Chapter 451 - Secret Deal
Under the current government, Te Langpu and Tong managed to separate the works into divisions, similar to their modern world’s system, with a few tweaks.
They were as the followings;
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Police
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Culture and Arts
Ministry of Public Health
Ministry of Transport and Logistic
Ministry of Agriculture
Currently, the Ministry of Interior had the busiest jobs as all miscellaneous tasks that were not included in the other divisions piled up in this department. Local civilian registration, public safety, land management, and other administration jobs were under this section of government.
Te Langpu, whom Tong had made the Minister of Interior, reigned this department with his management skills from the modern world. Without this fat man, Tong’s internal affair would have been in chaos.
As for his "Prime Minister" title, it was a special rank, served for emergency situations. In the case that Tong, Diaochan, or Dong Bai were unavailable due to wars, injuries, marathon baby-making, or slacking, Te Langpu had to fill in the role as a temporary leader for the country.
Xun Yu, Tong’s chief strategist, was also entitled as the Minister of Transport and Logistic since he was in charge of managing all legion’s provision and supply distribution. At the same time, he governed over the transit between cities, paving stone roads, designed by Tong, Te Langpu, and Li Feihong.
Ministry of Agriculture took care of all farming related duties, forestry, water resources, being the backbone of the country by feeding its population with their food supplies. Li Feihong was the minister of agriculture, who never realized his importance and privileges as he was too dull to communicate with Tong properly. Although he never understood what Tong had given him, Li Feihong continued to provide Tong with his farming goods, livestock, seeds, and water supply from his private world.
As for the privilege that Tong gave Li Feihong, the latter would find out about it when he returned to Ye in the future.
Sima Fang was still in charge of the Ministry of Justice. As stern as ever, his subordinates, the judges, could not afford to sentence any criminal incorrectly or their career, and their existence might cease to exist by this minister.
Ministry of Police was under Lu Zhi’s hands. The task of training new policemen, as well as establishing the city order of all territories, was his responsibility.
Diaochan, aka Medusa, was actually the Minister of Finance. This department held the lifeline of Tong’s gold, taxes, and income, so Tong could not entrust this to someone like Te Langpu or other local officers. As a demon who had lived for countless years, managing numbers and trade policies were an easy task for her.
A side note, Dong Bai was Diaochan’s vice minister, and she was the only one who could embezzle Tong’s money without getting punished.
Culture and Art Division was taken care of by Cai Yan, the art master and the father of Cai Wenji. They took care of passing their arts and educating civilians by making books or recording the events into scrolls. This was one department with the most scholars and trainees as they required many hands to write or copy texts.
As for the Ministry of Public Health, it was still new as Tong had just established it for the sake of Hua Tuo. After a year or two, Tong would make this department official and instate Hua Tuo as one of the ministers.
Tong tried to think about what his government was still lacking by giving Cao Cao choices.
"Pick one of the available departments. Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour..."
Cao Cao did not understand Tong’s system and departments, so he interrupted, "Hold it! Explain which is which in my language!"
Tong scratched his head. It might take all day to explain every department to Cao Cao, so he picked an alternative approach.
"What kind of job are you looking for? I’ll pick one that suits your desire."
"Get me something that I can manage the welfare of civilians and public officers. I don’t want to see any more corrupted crooks in the Han Court, especially your officers!"
The crowd was offended as Cao Cao hinted that they were not honest officials even though Lu Zhi’s Police Department and Sima Fang’s Ministry of Justice had already wiped out all shady politicians from their ranks.
Everyone here was a straight-like-a-ladder officer with a clean background.
"Minister of Labour, then," Tong snickered.
"What’s their responsibility?"
"Ensuring the welfare of ordinary civilians, civil officers, and workers, regardless of social statuses."
"... Elaborate for me, your majesty."
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It took Tong an hour to summarize his government system and the Ministry of Labour’s duties.
Since Cao Cao was a smart overlord, he understood why Tong picked this system over the old one.
"Your government is quite detailed."
"Well, are you taking this job or not?"
"To be honest, I want the police department or the ministry of justice. But since senior Sima and senior Lu are taking care of those, I can only humbly accept the inferior division."
"Oi, Cao Mengde. Ministry of Labour is not little. You will manage the fucking 30 million laborers in our freaking country and ensure their welfare. Isn’t this enough responsibility!?"
Cao Cao shrugged, "My abilities are not limited to this meager job. I can do better."
Tong could not refute that. Cao Cao, in his historical record, was a talented statesman, who had established the foundation for many generations of Cao Clan. Unfortunately, he was not good at passing his knowledge and insight to the next generations, and the Wei Kingdom was overthrown by Sima Clan when his descendants became too spoiled.
’He’s not suitable for education job. Well, his abilities are versatile, though.’
Tong continued the negotiation, "Now that the second condition is done, what’s the third?"
"Let me fuck your wives."
Everybody was frozen.
Tong clicked his tongue and gave Cao Cao a middle finger, "Fuck you, then."
"Just kidding," Cao Cao burst into laughter since he managed to troll Tong. He looked at his two daughters, Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe. His expression changed from the mocking smile to a gentle father.
"Make them happy."
Tong nodded in understanding, "... That’s for certain."
