Chapter 432 Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang (1/2)
Chapter 432 – Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang
February 15th, 193 A.D.
Shouchun City
Cao Cao received the help request from Liu Bei. He grimaced as he did not have enough supplies to support another land acquisition.
”Tell Liu Xuande to solve the issue himself. We don't have enough gold or food to support his blind ambition!” Cao Cao yelled.
They chased Liu Bei's messenger away.
At the moment, Cao Cao could not afford to invest in other territory expansion. All his borrowed gold and provision from Tong were put in the southern war fund in Shouchun and Lu Jiang as they were facing a dangerous enemy.
Sun Fang
This immortal's power was no joke. With only him alone, he could decimate Cao Cao's forces by dropping his Qi Bombs.
Without a choice, Cao Cao summoned Pu Jing to Shouchun, planning to use this immortal's power against Sun Fang.
After Liu Bei's messenger was gone, Cao Cao consulted Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Pu Jing, and the newest strategist, Zhuge Liang, for their opinion about how they could defeat Sun Fang at Guangling.
”Last year, Sun Ce conquered the entire Jiangdong, and they are looking north. We're trying our best to withstand against Sun Fang, but we can't even defeat him and his puny forces. What do you think we can do at this point?”
Cao Cao's question aimed at the teenager Zhuge Liang since the former had already heard the other advisors' thoughts.
Zhuge Liang smiled at Cao Cao, ”Simple. We don't fight the Sun Clan. Instead, we should form an alliance with them.”
Cheng Yu and Guo Jia glared at Zhuge Liang in annoyance as they knew something that Zhuge Liang did not know.
Sun Ce and Sun Fang were currently working to establish a new headquarter, which would reinforce the foundation of the Sun Clan. Once completed, both Tong and the Sun Clan could potentially collude and attack Cao Cao's territory in the central plain together, and this would have spelled a disaster.
As such, they wanted to eliminate the Sun Clan when they were at the weakest.
Cheng Yu snorted, ”If we ally with the Sun Clan, it will be like attaching wings to a tiger. It will give them too much time to prepare, and they will eventually backstab us any time when we're fighting against Zhang Tong.”
Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes, ”You guys are obstinate of taking down the emperor, but you don't even have the guts to fight him in the open. Don't you realize that the Xiongnu is now history, and the emperor's hands are now free? If he wants to mobilize his force again, the next target will be us.”
”And what can we do!? If he stacks his forces into one large army, we wouldn't have bothered avoiding the fight. That Zhang Tong is scattering his forces into legions, and they are staring into our borders! Attack one of their legions, and like … four or five legions will be running rampant in our territories within a month!”
Guo Jia frowned and glared at Zhuge Liang, ”A direct confrontation against the emperor at the moment is suicide. In case you don't know, we're pretending to be Zhang Tong's vessel states at the moment. We're trying to expand our forces as fast as possible to keep up with the northern threat.”
Zhuge Liang shrugged, ”Then, all of you are focusing at the wrong point.”
”How so?”
”You guys let the emperor grows too strong.”
”We can't change the past. It was a mistake to ignore Zhang Tong and leave the incompetent Yuan Shao to fight him.”
”That's just an excuse. You all didn't do a good job clearing the threat and blamed it on the deceased.”
”Stop trying to provoke us and tell us what you thought. You're wasting our time!” Cheng Yu bellowed.
Cao Cao and Guo Jia glared at Zhuge Liang, waiting for him to stop playing around.
Zhuge Liang noticed that. He sighed, ”I'm being serious.”
”Elaborate, then.”
”Well, first, our current diplomacy policies didn't make sense. The more we're fighting, the more the emperor gets stronger. Since people in our region migrate to the north every day, Zhang Tong's territory continues to flourish with more taxes and manpower.”
Cao Cao nodded, ”I understand the point, and?”
”Secondly, Zhang Tong doesn't have a foe to fight anymore at the moment, so he gets the room to focus on his domestic growth. Heck, he's been at it for years. I'm surprised that he hasn't attacked any of your cities yet.”
Cao Cao shook his head, ”There are still Xiongnu and Xianbei remnants north of Xiangping, Beiping, and Ji. Two legions of Zhang Tong are still stationing north. He is not free.”
”That's an illusion. If they want to, those legions can be at Shouchun at any given time. And my third point, do you know where Lu Bu and Zhang He's legions are?”
”They are helping Liu Biao in Jing Province.”
”Nope! They are going to be in either Xinye or Xiangyang. Once they resupplied, their next targets will be Wan, Luoyang, and Xuchang. Now, if these two were to move, do you think those legions north of Yellow River won't move? They'll be parading in the central plain, and you can say goodbye to your waste-of-time conspiracy. It's worthless.”
Zhuge Liang kept mocking Cao Cao and his men as he revealed his thought of their strategies. Cheng Yu and Guo Jia almost snapped many times as they did not enjoy being looked down upon by a brat.