Chapter 520 - Cleaning Up
Mid-January, 201 AD.
Guo Jia: "Want me to switch sides now?"
Zhuge Liang: "Nah. Continue playing your role for a bit longer. Try to persuade Cheng Yu and Chen Qun to our side, please."
Guo Jia: "Chen Qun is doable, but Cheng Yu is impossible. That guy is a diehard loyalist."
Zhuge Liang: "Ah, a pity. I was hoping for another helper."
Guo Jia: "Was he really that good? I looked into his achievements in the other world. His jobs were so-so at best."
Zhuge Liang: "Think of the combination of Jia Xu and Xun Yu. He can be ruthless, insane, and cruel to his allies like Jia Xu, but his long-term insight is on par with Xun Yu."
Guo Jia: "Ah, I remember. He ransacked his hometown after Lu Bu has stolen Cao Cao"s Yan Province to win the battle. But are you sure about his talent? He was defeated in Chibi."
Zhuge Liang: "That was because of an epidemic issue that Cao Cao had to burn his s.h.i.+ps on purpose to secure his army"s retreat. Cheng Yu didn"t do anything wrong in that battle. Zhou Yu just took all the credits and covered the facts."
Unbeknownst to all clan members, Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang had been working together since the day Te Langpu had pushed the election bill in the court.
Surprisingly, Guo Jia disapproved of Cao Cao"s conspiracy against Tong as the conflict was unnecessary. From his point of view, Cao Cao should have served Tong obediently and enjoyed his immortality.
In this world, Guo Jia had planned to join Tong after the Battle of Anping Fort, but he was too young at that time. Cao Cao tempted him to join his side a few years later, in which Guo Jia naively jumped to Cao Cao"s side.
He regretted that decision, but he was glad that Cao Cao and Tong had joined forces, ending this civil war for good.
Yet, Cao Cao chose to submit to Lilim for more power when the Han Dynasty had already restored.
Since it came to this point, Guo Jia decided to sabotage Cao Cao"s faction in secret by not displaying his full potential, giving his lord faulty suggestion and ruining Te Langpu"s faction at the same time.
It wasn"t hard for Zhuge Liang to catch the hints and contacted Guo Jia and cooperated with him without anyone knowing.
Guo Jia: "Anyway. I need some of your men as my bodyguards in the case Cao Cao finds out about my intension. I don"t think I"m safe with Cao Cao now."
Zhuge Liang: "No problem. Stay safe."
.
Guo Jia closed the clan chat menu and leaned back on his wooden armchair. He was alone in his room in Ye City. However, he might have to move to Xu with Cao Cao soon.
His mission had been achieved as Tong"s retainers dominated the court. In the future, Cao Cao, Sima Yi, or Te Langpu would be helpless against their counterattacks. It was a matter of time that these forces would be wiped out by Li Feihong and Dong Bai"s secret agents.
"Their next move should be the internal stabilization and the election abolishment. Te Langpu will go down first. Then, it depends on Cao Cao"s next action. If he"s smart, he will surrender to the royalty and retire from the political world. If he"s blind, he will join forces with Sun Ce and Lilim. And then, Dong Bai and Li Feihong will invade Jiangdong. Once Sun Ce and Cao Cao are out of the picture, they will turn around and take down Sima Yi next."
Guo Jia predicted the royal faction"s next moves as he a.n.a.lyzed when he could move to Tong"s side.
Cao Cao"s s.h.i.+p was sinking. Only fools would sell their souls for this overly ambitious minister and Lilim.
"There"s a fine line between boldness and stupidity. Unfortunately, Mengde, you"ve made the wrong decision, and I won"t help you."
.
.
.
= A week later after the shocking a.s.sembly =
Even after Li Feihong officially supported the royal faction, Te Langpu"s "democracy pursuers" didn"t stop scheming or conspiring against Dong Bai, Diaochan, or Li Feihong.
"Will Li Feihong become another emperor candidate?"
"That"s impossible. Li Feihong is an outsider. He can"t be a candidate."
"But Sun Quan can?"
"Sun Quan can be a candidate because of his mother. Li Feihong is a complete outsider!"
Te Langpu"s subordinates discussed in private among themselves as they were speculating the next election result. Since the overall situation looked grim for them, they were brainstorming what they should do next to get the upper hand.
Still, they were helpless against the military forces under Li Feihong. Had it been the older days when they could possess private armies, they could have instigated a revolt or a coup d"état.
*VHOOM*
While they were talking, they heard a strange sound. As officials usually held a banquet during their free time, they thought that the noise was from musical instruments of their neighbors.
The group of three men continued their political discussion.
"Should we go and consult Sun Quan"s men? They should support their young lord, right? At least, we can drive a wedge in their relations.h.i.+p, so we can reap some profits later."
*VHOOM*
"Good idea. Is there anyone acquainted with them?"
*VHOOM*
"I know a minor official under Zhang Zhao. I can visit him."
Everyone"s mood got better as they still had hope in this fighting for political influence. They were confident that Sun Quan would accept their support and steal the throne from Tong"s other sons under Li Feihong"s nose.
Unfortunately, they lacked the updated information and the intel about Sun Quan"s stance. They had no idea that Sun Quan and his family had already migrated to Li Feihong"s dimension and used it as their new home. The residents in Ye City were merely dummies.
*VHOOM*
*VHOOM*
"Eh? What kind of guqin our neighbor is playing? Someone is trying to mimic a battle drum or what?"
"Dunno. But it sounds kinda … vibrating. Drum beating has a deeper sound."