"Don’t let the inner palace war between your concubines reaches my daughters. They are too pure for that."
"I know."
"I also want five grandsons and ten granddaughters."
Everyone in the hall stumbled from the unexpected shamelessness of Cao Cao. Even his daughters flinched from the unreasonable demand. Although the night activities were addictive, they were not a pervert like Liu Yang, who always volunteered for every night duty when she had a chance.
"Your daughters will die from labor and exhaustion."
"Well, then I can’t help it."
"Anything else?"
"I also want to fuck your wives."
"Ask me that question one more time, and you’ll serve me as a eunuch instead of a minister."
"Hahahaha!"
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Zhuge Liang observed the negotiation in silence, astonished by the frankness of these two warlords.
Usually, in negotiation, both sides would have worn some façade and mind their manner. However, both of them had none. It was as if two hoodlums were messing with each other.
’What a rowdy bunch. Well, they think outside the box, so I should at least expect this.’
He continued to watch Cao Cao and Tong finalizing the deal.
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For the sake of securing political power after the surrender, Cao Cao exposed the coalition’s plan to attack Tong’s cities.
"Henei and Beihai?" Tong, Xun Yu, and other officers were surprised. They had predicted that Cao Cao and others would have gathered their forces and attacked Ye instead of other cities since it was Tong’s headquarters.
"Sun Ce and Zhou Yu will go for Beihai with 50,000 elites and their navy forces. 100,000 men of Liu Bei and Sun Fang will go for Henei, and 100,000 horsemen of Ma Chao are looking at the central plain."
"And, what about your armies?"
"We are planning to stay at home and watch them die."
"What about the mobilization date?"
"None. I allowed Sun Ce and Liu Bei to move whenever they’re ready. But I only promised them that I will only supply provision for them after they attacked you."
Tong rolled his eyes, "Typical strategy. Say, what are you going to do with your forces now when I’m keeping you and your family as hostages here?"
Cao Cao shrugged, "Pretend to fight you."
"Oh?"
"For the detail, I think I’ll have this brat explain."
Cao Cao turned to Zhuge Liang, who was still 13 this year.
Tong’s brows furrowed when he looked at the boy, "Your secret son? I thought I had abducted all of your family."
"Ha! I never want to have this cheeky brat as a son. Even if one of my daughters fell in love with him, I’ll castrate this bastard and feed a duck with his junk!"
The onlookers looked at Zhuge Liang and murmured.
"Poor duck."
Zhuge Liang widened his eyes and sweated, "Wait, poor duck? Not me?"
Tong shook his head, getting tired of Cao Cao’s sarcasm and his nasty attitude, "Who is he?"
Zhuge Liang kowtowed to Tong, "I’m Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Kongming, your majesty."
"..."
Tong’s face twitched as he never expected to see Zhuge Liang at Ye.
The meeting continued until the end of the day as Zhuge Liang explained his plans to Tong.
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June 15th, 194 AD.
Cao Cao returned to Xuchang, which surprised Xiahou Dun and everybody else.
Due to the danger of the missing Pu Jing, none of them used their clan chat anymore. As a result, they reverted back to the lifestyle before the communication system arrived.
Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao, and all his generals gathered for a private meeting, so Cao Cao could summarize his next moves.
"Where’s the brat?" Xiahou Dun referred to Zhuge Liang, who did not return with Cao Cao.
"He’s staying in Ye from now on."
"Ah, good riddance. How’s the meeting with the emperor?"
Cao Cao snickered, "I have a good son-in-law."
"So, we’re not fighting against him anymore?"
"No, but we will work with him to create a competitive environment."
"Competitive environment?"
"A cold war to be precious. He wants us to play along with his forces for a while and instigate Liu Bei and Sun Ce into making stupid moves."
"..."
"Before I explain, let me introduce someone we knew from our other life."
Cao Cao gestured that his secret follower could reveal his appearance.
Wearing black clothes and a mask, Xun Yu took off his hood and face cover. He looked at Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan with a complicated expression.
"Although I’m not a believer, let’s just say, nice to meet you again, Yuanrang, Miaocai."
Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were shocked.
"Xun Wenruo!?"
"Yeah. Let’s work together again once more. For now, my ... former lord ... I’ll be the one to explain since I can ask his majesty for a further explanation whenever we need it."
Xun Yu revealed the secret ploy, which Tong and Cao Cao had conspired.
As everyone continued to listen, they doubted their ears if these two warlords were sane.
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Meanwhile, at Ye City, Cao Ang and all Cao family members were celebrating as his clan had a high chance to thrive by serving Tong. As for Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe, they did not have to worry about them anymore as they could hear their voice, moaning in pleasure, from the inner palace miles away. Everyone was betting which one of them would have a child first.
The deal between Cao Cao and Tong had been reported to every clan member by Xun Yu, who infiltrated into the former’s ranks as a coordinator between two forces.
All former subordinates of Cao Cao, such as Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and Jia Xu, were relieved that they did not have to fight against Wei Army anymore. As long as the two powerhouses joined forces, they could contribute everything they had for Tong and Cao Cao.
Zhao Yun, Zhou Cang, and Taishi Ci could only watch these people in envy. If possible, they wanted their former lord to surrender as well.
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