Chapter 439 – Three Lords Coalition
Sun Quan understood what his mother was trying to do, and he was interested in it.
After regaining his memory and advanced his cultivation, Sun Quan recollected all info about the situation in this world and compared it to the world in his dream.
He found many differences.
At first, he was surprised that the immortals changed many events in this timeline. Many things event that should not happen happened. Other things that should have occurred did not occur.
Since Tong's territory replaced Yuan Shao's and many generals of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan joined him, things became unpredictable.
Still, Sun Quan was aware of a couple of facts.
First, Tong went easy on other lords!
Had Tong acted like Cao Cao or Yuan Shao in the other timeline, he would have invaded other cities non-stop, expanding his influence and abusing his authority as an emperor. Yet, this immortal emperor seemed to have an ulterior motive by not attacking anyone.
Secondly, Tong tricked everyone in the Sun Clan!
He knew that Xiao Qiao had married to Zhou Yu, and Sun Ce married with Da Qiao. Referring to Huang Gai's testimony, Tong seemed to have provoked Sun Ce and Zhou Yu on purpose by stressing that they were his wives now.
This revealed several vital points to Sun Quan.
Tong knew about the other timeline! Then, if Tong knew, other immortals should be aware of this different world, too!
With Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's reaction so far, Sun Quan deducted that both of them might have realized what was going on in the other timeline. However, they mixed both lives together, which was a terrible practice.
After all, each life was different. They should have been careful and taken responsibility for their current timeline, not the others.
'Zhang Tong wants war, but he's baiting brother and Gongjin into taking action first, and both of them fell for it. Now that they're becoming a rebel force in the eyes of ordinary people, Zhang Tong will get a legitimate reason to mobilize with the people's support.'
Sun Quan was calmer than Sun Ce, who was into martial arts. With his two lives worth of experience from Sun Jian and the other self, Sun Quan's analysis got closer to Tong's real intention.
He sighed, disappointed by Zhou Yu and Sun Ce's inability to perceive the bigger picture.
'Tunnel vision. I had that a lot in the dream.'
Sun Quan's attention turned to his mother, who was in charge of their current faction.
It was unfortunate that Wu Guotai chose to break ties with Sun Ce and Sun Fang to save him and the child in her belly. Still, it gave Sun Quan many paths to choose for his future.
'Should I protect my father's prestige, or should I value my mother and them?'
It was a tough decision. However, Sun Quan recalled that he was not in power anymore as he was still an 11-year-old boy in the eyes of others.
'I'll lay low and protect my mother and my subordinates. Well, if my brothers win, it's all good. But if they lose, the Sun family can still survive from the rebel charge as long as I get on Zhang Tong's good side. There's a will, there's a way!'
.
.
Cheng Yu was not the only one that had been sent to gather allies, but Chen Qun was also acted as an envoy to negotiate with the troublemaker Liu Bei.
At Chang'An, Chen Qun also offered another Imperial Seal to Liu Bei.
"We would like you to cooperate in a coalition against the false emperor. For the trouble, we will return this jade seal to the rightful owner."
Unlike the real Imperial Seal in Sun Ce's hands, this one was a counterfeit that Cao Cao ordered to make specifically for Liu Bei. As for a reason for such deliberation, Cao Cao and his men kept them secret as this would be used against Liu Bei in the future once the war against Tong was over.
Chen Qun was confident that this bait should interest Liu Bei, who seemed to be an ambitious warlord.
Liu Bei frowned as he stared at the seal.
In the other world, when Liu Bei became the Shu Han emperor, he had his men crafted a new seal for his dynasty. The seal did not resemble the current dragon jade cube, as his old item was made by a different style.
Comparing the old seal and the seal from Cao Cao, Liu Bei was a bit embarrassed that the Shu Han version did not look as good as the old Han one.
"I accept your goodwill. Tell Cao Cao that we need time for the preparation. Also, please ask him when he wants to mobilize and confirm the rally point for me."
Without consulting with Xu Shu or Pang Tong, Liu Bei agreed to Chen Qun's offer.
The negotiator thought that Liu Bei was a fool that agreed without a term. He bowed and was about to bid farewell to close the deal. However, Liu Bei stopped Chen Qun.
"I almost forget. I need to borrow some gold from the Marquis. Please tell him that I need 500,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision to support my men in this coalition, or we can't mobilize. After all, we are dealing with the remnants of the Xiongnu in Liang Province for him. Most of our supplies have already been spent."
Chen Qun's jaw dropped as he didn't expect a counter-bargain. Again, he opened his mouth to speak, but Liu Bei interrupted him.
"The deal is non-negotiable since this is a call for a rebellion. Unless Cao Mengde pays me with the expected amount I requested, I won't send the reinforcement."
In a fury, Chen Qun's tone changed, "Lord Liu Bei, please don't forget that Cao Cao is your master. His order is absolute and non-negotiable!"
Liu Bei smirked, "I never said anything about Chang'An and Liang Province being a part of his jurisdiction. Everything that I have occupied is mine, including Hongnong."
Chen Qun wanted to curse at Liu Bei for being a shameless bastard. However, Zhang Fei, who had four white wings behind his back, sent a suppressing aura on Chen Qun.
This scholar, who had hardly trained in martial arts, had weak knees. He knelt and cough as he was suffocated by the overwhelming killing intent.
Liu Bei revealed a gentle smile, but it was sarcastic to Chen Qun.
"My words are final. Go back and tell your lord what I told you."
Chen Qun gritted his teeth as he bid farewell.
The negotiation was a success, but they suffered a setback. Still, those promised gold and provision could be taken back later after the war with Tong.
After leaving Chang'An palace, Chen Qun reported everything to Cao Cao in the clan chat.
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."
.
.
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."
.
.
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.
