506 Cao Cao and Te Langpu’s Suspicious Move (1/2)
While the clan members increased as many talented officers joined, Liu Xie led his Demon Legion and entered Nanpi City. His generals and strategist, Taishi Ci, Liu Ye, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu also accompanied him.
”Arrest all Wang Yun's subordinates and his hidden family. Interrogate them if they know about Wang Yun's rebellion plan.”
Liu Xie did not waste his time on formality. He sent his order to Liu Ye right away.
”Your highness, Wang Yun might be a rebel in this world, but he's still your benefactor in the other life. I hope that you can spare his family.”
”I know. I've never forgotten how he saved me from Dong Zhuo. But he has made a mistake, and we have to punish him to set an example.”
Liu Xie never wanted to harm Wang Yun and his family since the latter saved his life from Dong Zhuo's tyranny in the other timeline. Unfortunately, fate guided them to this undesirable outcome.
The army took over the city as planned. All local officers gave up their authority to Liu Xie without resistance as he was the first prince.
As Liu Xie was busy handling the interrogation and remnant searching, a new system message rang in his head.
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'Election?'
Liu Xie frowned. The promised election was scheduled next year as Liu Xie would become a full-fledge 20-year-old adult. However, he had already abandoned the thought of fighting Tong for the throne.
Still, Liu Xie was curious about the private group. He accepted the invitation as he wanted to check who might be plotting against his father again.
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A new group appeared in Liu Xie's system. He had one more icon appeared next to Tong's clan.
The new group was named as [Election Team], and the leader of this group was Cao Cao!
Liu Xie scanned through the member list right away.
Te Langpu
Cao Cao
Guo Jia
Three people were in this group other than himself.
Te Langpu: ”Welcome, your highness.”
Liu Xie: ”What's this all about?”
Te Langpu: ”As the group title said, election team.”
Te Langpu: ”A friendly reminder, the next election is coming next year, so we would like to prepare you for the campaign, speech, and trivial matters.”
Liu Xie: ”I thought we're preparing for the decisive war with Sun Ce and Lilim. Why are we holding an election in this crucial time? WTF?”
Liu Xie could guess that these people wanted to use him as a puppet, judging from their past and their behavior in the other world, including Te Langpu. Tong had always warned Liu Xie that Te Langpu was smart, but his methods and execution processing could be suspicious and stupid sometimes. Therefore, Liu Xie should not believe in everything coming out of Te Langpu's mouth.
Liu Xie scoffed. It seemed that Cao Cao plotted to make him a puppet again.
Liu Xie: ”Not interested. My two mothers are doing well. We have 2 6-wing demonesses controlling the court, and all idiots are under their control. There is no need for me to enter the political infighting scene.”
Cao Cao: ”You've misunderstood us. We didn't want you to fight or rebel against your mothers or your father. Instead, we want you to take the lead and support your parents in their endeavor.”
Liu Xie: ”???”
Guo Jia: ”Would you give me permission to explain, your highness?”
Cao Cao's current best strategist, Guo Jia, who had been inactive during the conflict between Tong and other forces, finally stopped laying low.
Guo Jia: ”Currently, the prime consort should be the strongest immortal in our current force after his majesty and Lu Bu. By his majesty's order, she should be busy cultivating to reach the 10-wing cultivation as soon as possible.”
Liu Xie: ”And?”
Guo Jia: ”During this period, she will be unavailable for most of the time, and the empress Dong Bai alone will have her hands full controlling rowdy officials.”
Liu Xie: ”I heard that she also has 6 wings. I don't think she'll be in trouble or anyone will have the guts to cause a scene.”
Guo Jia: ”Imagine that more 6-wing cultivators emerge during this period. Most of our elites already have 4 wings. It won't be long before they catch up with her majesty's cultivation.”
Guo Jia: ”Because of this, her majesty will also be busy trying to get herself the 8th wing, so she could stand on top of all generals. What do you think would happen when the two strongest immortals of our forces were to focus on cultivating without managing the court properly?”
Liu Xie: ”What will happen?”
Guo Jia: ”Chaos. We can expect various hidden power to make their moves. Remember when his majesty and the prime consort were away? Many officers did whatever they pleased!”
Liu Xie: ”Don't make it sound like this was something that you had never gotten involved. Te Langpu was the cause, wasn't he!? Why should I work with someone who troubled my father and my mothers!?”
Te Langpu: ”This is where you were wrong. It was a necessary move to pacify those greedy officials, and I managed to flush out opportunist idiots like Wang Yun and Zhen Yi! Without my move back then, everyone would still have been clueless about these two bastards!”
Guo Jia: ”The prime minister has done nothing wrong, your highness. He did everything to eliminate the hidden threats. Now, by looking at their current land, assets, and armies, we can tell who is trustworthy and who's not.”
Guo Jia: ”For example, the Sima clan is currently under suspicion of employing a private army without his majesty's authorization. Moreover, Sima Yi is known to be an ambitious person that has been chasing after the first princess.”
Guo Jia: ”More example, Kong Rong bought all Beihei land for himself, and he allows commoners to rent them for agriculture or farming. However, he declines all merchants that wanted to buy the land off his hands. You see, we tested our governors, and they revealed their true color if they were honest officials or not.”
Guo Jia: ”Secondly, Liu Biao has not officially surrendered to us. We still can't control the Jing Province and Yi Province! Unless we have an active emperor who can issue imperial edicts, these forces will expand. Please note that commoners are now able to cultivate wings. We can expect that many forces will employ more immortals. Her majesty and the prime consort won't be able to deal with everybody!”
Guo Jia: ”Please understand that we are trying to help you and your father, your highness. All you have to do is taking the helms and issue royal decrees to control their movements. As for the rest, you can leave it to her majesty, the prime consort, and us.”
Reading the chat messages, Liu Xie spat and clicked his tongue. He never trusted these men since their reasoning was one-sided. No matter how Liu Xie analyzed their words, they clearly wanted him as their puppet again.
Liu Xie glanced at Liu Ye and Taishi Ci, ”Some bastards want me to be the new emperor next year.”
”WHAT!?” Both officers were shocked and enraged, ”Who is troubling you, your highness. We can report this to her majesty and the prime consort right now!”
”Te Langpu, Guo Jia, and Cao Cao. They are using the new private chat feature to coax me,” Liu Xie copied their messages and sent them to Liu Ye and others through the private chat.
”…”
All officers read the log messages in astonishment. None of them could have thought that Te Langpu, Cao Cao, and Guo Jia were plotting to replace Tong with Liu Xie.