Chapter 579: Emperor Qing leaves and marches east to destroy the Dongyi
'Emperor Qing' doesn't want to be a scapegoat, not because his woman is old.

It can be said that all the women who can be won over by Emperor Qing have excellent temperament and appearance, and their figures are also well controlled, just like peaches.

Moreover, among these concubines, only two or three were around forty years old.

Most of Emperor Qing's concubines are in their twenties or thirties. They have just reached maturity and are at the age when they are charming but have not lost their girlish heart.

However, Su Mingzhe does not have the heart of Meng De, and he would feel very tired if he took on so many things at once.

Besides, more than a hundred beauties had just entered the harem, and he had only tasted two of them.

For the time being, his own concubines were too busy to take care of themselves, so how could he have the time to comfort Emperor Qing's concubines?

After hesitating for a long time, Su Mingzhe's sense of responsibility surged in his heart:

"These concubines were forced to remain widows because they killed Emperor Qing. I can't let them remain widows any longer."

Su Mingzhe finally decided to be a responsible man.

Having made up his mind, Emperor Qing left the palace with the concubines who were willing to go with him, citing the excuse that "there is only one sun in the sky".

It just so happened that Li Chengze rebelled, and his newly expanded Pingnan Palace was currently vacant, suitable for "Emperor Qing" to live in.

On that day, Emperor Qing moved to the Prince of Pingnan's Palace. Except for the former Queen, all other concubines moved in with him.

The former Concubine Yi, Liu Ruyu's cousin, now Concubine Gui, also moved in.

Originally, the former queen, now the queen mother, still wanted to maintain some reserve.

However, this reserve only lasted for one day.

On the second day.

When the Queen Mother heard that the Imperial Concubine Noble, Li Chengze's mother, who had been under house arrest, and the former Imperial Concubine Shu, had also been taken to the palace, in order to prevent Emperor Qing from letting Prince Pingnan go, she found an excuse to pay her respects to Emperor Qing and discuss her son's marriage, and then moved into Prince Pingnan's palace.

'Emperor Qing' naturally understood the thoughts of these women, but he had also been thinking about his 'Queen' for a long time.

Now that she offered it to him, Emperor Qing naturally enjoyed it.

However, after enjoying it, Emperor Qing began to regret it:
"It's a moment of greed and pleasure, but next time I go to Yeonbokgung to pay my respects, I'm afraid I'll be so embarrassed."

Anyway, with these women as his ties, Emperor Qing originally planned to leave in a few days.

The time of final departure was repeatedly delayed.

In particular, Li Chengze's mother, in order to make Emperor Qing forgive her son, used the eighteen talents she learned when she was young.

Emperor Qing felt that if he did not forgive Li Chengze, he would be sorry for Concubine Shu's hard work.

It was not until late November that Su Mingzhe and Fan Ruoruo held the ceremony to crown the queen.

Emperor Qing granted amnesty to the entire nation for the sake of Concubine Shu.

Even Li Chengze was spared the death penalty and was given the title of "Emperor Yongle", but he was sent to his fiefdom and placed under house arrest.

At this time, Li Chengze did not seek death or drink poison, but obediently went to his fiefdom and accepted house arrest.

After Su Mingzhe and Fan Ruoruo got married, they let her take over the inner treasury.

At this moment, Emperor Qing finally gritted his teeth and used great willpower to leave the peaceful land of Kyoto City.

"At worst, I can just come back once a year. There's really no need to enjoy all the tenderness in one go."

The departure of 'Emperor Qing' made the atmosphere in Kyoto City much more relaxed.

However, this relaxed atmosphere did not last long.

early december.

After more than a month of preparation, Nanqing assembled an army of 300,000.

Outside the South City Gate, on a mound, Su Mingzhe personally attended a ceremony to pay homage to the general.

General Ye Wan took the seal from Su Mingzhe and swearing while beating his chest:
"Your Majesty, I will not return until I have completely wiped out the Dongyi and its surrounding vassal states during this expedition."

"I naturally believe that the general will succeed soon!"

