Chapter 60 The Supervisory Council and the Tiger Guards also rebelled? I am alone!

So many things have happened in Qing Kingdom in the past few days.

Not to mention the common people of the world...even the eyewitnesses in the court were confused by this.

First, Emperor Qing was inexplicably assassinated in the palace, and then the fourth prince was killed in Northern Qi.

Then it was revealed that Emperor Qing actually had an illegitimate son, who was the son of the Minister of Revenue Fan Jian.

This makes people sympathize with Fan Jian, but also curious about the emotional experience between the three people.

There are a lot of gossips in the market, but they are basically just speculations without any solid evidence.

After all, the matter involves the royal family and important officials of the current dynasty, and the inside story is not something that ordinary people can understand.

Later, because the fourth prince was killed in Northern Qi, Emperor Qing launched a war against Northern Qi.

This war ended in such a devastating manner and at such a fast speed that no one had time to react.

But no matter what, winning a battle is always a good thing, and the people and ministers will not delve too deeply into it.

Then, Emperor Qing went to the Qing Temple on Mount Dadong to hold a ceremony to worship the heaven, but was attacked and killed by three groups of rebels.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Li Chengqian had no choice but to ascend the throne and became the fourth emperor of Qing Kingdom.

Since the founding of the Kingdom of Qing, there has been only one succession to the throne, and that was the accession of Emperor Qing.

Emperor Qing, who was also the Crown Prince at that time, inherited the throne without any trouble.

This seems like a miracle now.

After all, decades ago, when the founding emperor passed away, the two princes died suddenly, and the late emperor was able to ascend the throne.

Now, the situation is somewhat different from that time, but it is also full of ups and downs.

The three governors in the south claimed that Emperor Qing was not dead, but was just recuperating from his wounds.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, that is, the current Emperor, insisted that Emperor Qing had become the late Emperor.

Ordinary people could not understand the confrontation between the two sides, but the civil and military officials in the court could figure it out to some extent.

This kind of thing is not uncommon. You can find similar cases by just flipping through history books.

But they all remained silent.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's accession to the throne was supported by cabinet ministers and most court officials. Even if the rest had doubts, they had to keep their mouths shut for the sake of the military.

However, many people have reached a consensus: there must be an invisible hand behind these recent events!

They don't know who it is exactly, but at the moment, it should be the eldest princess.

"But does the princess really have this ability?" Chen Pingping asked a question.

"If so, she would have had countless opportunities to display her talents over the past twenty years."

"But unfortunately, I didn't see this happen, so the princess is just a pawn."

Fan Jian couldn't help but nod in agreement with this analysis, "What you said makes sense. There must be a chess player behind the princess who is controlling the overall situation."

"So, who could this person be?"

Chen Pingping and Fan Jian smiled at each other, the answer in each other's heart was self-evident.

"The Fourth Prince faked his own death and escaped, hiding behind the scenes, causing Your Majesty to completely lose control of his whereabouts."

"It was from this time that the Fourth Prince used Northern Qi as bait, forcing Your Majesty to conquer Northern Qi and go to Mount Dadong to offer sacrifices to the heavens."

"At this point, the last part of his plan is complete, which is... to kill His Majesty and seize the throne!"

Chen Pingping's eyes were full of admiration.

If the Fourth Prince gave him the impression of being ferocious last year, he showed no mercy to his enemies.

Then this year, the Fourth Prince's attack on His Majesty made Chen Pingping realize that the struggle for power should not be underestimated.

In fact, anyone with a little foresight can see that there will be a battle between the Fourth Prince and His Majesty sooner or later.

It’s just that the Fourth Prince has always been a secretive person and has never expressed any dissatisfaction with Emperor Qing’s arrangements.

So in the eyes of many people, he is very likely to become the next crown prince.

Although he holds great power in his hands, he has no influence on the princes who are participating in the fight for the throne.

