Chapter 526 - Sima Yi"s Struggle (3)
Dong Bai: "We won"t harm you and your family. You can rest a.s.sured. If you really want to have an early retirement, we can accommodate you."
Sima Yi: "Thank you. Then, I would like to leave the Xu Province to other units right away. If possible, I would like to have some gold, so my family can live comfortably after the war."
While everything was going on, Dong Bai and Sima Yi were discussing the retirement conditions.
Dong Bai received advice from her mother that they shouldn"t kill Sima Yi as the latter had the upper hand. Diaochan also suggested that Dong Bai had to play along to buy time for the other units.
No matter what Sima Yi was planning, Diaochan could handle them since she could send Liu Yang to slaughter their entire family at any time.
Dong Bai: "You haven"t stabilized the Xu Province"s domestic and economic for the commoners yet. Why do you want to leave so early?"
Sima Yi: "Even if I stay here for another year or two, it wouldn"t make a difference since Cao Cao has left every city with emptied treasuries. I can"t possibly ask the locals to pay extra taxes, and I can"t pay my soldiers" wages. So, it"s best for me to take responsibility for this failure by relinquis.h.i.+ng my n.o.ble status and all official positions."
As usual, Sima Yi played the victim, pretending that the royal family was bullying him. He yielded to Dong Bai in public, so she couldn"t kill him and his family right away.
Had they done so, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and many other generals would question the royal family. After all, their true loyalty lied with Tong, not Dong Bai or Diaochan.
Dong Bai: "I understand. Then, here is your last duty. Return to Ye along with your family, and I"ll grant you 10,000 gold nuggets, but I need you to leave all your mercenaries behind. Sun Quan and Xu Huang will take over your posts."
Sima Yi: "Thank you for your understanding, your majesty. I wish you good fortune in this upcoming war."
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Sima Yi closed the semi-transparent panel, which displayed the public chat channel.
This move was humiliating as he had to beg Dong Bai to spare him and his family, but it worked nonetheless.
Before Sima Yi came to this point, he had calculated and simulated many scenarios. However, Sima Yi couldn"t come up with a way to win without sacrificing his family members.
Had he fought, Xu Huang and Sun Quan would have ganged on him. Then, Sima Yi"s 150,000 soldiers would die in vain regardless of the outcome of the battle.
Had he escaped, Li Feihong"s dimensional skill and Diaochan would have haunted Sima Yi for the rest of his life. There were also chances that Sima Yi would be killed instantly by Ma Chao or other a.s.sa.s.sins.
Fighting and escaping were not the way out. Therefore, Sima Yi paid the price, which was his entire Sima Clan"s a.s.sets, to save his family.
However, he was far from being safe as old foxes and predators were waiting to tear his flesh apart.
After the public chat concluded, Sima Yi received private chat messages non-stop. Some of them came from other strategists, such as Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and even Zhuge Liang.
Jia Xu: "Nice move, brat. I know what you"re doing. If you tell me what you have dealt with Cao Cao and Lilim, I can shelter you and your family. To be honest, I"m interested in what Lilim had offered you."
Jia Xu: "You can tell me everything. I promise that I"ll keep it a secret."
Ju Shou: "I would like to buy the intel that you have been keeping it a secret for 20,000 gold for one piece of information. Please send me a reply if you"re willing to sell."
Ju Shou: "I understand that her majesty"s 10,000 gold won"t be enough for someone with your status. I"m willing to pay more if you"re not satisfied with the price."
Zhuge Liang: "How dullard. Are you quitting already? I thought we were friends. You know what? I can talk to Zhang Tong and Dong Bai about it and persuade them to return you your posts."
Zhuge Liang: "All you have to do is making an oath with your empowered voice that you are loyal to Zhang Tong and Dong Bai, and you will never betray them no matter what."
Zhuge Liang: "Do you get it? It"s only a vow. Right now, I"m inside Li Feihong"s private dimension. I can make up a story that you"re no longer interested in Zhang Min. And then, I can vouch for you to get him on your side. I can also tell Zhang Min to help us persuading Li Feihong to leave you alone."
Zhuge Liang: "Don"t forget. I"m always your friend."
Xun Yu: "Comrade Sima. I know that you have been treated unfairly by the royal family, but please don"t hate them. Right now, we are about to fight against Lilim"s henchmen, so everyone is on edge."
Xun Yu: "You can hide under my Xun household if you don"t a place to go. We can accommodate you and your family. Our household is always opening for you."
…
Reading through these messages, Sima Yi was infuriated.
From Sima Yi"s perspective, all these invitations and persuasion were traps.
Jia Xu was frank as he extorted the information at the price of his wellbeing. Ju Shou attempted to buy his secret by using money. Zhuge Liang dropped a honey trap to seduce Sima Yi, while Xun Yu pretended to invite him and his family to serve their clan.
Everyone was untrustworthy! Had Sima Yi accepted, he would have been in a disadvantaged position no matter what deal they had prepared for him.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Just you wait!"
Sima Yi swallowed his pride and anger.
At first, Sima Yi didn"t know that Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Sun Quan were targeting him.
But after Te Langpu committed suicide, Sima Yi was sure that the royal family was serious and more ruthless than Tong, who was more cautious and favored pacifism.
As such, Sima Yi was sure that they would come after him and Cao Cao during this grand mobilization. When he a.n.a.lyzed Dong Bai"s deployment arrangement, Sima Yi was certain that he was right.
