Chapter 521 – Cao Family's Determination
March 201 AD.
Months had passed since Li Feihong and Zhang Min's wedding. The ceremony also completed in secret within Li Feihong's private dimension.
Despite the absence of the emperor and Lu Bu, the coalition of Dong Bai, Li Feihong, Liu Xie, and Sun Quan suppressed all scheming officers. Many unfaithful officials were forced to retire as Dong Bai returned to her duty, supporting Liu Xie and Li Feihong from behind.
Zhuge Liang moved behind the scenes. Nobody knew what he did or what he plotted. But since Diaochan said he was trustworthy, everyone left him alone.
Changes also occurred in the army.
Zhang Liao was transferred from the Monster Legion to become the grand commander of Redhare Legion, replacing Lu Bu's position.
The merged unit of White Horse Legion and Monster Legion changed its name. Using the translation of Li Feihong's name, translated as red, the new unit was called [Crimson Angel].
The Crimson Angel Legion became the second unit that was authorized to have more than 100,000 soldiers along with Tong's personal Immortal Legion.
Zhao Yun and Hu Che-er worked as vice generals for the new unit. Strangely, Wei Yan got sent away to support Tian Yu in Pyongyang. Everybody in the court believed that he got demoted because he used to pursue Zhang Min in the past, but no one knew the reason behind this demotion.
The Silver Axe Legion of Xu Huang was also summoned back from the barbarian land to guard You Province, the home of the Sima Clan, despite the objection of Sima Yi. Again, everyone thought that Li Feihong wanted to restrain Sima Yi's secret forces in the province since the latter also once chased after Zhang Min.
Zhang Jiao, who everyone had thought that he was a toothless tiger, suddenly raised a new legion by the order of Dong Bai and Liu Xie. The Yellow Turban Legion emerged once more, but they were now working for the Han Dynasty. Bo Cai, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang also transferred to this unit to support Tong's father.
Two hidden officers under the Ghost Legion, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, also got their promotion. Li Feihong sent them to the Silver Axe Legion to replace the two vice generals, who moved back to the Yellow Turban unit.
And Lastly, Sun Quan's officers, such as Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, and Han Dang got a huge promotion. Dong Bai and Liu Xie allowed them to form two legions, which would add two more armies for the Sun Clan.
This promotion was a declaration to all officers that Sun Clan were supporting the royalty, Tong, and Li Feihong. Should anyone offend them, all hell would befall on them and their families.
The unity of Tong's family scared all ambitious ministers, including Te Langpu, Cao Cao, and Sima Yi.
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= Xiapi City =
Late-January, 201 AD.
Cao Cao and his men left Ye City and returned to their home province for self-protection. Unlike Te Langpu, Cao Cao had already assumed that Te Langpu's retainers were abducted and killed by Li Feihong in secret, but he didn't dare to stay behind and help the minister.
He, too, was afraid that Li Feihong would target him and his men, too.
Li Feihong's skill threatened Cao Cao to the point that he got paranoid and couldn't sleep for days. In the end, he had to flee. Or else, he wouldn't be able to get a wink of sleep.
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Cao Cao was sitting in his office, looking at the blue semi-transparent monitor before him.
He was communicating with Lilim through a messenger system, which only Lilim's subordinates could use.
As Cao Cao was cornered, he didn't hesitate to accept Lilim's invitation. He already vowed with his immortal oath to be her subordinate.
Lilim: \"Migrate everyone to Jianye. I built a supporter cult called Gan Sect. Find Yu Ji and you'll find Sun Ce and everybody else.\"
Cao Cao didn't know why Lilim was so difficult to contact. However, she still reached out to Cao Cao from time to time to advise him.
Today as well, Lilim sacrificed her time to check the situation in the outside world while she was suppressing Tong on the bed.
Cao Cao: \"Who're our remaining allies? I need to know who else is working with you.\"
Lilim: \"Zhen Yi, Sun Ce, Huang Zu, Liu Biao, Wei Yan, Sima Yi, Guan Yu, Zuo Ci, Yu Ji, and Liu Bei.\"
Lilim didn't only contact Cao Cao, but she also tempted many people. However, not many of them accepted her offers. Most of the members were someone that Cao Cao had already deduced that they didn't want Tong's regime.
However, Cao Cao was surprised that Liu Biao and Wei Yan were on the list. Also, someone he had thought that would submit to Lilim wasn't a part of this group.
Cao Cao: \"No Sun Quan?\"
Lilim: \"He's on Zhang Tong's side. Don't count on him.\"
It was surprising that Sun Quan wasn't tempted by Lilim's system skills and the promising future. Judging from Sun Quan's character from the other timeline, Cao Cao recalled the time when his envoy visited Sun Quan and asked him to surrender.
Before the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan planned to surrender, but Zhuge Liang incited the former into waging war against Cao Cao.
This warlord was originally a pacifist, completely different from the ambitious Sun Ce. Without Sun Quan's pro-war advisors, Sun Quan wouldn't wage any war against Shu or Wei.
Cao Cao forgot about this minor detail and misjudged Sun Quan's character. He facepalmed after he realized his blunder.
Lilim: \"Also, Ma Chao is siding with Li Feihong. You have been duped about the previous prison break incident.\"
Again, Lilim revealed Li Feihong's hidden trump card after she had scanned through the system log files. The advantage of the system administrator over the residents was huge.
However, it didn't help Cao Cao in this situation. Had she been more diligent and not indulged in sex, Cao Cao could have foiled Dong Bai's plan that day and discredit Li Feihong for sheltering criminals.
