February, 189 A . D .

  The moon shone in the dark night . Guo Jia sat in his private tent, reading a message, sent by Cao Cao .

  It told Guo Jia about Cao Cao’s promotion as the Marquis of Wei and the hostage Cao Ang . The message scroll also included the details about Tong’s first edict, which forced Cao Cao to be at odd with Yuan Shao .

  Guo Jia clicked his tongue and burned the message scroll .

  ’Without a sacrifice, chess pieces won’t advance forward . Cao Ang might die in the future, but that’s a necessary move . ’

  Guo Jia closed his eyes, recalling all details he had researched about Tong and all otherworlders . He began comparing Cao Cao and Tong .

  ’Zhang Tong and Cao Cao don’t like a formality . They are a bunch of rowdy immature lords, so nobody wins in principle . ’

  ’Zhang Tong has the Han Empire’s authority and respect while Cao Cao used underhanded tricks to gain supremacy in the past, Zhang Tong wins Cao Cao in righteousness . ’

  ’Because of the lack of law enforcement, the Han Dynasty declined . Zhang Tong reinforces his laws and order even though he promotes internal conflicts . His administrative abilities are dubious, yet his cities stabilize . Cao Cao has stern disciplinary with his followers, and his cities improved step-by-step . I have to give it another tie in management . ’

  ’Zhang Tong appoints people base on abilities and specialties . He even forgives that undisciplined Lu Bu and reinstated him into a grand commander again . Still, his action in Liyang and the duel at Hulao Gate shows that he lacked patience . Meanwhile, Cao Cao has faith with his men . He has discerning eyes when it comes to talented people, and he promotes a meritocracy system . Similar to Zhang Tong, Cao Cao did not care about the past of his officers . His policy and development used a slow and steady approach, but Zhang Tong always expanded rapidly and stopped to stabilize . In term of tolerance, Cao Cao is a bit higher, so Cao Cao wins . ’

  ’Zhang Tong rarely listened to his advisors, and his strategic and policy decision always came from himself . He had many strategists, but he sent them away to support others instead of utilizing them . Cao Cao always brainstormed before he made any significant move . He welcomed all critics from his strategists, and he was decisive when it was necessary . It’s questionable and illogical how Zhang Tong has become so successful with this mindset . Maybe it’s a fluke and his immortal power advantage? I’ll give Cao Cao a win in strategies . ’

  ’Zhang Tong has a peasant origin, and his past shows that he did not care about his face value or reputation . He cried and bowed to his soldiers in his wives’ funeral . That’s a good example of a pretender right there . He is not very sincere with his subordinates if he used this kind of approach to seduce followers . Cao Cao is more honest when he recruited me . Although he bribed me, I have to give him credit since I’m a mere scholar . In terms of virtue and honesty, I’ll give Cao Cao another win . ’

  ’In benevolence …… It’s a tie, hands down . Zhang Tong never abandoned hungry civilians and refugees, but so did Cao Cao . No winner here . ’

  ’Zhang Tong is strict when it comes to corruption and embezzlement . All officers with tainted hands are weeded out, and all his men are honest workers . Cao Cao is similar when it comes to how he dealt with crooked officers . A tie for them in wisdom . ’

  ’Zhang Tong was sometimes evil but sometimes benevolence . He might punish crooks, but he can be a hypocrite sometimes . His bipolar attitude is unpredictable, and his governance is full of controversy . Meanwhile, Cao Cao dipped his hands in the empress conning . Now that the false empress is with Zhang Tong, Cao Cao cannot use the dirty trick . Although he can discern right and wrong, the past incident left him a bad mark . Both are tied in culture . ’

  ’In terms of war exploit, Zhang Tong is clearly more superior . Cao Cao may be talented and he had overcome many small battles, but he has no experience in commanding a largescale battle . Zhang Tong wins in military might . ’

  Guo Jia tried to compare both powerhouses to find Tong and Cao Cao’s weaknesses and advantageous . Upon getting a closer look, Guo Jia had to reevaluate them many times .

  In the end, he scored both lords by specialties . .

  > -

  Military Might -

  Righteousness

  >

  \r \r \r -

  Tolerance -

  Strategy -

  Virtue .

  Looking at their advantages, Guo Jia had a clear idea of how he could defeat Tong with Cao Cao .

  ’We can’t fight Zhang Tong in direct combat or declare war against him! However, he’s weak in politics and long-term strategies . Now that Zhang Tong bestowed Cao Cao a title and accepted the deal, he can’t invade us for a while . If he does, he will lose his righteousness and benevolence image he has been building . Then, we can start poaching his trusted generals to our side . ’

  Pondering for a while, Guo Jia shook away his thought .

  ’No need to concern about Zhang Tong for now . I’ll devour Yuan Shao from the inside!’ ……

  It was almost a year since the last battle at Luoyang . All forces were busy licking their wounds, recovering from their losses .

