"With His Majesty's bloodline here, how can you expect me to entrust the heavy responsibility of overseeing the country to a prince who has not yet inherited the throne, especially given his serious illness?"
When Yuchi Peng and Luo Yi returned to the military camp, they were both bewildered and speechless, because after Chen Qing left, they no longer had the confidence to question each other.
The Golden Crow Bloodline is definitely real!
The appearance of pure blood in a one-year-old child is a sign of extraordinary talent!
Yuchi Peng came from a prestigious family and knew very well how difficult it was to inherit the Xiao Household's bloodline. The Golden Crow Bloodline was extremely dangerous; in each generation, more than half of the newborns of the Xiao Household died in order to inherit the bloodline. Now, the surviving princes were all crippled. What did it mean for a one-year-old to inherit the bloodline?
When Xiao Mingxue inherited the bloodline, she was only ten years old, but she was already an unparalleled genius in the history of the Xiao Household. This record meant that Xiao Mingxue was already designated as the next head of the Xiao Household family when she was still a child!
If it weren't for His Majesty's sudden rise to power, the Xiao Household would now be run by a woman!
Although the child is a girl, her talent transcends gender. As long as she appears in the court and demonstrates her bloodline, the vassal families will undoubtedly provide her with full support, and no prince can compete with her.
The question then arises: with such a powerful bloodline in place, why did His Majesty appoint a young prince, whose very ability to inherit the bloodline was still uncertain, as regent?
With the court in turmoil and the emperor young and the country in doubt, such a strong bloodline should be brought out immediately to stabilize morale!
Why not?
Luo Yi and Yuchi Peng both considered the same possibility.
The imperial edict appointing regent that circulated from the palace when His Majesty was seriously ill was fake!
Let alone Chen Qing, anyone would have the same suspicion after seeing the doll next to Chen Qing, including them now!
The two, " Vice Minister Luo " and "Minister Wei," returned to the military camp. Yuchi Peng remained silent for several hours before finally asking, "What should we do?"
"Follow the court's orders first." Luo Yi looked up. "No matter the circumstances, following orders now is never wrong. Chen Qing Chen Qing reasons, but if you insist on saying that the one on the throne has a problem, you need to provide concrete evidence."
Yuchi Peng nodded. There was no problem with the Empress Dowager; this was almost the consensus in the court. Everyone thought so. Breaking this consensus was not something that the two of them could resolve with just a few words.
"Bring Chen Qing back, and the same goes for that little child with the Golden Crow Bloodline. Ensuring their safety is what we, as subjects, should do. As for the outcome," Luo Yi said, "We can only leave it to fate!"
" Chen Qing is unwilling to return." Yuchi Peng shook his head. " Chen Qing doesn't trust the one on the throne, nor does he trust us."
"He has no choice but to believe it!" Luo Yi squinted and said, "I just observed that the fog over Nanming Prefecture is gradually dissipating. In three days at most, the fog over Nanming Prefecture will no longer be able to protect them. Unless he retreats to Liuzhou, he will have to come with us when the army advances!"
"It's not as simple as you think." Yuchi Peng said with a wry smile, " Feihu has only been here for a year, yet he has risen to such a level. I have never heard of such progress before. Chen Qing must have some great opportunity. That must be the reason he was able to cure Gongcheng and make my brat so devoted. So, the intelligence that Vice Minister Yang us before might be true. Chen Qing really is holding onto his military power. We might be in for a tough battle!"
"A tough battle?" Luo Yi chuckled. "The intelligence from Vice Minister Yang says that most of Minister Chen Qing's troops are recruited from the common people. General, although you only have 50,000 troops, they are all from aristocratic families and are the elite of the capital. You don't think you can't win, do you?"
"Whether we can win or not, we'll find out after we fight." Yuchi Peng stood up. "I have a feeling something's not right. You could see that the fog was about to dissipate, so Chen Qing could naturally see it too. Is he really being so stubborn just empty talk? Does he have no trump cards at all?"
"Moreover, if he really is colluding with the Eldest Princess, as Vice Minister Yang claims, and we want to take him away, we might have to face the Eldest Princess's contingency plans!"
