508 Pre-Election Rumble 2 (2/2)

Lu Meng: ”Young master, did you have a deal with Cao Cao in secret?”

Sun Quan also created a private group for his subordinates and clan members. All of his former retainers were the members of this chat.

Sun Quan: ”Oh? How did you know?”

Lu Meng: ”I can tell from the content of this constitution. They are tailored so that you can become one of the candidates. It's too vague that it leaves many spaces to be interpreted this way.”

Since Lu Xun and Lu Meng had their memory and experience of the other timeline, picking clues from political movements was as easy as breathing. They could tell what Cao Cao was trying to do.

Sun Quan: ”Cao Cao offered that he will push me to the throne. I think he's up to something though.”

Lu Xun: ”I think he wants to make you fight Sun Ce and ruin our foundation. If you get voted, Liu Xie and Zhang Tong's supporters won't see us as their allies anymore. I believe that Cao Cao wants us to collide with Zhang Tong's faction to weaken our forces. Please don't take the bait, young master.”

Not only Lu Meng doubted Cao Cao's motive, but Lu Xun also suspected that the latter might scheme to instigate conflicts between the royal faction and the Sun Family.

Sun Quan: ”Don't worry. I'm not stupid enough to bite the bait. Those demonesses will kill my mother for real with I get chosen. Do you know that there's another tigress in Zhang Tong's harem? Aside from Dong Bai and Diaochan, Wang Yi is also a cultivator with 7 wings, and her daughter has mixed wings like me!”

Currently, Sun Quan's cultivation strength was 6-wing, 3 angel wings and 3 demon wings. His cultivation progress was smooth until he got to this point as Sun Quan reached the bottleneck like others. Unless he had a solid physical strength and soul foundation, he could not awaken his new wings without a repercussion.

Sun Quan could always push to 8-wing, but his body could not contain the strength. Had he done so, his body and soul might shatter to pieces. For now, he could only patiently wait and cultivate.

As a 6-wing cultivator, Sun Quan could detect others with greater strength, and he found Wang Yi. Strangely, the latter didn't seem to bother hiding her aura or cultivation strength now.

Lu Xun: ”Consort Wang? The mixed wing daughter, is it the sixth princess?”

Sun Quan: ”Yes. Zhang Ying. She has 4 wings now, and she was the same age as the second and third prince.”

Lu Meng: ”HOLY SHIT! SHE'S AS STRONG AS US!?”

Sun Quan: ”Indeed, you fool. Don't you dare messing with them, or we're doomed.”

Learning the harem's secret, Lu Meng and Lu Xun had a scare. Surrendering to Tong was the right decision as his allies were too strong.

Wu Guotai: ”What did Cao Cao offer you, Zhongmou?”

Sun Quan's mother joined the conversation. Since concubines were not allowed to join the grand meeting, she was curious about what happened in the throne room and other movements.

Sun Quan: ”Aside from the throne and authority to command Zhang Tong's armies, he didn't promise anything. Heck, Li Feihong shows up and just tells everyone that he has the power to control all legions. I think either Cao Cao or Li Feihong is lying.”

Wu Guotai: ”Don't take the bait. We'll support Liu Xie. All of us will lay low until Shangxiang is old enough to get married. We'll give Shangxiang to Liu Xie and reinforce our relationship with the loyalties.”

Sun Quan: ”You stopped me from pursuing other princesses, but you want to give Shangxiang to Liu Xie? Are you serious?”

Wu Guotai: ”Women can be used as political tools, but men have a reputation to uphold. You can't afford to create a scandal, but Shangxiang can never become someone famous. Your positions are different.”

Sun Quan: ”… Did Shangxiang know about this?”

Wu Guotai: ”No, but she will eventually.”

Sun Quan: ”She will throw a fit for sure.”

Wu Guotai: ”She will. By the way, pay attention to the meeting.”

Warned by his mother, Sun Quan came back to his senses. He glanced at Zhang Zhao, who was observing the meeting, hoping to get a briefing of what he had missed when he was not paying attention.

.

.

The meeting was in chaos. As Tong was not a candidate to be selected as the emperor but Cao Cao put Zhang Jiao to represent Tong, all officers from various factions yelled and voiced their anger.

At glance, Tong's supporters could simply vote for Zhang Jiao, so the latter could succeed what Tong was doing. But the officials in this world were educated, and all of them had their other timeline counterpart's memory. These officers were not stupid enough to not find the hidden scheme in this election.

First, Liu Xie and Zhang Jiao were on the same side. Making them candidates was like splitting the votes between the faction's supporters.

Secondly, putting all princes as candidates would include Sun Quan, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Guo in the mix. This left room for an outsider to steal the throne. Even if one of the young princes won, someone might show up and mimic Dong Zhuo, manipulating the Han Court like in the other timeline.

Thus, everyone was thinking that Cao Cao planned to enthrone the young princes or gave the throne to an outsider. Many ministers pointed their fingers and Cao Cao and cursed him.

Yet, Cao Cao was unfazed. He simply smiled and appeased the crowd.

”You all have misunderstood me. Since you are afraid of me manipulating the new emperor, I shall make a statement. I promise you that I will not accept any official position in the court after the new emperor has been selected. Instead, my men and I will continue working as a humble administrator of Xu Province. Of course, I will not dib my hands in the military since Chancellor Li is taking care of that.”

Cao Cao vowed that he would not manipulate the new emperor or accept any promotion. With just a simple empty promise, he calmed the commotion.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang, the hidden dragon, was monitoring this meeting as well. He was lurking in the group of officials.

He, too, had already made several moves on his own.