Chapter 450 - The Trolling Emperor
Cao Cao read the new message from Tong with a complicated expression.
He was angry that Tong claimed his daughters.
Yet, he was glad that they were alright.
But as a father, he wanted to beat Tong to a pulp.
Still, he had the urge to celebrate that there was a way out for his forces and his family.
Unfortunately, his bitter happiness came short as the next messages threatened Cao Cao.
Aside from the obnoxious short message, there were other details, such as the status of his sons, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang.
And also,
[If you still won"t talk to me and continue to wage war with my men, I promise that I won"t kill your sons, daughters, or your wives. As a matter of fact, I can see that they have a proper manner, pleasant faces, and tasty bodies. I"m thinking of taking all your wives and daughters to my harem in the case that you decide to abandon them. Please give me a reply by visiting Ye yourself before this winter. Once it snows and I don"t see you here, I"ll keep them warm at night. >:D]
Tong threatened that if Cao Cao really wanted to wage war against him after this silly attempt to negotiation, he would take all Cao Cao"s wives and other daughters as his concubines.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRRRGGGG"
Cao Cao went ballistic. He swung his fists and kicked randomly, which ended up kicking a stone table and hit his pinky toe.
"@%#@$!"
…
Half a day later, Cao Cao summoned his strategists and his generals to issue a new policy and tell them about the changes.
Upon hearing the new development, none of them managed to close their mouths. Everyone"s jaws dropped in disbelieved.
"WHAT THE h.e.l.l!?"
"DAFUQ!?"
"WUT!?"
Even Zhuge Liang was astonished by the new development. He could not stop laughing.
"DAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Cao Cao"s face twitched in anger, but he managed to maintain his composure.
A few days earlier, Cao Cao had made several plans, preparing for many scenarios.
In the first scenario, Cao Cao was going to abandon all his children and wives to fight for the hegemony as Tong"s "No Private Force System" and "No Private Property" were not something that he approved. For the sake of maintaining the orthodox way of n.o.ble hierarchy and court power, Tong"s dynasty had to be overthrown.
However, this plan would only serve as the last resort in the case that Cao Cao and Tong could never reconcile.
The second plan, Cao Cao would become Tong"s prisoner, but his entire force would remain here to continue what they should be doing, fighting against Tong and all immortals in secret.
About this choice, he had set it as the top priority as there could be many variables and branches to this plan. For example, Cao Cao could offer one of his daughters as his concubine. Then, he could call off the brewing war between him and Tong, and he could also backstab Sun Ce and Liu Bei in exchange for a high-rank position in Tong"s court. Or maybe, he could buy time for their men to ma.s.s-produce more advanced muskets, rifles, or modern world guns that Pu Jing was researching.
And the third choice, which Zhuge Liang had suggested before Cao Cao received the latest update on his daughters, Cao Cao and all his subordinates would surrender to Tong and end this civil war, betraying Sun Ce and Liu Bei in the open. With Tong, Liu Biao, and Cao Cao forming alliance, the two ambitious overlords would have no chance against them.
Obviously, Cao Cao declined Zhuge Liang"s advice as this brat was untrustworthy. Still, he kept this choice in mind as it was not that bad to end the war. After all, his long career purpose of fighting all warlords was to stabilize the Han Dynasty and bring peace to its people.
And now…
Tong violated his daughters.
Cao Cao was so mad that he wanted blood. But as an opportunistic shrew warlord, he wanted to seize this chance to bind his family with Tong, so the Cao Clan and Xiahou Clan would reap as many benefits as they could get.
With Tong"s offers, he would be able to salvage the situation and survive the civil war that was about to end.
"REEVALUATION! I NEED ALL OF YOUR VIEWPOINT AND OPINION IN THIS ASAP!!"
All advisors and generals flinched, intimidated by Cao Cao"s foul mood.
On the contrary of everybody else, Zhuge Liang clapped and laughed.
"A golden chance, Marquis. You can just be the emperor"s father-in-law and enjoy your retirement. There is no need to struggle in this hopeless war. Let"s surrender and make peace for the people."
Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Chen Qun, and other strategists wanted to retort. However, they kept their mouth shut as this development favored Cao Cao"s forces as a whole. Though they could not influence or change Tong"s systems, they could survive.
Cao Cao and Tong were not nemeses, so they had no reason to refuse this peace talk.
"If you don"t mind yielding to Zhang Tong"s government system of no private forces and limited a.s.sets, we don"t see a problem with it," Cheng Yu summarized it for his lord.
Seeing that only Zhuge Liang voiced his thought, Cao Cao turned to Pu Jing.
"How is it, my invading immortal? Do you have any more reason to continue fighting?"
Obviously, Pu Jing was against this plan as his life would have been in jeopardy had Cao Cao succeeded.
However, his status in Cao Cao"s court would still be questionable even if they agreed to fight Tong.
