Chapter 508 - Pre-Election Rumble (2)
Unlike Cao Cao who wanted to weaken Tong"s forces and strengthen his, Te Langpu simply wanted to replace the monarchy system with the good old democracy. Then, he could enjoy the capitalist environment and acquire rich resources by abusing the monetary system.
For Te Langpu, Cao Cao was just a stepping stone toward his great goal, "Make capitalism great again."
As Cao Cao was secretly texting messages to Guo Jia, Te Langpu also had a secret partner.
Te Langpu: "How come Li Feihong is on Liu Xie"s side? You"ve never reported this to me before!"
Sima Yi: "This is the first time I"m hearing that Li Feihong has this kind of authority. I"m running a legion, but I"ve never heard of this. I think this is something that Liu Xie improvises on the spot, and Li Feihong follows through with it."
Te Langpu: "Are you certain?"
Sima Yi: "Positive. I have spies in every legion. There is no such thing as the supreme commander of all armies. Only the grand commander of each army can control their perspective troops, but no one else in the other armies can."
Te Langpu: "Then, why haven"t other guys in the army protest?"
Sima Yi: "Look carefully. Li Feihong"s hands were busy typing something before himself. He should be texting to other commanders to play along with him."
While Cao Cao had Guo Jia as collaborator and a.s.sistant, Te Langpu colluded with Sima Yi, forming another secret alliance.
Te Langpu needed manpower and Sima Clan"s agents while Sima Yi wanted the entire Sun Clan destroyed, including Sun Quan, Sun Ce, and Wu Guotai.
Revenge for his father was not the only reason. Sima Yi was not fond of having Sun Quan as a prince since it post a threat to Liu Xie, one of the few friends he had.
For Liu Xie and Zhang Min"s future, Sun Quan and his clansmen had to die!
Since both men"s interests coincided, they worked together temporarily. The private message option of level 3 clan came in handy as they could avoid all eyes.
Sima Yi: "For now, play along with Li Feihong and Liu Xie. Let them think that they are still controlling all legions."
Te Langpu: "Can you move without the court"s order? I meant, your legion."
Sima Yi: "I don"t need to move the OFFICIAL legion. I have my own legions in You Province. It"s you who have to put some chips on the table. You don"t have anything right now."
Te Langpu: "Wrong. I have the money! I had talked to the merchant alliance in Nanpi. They are going to contribute to our cause as long as they can get a piece of land."
Sima Yi: "I didn"t mean YOUR coup prep or whatsoever. I meant, the election. Give me the details and don"t forget to add what Cao Cao and Guo Jia are doing."
Te Langpu: "Hey! I"m not your goon."
Sima Yi: "You"re the only one inside that 4-man group chat. Be a spy for us. Work harder, b.i.t.c.h!"
The prime minister clicked his tongue and focused on the meeting instead of bickering with Sima Yi.
As everyone was busy chatting in private, Liu Xie took control of the meeting, "Since this is our first election, I believe everybody here might have not understood the rules. I will explain. First, the partic.i.p.ants or the choices that you can vote-"
At that point, Cao Cao stepped forward and interrupted Liu Xie, "Please wait a moment, your highness. About the rules and the entire election, we"ve already drafted the plan."
Guo Jia also walked out of the crowd and presented Liu Xie with a scroll. The latter picked it to read.
Cao Cao recited what written in the scroll for everyone without missing a word. The summarized rules were as the followings;
1. All princes, princesses, and Zhang Jiao were the candidates of the next emperor.
2. A total of 10,000 voters would be selected from the court officials, military generals, governors, ministers, and chief strategists.
3. Each voter had one vote. They could vote for their desired emperor.
4. One vote equaled one point.
5. The top candidate with most votes would be selected as the new emperor.
6. The terms of the new emperor were 4 years. Afterward, they had to select another one.
7. A neutral party/organization would be responsible for this election. All election organization members could not vote or possess the right to vote.
Listening to the brief const.i.tution, everyone was puzzled as they were too new for them. Even to Te Langpu, this system was weird, vague, and flawed.
Still, it was half of his work since Te Langpu was the one suggesting the idea to Cao Cao, but the latter made it practical.
"All princes, princesses, and senior Zhang!?" Lu Zhi caught onto the issue, "Does this include his highness Zhang Guo, Zhang Yi, and Sun Quan!?"
Lu Zhi"s remark threw the court into an uproar. As usual, Tong"s supporter faction threw a fit since Sun Quan was not Tong"s legitimate son but an adopted son. Moreover, he came from a concubine"s family.
In the hall, Huang Gai, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and Sun Quan"s subordinates glanced at each other, astonished, surprised, and rejoiced.
Lu Xun and Lu Meng, who were once prisoners, were now serving as court officials and joined the main clan. Immediately replacing the decreased Zhou Yu"s former ranks, Lu Xun became Sun Quan"s advisor while Lu Meng was instated as vice general of Sun Quan"s private army. As for the grand commander, Huang Gai was still holding the reign.
They were also in the room, attending this meeting.
When they heard that Sun Quan was also the running candidate, a bright smile appeared on their faces. Although they were new to the clan chat system, they quickly adapted to the new environment and mastered it.
Lu Meng: "Young master, did you have a deal with Cao Cao in secret?"
Sun Quan also created a private group for his subordinates and clan members. All of his former retainers were the members of this chat.
Sun Quan: "Oh? How did you know?"