But if the Fourth Prince does not take action, it will be fine. But once he does, he will turn Northern Qi and Qing Kingdom upside down!
Not only did the Kingdom of Qing split into several regions, but even the Crown Prince who ascended the throne was burdened with infamy!
It was a great shame for a king of a country to surrender and pay tribute to a defeated enemy country! But even if the civil and military officials protested, there was nothing they could do, and now was a special period.

Since the three southern routes have been labeled as traitors, Kyoto has essentially been placed under martial law.

Without exception, any student who dared to stand up and protest was labeled a spy and thrown into jail.

Not only is life threatened, but even your reputation will be ruined.

Unless the three southern routes win the final victory, the final fate of these Tai students will be miserable!

However, the three southern routes are not without opportunities.

On the surface, Qing Kingdom is now divided into two regions, north and south, but in reality the situation is much more complicated than that.

The Governor-General of Zhili Road seemed to be on the side of the eldest princess, but in fact he was forced to do so and could defect at any time.

In order to fight the three armies in the south, a part of the Xiliang army was even transferred here.

The Governor of Yanyun Road was trapped in Yan territory and unable to escape, and the person responsible for besieging the Yanyun Army was Shangshan Hu of Northern Qi.

Hexi Road expressed complete neutrality and directly closed all the city gates.

The Xiliang army was transferred to Kyoto by passing through Northern Qi, taking a long detour.

As far as Chen Pingping knows, of the so-called three southern routes, only Jiangnan and Jiangbei support Emperor Qing.

As for Dongshan Road, he was a traitor who was planted next to Emperor Qing.

It can only be said that it is fortunate that the military power of the seven governors was not divided away by the states and counties below, otherwise the Qing Kingdom would have been torn apart long ago, and would have been full of separatist forces!

This made it easy for Chen Pingping to think of what happened decades ago.

When the Kingdom of Qing was first established, there were many countries of different sizes surrounding it.

The Northern Wei Dynasty marched southward and annexed many small countries.

Later, these places were conquered by the Kingdom of Qing, which resulted in the current vast territory.

But now it seems that it is very likely that we can return to the chaotic state of the past at any time.

However, Chen Pingping knew one thing very clearly: the Fourth Prince would not do that!
He vaguely felt that what the Fourth Prince wanted was a unified and powerful country.

It was not like it is now, where Southern Qing, Northern Qi, Dongyi, Western Hu, Nanyue and Northern Man coexist.

If all these places belonged to one country, how powerful such a country would be? Chen Pingping found it hard to imagine!
The territory of this new country extends to the Far North, a vast, uninhabited snowfield.

Going south, you can reach the southernmost tip of the continent and the endless ocean.

To the east, it encompasses countless islands; to the west, it rules over endless grasslands and deserts...

It is even possible to move further west and bring those Westerners who use magic under the rule of the empire.

Such a country would surely be extremely prosperous and would be closest to the world of great harmony that Ye Qingmei had described back then.

"Since things have come to this, I don't mind helping the Fourth Prince." Chen Pingping expressed his attitude, "I have to do something for her."

After hearing this, Fan Jian was silent for a while before speaking, "If it was any other time, I might stop you, but now is indeed the best time to avenge her."

Fan Jian paused and said, "Of course, I still don't think revenge for her is what she expects. She hopes that we can let go of the hatred we had back then."

Chen Pingping's eyes were cold, "Let it go? How do you want me to let it go?!"

"From the moment our wise and mighty Majesty transferred everyone away from her, we have been irreconcilable with him!"

Fan Jian did not refute his words, but just sighed, "So, I don't object to your approach."

"Just how do you plan to help the Fourth Prince?"

A fanatical expression appeared on Chen Pingping's face.

"I just need to help him deliver a small thing to His Majesty, and then I can get my revenge!"

"!!!"

Fan Jian's eyes suddenly narrowed, "Could it be... the thing that killed those two princes back then?!"

Chen Pingping smiled mysteriously, "It's even more powerful than that mysterious weapon!"

(End of this chapter)