The arrangement was illogical. Instead of sending Cao Cao and Sima Yi to fight against Sun Ce in Jianye, Dong Bai to send him to Cao Cao"s Xu Province, but she didn"t order Cao Cao to do anything.
It was so obvious that she wanted Sima Yi and Cao Cao to fight each other!
Fortunately, Cao Cao predicted Dong Bai"s moves and relocated his forces in advance, so Sima Yi didn"t find them here.
Moreover, Dong Bai was overlooking a major flaw in her plans.
The private messenger was a double-edged sword. It could help Tong"s allies, but it could also help Lilim"s moles.
Xu Huang: "If you have nowhere to go, you and your family can take shelters under my unit. I promise you that the royalty faction can"t harm you here."
Sima Yi was grateful that Xu Huang was willing to help him. At least, he knew that there were friends left in this world.
But there were also other cunning foxes that wanted to exploit his abilities.
Cao Cao: "Good job. That was a good move, Zhongda."
Cao Cao had contacted Sima Yi many times to recruit him into his army many times in the past. Lilim also tempted him with system skills to buy his submission oath.
Because Sima Yi was afraid that the greater power could trample Tong and his kingdom, he submitted to Lilim prematurely. He still regretted his decision even now.
As he and Cao Cao now had the same master, Cao Cao thought that Sima Yi was on the same side as theirs. Thus, they worked together for their own interests.
Sima Yi: "Temporarily, that is. They will come after me after they kill Sun Ce and Gan Ji."
Sima Yi: "Anyway, how are those buffoons over there?"
Cao Cao: "The situation is hopeful. Gan Ji is an 8-wing demon just like Diaochan. Sun Ce is still stuck at 7-wing, though. He has failed to breakthrough."
Sima Yi: "Any word from Lilim?"
Cao Cao: "No. Zhang Tong is still distracting her, it seems."
Sima Yi: "Can you leave a message and borrow her Guan Yu and Zuo Ci? We need more firepower against Zhang Tong"s three 8-wing cultivators."
Cao Cao: "I"m trying. BTW, Gan Ji has relayed a piece of good news."
Sima Yi: "Oh?"
Cao Cao: "He has system skills. Also, if I were you, I would get out of that place ASAP. You"re not in the safe yet."
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"How fun."
Zhuge Liang reread his sent messages and laughed. He had expected that Sima Yi would ignore him, and the latter did.
"Don"t underestimate Sima Yi, Kongming. You"ve never defeated him, so you should treat this seriously."
Li Feihong and Ma Chao were standing behind Zhuge Liang as the two were monitoring Sima Yi"s movements in their dimension, ready to a.s.sa.s.sinate Sima Yi at any moment.
A private message alert rang. Li Feihong looked at the sender.
Surprisingly, it was from the newest member of their group, who had defected from Cao Cao"s side.
Guo Jia: "Abduct Sima Yi, cut all his four limbs, and destroy his vocal cord. Don"t leave a room for Sima Yi"s clansmen to get back on their feet."
Li Feihong flinched as the idea was too cruel, yet efficient. A man without a limb wouldn"t be able to use the clan menu, so this move would destroy Sima Yi"s potential and prevent him from communicating with other collaborators in the future.
Li Feihong: "That"s a bit too cruel, isn"t it?"
Guo Jia: "Or do you prefer to sacrifice at least 750,000 soldiers to take down Sima Yi in the future? Please don"t forget that the longer you procrastinate his death, the stronger his forces will become. Peasants and commoners can now cultivate, and their strength will catch up to our elites in a few years. We have to weed out potential rebels as soon as possible."
Li Feihong: "750,000?? Where did you get this number from?"
Guo Jia: "Soul detonation can kill one to five cultivators of any cultivation strength. Therefore, from my rough calculation, 10,000 gold that Sima Yi extorted from her majesty can be used to enlist 100,000 uneducated peasants from the countryside easily. Then, 100,000 conscripted militias can kill averagely 300,000 elite soldiers if they are tricked to sacrifice themselves. And I know that Sima Yi won"t hesitate to use that move."
Guo Jia: "Also, Sima Yi"s 150,000 elites can also be tricked to do the same. Add that to the sum, another 450,000 potential death plus 300,000. Then, you have a rough number."
Li Feihong was astonished by Guo Jia"s estimation. Although the calculation and the prediction were shocking, he still couldn"t believe in this former Cao Cao"s best strategist.
After all, his advice came out of nowhere. Even if he was once a legendary strategist, it didn"t mean that his idea would be always right.
As if Guo Jia could sense that Li Feihong doubted him, he revealed another secret.
Guo Jia: "Please be decisive, Lord Liu Bei. You have experienced more lives than us, so you should be more firm with your stance. Don"t be like your old self."
Li Feihong: "Wait! How the h.e.l.l do you know my ident.i.ty!?"
Guo Jia: "The prime consort told me everything after I pledged my immortal oath to her. Now, please follow my instructions. I have already relayed my idea to Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu, so they should understand what to do next."
Li Feihong"s fingers typed on the transparent keyboard to ask for more questions, but Zhuge Liang patted the former"s shoulder.
"Are you talking to Guo Jia by chance?"
Getting interrupted by Zhuge Liang, Li Feihong got annoyed, "So what?"
"My lord, you should follow Guo Jia"s suggestion. He has already informed me of his idea, and I concur with him. Let"s cripple Sima Yi and his entire family in secret, so we can get rid of a future threat."
"…"