Chapter 439 Three Lords Coalition (2/2)
Chen Qun: ”Negotiation completed, but that shameless Liu Bei demanded 500,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision.”
Cao Cao: ”Agree with them. It doesn't matter.”
Chen Qun: ”I already did, my lord. Liu Bei actually forced this deal on us.”
Cao Cao: ”I expected as much. Don't worry.”
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At Xuchang, Cao Cao was sipping his tea in his courtyard with two strategists by his sides.
Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang joined the Marquis at this tea party. They, too, were enjoying their tea.
The warlord placed down his teacup and stared at the two advisors.
”If we fight Zhang Tong right now, what is our chance of victory?”
Zhuge Liang smiled and laughed, ”None!”
Guo Jia glared at the teenager. Then, he turned to Cao Cao with a sad expression, ”None…”
Cao Cao snickered, ”Really?”
Guo Jia sighed, ”I've been trying my best to make you avoid confronting Zhang Tong in a direct fight and waiting for his empire to collapse from the inside because of his weird government system. But it seems my plan has failed since he has never recklessly expanded his territories or committing an atrocity against his people and citizens.”
Zhuge Liang was as smug as ever, ”I suggest you forget about this uprising and kill Pu Jing instead. Then, we can try to negotiate our surrender condition with Zhang Tong.”
Guo Jia snapped, ”All your suggestion is either [Surrender] or [Give up]. Don't you have a better idea, Mr. Sleeping Dragon!?”
”This farce is hopeless, to begin with. Why do you bother rebelling against the emperor anyway? Do my lord want to be an emperor that much?”
”It's the fucking anti-noble system that Zhang Tong is doing! That government system shouldn't have even existed, and it needs to be eliminated for good! His dictatorship needs to stop!”
”But the citizens are happy, right?”
”Citizens can't be happy without the right ruler and nobles! Zhang Tong is not the one!”
”Are you sure? You sound like a stuck-up power-hungry politician to me.”
”You…”
”It's not that citizens aren't happy. It's more like nobles and warlords like you aren't happy, and our lord can't afford to give up your privilege as nobles. What's wrong with giving up private armies and land ownership? You have fewer things to worry about, and your salary increases if you work under the emperor. The job is so easy there.”
Guo Jia stood up and placed his hand on his sword handle, planning to cut Zhuge Liang into pieces.
Cao Cao raised his hand to stop.
”You can sit down, Fengxiao.”
”…”
Guo Jia nodded and swallowed his anger. Even though he had been provoked non-stop by this obnoxious newcomer, his composure was as solid as mountains.
”Speak, Kongming. What do I have to do to stand a chance against Zhang Tong?”
Zhuge Liang smiled, ”Well, for the starter, you should make all your generals immortals.”
”Isn't that impossible?”
”I heard Sun Ce and Zhou Yu have some sort of secrets. Our spies sighted them having a pair of long white tails from their back… like Lu Bu and Zhang Tong.”
Cao Cao's eyes sharpened, ”Continue.”
”For this topic, I think you should ask Pu Jing. I believe that he's hiding crucial information about immortals from you, and that's the key factor between our force and Zhang Tong's force.”
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May 19th, 193 AD.
Zhou Yu and Sun Ce gathered all forces and mobilized from Jianye to Guangling, where Sun Fang was protecting. From all cities, Sun Ce managed to draft 50,000 militias, consisted of mercenaries and noblemen's private armies.
Combined with Sun Fang's 10,000 garrisons, they had 60,000 soldiers, but they lacked training and equipment.
For the time being, they wanted to gather everyone into a large army, so they could stand a chance against one of Tong's legions.
Meanwhile, Cao Cao withdrew his forces from Shouchun and Lujiang, which eased the tension between the southern borders. The townsmen, however, did not celebrate as they knew what their lords were up to.
They were planning to rebel against the emperor!
The movement was so obvious that all merchants and scholars secretly cursed at Sun Ce and Cao Cao that they were too ambitious. Many nobles migrated from their territories to Jing Province or the north, where Tong was protecting.
Still, the two forces were not the only active ones.
Wu Guotai, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, and Sun Quan, along with 1,000 loyal bodyguards of Sun Jian, left Jianye and moved to Jiangxia County, which was a border commandery west of Lujiang and northwest of Jiangdong.
She wanted to avoid passing through Cao Cao's territory, so she chose to head west, moving toward Xiangyang, where Lu Bu and Zhang He were residing. Once they could reach them, they could escort them to Ye, or they could seek protection from the legion commanders.
Unfortunately, Jiangxia was currently occupied by Liu Biao's general, Huang Zu, which had secretly contacted Zhou Yu that he would join forces with them when everything was ready.
Zhou Yu had predicted their movements and instructed Huang Zu to stop Wu Guotai from joining forces with Tong. As long as everyone stayed away from Tong, Sun Ce would not have any weakness for Tong to abuse.