Chapter 446 - a.s.sa.s.sins?
April 16th, 194 AD.
After staying with his new family, Hua Tuo made his decision. He visited Tong and Zhang Jiao.
"I"ll be working for you. Let me stay with my granddaughter in exchange."
Tong and Zhang Jiao were delighted. They accepted his service without hesitation.
"Sure! How about I let Min"er be your a.s.sistant?"
Hua Tuo smiled, "That would be better! But…" He looked hesitant, "Isn"t she the princess? Will it be alright?"
Tong turned to Zhang Min, "Didn"t you say that the inner palace and our tutors were boring? Want to try something new other than fighting?"
The girl agreed, "I"ll do it! It"s suffocating over there! Do you even know that those banana stepmothers want to kill me!? I lost count how many times I killed random a.s.sa.s.sins on the street and chefs that poisoned my food!"
Tong, Zhang Jiao, and Hua Tuo frowned, "Tell us everything. Who did this?"
"Who else!? It"s your banana wives!"
Their frown deepened. Had it been normal circ.u.mstances, Tong would have believed his daughter. However, he had been watching Du s.h.i.+, Cai Wenji, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, and w.a.n.g Yi ever since the first two wives tried to kill each other. Ever since then, none of them could use their subordinates to commit any harm to Tong"s wives or other children.
"I"ll look into this. For now, I"ll establish a medical school here for father-in-law to run, and you"ll work here with your both grandpas, okay?"
Zhang Min cheered, "YAY! YES, PLEASE!!"
Tong whispered Zhang Jiao, "Don"t let her command troops. She"s way too competent that will make other captains ashamed."
The former yellow turban founder gave Tong an odd look, but he agreed. Girls were not suitable on battlefields unless they were immortals like Dong Bai and Diaochan.
.
A week later, Hua Tuo was promoted as the minister of medicine. His headquarters was found in Julu, and he would a.s.sist Zhang Jiao in the official works while he would teach the new generation scholars about his crafts.
Zhang Min also announced a shocking piece of news that she would step down from the first princess position and lived as an ordinary n.o.ble of Hua House. Still, Tong recalled Redhare Legion from Xiangyang to station at Julu as a precaution.
The movement was against the big picture and their prepared strategies. Even Lu Bu protested against this relocation.
Lu Bu: "You"re moving me because you"re suspecting someone trying to kill your daughter!?"
Tong: "Correct."
Lu Bu: "Are you r.e.t.a.r.ded!? We"re about to fight against those wannabes. Why are you ruining your own plan!?"
Tong: "Actually, I don"t think it"s that simple. I think Cao Cao had sent a.s.sa.s.sins for my daughter and attempted to provoke infighting among my wives. I need you at Julu to watch over my non-border cities."
Lu Bu: "That"s still not making any sense. Instead of protecting your backlines, why don"t I attack Wan, Luoyang, Xuchang, and make my way to the north?"
Tong: "Leave those for our newbies to gain experience. You"re already a veteran. There is no need to use you against cannon fodders like Cao Cao."
Tong slipped his real plan to the others in the clan, which caused the strategists to go berserk.
However, there was a particular strategist and a general who volunteered to protect Julu.
Wei Yan: "Please send White Horse Legion there. We can protect the first princess."
Sima Yi: "I agree. Please send our legion to Julu. Ganling is not an important city, and there are many capable generals around here, including your majesty"s private army. Please leave it to us."
Despite that both of them had obtained their other memory from the dream, their feeling for Zhang Min was still the same. Tong sometimes questioned their motive if they wanted to improve their career by marrying Zhang Min, or they were sincere.
"Those two rebellions. What are they planning by pursuing Min"er? Should I circ.u.mcise or castrate these fools to teach them a lesson?"
In the end, Friday and Medusa were sent to Julu and protected the city and Zhang Min. They took half of Tong"s Immortal Legion soldiers, 50,000 men, to strengthen the garrison forces. As for the princes, Tong would protect them personally in Ye along with other princesses.
As for the love-struck Sima Yi and Wei Yan, they had to remain at Ganling to train their soldiers. None of them was allowed to visit Zhang Min until the war was over.
However, Tong promised them that he would choose Zhang Min and other princesses" prospects from one of his available generals who contributed the most to the forces.
.
The investigation was swift. In June, Sima Fang came with the results.
It was Cao Cao"s doing!
"I believe that he"s trying to stir conflicts among your royal harem. Then, our officers will split into factions, and we"ll become weaker as it progresses. It"s a tactic to weaken our forces before the decisive battle that they are preparing."
Tong was impressed by the Sima clan"s intelligence and deduction power. However, he still had doubts.
"Is there any solid proof?"
Sima Fang hesitated, but he answered, "None."
"Then, how do you know it"s Cao Cao?"
"The last a.s.sa.s.sin we caught committed suicide before we get any information. However, thanks to our household registration and city entry records, we found that this person comes from the central plain as a merchant. Therefore, we deduced that he"s an agent from Cao Cao."
"Fair enough."
Tong was confident that the a.s.sa.s.sins were not from his men or his concubines. Therefore, it had to be an outsider.
