Yet when Cao Cao heard this, he slapped his thigh and burst out laughing as though he had heard the greatest joke under heaven, rocking back and forth.
Sun Quan looked displeased and frowned. "What are you laughing at, Governor of Yan Province? You installed a Pretender Emperor, and Yan Province borders Ji Province. Once the Son of Heaven unifies Hebei, will he spare you?"
It was not merely that Cao Cao's territory bordered Ji Province.
More importantly, he had committed offenses in the past.
Installing a Pretender Emperor alone was enough for the Son of Heaven to kill Cao Cao a thousand times over. After crushing Yuan Shao, he would take the knife to Cao Cao next.
"I think you have misunderstood."
Cao Cao stopped laughing and said leisurely, "It was Dong Cheng who enthroned the Pretender Emperor. What does that have to do with me, Cao Mengde?"
"I was merely deceived by him."
"Have you not seen that Dong Cheng has already fled my Xu County with the Pretender Emperor, and their whereabouts are now unknown? If the Son of Heaven wishes to punish anyone, he should punish Dong Cheng."
At this point, Cao Cao cast a sidelong glance at the two men. "I am in no hurry, because I can still surrender to the Son of Heaven and retain a Marquisate."
"But you... after everything your Sun family has done, do you think the Son of Heaven will spare you?"
At these words, the expressions on Sun Quan's and Zhou Yu's faces changed at once.
Cao Cao, meanwhile, wore a cold smile.
He had long since left himself a way out. The reason he wanted an alliance with Sun Quan was that he could not resign himself to surrendering to the Son of Heaven and abandoning the