Lu Meng: "I can tell from the content of this const.i.tution. They are tailored so that you can become one of the candidates. It"s too vague that it leaves many s.p.a.ces to be interpreted this way."
Since Lu Xun and Lu Meng had their memory and experience of the other timeline, picking clues from political movements was as easy as breathing. They could tell what Cao Cao was trying to do.
Sun Quan: "Cao Cao offered that he will push me to the throne. I think he"s up to something though."
Lu Xun: "I think he wants to make you fight Sun Ce and ruin our foundation. If you get voted, Liu Xie and Zhang Tong"s supporters won"t see us as their allies anymore. I believe that Cao Cao wants us to collide with Zhang Tong"s faction to weaken our forces. Please don"t take the bait, young master."
Not only Lu Meng doubted Cao Cao"s motive, but Lu Xun also suspected that the latter might scheme to instigate conflicts between the royal faction and the Sun Family.
Sun Quan: "Don"t worry. I"m not stupid enough to bite the bait. Those demonesses will kill my mother for real with I get chosen. Do you know that there"s another tigress in Zhang Tong"s harem? Aside from Dong Bai and Diaochan, w.a.n.g Yi is also a cultivator with 7 wings, and her daughter has mixed wings like me!"
Currently, Sun Quan"s cultivation strength was 6-wing, 3 angel wings and 3 demon wings. His cultivation progress was smooth until he got to this point as Sun Quan reached the bottleneck like others. Unless he had a solid physical strength and soul foundation, he could not awaken his new wings without a repercussion.
Sun Quan could always push to 8-wing, but his body could not contain the strength. Had he done so, his body and soul might shatter to pieces. For now, he could only patiently wait and cultivate.
As a 6-wing cultivator, Sun Quan could detect others with greater strength, and he found w.a.n.g Yi. Strangely, the latter didn"t seem to bother hiding her aura or cultivation strength now.
Lu Xun: "Consort w.a.n.g? The mixed wing daughter, is it the sixth princess?"
Sun Quan: "Yes. Zhang Ying. She has 4 wings now, and she was the same age as the second and third prince."
Lu Meng: "HOLY s.h.i.+T! SHE"S AS STRONG AS US!?"
Sun Quan: "Indeed, you fool. Don"t you dare messing with them, or we"re doomed."
Learning the harem"s secret, Lu Meng and Lu Xun had a scare. Surrendering to Tong was the right decision as his allies were too strong.
Wu Guotai: "What did Cao Cao offer you, Zhongmou?"
Sun Quan"s mother joined the conversation. Since concubines were not allowed to join the grand meeting, she was curious about what happened in the throne room and other movements.
Sun Quan: "Aside from the throne and authority to command Zhang Tong"s armies, he didn"t promise anything. Heck, Li Feihong shows up and just tells everyone that he has the power to control all legions. I think either Cao Cao or Li Feihong is lying."
Wu Guotai: "Don"t take the bait. We"ll support Liu Xie. All of us will lay low until Shangxiang is old enough to get married. We"ll give Shangxiang to Liu Xie and reinforce our relations.h.i.+p with the loyalties."
Sun Quan: "You stopped me from pursuing other princesses, but you want to give Shangxiang to Liu Xie? Are you serious?"
Wu Guotai: "Women can be used as political tools, but men have a reputation to uphold. You can"t afford to create a scandal, but Shangxiang can never become someone famous. Your positions are different."
Sun Quan: "… Did Shangxiang know about this?"
Wu Guotai: "No, but she will eventually."
Sun Quan: "She will throw a fit for sure."
Wu Guotai: "She will. By the way, pay attention to the meeting."
Warned by his mother, Sun Quan came back to his senses. He glanced at Zhang Zhao, who was observing the meeting, hoping to get a briefing of what he had missed when he was not paying attention.
.
.
The meeting was in chaos. As Tong was not a candidate to be selected as the emperor but Cao Cao put Zhang Jiao to represent Tong, all officers from various factions yelled and voiced their anger.
At glance, Tong"s supporters could simply vote for Zhang Jiao, so the latter could succeed what Tong was doing. But the officials in this world were educated, and all of them had their other timeline counterpart"s memory. These officers were not stupid enough to not find the hidden scheme in this election.
First, Liu Xie and Zhang Jiao were on the same side. Making them candidates was like splitting the votes between the faction"s supporters.
Secondly, putting all princes as candidates would include Sun Quan, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Guo in the mix. This left room for an outsider to steal the throne. Even if one of the young princes won, someone might show up and mimic Dong Zhuo, manipulating the Han Court like in the other timeline.
Thus, everyone was thinking that Cao Cao planned to enthrone the young princes or gave the throne to an outsider. Many ministers pointed their fingers and Cao Cao and cursed him.
Yet, Cao Cao was unfazed. He simply smiled and appeased the crowd.
"You all have misunderstood me. Since you are afraid of me manipulating the new emperor, I shall make a statement. I promise you that I will not accept any official position in the court after the new emperor has been selected. Instead, my men and I will continue working as a humble administrator of Xu Province. Of course, I will not dib my hands in the military since Chancellor Li is taking care of that."
Cao Cao vowed that he would not manipulate the new emperor or accept any promotion. With just a simple empty promise, he calmed the commotion.
Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang, the hidden dragon, was monitoring this meeting as well. He was lurking in the group of officials.
He, too, had already made several moves on his own.
Zhuge Liang had a bolder agenda than his peers, which could turn the court upside down.