"Manipulating Cao Cao to weaken Zhang Tong is impossible now. I"ll lay low and withdraw from this country since this is a lost cause."
For Pu Jing, failures were normal things in life. He accepted his mistakes and moved on.
"I agree with Zhuge Liang. It is my mistake to pick a fight with Zhang Tong. I"m willing to accept my punishment."
Cao Cao and his generals scoffed at Pu Jing"s slyness.
"We"ll deal with you later. For now, I"ll head to Ye and talk with my audacious son-in-law."
.
At night of the same day
A group of black cloth men slowly climbed down the wall of Xuchang, leaving the city. One of them was Pu Jing, who abandoned his posts to escape from Cao Cao and his men.
Several officers who did not approve Cao Cao and Tong, such as Chen Gong and Zhang Miao, took many minor officers with them and followed after Pu Jing.
A whole group of 100 men slipped out undetected.
"Lord Pu Jing, where should we go next?"
Pu Jing revealed a faint smile of confidence as he glanced at his prototype musket, which he hid from Cao Cao.
"We"re abandoning this country and migrate west."
Chen Gong was surprised, "Are we going to serve Liu Bei?"
"No," Pu Jing snickered as he turned to the blacksmiths, aka gunsmiths-in-training, whom he bribed with immortality promises, "We"re moving to the Roman Empire. I"ll teach you about their language along the way."
"And I"ll spread firearm technologies to European countries. I wonder how those Romans and Parthians will do with this kind of weaponry."
"Also…"
Pu Jing glanced at his clan chat menu.
"I need to get rid of this. It gives too much information about otherworlders."
.
.
The next day
The disappearance of Pu Jing was within Cao Cao"s calculation. As the news of Pu Jing"s desertion arrived, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Good riddance."
"Yeah. It"s better this way."
Pu Jing was not crazy enough to kill Cao Cao"s officers, which avoided the worst-case scenario that many of them could have died by Pu Jing"s angel power.
They did not know that Pu Jing had received too many warnings from Lilim that he could no longer kill a civilian with his angel power. Had they knew, Cao Cao and others would have sent as many a.s.sa.s.sins to claim Pu Jing"s life long ago.
Cao Cao later sent men to gather all blacksmiths and Pu Jing"s subordinates in Xuchang, planning to squeeze all information about this former premier.
Unfortunately, their men came back with a piece of bad news.
"My lord, all blacksmiths have either died or disappeared."
"Huh? What about the arquebus crafters or someone with the gun knowledge?"
"Aside from the guys we sent to Liu Bei and Sun Ce, no one has survived."
"Oh?"
Cao Cao was amused. It seemed Pu Jing was in a rush that he was not thorough with his little escape-with-his-secrets-plan.
Still, having the arquebus makers were no longer important since they had decided to join forces with Tong.
"It doesn"t matter. All of you stay here and pretend that you are still preparing to wage war with Zhang Tong. I"ll go see the emperor and decide our next move, depending on his action."
Cao Cao glared at Zhuge Liang, "Silly brat, since you want to join the emperor so much, you come with me!"
.
.
May 31st, 194 AD.
Ye Palace
Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang had an audience with Tong in the throne room with all Cao clan members and Tong"s subordinates as witnesses. Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe were also there to meet their father.
Tong and Cao Cao did not care about their manner. They stared into each other eyes.
Each had different thoughts. Tong was thinking what he should say to break this awkwardness while Cao Cao just wanted to punch Tong to the face.
Since Cao Cao was so mad that he refused to start the conversation, Tong coughed and got to the point.
"Let"s get it straight. Will your force surrender to us?"
"… I will surrender to you, but my force will not."
"Oh?"
The officers and generals in the room were in an uproar as they did not like Cao Cao"s att.i.tude, but none of them voiced their dissatisfaction in the open.
"Elaborate, my father-in-law. What do you want? What"s your surrender condition?"
"Three conditions. First, my family and my subordinates will still be with me after the handover. None of them won"t be jailed, harmed, tortured, arrested, abducted, killed, or sold off as slaves. Their status and ranks will be the same as when they are serving me."
"That"s already two conditions-in-one. I can agree with the part that I won"t harm them, but I can"t allow all your men to stick around with you 24/7. I"ll allocate some of them to manage battalions or cities that need protection, so I can"t 100% agree to that."
"That"s fine enough. Second condition, I want the status of the Chancellor of Han. I need to be the only second-in-command."
"Impossible. All military departments and internal divisions are separated in my government system, so there is n.o.body that can control all departments but me. Second-in-command doesn"t exist here."
Tong lied. Second-in-command existed in the form of Prime Minister, which Te Langpu was holding. He did not want Cao Cao to fight for this position.
"Then, I want to control your military department."
"Impossible. Military units are under my direct jurisdiction. We can"t allow an outsider to control all of my legions, can we?"
"… Understandable. Then, what about the other domestic departments?"
Tong pondered. At this moment, there were many occupied spots in his minister"s ranks.