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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.

However, Cao Cao kept his cool and listened. Since he knew that this young brat in the other life gave him a headache to the point that he died from a brain tumor, Cao Cao could not underestimate this legendary strategist.

"If you were me, what will be your move? Let’s say we want to overthrow Zhang Tong’s regime no matter what. Surrender is not an option."

"..."

Zhuge Liang froze as he reexamined Cao Cao’s eyes and his demeanor. At this moment, he knew that Cao Cao’s mental strength and patience were worthy of respect. Also, he had an aura of an emperor.

Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang was not here to serve him.

He wanted to ruin this warlord from the inside!

Zhuge Liang glanced at Pu Jing, whom he deemed as a threat.

’My first goal is to eliminate Pu Jing, and Cao Cao’s forces will collapse by itself. But it’s going to be difficult manipulating this immortal to commit an error.’

He contemplated a bit and began his scheme.

"As I said, we are focusing on the wrong solution. The right way to defeat the emperor is to gather every force in the country and face him together. We have to ally with Liu Biao and the Sun Clan. Also, we have to stop Liu Bei from expanding his forces and join us in this coalition."

Cao Cao was disappointed, "A coalition again? That’s impossible."

"How so?"

"Liu Bei is an untrustworthy subordinate of mine. Just a moment ago, his messenger came and demanded us to support their cause, which I refused. Secondly, Liu Biao is known to be a Han loyalist, and he’s working with Zhang Tong. Trying to make them fight Zhang Tong is difficult."

Zhuge Liang smiled. He already learned about Liu Bei’s personality from the daily discussion in the bamboo courtyard. However, he needed to confirm something from Cao Cao.

"By chance, do you have the lost imperial seal?"

Cao Cao was shocked, "I do. How did you know!?"

The strategist chuckled, "I received a proclamation from the emperor, but the seal is not the same as the previous emperor Ling’s seal. I just simply guess that the old seal must have been lost. Well, I didn’t really expect that you would have had it, though."

"..."

"Since you have it, then everything is a lot easier. We can make both Liu Bei and Liu Biao fight Zhang Tong with that seal."

Zhuge Liang explained his plan.

"Give the seal to Liu Bei and make him another emperor."

"WHAT!?"

Zhuge Liang elaborated.

First, he knew that Liu Bei claimed that he inherited the bloodline of Liu Bang, and he had the legitimate reason to fight against Tong, who did not have the surname [Liu]. Therefore, Liu Bei could be used as an excuse to rebel against Tong while Cao Cao could retain the support of his people.

Secondly, Liu Bei was known among his civilians to be a benevolence ruler. By supporting Liu Bei, Cao Cao could gain those civilians’ trust and draw them to his side easier. After all, persuading brainwashed civilians to join another side was harder than trying to convert a mountain bandit into a saint.

Third, Liu Bei would sooner or later break free from Cao Cao. Instead of having another enemy to worry about, they should bribe this ambitious pretender and force him to fight Zhang Tong in the open.

And most importantly, once Liu Bei became a new emperor, Liu Biao would have no choice but to support Liu Bei instead of Tong since they were from the same imperial clan of Liu. With this, Tong would lose his only ally.

"What about the Sun Clan?" Pu Jing was curious.

Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Send a group of assassins to Ye City and kill Sun Jian. I don’t mind if it fails. The Sun Clan should have this "Clan Chat" too, right? Once they are attacked, they will report to their clan chat. Sun Fang and Sun Ce won’t sit still if their hostage father is under attack by mysterious assassins. Who do you think will be their prime suspect had one of the hostages of the Sun Clan died?"

Cao Cao closed his eyes to ponder.

Ten minutes later, after a period of awkward silence, he waved his hands, "We’ll think about it. For now, you’re dismissed."

Zhuge Liang bowed and retreated. He sighed and glanced at Pu Jing.

’If I want to get this immortal killed, I have to force him to fight in a decisive battle. I can easily allow them to fight Sun Fang and watch them killing each other, but I will definitely get killed in the process when Zhang Tong mobilizes all his troops to the central plain. Well, the basic of all strategies, dying in vain, is a no-go. I must live and see the end of my work!’

When Zhuge Liang returned to his residence, he walked toward his pet messenger doves.

A dozen trained dove was resting on the edge of his room’s window.

The strategist wrote 12 same texts in a small paper and tied them on all dove’s leg.

Then, he chased the doves away, "Go to Xiangyang."

All birds flapped their wings as they were trained.