  Civilians benefitted from this calm period the most since they could restore their farms and their businesses .

  In Ye City, every corner of the street was buzzing as ever . As Tong resided in Ye Palace, all locals believed that this was their new capital city . Merchants, scholars, and migrating civilians flocked to Ye from all over the country, boosting the population and economy .

  As the population grew, the order and laws became an issue . Sima Fang had to transfer the graduated policemen from Julu to Ye again, reinforcing the total police officers to 30,000 men . .

  May 5th, 189 A . D .

  The first tribute ambassador from Cao Cao arrived . They kept their promises, 50,000 gold nuggets, and a million tons of provision filled the palace treasury .

  The leader of this tribute group was an elder scholar and an expert in guqin, a traditional zither with seven strings .

  After the ambassador confirmed that he had completed his job, he sought an audience with Tong .

  In the throne room, Tong allowed the convoy leader and his entourage to see him .

  The ambassador and his followers kowtowed to Tong, "Your majesty, I have finished my job, so I’ve come here to report you . "

  Tong nodded, "Good work . Tell Cao Mengde that I appreciate his gifts . I hope that he can maintain the order in the central plain . "

  The elder bowed again, "I will tell him that . But first, I wish to give you another gift . This is not from lord Cao Cao, but it is from me . "

  Tong raised his eyebrows . The corner of his mouth curved downward as he did not have a good impression of this elder anymore .

  After the coronation ceremony, many officials, scholars, merchants, and even commoners wished to see him . They offered many gifts, aka bribery, to Tong, hoping that they could obtain a noble title or an official rank in return .

  Tong refused their tributes and turned down many offers so far . He only accepted gifts from merchants, who came here to ask for Tong’s permission to open a shop here .

  Now, the elder seemed to be one of the opportunists . As Tong did not know what the gifts were, he began inspecting the ambassador’s followers to discern his purpose .

  The followers were a group of female performers, mostly zither artists . As Tong inspected further, he found that they did not bring any laborer here .

  From Tong’s experience, he guessed that the ambassador would offer his daughter or a girl to be his concubine in exchange for an official post .

  ’Another pimp …… I should chase him out after hearing him . ’

  The elder gestured his followers, and they prepared their zithers . Betraying Tong’s expectation, the girls performed a song instead of showing their beauty .

  The officers in the throne room relaxed, listening to the guqin performers . The string music soothed their heart, and the mood in the room became pleasant .

  The song ended after 10 minutes of group performance, which Tong clapped by instinct .

  Xun Yu, who was monitoring the visitor by Tong’s side, was surprised by Tong’s reaction . He thought that Tong liked the performers .

  ’Someone actually moved his majesty’s heart? This is rare . ’

  All officials in the room followed suit, clapping for the zither band .

  As the girls had not expected applause or an ovation, they blushed and flustered in embarrassment .

  The ambassador was surprised as well . He directed his proud smile at one of the girls, "Well performed, Wenji . "

  "Thank you, father . "

  The father turned to Tong, who had just realized that he gestured something impropriate and might lead to a misunderstanding . He should have only nodded in acknowledgment and chased them away, not clapping .

  Tong coughed, "It was a good song . "

  "Thank you, your majesty . This is my gift to you . "

  "You’re not going to give me one of those girls, right?"

  "Haha! You jest, your majesty . I only wanted them to show their skills to you . I’m not one of those crooked fathers who sell their daughters!"

  "Oh?"

  Tong was surprised once again, "You’re not offering me one of them? Ah, excuse me . Your type is rare these days . Everybody is busy trying to force concubines on me against my will . "

  "Haha! I understand that very well . I served emperor Ling for years, and I’ve seen many greedy officials trying to sell their daughters . Well, that’s another story if you desire them, though . "

  Tong patted his forehead, "Spare me . One concubine is enough for now . Now, you should be honest and tell me what you want in exchange for that song . No more façade this time . "

  "Then, I’ll be direct, your majesty . We wish to open an art school that teaches calligraphy, zithers, poetry, and other arts . The central plain has been in chaos recently, and we hope that you can allow us to settle here . "

  "Oh, that’s simple . You should have told me this earlier . Wenruo, coordinate with the cabinet officers and the city planners . Find an available land within the inner city to build an art school and rent it to this person . Oh, wait, I haven’t asked your name . "

  "Ah, my deepest apologies, your majesty . I’ve grown old that I forgot my manner . My name is Cai Yong . You can call me by my style name, Bojie . "

  Tong’s smiling face froze . He ran into another historical figure again .

  As Tong knew about Cai Yong’s name, he was also aware of his famous daughter’s name, Cai Yan or Cai Wenji . Because of the sudden awareness, Tong’s eyes glued at the center of the band, where Cai Wenji was .