu Bu's restraint.
After all, you still have to maintain some face in your hometown.
Moreover, most of the people in Bingzhou were extremely poor. They were plundered by the barbarians and bandits several times a year. They could barely survive, so what else was there to plunder?
Lu Bu's army mainly plundered the Southern Xiongnu.
Because of the chaos in the world, this group of people plundered the three prefectures during this period, and each of them became very rich.
Fighting and seizing spoils in this way, in less than half a year, Lu Bu occupied most of Bingzhou.
At this time, an embarrassing problem arose: food shortage.
(End of this chapter)
