Chapter 458 - Zhou Yu and Sun Ce Visiting Liu Xie - Part 1
Zhang Zhao and the others soon were welcomed into the city and were guided to the throne room right away.
Upon arrival, they could see Tong sitting on the throne with a pale face. He seemed to be in pain, yet his smile was as bright as ever.
Huang Gai looked at Tong"s sides, Dong Bai sat on his right while Diaochan sat on the left seat.
Dong Bai"s dresses were the same as Tong, golden empress robes decorated by golden dragons embroidery. She wore a golden crown, which was designed for Dong Bai.
The old two buns hairstyle of Dong Bai was no more as she wore her hair up, tying them inside the empress crown as it was a custom in this era that a married woman could not leave her hair down to cover her neck. Had she done that, it would signify that she was still unmarried, and it would insult Tong in the process.
Diaochan was the same as Dong Bai, as she had to change her hairstyle to display her marital status in public. She coiled all her hair and pinned it with a ruby hairpin. However, she still covered her face with veil clothes out of her habits.
As for Diaochan"s dresses, it was different than Dong Bai"s golden robes. She had pink dresses, decorated with golden flower embroideries, which revealed her status of a consort.
Usually, the emperor"s consorts or concubines would not be allowed to join an official a.s.sembly as it was not their duty. However, Diaochan was an exception since she was known as an immortal, who had a similar strength as Tong. Moreover, she was the founder of the Demon Legion, which was under control by Tais.h.i.+ Ci at the moment.
Even the Han Dynasty"s culture forbad women from taking parts of the internal affairs or official jobs, with absolute strength, Tong, Friday, and Medusa bent the traditional laws with brute force.
No one could refute their authority and their new custom.
Both girls sandwiched Tong, who was wobbling on his seat, looking exhausted.
Huang Gai could not help but worried about Tong"s health.
"Y-Your Majesty. Are you alright? You look pale…"
Tong"s smiley face was still as bright as ever, "I"m fine. It"s just that I gave a lot of love to my empress and my prime consort."
Huang Gai and others looked around and met the eyes of the officials in the throne room.
Tong"s officers gave them a wry smile. One of them made a gesture with his hand, sticking his thump between his index finger and middle finger, hinting them that Tong"s night activities took a toll on him.
Zhang Zhao and everyone sweated as they could vaguely guess what had happened. These two girls could have been jealous of Wu Guotai"s arrival, so they might have drained the emperor dry at night.
"Please take care of your health, your majesty. We can"t afford to lose you at the moment."
The two Zhaos were worried about the future of the Han Dynasty. Had Tong fallen ill, the court would have been in chaos as a power struggle between successors could have occurred.
"Eh, don"t worry. Even if I were to collapse, I have these two to handle the internal affair after me."
Aware of his court issues, Tong had already declared that Dong Bai and Diaochan would be the successors of his throne for now. Since both of them worked together as one, officials could not take sides with other concubines, princes, or princesses. Even if they wanted to support others to be in line for the throne, they had no chance against these two demonesses.
In other words, Tong used Friday and Medusa as internal bodyguards, watching over all undercurrents in the court and potential infighting between fellow officers.
Zhang Zhao had a bitter smile on his face. He understood why Tong did it, and he figured why Tong suddenly took Wu Guotai into his harem.
"It seems that the emperor has already prepared for the worst-case scenario. The matter about our lady is probably only for the political marriage. He probably takes in our lady as a concubine to stop the future war between the Sun Clan and his clan. Well, it"s a good move, as long as Zhongmou behaves."
With the surrender of Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhang Zhao, and Zhang Hong, Tong had more personal to protect Beihai, where every warlord deemed as one of Tong"s weaknesses.
Unfortunately, they were still stuck with Sun Fang"s clan system, so Tong could not invite them into his clan chat yet. For now, Tong promoted the three veterans to generals and sent the two Zhangs to Cai Yong, so he could teach these two elders about Ye"s culture and laws.
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Days went peacefully for peasants and all officials as the brewing war went quiet. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu stopped their military activities while Liu Bei focused on stabilizing his domestic affairs.
However, Tong never had his peace anymore.
Friday and Medusa disallowed Tong to visit all concubines as they monopolized him. Every time that Tong needed to relieve himself, both wives would take turns to drain him.
Since Dong Bai and Diaochan"s positions were the empress and the prime consort respectively, Cai Wenji, Du s.h.i.+, and others could not protest against their selfish actions.
During the daytime, the demonesses forced him to work or cultivate instead of slacking.
It was alright in the beginning since Tong had the endurance of a six-wing demon. However, after a few months, he was mentally exhausted as the emperor"s job had no holidays.
In the past, Tong always slacked twice a week, which Te Langpu and others found it reasonable for the emperor to rest periodically. After Friday and Medusa got instated as official empress and prime concubine, Tong could no longer sleep anymore.
