Guo Jia and the others were all startled by what they heard.
They turned to look at Cao Chong.
Cao Chong's gaze was vacant. Even under everyone's scrutiny, his expression barely changed; he simply stood quietly beside Xu You.
"This child..."
Zhuge Liang was somewhat astonished, not only by Cao Chong's identity, but also by Cao Cao's ruthlessness.
Making such a young child cut off his own father's head and bring it out to surrender was rather too cruel.
Still, it was indeed a clever method.
Sima Yi snorted. "The Cao Thief installed a Pretender Emperor and plotted rebellion. That is a grave crime punishable by the extermination of nine clans."
"If the Cao Thief thought he could spare his youngest son's life this way, he was being far too simplistic."
With his intelligence, how could he fail to see Cao Cao's intentions?
Sima Yi's words drew everyone's eyes. Although none of them said anything, they felt somewhat displeased.
Of course they all understood the reasoning, but after learning what Cao Chong had been through, they could not help feeling some pity. After all, he was only a child of five or six.
For Sima Yi to lay the matter bare in public seemed far too cold-blooded. Besides, whether the boy could be pardoned depended on the Son of Heaven's decision. What the hell did it have to do with him?
Did he have to stick his oar in just to show how capable he was?
Chen Gong frowned, then said evenly, "Attendant-in-Chief Sima, you are mistaken. As the saying goes, when a man approaches death, his wish to atone is sincere."
"What if the Cao Thief truly repented?"
"This is not for us to decide. We should take this child back to Chang'an along with the rest of the