Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 818: The Man in Name Only

The entire Han Dynasty was in an uproar!
Since Emperor Gaozu established the "White Horse Alliance", he made an oath that "if anyone other than the Liu family becomes king, the whole world will attack him together."

Cao Cao's move was undoubtedly another person who violated the "White Horse Alliance" after Wang Mang, just like the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the past, raising the banner of anti-Han.

However, the timing chosen by Cao Cao was ingenious.

After Lu Bu had suffered fierce public condemnation for more than half a year, Cao Cao, who used the name of the Nine Cauldrons and held high the prophecy that had been passed down for hundreds of years, "The one who will replace the Han Dynasty will be Dangtu Gao," actually gained some support.

……

"boom!!"

Liu Bei was so furious that he couldn't help but draw his sword and chop down all the objects around him to vent his anger.

"You thief! How dare you do that?!"

As for the matter of the emperor being assassinated, Lu Bu has been covering it up, and the common people only know a few rumors and dare not be sure.

However, Cao Cao's enthronement as king undoubtedly made countless people feel a sense of "what year is it now" as if there was a change of dynasty.

This completely tore off the big man's only remaining fig leaf and then stepped hard underfoot.

To a certain extent, the Han Dynasty, which was restored by Emperor Guangwu, had already been doomed from the moment Cao Cao proclaimed himself king.

"Lord, calm down!"

Xu Shu and Xiahou Bo hurried forward to try to comfort Liu Bei.

Liu Bei thrust the Han sword in his hand fiercely into the ground and said with his hair a little disheveled.

"How can I calm down? The thief Cao declared himself king, which is undoubtedly telling the world: The Han Dynasty is dead, dead!!"

At this moment, Li Ji walked in hurriedly from outside and said loudly.

"As long as the lord is here, the Han royal family is here, and the Han people are here, who says the Han Dynasty is dead?"

"Zikun also knows about the thief Cao?" Liu Bei asked.

"The thief Cao took the initiative to announce this matter to the world and sent out many documents. I'm afraid it won't be difficult for the matter to reach Jiaozhou, let alone Shouchun." Li Ji sighed.

"How dare you do that?!"

Liu Bei was so angry that he was shaking all over. "Why did Cao Cao do this? Did he think that the infamy he left in the history books was not enough?"

"How could Cao, a thief, care about the bad reputation after his death?"

As Li Ji spoke, he stepped forward and snatched the Han sword from Liu Bei's hand, leaving Xiahou Bo and Xu Shu on the side stunned.

It was not until Li Ji handed the Han sword to Xu Shu that Xu Shu woke up as if from a dream and hurriedly stepped forward to take it and put it back into the sheath.

"What Cao thief is trying to achieve is the greater good."

Li Ji did not comfort Liu Bei, but analyzed it for Liu Bei.

"Since the emperor was murdered, the court in Luoyang has been in name only. Lu Bu can only keep covering up and dare not establish a new emperor..."

After a pause, Li Ji then spoke.

"And the difficulties that Lü Bu encountered were also obvious to all. It seemed that everyone was on the side of the Han Dynasty, so that Lü Bu was despised by the world, and rebellious flags kept popping up under his rule."

"Because of this, with the precedent of Lu thief, how dare Cao thief risk the condemnation of the world?" Liu Bei became more and more puzzled.

"The voice will be suppressed..."

Li Ji said with a sigh.

"It's not that there aren't people in the world who want to see the collapse of the Han Dynasty, but their voices have been drowned out by the voices of those who are loyal to the Han Dynasty."

"Moreover, the more widely Lü Bu's notoriety spreads, the more it will undoubtedly deal a further blow to the Han Dynasty's remaining dignity. This will unknowingly fuel anti-Han voices in secret." In the final analysis, killing the king in the street is too cruel.

Since the Han Dynasty, there have been precedents of emperors being killed by external relatives or eunuchs. On the contrary, there have been too many emperors who died in the deep palace.

But for the common people, these are all unknown secrets. In the eyes of the common people, the emperor is still the one who is destined by heaven.

Once people heard about the "regicide in the street", they would undoubtedly continue to question the emperor.

"Therefore, Cao Cao chose such a time to become king, which invisibly catered to a considerable number of people..."

"More importantly, only in this way can Cao Cao obtain the great justice he needs."

At this point, Li Ji's voice became more stern.

What is righteousness? In short, it is to act in a way that is famous and can gain people's support.

For example, in later generations, if one suddenly sent troops to attack an island country or to attack India, the degree of popular support that one would get would undoubtedly be completely different.

This is nothing more than the fact that for people in later generations, attacking island countries naturally has the righteousness of revenge, which is naturally what people want and everyone will support.

Before this, Cao Cao had done everything he could to survive in the chaotic times. His reputation in the Han Dynasty had already been completely ruined, and he was restricted in everything he did.

But once Cao Cao declares himself king, he will not only completely get rid of the rules brought by the Han Dynasty, but also quickly win over the hearts of some people.

It is like, if they followed the same "Han" rules to fight for hegemony, Cao Cao would obviously be at a great disadvantage compared to Liu Bei.

If Cao Cao continued to "respect the Han Dynasty", he would only continue to be suppressed by Liu Bei in terms of "righteousness".

Therefore, Cao Cao completely tore off the meaningless cover-up and directly proclaimed himself king, intending to carve out a country within the Han Dynasty.

After listening to Li Ji's analysis that went straight to the point, Liu Bei was surprised to have calmed down quickly.

Liu Bei's previous anger was more about why Cao Cao, who was also a Han Chinese, wanted to stab the Han people in the back.

But at this moment, how could Liu Bei not understand that Cao Cao did this? After all, it was for his own benefit and to fight for "righteousness".

"Zikun, we absolutely cannot sit idly by and do nothing about this matter. Do you have any good plan?" Liu Bei asked in a deep voice.

In response, Li Ji frowned and paced back and forth in front of Liu Bei.

After a long while, Li Ji said with embarrassment.

"It's difficult! If Cao had dared to declare himself king in the past, the emperor would have only needed an imperial decree to follow the 'White Horse Alliance' and call on all the heroes in the world to attack him together."

"But now, let alone the death of the emperor, even that thief Lu is an out-and-out traitor to the Han Dynasty. How can he call on the heroes?"

After hearing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but say "hateful" three times.

Is the Han Dynasty dead?
not yet!
But it is already in name only.

Without the emperor, the imperial court was in name only, so even the imperial court would not object to Cao Cao's claim to the throne, let alone stop him.

"unless……"

At this point, Li Ji couldn't help but pause.

"Unless what?" Liu Bei asked subconsciously.

"Unless a new emperor comes to the throne, it will not only stop people's worries about the vacant throne, but also allow the court to legitimately denounce Cao Cao." Li Ji replied.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei frowned and sighed.

"It's probably not easy to convince Lu, and even if Lu wants to establish a new king, there will probably be many people who won't accept it."

(End of this chapter)