It was too late now as the event had long passed. The lie became reality as everyone in the court and the citizens accepted the news.
Cao Cao wanted to curse Lilim out loud that she was so unreliable that she relayed this important intel too late, but he couldn't do anything to Li Feihong now as his supporters and backing were too strong.
Cao Cao: \"Are my subordinates trustworthy?\"
Because of the heart pain and the frustration, Cao Cao asked this question for the sake of confirmation. He got more cautious as he didn't want to overlook any missing information now.
Lilim: \"No. Your strategists are secretly working with Zhuge Liang.\"
Cao Cao: \"WHAT!? WHO DARES BETRAY ME!?\"
Again, another piece of shocking information stunned Cao Cao.
Lilim: \"Guo Jia and Xun Yu.\"
Cao Cao: \"GUO JIA!? SINCE WHEN!?\"
Lilim: \"From the very beginning, he has been working with Zhuge Liang to test your character and ambition. Since you're so obstinate with the election conspiracy, he's cooperating with Zhang Tong's men to sabotaging your forces from the inside. You're screwed.\"
Lilim: \"Whoops. Zhang Tong has pushed me down again. Later!\"
Cao Cao: \"Wait! Tell me the details! What are they planning?\"
\"FUCKING SLUT!!\"
Cao Cao stood up and threw away his favorite teapot to the ground in anger. He was so infuriated to the point that he wanted to kill somebody.
The commotion in Cao Cao's office alarmed the guards. Several soldiers rushed in, thinking that something might have happened to their lord.
\"My lord, are you okay!?\"
\"What happened!?\"
Cao Cao grumbled and waved his hand, \"Ah, I'm fine. You're dismissed.\"
\"… Yes, my lord.\"
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= 2 Hours Later =
Three men visited Cao Cao in his office. Two of them were young men with a similar face outline as Cao Cao when he was young, Cao Pi and Cao Ang.
Cao Pi was the sons of Lady Bian, Cao Cao's concubine. While Cao Ang was Lady Liu's son, who was once served as a hostage in Ye City.
This year, Cao Ang had reached 26 years of age. Cao Pi was still 14, but his outward appearance was that of an 18-year-old teenager.
The two men were the successor candidates of the Cao House, but everyone knew who would win in the end according to the other timeline's information.
Other than Cao Cao's sons, Zhen Yi, who had migrated from Zhongshan, was also with them. He was now a retainer of Cao Pi as the latter took Zhen Ji in as his wife.
\"Father, are you alright?\"
Cao Ang was worried about Cao Cao's health and his future after Li Feihong got into power. The latter had been suppressing their Cao House and stripped them from most of their rights, so Cao Ang thought that his father might become stressed because of it.
\"I'm sorry, Zixiu, Zihuan. I've failed you guys. I shouldn't have surrendered to Lilim.\"
Both Cao Pi and Cao Ang knew why Cao Cao did that as the latter told his two sons about Lilim's promise and system skills of otherworlders. Even Cao Pi approved of Cao Cao's decision because he also wanted those powers.
Unfortunately, their future was grim. As Lilim was too unreliable that she neglected her subordinates, they could not use her system authority or power to counterattack against Dong Bai and Li Feihong.
\"But I've learned something from Lilim just now. It seems that Zhang Tong is with her or something and he's keeping her busy. I think the reason why Lilim didn't help us is because of Zhang Tong again.\"
Cao Cao had a headache as he reread the chat log.
\"Whoops. Zhang Tong has pushed me down again. Later!\"
Then, he recalled the vulgar automatic system message.
It wasn't hard for Cao Cao to deduce that Tong and Lilim might have that kind of relationship while Cao Cao and Tong's subordinates were fighting in the court.
\"You two. I want both of you to surrender yourself to those demonesses or Li Feihong before it's too late.\"
Cao Pi didn't understand Cao Cao's intention or words, \"Why do we have to surrender to those robbers? They stole our fates and our throne! We still have our soldiers and officers, right? Let's unite our forces with Sun Ce and counterattack! We have enough immortals to contend against Li Feihong!\"
Zhen Yi nodded in agreement. He, too, didn't want his new lord to give up easily.
\"Many of Zhang Tong's generals used to serve you, my lord. Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Han Hao, and Zhang Xiu were once your subordinates, so they could switch sides to us. Please don't give up yet!\"
Listening to Cao Pi and Zhen Yi, Cao Cao sneered, \"What if I tell you that Guo Jia and Xun Yu have already turned their back on us. They are fucking colluding with Zhuge Liang since last year!\"
Cao Pi scoffed as he didn't care about these strategists, \"It doesn't matter! I've talked to Sima Yi, and he's willing to cooperate with us! He's more dependable than those ingrates!\"
The personality of Cao Pi had not changed. In the other timeline, he depended on Sima Yi a lot during the campaign against Shu Han. The strategist proved himself over and over again by repelling Zhuge Liang's armies even though he lost some of their talented generals.
The victories over Zhuge Liang crippled Shu Han's military power for years, which could be considered great merit to the Wei Dynasty.
The father might have given up, but the son still persisted in fighting.
Cao Cao gazed into Cao Pi's eyes. Upon seeing the flame of courage, the former finally smiled.
\"I see. We haven't lost yet.\"
\"That's right. We haven't lost yet!\"
\"Oh, since you're so riled up. I have some interesting info. I know a few men in Zhang Tong's ranks that can help us.\"