"It"s similar to a sound when you rub a deepest note with a metal."
"…"
*VHOOM*
A sci-fi sound was audible behind the gossiping men.
A man rushed out with a sword. Within a second, he slashed three times.
*SWUA*
*SWUA*
*SWUA*
The scheming officials collapsed on the ground without being able to scream or shout for help. Their eyes widened in shock and despair.
It was too late for them to move as their heart stopped beating.
The murderer of these three men, Ma Chao, slowly picked up their dead bodies and threw them into the blue portal. Five soldiers, each with a bucket of water and a mob, ran out of the gate.
The frantic team mobbed the b.l.o.o.d.y area. The five men ran back to the gate with their tools after they had erased all the blood on the floor.
Ma Chao, who was acting as the cleaning team"s rearguard, returned to Li Feihong"s dimension last. The process of the a.s.sa.s.sination and cleaning lasted only 2 minutes.
*VHOOM*
The gate closed.
The room became silent as no guard was present in the area. In fact, there were guards, but they also disappeared without a trace.
…
Xu Shu, Ma Chao, and Li Feihong tossed the corpses to a plot of land, which had fences surrounding the square.
"Yes, please."
Upon Li Feihong answering, the system transformed the dead three men along with their bodyguards into a pile of brown dirt.
"Put all of it in the fertilizer slot in the auto-planting warehouse.>>
Li Feihong nodded in satisfaction as he finished getting rid of Te Langpu"s supporters and their bodyguards while adding resources to his dimension at the same time.
Just now, Li Feihong cooperated with Ma Chao, Xu Shu, and their soldiers in a.s.sa.s.sinating these untrustworthy politicians. Xu Shu managed the team of the janitors. Ma Chao was in charge of taking down the leaders, while Li Feihong controlled the portals.
Since the meeting, this was their 44th job. However, Te Langpu had not found out about the death of his subordinates yet.
The clock was ticking as Te Langpu"s faction members were taken out one after another.
"Who"s our next target?" Asked Xu Shu. After he had learned about Li Feihong"s other ident.i.ty as Liu Bei, he was always enthusiastic about his work. Moreover, he, too, swore allegiance to Li Feihong with his immortal oath.
"We"ll call it a day. Let"s head back and secluded cultivate. I hope both of you can get your 7th or 8th wing before the southern campaign starts."
Ma Chao and Xu Shu bowed deeply to Li Feihong before they returned to their residents.
Ma Chao"s behavior got more tamed as he was afraid of the greater power, such as Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Li Feihong. He no longer displayed his rough manner in front of Li Feihong or the other demonesses anymore.
.
.
.
February, 201 AD.
A month later, Te Langpu realized that his people, who supported democracy, went missing.
At first, Te Langpu thought that they were too busy negotiating with other retainers from other factions. However, when he attended the monthly a.s.sembly meeting in February, he couldn"t find his aide, who managed his intelligence agents.
At that point, Te Langpu was aware that they were either abducted or killed.
.
.
= In the a.s.sembly meeting =
"Your majesty. I would like to file a lawsuit against General Li Feihong for a.s.sa.s.sinating 75 of our court officials."
Te Langpu was decisive and frank as he collided with the royal faction head-on. He complained and accused Li Feihong that he was bullying his retainers. Although he didn"t have a piece of solid evidence, he knew that Li Feihong was the only one who could complete such tasks.
Dong Bai didn"t say anything. She glanced at Zhuge Liang, who was standing next to Li Feihong.
Zhuge Liang nodded, accepting the debate task, "Where is your proof or witnesses, Prime Minister?"
A simple question from Zhuge Liang was enough to silence Te Langpu as the latter didn"t have proof to back up his claim.
Yet, Te Langpu didn"t give up. He ignored Zhuge Liang and cupped his fist, continuing talking to Dong Bai.
"Your majesty. All 75 court officials have one thing in common. They worked for me! Last month, they have gone missing one after another, but none of our agencies has managed to locate them! You see, your majesty… General Li Feihong has the ability to transport people to another dimension, and he is the prime suspect of the 75 men"s sudden disappearance. I wish to put General Li to the trial, so we can investigate the matter!"
Many of the royal faction officers snickered and sneered at Te Langpu. They didn"t know who or how Te Langpu"s subordinates went missing, but they enjoyed watching his demise.
Again, Dong Bai didn"t speak. She left everything to Zhuge Liang.
"This is a baseless accusation, senior Te. I cannot hold a trial without a piece of evidence or an eye-witness. Moreover, your subordinates WENT MISSING! We haven"t found them or their dead bodies. How can you a.s.sume that General Li killed them?"
"Then, I hope to borrow the prime consort"s power and your men to investigate in this matter as soon as possible. I also wish to mobilize policemen and detectives from academies to scan through their houses for clues."
"We have more important tasks than chasing after deserters this year, senior Te. We have yet to decide the date of the upcoming election and mobilization of the southern campaign."
"Urgent matter and public order take priority over other projects! This is a matter of life and death here!"
"We see no dead body, Prime Minister. No dead body, no crime. You"re making a baseless a.s.sumption that hinders our work. Please stop drinking liquor before work. It ruins your character and your intelligence."
Zhuge Liang proceeded to provoke Te Langpu, trying to make him angry and discrediting him in the process.
The bicker went on, but Te Langpu failed to get his purpose across.
In the end, he went home, disappointed in Dong Bai"s inaction and the oppressing government. He stopped coming to work after that day, spending all day drinking.