With the suspicion, Tong decided to teach Cao Cao a lesson.
.
.
Xuchang Palace
Cao Cao, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, and other officers gathered here to welcome their ally forces.
"Sun Ce of Jiangdong has arrived! He has brought 100,000 soldiers!"
The visitors, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Zhou Yu, and their officers, entered the a.s.sembly hall and were guided to their prepared seats, west of the room.
"Liu Bei of Liang has arrived! He has brought 150,000 soldiers!"
An hour later, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and his strategists arrived, and Cao Cao"s subordinates guided them to the eastern seats.
All heavyweight warlords a.s.sembled today for one purpose.
Overthrowing Tong!
"Gentlemen, thank you for your cooperation and your time to attend this meeting," Cao Cao stood and bowed to all his nemeses in the other life, "With your troops and your talented generals, even those immortals will fear us!"
Sun Ce and Liu Bei rolled their eyes.
"We"ve come prepared. How are your troops? What can you contribute to our coalition?"
Cao Cao snorted, "100,000 soldiers and magic weaponry!"
"Magic weaponry?"
Cao Cao waved, and his attendant presented an arquebus to Liu Bei and Sun Ce.
A group of soldiers entered the meeting room with a set of shooting practice. They placed a scarecrow at the center of the room and a thick metal plate behind it.
Xiahou Dun also took one of the rifles. He positioned himself in the opposite direction of the metal plate and the scarecrow. After he had loaded the gun with gunpowder and an iron ball, he aimed at the scarecrow, which had an imperial lamella armor on it.
*BANG*
The bullet penetrated through the armor and hit the metal plate behind the doll.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei narrowed their eyes as they recognized this kind of weapon. They recalled the past battle ten years ago when they fought against Tong.
"Gun," Liu Bei muttered.
Cao Cao nodded, "Correct! This weapon is not something exclusive to those disgusting immortals anymore. Right now, we can manufacture guns!"
Sun Fang frowned. He stepped forward, "How many guns do you have? Can you share your manufacturing methods with us?"
Although Sun Fang was from the modern world, he was not educated on gunsmithing or firearm manufacturing. He also wanted to build cannons, but he did not know the method.
Pu Jing, who stood behind Cao Cao"s officers, smirked, mocking Sun Fang in his mind.
"Noob."
Cao Cao continued, "Of course. We"re planning to strike the heartland of Zhang Tong soon, so we will share our knowledge with everyone. We called you here for this purpose!"
Sun Ce and Liu Bei"s eyes gleamed as they were interested in this new weapon. However, Zhou Yu and Pang Tong found this odd.
"They had this technology that can change the entire warfare. Why are they sharing this knowledge with their future rivals?"
Both of them observed Cao Cao and Pu Jing"s reaction. Although they could not get any hint from them, someone else was winking at them.
Zhuge Liang!
Zhou Yu was surprised that Zhuge Liang was serving Cao Cao in this world.
"Dafuq is he doing here!? Did Gan Ning f.u.c.k up and force this b.a.s.t.a.r.d to Cao Cao"s side?"
Pang Tong was shocked as well.
"Kongming, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! How could you serve Cao Cao of all people!? You should have come with us and join the righteous side!"
Unbeknownst to their thoughts, Zhuge Liang"s lips moved, hinting them with his soundless words.
[Zhang Tong too strong. No chance of victory.]
Zhou Yu and Pang Tong caught that. Their frown deepened.
"Too strong? Really?"
"I see!"
While Pang Tong doubted his friend, Zhou Yu understood the secret message.
"Cao Cao doesn"t think that our coalition can fight Zhang Tong, so he"s desperate enough to give everyone a boost. Then, we can at least have a slim chance of victory? So, his forces are that threatening?"
Zhou Yu decided to be direct. He raised his hand and asked Cao Cao, "We don"t have a chance against Zhang Tong, have we?"
Cao Cao sighed and turned to Zhou Yu, "Haven"t your mentor taught you not to discourage your allies before a war?"
"If we don"t admit that we have weaknesses or flaws, we won"t be able to fix it! Please get it straight, Marquis. Do we have a chance against Zhang Tong?"
Cao Cao did not speak. However, Guo Jia stepped forward and confessed, "We don"t."
"Then, what"s the purpose of this meeting?"
Guo Jia snorted, "We need to boost our military power. Right now, all of us are too weak. Had we mobilized or declared our intention to the public, Zhang Tong will annihilate all of us within a year… Two years at the longest."
"I need info. What makes you think that he"s so overwhelming to the point that you come up with such a conclusion?"
Guo Jia turned to Pu Jing, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan, "Can you reveal your power, please."
The three spread their angel wings.
Pu Jing had gambled and forced his way to become a four-wing angel. Meanwhile, the Xiahou brothers had 2 each.
"I"m sure that some of you have this [Secret] or [Cultivation Technique], so I won"t get into how you acquired these wings. But as you know, the more wings you possess, the stronger you are."
Zhou Yu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Sun Ce understood what he meant. After all, they also had the cultivation technique.