Joy of Life: I dressed as a woman and became the Queen of Northern Qi!

Chapter 37: The shrewd Emperor Qing, Fan Xian enters Kyoto in advance!
Nanqing, Kyoto.

The atmosphere in the palace study was very depressing.

The chief eunuch, Lord Hou, stood aside with his head hung, not daring to even breathe.

Director of the Inspection Bureau Chen Pingping, Minister of Revenue Fan Jian, and Director of the Six Ministries Lin Ruofu also had gloomy expressions.

"What a great battle! We left with 80,000 troops, but only a few thousand returned. The rest were either killed in battle or captured. Even my eldest son, Li Chengru, was captured!"

"Which of you, my dear minister, can tell me what's going on? Dean Chen, you control the Inspection Bureau, and you have secret agents all over the world. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Why didn't we know anything about the Northern Qi Incident? Why did we lose this battle?"

Emperor Qing had a slightly ferocious look on his face. He stood in front of Chen Pingping and looked down at him.

Although his tone was calm, the anger contained in it was clearly audible.

Chen Pingping looked gloomy, and he folded his hands into his sleeves and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, our secret agents in Northern Qi have all been cleared out by the Jinyiwei."

"The Jinyiwei of Northern Qi has many masters of unknown origin. While cleaning up our hidden agents, they also blocked the news. The news we have now is also the intelligence network that Yan Bingyun rebuilt after going to Northern Qi."

"According to the current intelligence from the Inspection Institute, these experts are all related to the new Queen of Northern Qi. They are probably trained by Grandmaster Ku He to help the Northern Qi royal family stabilize its regime!"

"This matter is indeed the responsibility of my Inspection Office. I thought the Royal Guards would be insignificant without Sean, but I didn't expect this to happen. After all, I underestimated them!"

Fan Jian and Lin Ruofu put their hands in their sleeves, looked at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses, as if they did not hear the conversation between the two people.

They could all hear that Emperor Qing might be really angry, but he wanted to use this incident to put pressure on the Inspection Institute.

The Inspection Institute is too powerful, and it would be hard for Emperor Qing to feel truly at ease if it is not constantly punished.

Emperor Qing placed his arm on the back of Chen Pingping's wheelchair and calmed his slightly rapid breathing.

This made Chen Pingping secretly breathe a sigh of relief, realizing that the blow had passed.

"The Queen of Northern Qi? Ha!"

"Chen Pingping, I don't care what method you use or who you send to sneak into Northern Qi. Even if you go there in person, you must find out all the changes in Northern Qi!"

"The Inspection Institute is fully responsible for this incident. All members of the Inspection Institute will be fined one month's salary!"

Emperor Qing lowered his head again, looking at Chen Pingping with an inexplicable look in his eyes: "I don't want this kind of thing to happen again, otherwise... the Inspection Institute will have no need to exist!"

After saying this, he flicked his sleeves, turned around and sat back on the bed. Seeing this, Eunuch Hou immediately trotted forward to pour tea.

Chen Pingping gathered his sleeves and bowed, saying, "On behalf of all my colleagues at the Inspection Office, I thank Your Majesty for his great grace!"

Emperor Qing picked up the teacup and played with it in his hands without even glancing at them.

For a moment, the hall fell into silence, with no other sound except the sound of breathing.

After a long while, Emperor Qing raised his head and looked at the three people with indifferent eyes: "Why don't you say a word? Then what are you doing here?"

"Aren't you usually very smart? Aren't you very talkative? Why don't you say anything when something happens? Then what's the use of you?"

Although he had just taken the opportunity to give Chen Pingping a warning, it did not mean that he was not angry. This defeat did make him extremely shocked and angry.

He never took Northern Qi seriously and believed that he could easily conquer Northern Qi as long as the time was right.

But what was going on now? The elite troops of Qing were actually defeated? And the defeat was so tragic?
Is that still the Northern Qi he knew? The Northern Qi that he could definitely conquer if he wanted to?
He didn't like the feeling of being out of control. He really didn't like it! Chess pieces should stay on the chessboard quietly, instead of jumping out of the chessboard to show their presence!
"Your Majesty, I think that now that things have come to this, defeat is inevitable. It is better to negotiate peace with Northern Qi and get back the crown prince and many soldiers."

"What Prime Minister Lin said makes sense. Even if we still have the strength to fight, the Crown Prince and the soldiers are still in the hands of Northern Qi. We can't just ignore them, otherwise the people will lose their support!"

Lin Ruofu and Fan Jian spoke one after another, and their opinions were surprisingly consistent.

In fact, they all saw that Emperor Qing also wanted to negotiate peace, but he couldn't take the initiative to speak, so he asked them to come and take the blame.

The eldest prince and more than 70,000 soldiers are in the hands of Northern Qi. Even if Qing still has a large army that can go to the border to continue fighting, those prisoners will never come back.

This would lose the support of the people, and Emperor Qing also could not take the initiative to propose peace talks, as that would damage the reputation of the royal family.

Emperor Qing glanced at the two of them calmly, and then set his gaze on Chen Pingping who was resting with his eyes closed: "What do you think, Dean Chen? Should we fight or negotiate peace?"

Chen Pingping opened his eyes, put his sleeves together and bowed his head, saying: "Whether to fight or make peace is entirely up to your majesty!"

This attitude made Emperor Qing raise the corner of his mouth slightly, but it quickly disappeared without being noticed by anyone.

Emperor Qing stood up suddenly, flicked his sleeves and pretended to be angry, "Even if Northern Qi wins this time, I will remember this grudge!"

"Prime Minister Lin, send someone to negotiate peace with Northern Qi. Remember to bring those soldiers back safely. They are all here for Daqing. We must not abandon them!"

His words not only agreed to the peace talks, but also showed the magnanimity of a king, telling the people that he was forced to negotiate peace.

The last few words won the hearts of the people even more. Once they were spread, countless people would praise his magnanimity and at the same time hate the Northern Qi Dynasty.

It can be said to kill two birds with one stone!
Lin Ruofu and the other two were secretly amazed at Emperor Qing's scheming. It was so terrifying. Perhaps Emperor Qing had anticipated everything from the moment they entered the door?
"I will live up to your majesty's trust and bring everyone back safely!" Lin Ruofu bowed respectfully.

Emperor Qing waved his hand and said, "Go down, I am tired."

"By the way, Fan Jian, I heard that you have an illegitimate child in Danzhou? Is his name Fan Xian? Bring him to Kyoto. After all, if he is kept in Danzhou, he will never see the vast world!"

These sudden words made Fan Jian and Chen Pingping's expressions freeze. Lin Ruofu looked at Fan Jian with an inexplicable expression, with some contemplation in his eyes.

After a while, Fan Jian finally said, "I... thank your majesty for your grace on behalf of Fan Xian!"

Emperor Qing waved his hand again, and Fan Jian and the other two left.

Even after they walked out of the hall, Chen Pingping and Fan Jian still had gloomy faces, and it was obvious that they were in a very bad mood.

Seeing this, Lin Ruofu didn't ask any more questions and just said goodbye and left.

Fan Jian pushed Chen Pingping's wheelchair out of the palace.

On the way, Fan Jian couldn't help but ask, "Do we really have to do this? The water in Kyoto is too deep!"

"What does it matter how deep the water is? We are not dead yet! With us holding the child up, he won't drown!"

"What is to come will come. Don't worry, that child won't let us down!"

Chen Pingping's tone was calm, but the firmness in it was clearly audible.

Fan Jian nodded helplessly: "You are right, what is meant to come will eventually come, it's just a matter of time."

(End of this chapter)