Su Mingzhe waved his hand, and eighteen ascetic monks in black robes stood up behind him:

"These are the envoys of the Qing Temple. Their cultivation is all above the ninth rank. I hope Commander Ye can lead them to pacify Dongyi City as soon as possible and return safely."

Dongyi City without Si Gu Jian is like a tiger without claws.

Although Dongyi City is still a behemoth in comparison, it can be said that it has no ability to resist the war of annihilation launched by Nanqing.

In early December, the Nanqing Army set out along the waterway.

In mid-December, Nanqing began to arrive at the border of Song.

The State of Song was a small vassal state that was dependent on the city of Dongyi.

Knowing that Si Gu Jian had been killed, the Song army turned against the Qing army on the spot and became the vanguard of the Nanqing Eastern Expedition.

Subsequently, several small countries such as Zhao, Lu, and Wu also surrendered.

Occasionally, a few small vassal states wanted to resist with the support of Dongyi City, but facing the powerful offensive of Nanqing, they basically could not hold out for more than three days and would be destroyed.

For a small country that surrendered directly, Nanqing allowed members of the royal family to retain their ancestral temples.

However, as long as they resisted the Eastern Expedition Army, even if these small vassal states surrendered later, their royal family members would be escorted to the capital of Nanqing to be tried by Su Mingzhe.

The New Year passed in a flash.

It was late February.

The Nanqing army that was on the eastern expedition finally arrived at the city of Dongyi.

When they set out, there were 300,000 troops on the Eastern Expedition.

Today, after absorbing the vanguard troops of the vassal states and small countries in Dongyi City, the number of troops has increased instead of decreased, reaching a huge number of 400,000.

You know, Dongyi City has only a population of one million.

Now, 400,000 soldiers and horses have surrounded Dongyi City, and Si Gu Jian's disciples are also in a panic.

Among them, Li Bohua, the second disciple of Si Gu Jian, saw that his senior brother Yun Zhilan remained silent, and could not help but urge him:

"Big Brother, Nanqing has already attacked us. It's hard to defend a city alone. Let's go out and fight them!"

"Fight for your life? Fight for what?"

Yun Zhilan raised his head, and his cold eyes shocked the anxious fellow disciples.

Si Gu Jian had more than a dozen disciples. When he went to assassinate the new emperor of Qing, he took four of them, but they were all captured. Now, there are only seven disciples left in Dongyi City.

Yun Zhilan knew very well that even if he had to fight to the death, he would not have to fight on the battlefield now:

"The Nanqing Eastern Expedition Army has more than twenty ninth-rank masters, and there is also a grandmaster hiding in the army. What we need to do now is not to fight desperately, but to preserve our strength. Second Junior Brother, you lead everyone to withdraw, and I will go to Kaicheng to surrender. As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood..."

Yun Zhilan was able to become Si Gu Jian's eldest disciple, which meant that he was a martial arts expert with a very strong and tenacious mind.

Faced with two options: fighting in vain, or conserving strength and waiting for an opportunity for revenge.

He very wisely chose to preserve his strength.

When Li Bohua heard that Yun Zhilan was going to surrender, he quickly stopped him and said:

"Big Brother, you have the highest martial arts skills and are most likely to break through to the Grandmaster level. Otherwise, I'll surrender!"

Anyone who surrenders to Nanqing will be kept under house arrest and treated like a waste for the rest of his life.

Li Bohua really wants to replace Yun Zhilan.

Yun Zhilan looked at his second apprentice brother and could understand his thoughts, but...

"You can't represent Dongyi City."

Early March.

Ye Wan led the Eastern Expedition Army and completely pacified Dongyi City and more than a dozen affiliated vassal states.

When the news reached Nanqing, the whole country celebrated.

That night, Su Mingzhe was so happy that he stayed overnight at Ye Ling'er's Zhongcui Palace.

Ye Ling'er entered the palace in October, and it has been almost five months now. In more than 140 days, she has only been summoned to serve the emperor's bedchamber ten times.