"That's something we need to be wary of!" Luo Yi nodded. "However, according to our scouts, the Eldest Princess led her army into the West Sea ten days ago. I just observed that the fog in the West Sea is even thicker and it shouldn't dissipate anytime soon. According to the Duke of Qin's previous battle report, dense fog doesn't release living corpses. The Eldest Princess's main force shouldn't be able to come out to provide support."
"What we need to guard against might be the living corpses left behind in Jiangnan by the Eldest Princess, but since the other side is going to confront that one in the West Sea, they must have brought enough main force, leaving not many for Chen Qing."
Yuchi Peng nodded. "That makes sense."
"However, we must be careful!" Luo Yi said solemnly, "The Eldest Princess is a renowned general of our time. Since she dared to leave Chen Qing here, she must have some backup plan. We must not act rashly."
"Um"
"If all else fails, requesting reinforcements from the imperial court is not out of the question."
"Who calls for reinforcements before even fighting?" Yuchi Peng scoffed, then stood up and stretched his limbs. "Then let me give it a try, that renowned female general who once dominated the world!"
--
"Weren't you so capable just now? How come you can't even walk steadily anymore?"
On the way back, seeing Yuchi Feihu, who could barely stand on the deck even during a battle, Chen Qing chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.
"My lord, I don't know either," Yuchi Feihu said, his voice trembling. "Just now, when I was facing my brother, I clearly felt something, but now my legs are weak."
"Hahaha!" Xu Hu and the others around him burst into laughter.
Even Wei Gongcheng, who was feeling somewhat melancholy, laughed upon hearing this.
He knew the reason. Feihu had grown up in the shadow of his two older brothers and had always been resentful, but he had always been suppressed. Just now, he had been brave enough to withstand the opponent, but once the bravery subsided, the pressure that Yuchi Peng had accumulated over the years naturally made the boy feel scared.
I just didn't expect it to be so obvious.
"Your legs are weak, go get some drinks to calm down." Chen Qing rolled her eyes at him. "Don't wet your pants."
"How could that be!" Yuchi Feihu's face turned bright red as if his pants had been pulled down. He said angrily, "My lord, don't underestimate me. I'm only reacting a little now. When we get to the battlefield, I'm definitely not afraid of him!"
"Hahahaha!" The group burst into laughter again.
Chen Qing chuckled and ushered the other person into the cabin, then went upstairs with Wei Gongcheng: " The Underworld is so busy, yet you insisted on coming along. Now that you've seen Yuchi Peng, how do you feel?"
"It's quite strange," Wei Gongcheng laughed. "I originally thought I would be very excited, but now... it feels like... just so-so."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qing smiled and patted his shoulder, but said nothing.
Some things need not be said. Wei Gongcheng's life level has now reached a point where he is not much worse than Yuchi Peng. When he is on the same level, he will naturally no longer have the same humble feeling as before.
Things will only get calmer from now on, because Chen Qing believes that Wei Gongcheng will only get stronger with him!
"Do you think they'll give up because of what you just said?" Wei Gongcheng asked.
"No." Chen Qing shook his head. "If it were a normal case of a powerful relative usurping the throne, perhaps we could persuade them, but the one in the capital now is no ordinary demon. I just tested her, and it turns out that even a military officer like Yuchi Peng, who rarely attends court, can be hypnotized. The Empress's power is extraordinary!"
So you'll still fight?
"I know how to fight."
"What's the point of showing off the Xiaoli?"
"We have a legitimate reason for our actions!" Chen Qing said seriously, "Although the Yin Devourer Demon's hypnosis is very powerful, it is not invincible. When its hypnosis clashes with certain logics repeatedly, it will cause the hypnotized person to fall into repeated contradictions. Over time, cracks will naturally appear, and at that time, there will be an opportunity to set things right. And even if we cannot, we still need a righteous reputation. After all, more than half of the high-level fighters in our current Battle God Army were once people from the imperial court."
"They need a pretext!"
There will be another update tomorrow. Thank you again to all the viewers who have supported me!