Chapter 433 - Provocation

The inner palace concubine war had also developed to the next stage.

With the newcomers, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, Tong dismissed the pre-arranged schedules and left it to Diaochan to be the one who would decide the concubine’s service nights.

As a result, both Dong Bai and Diaochan monopolized their night jobs and barred Liu Yang from visiting Tong. However, they allowed the other four to attend the emperor twice a month to keep their relationship friendly.

Dong Bai and Diaochan were jealous of Liu Yang. None of them allowed Tong to call for her service, and they replaced her schedules with theirs instead.

However, they were not aware of a looming threat.

After getting pregnant, Liu Yang regained her right to cultivate back her power.

[You can start cultivating now. Bear in mind that you have 7 months left to get four wings. Failure is not an option.]

Liu Yang mocked Lilim, "I can easily get to 6 wings in 3 months. Just watch!"

[Oh, really? With your "Chastity" and "Honesty" at almost 0%? All of your attributes are less than 20%. I wonder how will you achieve that?]

"..."

[Don’t worry. I’ll pretend that I didn’t see or hear your flex just now. Good luck and give birth to a taboo child, goddess! I’ll hide your presence from Tong and others, so they won’t detect you.]

Liu Yang was on the verge of crying in embarrassment, "Damn you to hell!"

After vented her frustration, she ordered everyone not to visit her at night. From that day on, she spent all nights cultivating under the nose of Tong and all demonesses.

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

"Ahn!"

Unfortunately, the sultry moaning of other girls always interrupted Liu Yang’s concentration. After all, she also wanted to join them.

"... I also want it, too ..."

Liu Yang cried a bloody tear. She steeled herself.

’Once I awaken my Chastity Soul, I swear I’ll kidnap Tong and rape him to oblivion!’

Although it was twisted, Liu Yang gained a goal in life.

.

.

.

March 1st, 193 AD.

It was after the Chinese New Year festival and the annual competition of the young rising stars.

Tong summoned a few individuals for an audience.

Sun Jian and his subordinates were the first groups. They were led to the throne room in the morning assembly.

Today, Tong wanted to send Sun Ce and Zhou Yu a message, just in case that Sun Fang had given them wings. He wanted to test the water.

"Sun Jian and all of you, I don’t need you here anymore. Go home and tell Sun Fang and Sun Ce that they don’t need to bother disbanding your clan."

"What!?"

Not only Sun Jian, everyone in the throne room was surprised by the sudden release. Since everybody knew that Sun Jian and his three generals were Tong’s hostages, they were baffled by the emperor’s action.

"Are you sure?" Sun Jian could not believe his ears.

"Yeah. Khan is dead, and the Xiongnu is no more. The land is at peace, and there is no reason to keep you or fight against your clan. Why don’t you tell your sons now that the war is over ..."

Xun Yu wanted to stop Tong, but he saw a chat message.

Tong: "I’ve planned to use Sun Jian to test the water. If Sun Fang and Sun Ce are honest, they will surrender to us naturally. But if they want to rebel, they will likely form an alliance with Cao Cao or some sort. As usual, we won’t declare war on them first. We’ll let them reveal their true color as rebels."

Everyone who was in the throne room squinted their eyes. Tong was playing a game that they were not aware of.

Te Langpu: "Any reason for letting a dangerous group away? If you want war, you could have killed them here to mess Sun Ce’s future decision."

Sima Fang: "I agree. Killing these four now is as if cutting all limbs of Sun Ce and Sun Fang. Why are you letting them go?"

Tong smiled at his officers.

Tong: "As I said, I’m testing the water. I want to know if Sun Fang has given cultivation manuals to his clansmen or not. If he had, the first few, who would have gotten it, would have been Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. Then, what do you think will happen had they learned that I took their wives as my concubines?"

Everyone: "..."

All otherworlders in the clan chat understood what Tong had planned.

Te Langpu: "So, instead of killing Sun Jian to give Sun Fang an excuse to rebel, you want them to rebel without a good reason?"

Tong: "Correct!"

Tong explained everything to the clan chat while he dismissed Sun Jian and others away.

From citizens and ordinary officers’ point of view, they did not know about the relationship between the two Qiaos, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu. Therefore, had these warlords suddenly proclaimed that Tong stole their wives as a reason to wage war, their reputation would have hit rock-bottom. People would have spread the news that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were selfish youths, who were jealous of the emperor, or they wanted to throw away the lives of their soldiers for their personal gains.

Also, since Tong returned Sun Jian to them, all of their subordinates would view Tong with a favorable opinion, and the future persuasion and recruitment would become more manageable.

With a simple big-heart move, Tong tied Sun Ce and Zhou Yu’s next movement.

