Dong Cheng looked at Emperor Xian of Han and asked in puzzlement, "What else is there?"
Emperor Xian of Han hesitated. "Will we... win?"
Dong Cheng froze, then nodded firmly.
"We will!"
The study in the Minister of Works' Residence.
It was late into the night, but Cao Cao still had not gone to sleep.
He sat alone in the study, frowning at the imperial edict on his desk as he repeatedly considered possible countermeasures.
He was thinking about how to minimize the impact of this edict and how best to deal with Yang Biao and the other two, but even after racking his brains, he could not find a suitable solution.
This overt stratagem was simply impossible to counter.
Unless Yang Biao and the other two chose to switch sides and support the Son of Heaven of Xu County again, there was no way to resolve this problem.
Was this the end of my bid for supremacy?
Cao Cao wavered.
This imperial edict had come a little too late. Had it arrived before Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan, he would most likely have chosen to surrender.
After all, as long as he abandoned his ambitions and pledged allegiance to the Son of Heaven of Ye City, his future would still have been boundless. Even if he could not reach the highest rank a subject could attain, securing a position as General Who Conquers the West would have been no problem.
With some effort, even a place among the Three Excellencies was not impossible.
But now the Son of Heaven of Ye City could barely protect himself. Pledging allegiance under these circumstances would be little different from Zhang Xiu joining Yuan Shu back then: both were courting death.
Yet if he did not submit, he would have to kill