Chapter 54: The invisible big hand, the prince was under house arrest!
"Will Emperor Qing guess who did it?"

The eldest princess looked at Li Chengde, whose face was calm, with a hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Of course." Li Chengde said calmly, "Except you, no one else has this motive."

The princess sighed, "I have a grudge against Ye Qingmei, and I must kill Fan Xian."

"But after learning about Fan Xian's background, he did not choose to take action, but instead exposed the matter."

“It seems unreasonable to do this.”

Li Chengde's mouth curled up slightly, "Emperor Qing also thinks so, so he will guess your purpose."

The princess seemed to understand, "You want me to tell everyone about Fan Xian's background, but then you want me to do nothing else, just to distract Emperor Qing's attention?"

Li Chengde did not deny it and analyzed calmly:
"Emperor Qing is ruthless and calm, which is an important reason why he has been able to be a chess player for many years."

"But human energy is limited."

"As long as enough things happen within a given period of time, even a great master will not be able to react."

As he spoke, Li Chengde suddenly paused.
"What's more, as long as someone wants to harm Emperor Qing, Dean Chen won't mind helping out."

"With his misleading, Emperor Qing will further disperse his limited energy."

At this point, the princess expressed her doubts, "Chen Pingping seems to have always been very loyal to Emperor Qing. Even if he guessed that the target was me, he was still fulfilling his duty."

"How can you be sure that this old dog will choose to stand on our side?"

Li Chengde smiled confidently and said, "Many people find it difficult to understand Chen Pingping's feelings for Ye Qingmei."

“But when a slave is truly treated as a person of equal status, the gratitude he feels is something that the royal family and meritorious nobles cannot understand.”

"Ye Qingmei is almost a spiritual totem for Chen Pingping."

"Once he realizes that Ye Qingmei's death may be related to Emperor Qing, it is easy to imagine what choice he will make."

The princess didn't quite understand this statement and hesitated, "Then should we try to contact him next?"

Li Chengde shook his head and said, "No, as long as we take action, the Supervisory Council will assist us behind the scenes and make Emperor Qing very anxious."

"The prince has hidden many portraits in the East Palace, and has also brought in some maids."

"The Supervisory Council should know this news, but Director Chen may not be able to guess when we will take action and reveal the signs of action to him."

"Then send a message to the young Emperor of Northern Qi, asking her to prepare for defeat. Emperor Qing is preparing to declare war."

“After that, it’s our home court.”

"By the way, how are your contacts with the seven governors of Qing Kingdom going?"

As the real frontier officials of Qing State, if they really want to take action against Emperor Qing,
The strength of the seven governors must be taken into consideration.

The princess hesitated for a moment and then reported.
"The Governor of Xiliang Road has a good relationship with the Ye family and the eldest prince. He has made it clear that he can stand on our side when necessary."

"The Governor of Dongshan Road wants to go one step further. At that time, he will control the deployment of defenses around Dadongshan."

"The governors of Jiangnan and Jiangbei are the true confidants of Emperor Qing, and they are unlikely to betray him, so I did not send anyone to test their attitudes."

"At least half of the people in Yanyun Road still miss the Northern Wei.
The Northern Qi Dynasty inherited from the Northern Wei Dynasty, so as long as the little emperor took action, he could control the Yanyun Road.

Although the governor did a good job, his troops could not leave Yandi, and therefore could not come to the aid of Emperor Qing."

"The Hexi and Zhili provinces said they would remain neutral and would support whoever wins between the Crown Prince and Emperor Qing."

Hearing this, Li Chengde's eyes turned cold, "Want to be neutral? It's not that easy."

"The location of Zhili Road is too important. If it is not resolved, it will be a big trouble."

"Find someone to talk to him again. If that doesn't work, put him under house arrest... Let the Supervisory Council do it."

"Hexi Road is contained by Xiliang Road, so the problem is not serious. I hope that the governor can face the reality."

"As for Dongshan Road...tell He Zhiyong that he doesn't need to do anything, just protect Emperor Qing."

The princess was a little surprised. "If Emperor Qing offered sacrifices to the heavens at Mount Dadong, as long as He Zhiyong sealed off Mount Dadong, the three great masters should be able to kill Emperor Qing."

Li Chengde shook his head slightly, "Don't underestimate Emperor Qing. With his strength, it is not a problem to kill the three great masters, so Dadongshan is not a good opportunity." "And I want to plant a nail next to Emperor Qing, and He Zhiyong is just the right size."

The princess nodded thoughtfully, "What about the Qin family? Qin Ye's influence in the military cannot be underestimated."

A trace of contempt flashed in Li Chengde's eyes.
"He's just a speculator, the same kind of guy as those two governors. We'll help whoever wins. Don't bother with him."

The princess nodded slightly, "I understand, I'll give the order now!"

……

……

Chen Pingping sat in the courtyard of the Supervisory Yuan, staring at the sky and gently tapping the armrest of his wheelchair.

He did not choose to take action that day, but that did not mean that his hatred for Emperor Qing disappeared.

And now that the Li Palace has shown goodwill towards Emperor Qing, he would naturally be willing to see it happen.

But he didn't know the strength of the eldest princess.

Based on his understanding of the eldest princess, killing Emperor Qing was simply impossible.

But all signs indicate that the eldest princess intends to use the crown prince to force Emperor Qing to abdicate.

But it is obvious that Emperor Qing cannot give up power.

Therefore, the only way to achieve this goal is... to kill Emperor Qing!

But, still the problem,
Emperor Qing is so powerful that even the temple messengers are no match for him!

In Chen Pingping's opinion, even if the other three grand masters joined forces, they might not be able to kill Emperor Qing.

So, what cards does the eldest princess have in her hand?
He also felt that there seemed to be an invisible big hand behind the recent events.

Who could this be?

An idea suddenly occurred to Chen Pingping.

Could it be that... the Fourth Prince is not dead yet? !

Although according to the investigation results of the Overwatch Council, the Fourth Prince had no chance of surviving the pursuit of the temple messengers, but... what if?
In fact, it's not just him, even Emperor Qing still holds this idea, so until now he still doesn't dare to easily settle the inheritance left by the Fourth Prince.

However, it is estimated that the subsequent reckoning will come at the latest when the war between Qing and Northern Qi is over.

But the eldest princess will not give Emperor Qing such an opportunity.

Today, Emperor Qing will go to the Eastern Palace.

The prince, who has always been cautious, would do something in the East Palace that would anger Emperor Qing.

Of course, these things were a tacit understanding reached between the Supervisory Council and the Princess.

"It turns out that Eunuch Hou is his man..."

Chen Pingping's eyes showed a hint of emotion.

Emperor Qing usually only handles state affairs in the Imperial Study.

He rarely visited the courtyards of the concubines in the harem.

But as a personal eunuch who has followed Emperor Qing for many years,

Sometimes just one sentence is enough to change Emperor Qing's itinerary without leaving any trace.

And since the Fourth Prince is not dead, then Eunuch Hou is of course his man.

Chen Pingping saw the opportunity and was determined to help the prince. "Calculating the time, it should be about time..."

Just as he finished speaking, a carrier pigeon arrived.

Chen Pingping opened the secret letter tied to it and a smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Sure enough, the prince is under house arrest!"

(End of this chapter)