Tong could only hope that one day, there would not be anything for him to do in the court, so he could get a good sleep for once. He also wanted to see his other wives.
"I missed my other wives. *Sniff*."
Tong shed a tear in secret.
.
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September 11th, 194 AD.
Jibei City
After Cao Cao and Tong formed a cooperation agreement, the tension between borders calmed, and peasants were no longer afraid of Cao Cao"s men in the area.
Farmers and craftsmen continued their daily routines in peace, but a few men in the court wanted to stir chaos within Tong"s ranks.
In Jibei a.s.sembly Hall, Liu Xie had rare visitors from the Sun Clan.
It was Zhou Yu and Sun Ce!
In the hall, Tais.h.i.+ Ci, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Liu Ye glared at this strategist in wary. All bodyguards placed their hands on their sword"s hilt, ready to draw their swords at any time to kill Zhou Yu and Sun Ce.
Behind Zhou Yu"s back, two white wings fluttered. Still, they were not a threat to Tais.h.i.+ Ci, who had awakened 3 virtuous souls so far.
The real threat was Sun Ce, who had 4 wings! This warlord did not hide his killing intent as he stared down at Tais.h.i.+ Ci, who was once his subordinate.
"It"s been a while, Tais.h.i.+ Ziyi! I didn"t expect that you would have joined Zhang Tong in this life."
Looking at Sun Ce, Tais.h.i.+ Ci sweated, "I"m glad you"re fine in this world, my former lord. I a.s.sume that you have come here in peace, no?"
"Obviously, I"m here to take you back with me."
"Then, I have to decline. Our countrymen have just ended this stupid civil wars between n.o.bles. I don"t plan to fight in another pointless war!"
"Then, you are going to violate your oath with me in the other life?"
"That world has nothing to do with this world! We died trying to protect our family and our home from the traitor Cao, and that"s that. Don"t bring the irrelevant past to the present anymore, Bofu."
The tension between Tais.h.i.+ Ci and Sun Ce was dangerous. A fight could break out at any moment.
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Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu reported the matter to the clan chat right away.
Zhang Xiu: "S.O.S. AT JIBEI! SUN CE AND ZHOU YU INFILTRATED OUR CITY! WE NEED HELP!"
Zhang Ji: "Sun Ce has 4 wings, but our Tais.h.i.+ Ci has 3. We might not be able to make it!"
Both Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu had only one soul of sin. As demonic cultivators, their progress was much slower than angels.
Tong: "I"ll send my wives over there. I"m not in a condition to fight ATM."
The emergency request came at bad timing. As Tong was constantly drained by his two jealous wives for months, he was not in shape for a battle. Even during the daytime, Tong was monitored by the two demonesses and was forced to work.
Still, he sent Diaochan and Dong Bai there as a punishment for deteriorating his health and rescue the crews.
Dong Bai: "I"ll go, but I"m gonna need some rewards tonight."
Diaochan: "Don"t let us catch you visiting other concubines while we"re away. I don"t want to see a new prince or princess. We have too many successors already!"
Tong: "… Like I have the strength to make more babies TwT."
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Reading the clan chat and seeing that the reinforcement was coming soon, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were relieved. With hope, their panicked expression was no more, replaced by a solemn confident look.
The backup supporter of Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, had been observing the two generals" reaction. He noticed that their fingers moved as if they typed something in front of them before their expression changed for the better.
"Clan chat… If they"re relaxed, then a reinforcement from Ye must have been on the way. We don"t have time to mess around anymore."
Zhou Yu sent a message via his clan chat, ignoring the fact that Huang Gai and others might expose their conversation.
Zhou Yu: "Reinforcement from Ye is coming. Let me handle this, and we will leave this city."
Glancing at the clan chat, Sun Ce clicked his tongue as his eyes darted around the room, searching for the culprits who told Tong about them.
When his eyes met with Zhang Ji, Sun Ce noticed that his expression was different than the rest of the officials in the room, who were terrified by his presence.
"Oh? Was it you?"
Zhang Ji swallowed his fear as he drew his sword, "What do you want?"
"Ha! It was you. Never mind, I"m not here to seek trouble," Sun Ce turned to Zhou Yu, "We come in peace, and we wish to negotiate with his highness, Liu Xie."
Everyone in the room was silent, did not know what to respond to Sun Ce"s words.
Negotiation and foreign affairs were not their specialty or scope of duties, so they were confused about what they should do.
Still, Liu Ye was there as the Demon Legion"s strategist. Also, he was aware of the oncoming demonesses.
"I need to buy time before the empress and the prime consort arrives."
Liu Ye stepped forward to deal with this strange negotiators.
"His Highness is not here, but I"m his secretary. You can talk to me."