Chapter 55 Emperor Qing suspected that Northern Qi surrendered too quickly!

Emperor Qing has been feeling a little tired lately.

He felt that many things were out of his control and were developing in unpredictable directions.

It even made him feel a little overwhelmed.

First, Li Chengde was assassinated by the temple messenger. Although this had been expected,
But when it really happened, Emperor Qing had to consider the impact of this incident.

Especially as for the Imperial Manor Workshop, in Emperor Qing’s opinion, the strength of the workshop directly determines the future of Qing Kingdom.

Since Li Chengde's death, things seem to be booming, but in fact there is no creativity.

However, regarding this point,
Emperor Qing didn't have much to worry about, as Li Chengde's inheritance was enough to last the Qing Kingdom for a long time.

There is only one thing he cares about: is Li Chengde really dead or is his death just a fake one?

From a rational point of view, he felt that Li Chengde's actions were inherently unpredictable.

Even if he is a temple messenger, he may not be able to kill Li Chengde. It has nothing to do with martial arts strength.

But after so much time has passed, Li Chengde's whereabouts are still unknown.

Is Li Chengde really dead?

If not, then it makes sense that Li Chengde is hiding behind the scenes now.

The original plan for Northern Qi was not completed. Is this really just a coincidence?
If Li Chengde did this on purpose, what was his purpose?
Emperor Qing didn't believe that the timing of the temple messenger's appearance was so coincidental, just before the completion of Northern Qi's plan.

Now the currency market of Northern Qi has not been disturbed, and even the expansion of Shangjing City is progressing steadily.

All of this, as long as Li Chengde is still alive, must be Li Chengde's plan!

In this case, we are back to the question: what is Li Chengde’s ultimate purpose in doing this?
What benefits will it bring to the Princess and the others if Fan Xian's background is exposed?
Emperor Qing currently finds it difficult to connect all of these together.

Of course, Li Chengde may also be dead.

But Emperor Qing would rather believe that Li Chengde is still alive and is joining forces with the eldest princess to deal with him.

In this way, he can increase his efforts when settling accounts afterwards!
Fortunately, however, these are just minor details.

Overall, everything is still under control.

As long as he is still the grandmaster and holds the military power of the world, the Qing Kingdom will not be able to turn the tables!

But in Northern Qi, outside Qing Kingdom, Emperor Qing found that he could not guess what the little emperor was thinking.

If the young emperor had joined forces with Li Chengde, why did he propose peace talks so quickly?

Remember, the war is only half over!
According to his original idea, this time he would annex at least one-third of the territory of Northern Qi.

As for more...it's not that he doesn't want to, but the great master of Northern Qi is still alive.

Of course, even so, the conditions offered by Northern Qi in this peace talk were too generous.

Not only were all the lands captured by the Qing army incorporated into the Qing Kingdom, but compensation and several cities were also paid.

Even though Northern Qi barely fought for it, Qing got these things from the negotiating table.

This situation is really weird!

This even made Emperor Qing doubt whether Li Chengde’s plan before his death was successfully implemented?
The impression given by Northern Qi was that it basically wanted to calm things down and complete the negotiations as soon as possible.

It is suspected that there is an internal problem and it needs to be resolved urgently.

Emperor Qing was unwilling to give Northern Qi this opportunity.

But the current achievements are so great that Qing Kingdom needs some time to digest the newly acquired land.

In the end, we can only compromise temporarily.

However, Northern Qi actually put forward some conditions, such as releasing Sean, the former Northern Wei spy.

Of course, they would also release the captured spies of the Supervisory Council, including Yan Bingyun. Emperor Qing agreed.

Sean is no longer of any value to Qing State.

But Yan Bingyun is different.
He knows too many secrets of the Supervisory Council, and Emperor Qing cannot let him fall into the hands of Northern Qi.

All of this has now been agreed.

If Emperor Qing still wants to take action against Northern Qi, he has to find another suitable time.

Now that everything had been reported, Emperor Qing withdrew his gaze from his ministers and prepared to end the meeting.

But at this moment, an official from the Honglu Temple stood up.

"Your Majesty, our Daqing has won a great victory in this Northern Expedition. I congratulate Your Majesty!"

"Such a great victory should be reported to the Imperial Ancestral Temple for comfort."

"I suggest that Your Majesty should offer sacrifices to the heavens at Mount Dadong!"

This victory was indeed a beautiful one, and Emperor Qing did not find it strange that the Honglu Temple had such a proposal.

But then, several officials from the Ministry of Rites came forward one after another.

"Expanding territory has always been an unprecedented achievement. I think what the Honglu Temple proposed is very reasonable!"

"Yes, how can we not offer sacrifices to the gods at Mount Dadong for such a big event?"

"Although offering sacrifices to heaven can be done in the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Xiaodong Mountain, this time our Daqing has swallowed up one-fifth of the territory of Northern Qi, which is a great victory!"

"Sacrificing to the heavens at Mount Dadong is not excessive!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

As more than one third of the courtiers walked out of the procession,
Emperor Qing's expression was uncertain. He now began to suspect that there were bad people among his ministers!
He was just wondering that Northern Qi's peace talks came too quickly and too suddenly, disrupting his rhythm.

It turned out that this was the place waiting for him!
The terrain of Dadong Mountain is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

But if someone controls the key positions in advance, the blockade of the mountain can be completed.

In this way, it is only a matter of time before he is trapped and killed!
So, who could have done this?
Obviously... the Princess!

Of course, the eldest princess has not yet revealed her strength, so Emperor Qing cannot confirm how many people in the military have been bribed by her.

But what is certain is that
It is very likely that the eldest princess’s people also participated in this small decisive battle with Northern Qi.

The reason why Northern Qi agreed to the eldest princess's plan was, of course, because Qing Kingdom could not take over these places!

In other words, as long as he was killed in Dadongshan,
Northern Qi will soon be able to recover lost territory and even counterattack Qing!
This is almost foreseeable!
But one thing is certain.

He even survived the assassination attempt from the temple messenger, so the eldest princess must take this into consideration if she wants to take action.

It is not difficult to guess what the eldest princess will do...convince the three great masters to gather at Dadong Mountain!

Although Emperor Qing was very confident, he still had some concerns about the three grand masters joining forces.

Especially since Lao Wu’s whereabouts are unknown, what should we do if he suddenly appears in Dadong Mountain?
An answer flashed through Emperor Qing’s mind.

Let’s finish it together!
Since the eldest princess decided to take action at this time, he might as well do as the eldest princess wished.

It just so happened that he also wanted to find an opportunity to eliminate all the monsters like the Grandmaster who shouldn't exist!

Of course, not including himself.

The decision was made quickly.

Emperor Qing had a calm expression and ordered, "Since everyone insists, let's go to Mount Dadong to offer sacrifices to the heavens together!"

(End of this chapter)