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Chapter 288: Game of Politics

Battle Royale of the Sinners

Late afternoon.

Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang were having a private conversation after work. They were still in the government hall, but all the workers had left.

"From the clan chat log, young master's relationship with Her Majesty is getting better, but it doesn't appear that he has laid a hand on her yet."

"We can't help it. We have learned from the past incident that Dong Bai is actually Xiao Wu, and she's very possessive of her husband."

The "Incident" Zhang Jiao referred was Friday's murder attempt. Only a handful of people knew about the event, such as Sima Fang, Zhang Jiao, Lu Zhi, and other high ranking officers.

"Can we coax Lady Hua so our young master can impregnate her majesty?"

"She used to be as possessive as Xiao Wu, but I think she's become docile lately. Let's try to talk to her about this."

"If we try to explain our plan to Xiao Wu, will she understand us?"

Zhang Jiao shook his head, "Impossible. She's the type that relies on her strength to solve problems. She won't be able to understand our motive."

Sima Fang paused. He recalled about all the edicts from three factions that had been sent to Julu last year and pondered.

.

Without a proper cause and a good reason to explain to citizens, continue resisting the Han Court after the death of Liu Ping was a bad move.

During their previous uprising of Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban, they had a good cause to back up with their mobilization, and they could get the support of all commoners and merchants. Because of Liu Ping's infamous tyranny and his ill personality, everyone believed that Liu Ping abused his power and wanted Julu's wealth for himself.

Now, Liu Ping had been confirmed dead for a year and his subordinates had been repelled, they had no reason to take arms. Instead, they had to put down their weapons and pretended to swear allegiance to one of the powerhouses. To prove themselves that they were not supporting thieves and bandits, Tong forced everyone to wear blue clothes and announced that they were part of the Empress supporters.

Had they resumed the Yellow Turban's activities and refused to bow to anyone like they did in past years, more people would have believed that the bandit imposters and the real Yellow Turban were in league together, which would hinder Tong and Jia Xu's expansion plans.

Moreover, incidents in Liyang might happen again as civilians would resist the Yellow Turban forces to death.

Before they could establish a new country on top of the Han Dynasty, they had to restore their reputation and prestige of Tong and his forces.

To solve this problem, both Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang plotted to pair Tong with He Xing. If He Xing were to get pregnant with Tong's child, they could claim a legit reason to declare independence from all the three royalty factions.

As the legit Empress of the Han Dynasty, replacing the dead Emperor with a chosen consort of the Empress was a viable choice.

So far, He Xing managed to get closer to Tong as Sima Fang had planned. However, Xiao Wu was in the way.

.

.

.

While Tong was busy mass producing supplies using [Creat Food] with his [Pride] and [Sloth], which had returned after Hua Shi got her first wing, Sima Fang sought Hua Shi for consulting.

"I didn't expect you to involve me in your affair," Hua Shi muttered after she heard everything that Sima Fang explained.

"We wish to prepare for the next two years after the hibernation that our young master scheduled. We hope that you can help us in this."

"To be honest, I don't like how you use your Empress as a chess piece. She even trusted you."

"It's unfortunate, my lady. I know that I can't apologize enough, but this is for young master Zhang. We need him to marry Her Majesty to become the fourth Monarch. We will have to contest with three other forces soon so we will need a justified cause to take actions."

"Can't we just crown him directly?"

"Liyang incidents will happen again if we ignore our reputation. Many bandits are still using our name to gather allies and plundering villages in other regions. Unless we want to implicate ourselves with the bandits, we can't mobilize using our former name."

"Hmm. Reputation this, reputation that. That's troublesome."

"Indeed. But we can't do anything about it. That's what the politicians use to attack their rivals."

Hua Shi was different from Friday in terms of woman's instinct and desire. Her mentality and etiquette grew more reserved and refined during the past year as the angel-wing cultivation forced her to change her attitude toward life.

She understood that political marriage was a common tradition. Also, a man could have many wives at once in this era.

"I will try to convince her. If we give a condition like having He Xing surrendering all her future night schedules to Xiao Wu, maybe she might accept."

…

…

…

"I refuse!" Friday bellowed.

Hua Shi attempted to convince Friday about the necessity to ascend the throne and the consequences for not having one. However, she did not agree with it.

"This is for Tong's sake and the future of our forces in the next two years. Can't you amend a bit? Let ้her have a one-night-stand, then we can have her giving up all her right to possess Tong to you."

"That's not the point. Don't you understand my circumstances?"

Friday in Xiao Wu form revealed a bitter smile.

She also wanted to have a child. Although she tried very hard whenever Tong was with her, they still failed.

"Why don't you try bribing Lilim with lifespans?"

The angry eyes of Friday softened as she was reminded of a shortcut.

"Right. Lilim, did you hear us?"

[I hear you.]

"Can you help me?"

[That's impossible for you.]

"What!? Why?"