Rebel against Tong and the Sun Clan would be forever a rebel clan, which also would lose all supports from their people.

Thus, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu’s next move had to be sitting still and get humiliated, watching their former wives getting stolen by Tong.

Lu Zhi: "Why provoking them, though? I don’t see the point. If you want to make the Sun Clan hates you, you can just kill Sun Jian right here."

Tong: "That’s a waste. I want to entice some of Sun Jian’s men to my side without causing a feud. Well, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu are elites. If I kill Sun Jian here, they will hate me for life. If I treat Sun Jian well, they will look at me favorably. Also, these three are not that close to Sun Ce or Sun Fang. If the two sons of Sun Jian are proven to be a disgrace of their family, I don’t think their generals will remain loyal to those two, right?"

It was a mind game to draw all Sun Jian’s former subordinates to Tong’s side to prepare for the aftermath of the unification.

To Tong, destroying Sun Fang, Sun Ce, or Zhou Yu was as easy as snapping his fingers. However, attracting their talented personal would be another story.

There were many promising youths in their ranks that had yet to shine, such as Zhou Tai, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, Ling Tong, Zhu Ran, and many others. For the sake of getting these men to his side, Tong had to prove that Sun Ce and Sun Fang were trashy warlords unworthy of their services.

It was a pity that this plan would make Zhou Yu his enemy, but Tong had no choice. After all, Zhou Yu was Sun Ce’s sworn brother, and the latter was an ambitious warlord that could potentially threaten the Han Dynasty.

Lu Zhi and the officers in the chat understood a bit of Tong’s vision. They nodded to Tong and receded.

Xun Yu, at Tong’s side, could not hide his proud smile as his lord was both wicked, yet merciful and farsighted. It suited his taste.

Meanwhile, Sun Jian was delighted that he could return home.

"Thank you, your majesty. We shall leave at once. Still, I’ll tell my sons to disband our clan and join you as soon as possible."

"Please do. And also ... do me a favor. Tell Sun Ce and Zhou Yu that I’ve taken Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao as my concubines. Tell them in the clan chat, and thank them for me."

"???"

Sun Jian was confused. However, he followed Tong’s order and told them in the clan chat.

After Sun Jian had told everything to his clansmen, as Tong had predicted, Sun Ce went ballistic.

Sun Ce: "TELL THAT SON OF A BITCH THAT I’LL BE COMING FOR HIS HEAD! I WILL SLICE IN A THOUSAND TIME!!"

All their clansmen were baffled by Sun Ce’s reaction.

Huang Gai: "Calm down, young lord. What’s wrong with you? Zhang Tong is releasing your father."

Sun Ce: "THAT SON OF A BITCH HAS STOLEN MY WIFE!!"

Huang Gai: "Whose wife? I don’t remember you have a wife."

Sun Ce: "DA QIAO IS MY WIFE!!"

Everyone: "WHAT!?"

Everybody in Sun Fang’s clan was shocked. At the same time, they did not understand when and how Sun Ce married to Da Qiao.

Something was wrong!

Sun Jian stared at Tong, who was smiling at him.

’He knew!? But ... something doesn’t make sense! It’s obvious that Qiao Xuan was a former noble in Lujiang, and their daughters were maiden. Both Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are also interested in Zhang Tong. But since when my son is married to Da Qiao!? What the hell!?’

Tong feigned innocence and asked, "Did he say something?"

Sun Jian was not a fool. He understood everything by reading Tong’s expression.

’Just now, he intentionally said his concubine’s nicknames and told me to relay his words. That’s a provocation message to my son!’

He gritted his teeth. Since Tong was attacking his son, he would not take this lying down.

"Your majesty, how can you be so cruel? Da Qiao has married to my son before you’ve sent a decree to take her as your concubine. Then, you want to mock him that she’s your woman now? That’s immoral, your majesty."

It was a direct slander against Tong in front of his thousand subjects in the throne room.

The crowd was enraged!

"BLASPHEMY!"

"HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE HIS MAJESTY!?"

"GUARDS!!"

Palace guards, with shining knight armors, rushed in with their weapons. They pointed their spears and swords at Sun Jian and his generals.

Tong raised his hand to stop the commotion.

"All of you ... stop!"

The hall was silent. All royal guards, however, retained their fighting stance, but they stepped backward by one pace.

Tong, who still had a sinister smile on his face, turned to Sun Jian.

Sun Jian gulped. It seemed that he had stepped onto a land mine.

Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai had already drawn their swords and were ready to fight their way through. They glanced at Tong and Sun Jian, hoping for a slim chance that this would not turn into a bloodbath.

"I think there is some misunderstanding going on here, and you’re slandering one of my wives that she’s having an affair before she has met me. This is something that I can’t overlook."