On average, the cards will be turned over once every half a month.

Perhaps compared to those beauties and talented people, she has been picked out quite often.

However, for this kind of thing, we need to make a comparison to know the real situation.

After Fan Ruoruo moved into Yaohua Palace, Su Mingzhe would stay there for more than ten days a month.

There are still seven or eight days left, and I will stay overnight at Lin Wan'er's Changchun Palace.

The reason why Su Mingzhe spent little time looking for Lin Wan'er was not because he had little feelings for her, but because Lin Wan'er was frail and weak.

Every time Su Mingzhe went, Lin Wan'er had to rest for a few days before she could recover.

Apart from going to Fan Ruoruo and Lin Wan'er's residence, there are about ten days left in the month.

During these ten days, Su Mingzhe will treat all concubines, beauties, and talented women equally and flip through the names of other concubines, beauties, and talented women.

This needs further clarification.

Su Mingzhe visited Fan Ruoruo and Lin Wan'er and stayed overnight in their palaces.

When looking for concubines, beauties, and talented women, Su Mingzhe would summon them to the Taiji Palace to sleep with him.

By comparing the treatments, it is clear that Su Mingzhe treated Ye Ling'er as an ordinary concubine.

Su Mingzhe will stay overnight at Zhongcui Palace tonight, which is the first time he has made an exception.

This could be considered as a way to thank Ye Wan, this 'brother-in-law' who is working hard outside.

After Ye Ling'er knew that the emperor was coming to Zhongcui Palace, she specially prepared a table of wine and food.

Ye Ling'er used alcohol to liven up the atmosphere, and she was also a seventh-rank master with a strong physical endurance.

This night, Su Mingzhe came with great excitement and left with great excitement.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe gave Ye Ling'er a reward and allowed her to return home to visit her parents.

On the other hand, the imperial court sent civil and military officials to Dongyi City and its affiliated vassal states to begin "naturalization management."

Ye Wan led the army on the Eastern Expedition and stationed in Dongyi City for more than a month.

It was mid-April.

The Eastern Expedition Army was then ordered to return to the court.

Su Mingzhe was clear in his rewards and appointed Ye Wan as Duke of Song, which was considered the highest position for a minister.

Other meritorious officials in the army were also rewarded.

The new geomancy map of the world's forces had already been drawn up by this time.

The world was originally divided into three parts, with Northern Qi having the largest area and the largest population.

Southern Qing was a country of great national strength and flourishing martial arts;
Dongyi City had a prosperous economy, especially its maritime trade, which brought in tens of millions of taels of silver each year.

Because all three families have grand masters, although there are conflicts on the borders, they are relatively stable and everyone can still interact peacefully.

Now, Nanqing has defeated Dongyi in one fell swoop, and it can be said that it has begun to crush Northern Qi in all aspects in terms of population, area, economy, and military.

In addition, the Northern Qi's grandmaster Ku He was captured.

The people of Nanqing were discussing when the Northern Expedition would set out to destroy Northern Qi.

In fact, this issue is not only discussed by people in Nanqing.

The people of Northern Qi also began to tremble in fear, fearing that one day they would wake up to find the army of Southern Qing approaching and they would become subjects of a fallen country.

However, everyone is discussing it.

There were even many generals with military honors who volunteered to fight.

Su Mingzhe could only let Fan Jian, the father-in-law of the emperor, play the bad guy.

Fan Jian also cooperated very well and complained directly at the grand court meeting:

"Your Majesty, the national treasury has spent more than half of its money to reward the 300,000 troops. The summer news is about to arrive, and the Imperial Astronomical Observatory reported that the weather this year is abnormal, and the riverbanks on both sides of the river need to be reinforced. In addition, the governor of Kyoto reported that now is the time of shortage. In order to stabilize domestic grain prices, more than half of the granaries across the country have been spent, and silver is urgently needed to fill them..."

Fan Jian talked until his mouth was dry and he finally concluded with one sentence:

"…Your Majesty, the national treasury is simply unable to support the army's northern expedition this year."

(End of this chapter)