[Well, you may have an adult form because of the devil contract. But you forgot that your original mortal body is that of a child. Do you think a 7-year-old girl can get pregnant?]

Friday's face fell. Her eyes were moist as if she was on the verge of crying.

[Ordinary girls can reproduce at the age of 12. Wait five more years, and you should be able to do it. Heck, why are you even bother about this nonsense!? If you really want a child that bad, adopt someone on the street!]

Lilim cut off the connection, leaving the crying Friday alone.

Hua Shi hugged Friday, yet she still messed with her, "Hey, look at it on the bright side. You don't need a contraceptive at night."

"Screw off!"

Hua Shi reminded of something from Lilim's words, "Wait, does that mean Tong has been fOOking a child all this time?"

"..."

…

…

…

While everyone tried to shove He Xing on Tong's bed, the person himself was oblivious to the undercurrent.

Tong was not in the mood for romance and sex as the mind game between the three factions last year implicated his forces.

In his room, Tong placed six Imperial edict scrolls in the trash bin after he read through them the 20th time.

Before him on the table, Tong drew three circles and wrote details into each circle. They were the symbol of each force, and the details Tong was writing were the command of each monarch.

Yuan Shao sent two edicts to Tong last year.

One was an offering of a title in Yuan Shao Court and the right to maintain order in Tong's affiliate cities, but it came with the condition that Tong had to open his borders and allow Yuan Shao troops to pass or stay. Secondly, Tong had to provide Yuan Shao an annual tribute of 1,000,000 ton of food supplies.

The second edict came after Tong postponed his decision for three months. Instead of threatening him, Yuan Shao offered an alliance treaty. Yuan Shao forces wanted to attack Xuchang, but he asked Tong to ignore their military activities and allow his armies to pass through his territory. In exchange, Yuan Shao sent Tong a gift of 500,000 gold for the trouble, and they promised to send another million after the operation.

Dong Zhuo also sent three decrees.

First, he demanded Tong to surrender everything, including Hua Shi and Xiao Wu. As soon as the messenger finished reading the edict, Tong killed the messenger and sent his head back to Luo Yang.

The second one, which came in December, gave Tong the title [Crown Prince of Bing], which was the highest title ones can have as a relative of the Emperor. Instead of demanding anything, they sent a tribute of a million gold to Julu, which astonished everybody.

The third decree arrived this morning during the assembly. Dong Zhuo invited Tong and Dong Bai to Luo Yang to hold a marriage ceremony there. Aside from the invitation, they sent another tribute to Tong, which consisted of 50,000 male slaves and 10,000 female children slaves. They also noted that all little girls were virgins, which implied many things that made Tong looked bad.

Cao Cao, however, sent a command order with Diao Chan's handwriting, which arrived at Tong's hands a few days ago. They wanted Tong to shut the borders and excommunicate with Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao.

The chaotic decrees from all three monarchs put Tong on his toes. He knew that it was a game that all powerhouses played to prey on each other, but it kept provoking him into making a military movement, which Tong and Jia Xu did not want to.

Yuan Shao obviously tried to sow discord between the former Yellow Turban forces and Xuchang forces. Tong guessed that it was Tian Feng's move as he could refer to the gift of 500,000 gold as Yuan Shao would never part with such wealth.

On the other hand, the first edict of Dong Zhuo was tyranny and erratic. But, the second and third changed Tong's stance from hostile to cautious. From further investigation, Dong Zhuo did not issue the second and third edict, but Li Ru did.

Both command orders of Li Ru were honey traps that could corrupt any naïve politician. He could turn a loyalist into a greedy corrupted politician by provoking their deep desire.

Meanwhile, Cao Cao made sharpest moves among them all as he isolated Tong from all factions with a few tricks.

In the beginning, Cao Cao forwarded Tong's tribute to Luo Yang instead and framed Tong that he had surrendered to Dong Zhuo.

Tong attempted to correct their stances to prove to the citizens that they did not join the tyrant. However, Cao Cao forced Tong's decision with another edict of closing the borders. If Tong were to disregard the order, Cao Cao would have proved to other warlords that Tong sided with Dong Zhuo, which would ruin his reputation.

Tong reread the logs of the clan chat. He searched through the spy reports that Xun Yu and Jia Xu collected so far.

"Cao Cao formed an alliance with Yuan Shao while he stole all private troops from the local nobles. But Yuan Shao expanded his territory north and formed another pack with Gongsun Zan. Tao Qian … got a trade-pack with Cao Cao? Liu Biao and Yuan Shu forces eradicated all bandits in Jing Province and Wan Commandery, but Dong Zhuo tried to invade them?"

"Yuan Shao wants to maintain a friendly relationship with all lords while he's trying to absorb Gongsun Zan's territory. Medusa plans to help me, but Cao Cao wants to destroy our army. Dong Zhuo … is Dong Zhuo."

Tong painted a map in his mind and simulated all movements of other forces, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

"I wish I have another brain."

<<Ding>>

<<Ju Shou has joined your clan>>

"Good timing!"