Chapter 583: Conferring the title of Princess of Northern Qi as Consort
After Lin Wan'er's period was over, she took another week of sick leave as instructed by Princess Li Yunrui.

It was early October.

During the day, Lin Wan'er sent someone to the imperial study to pass on a message that Su Mingzhe was invited to the Changchun Palace in the evening to enjoy singing and dancing.

Su Mingzhe naturally understood what Lin Wan'er meant.

Before dinner, he first went to Yanshou Palace and Yanfu Palace to pay his respects, and then came to Changchun Palace.

Su Mingzhe felt that his steps were a little hurried as he hadn't been to Changchun Palace for more than half a month.

When he arrived at the gate of Changchun Palace, Su Mingzhe saw Lin Wan'er and a dozen beautiful palace maids coming out to greet them. He hurriedly took a few quick steps and held her fair little hand.

Looking at Lin Wan'er, whose long hair was like a waterfall, and whose body seemed to be still steaming with the fragrance of a bath, Su Mingzhe's heart warmed, but he couldn't help but blame her:

"Wan'er, I've told you so many times not to come out to greet people after you take a bath. It's windy outside, be careful not to catch a cold."

"Cousin, I'm fine. Ever since I took the Peiyuan Pill you gave me, I haven't been sick since."

Lin Wan'er's cute and pure appearance made Su Mingzhe's appetite increase. He put his arms around her soft waist and walked into the bedroom.

October is the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, and the weather is cold.

Most of the palace floor heaters where the concubines live have started to provide heating.

After Su Mingzhe and Lin Wan'er entered the bedroom, Lin Wan'er asked the palace maid to take off her outer shirt, revealing the goose yellow silk inner collar and a bellyband embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water. Her skin was still pink and tender after bathing, and even more attractive than her usual snow-white skin.

Soon, Su Mingzhe pulled Lin Wan'er to lie on the bed.

The candlelight flickers and the fragrance is charming.

After the pleasure.

Lin Wan'er had not yet forgotten the excuse she had given to invite the man over. She pulled the red silk rope at the head of the bed, and soon, the palace maid came in and helped the two of them get up and go to the palace outside.

Changchun Palace had already asked the imperial kitchen to prepare a banquet.

After Su Mingzhe and Lin Wan'er sat down, musicians and dancers came in and began to perform singing and dancing.

The singing and dancing in the palace were far less enchanting and charming than those in the brothels.

This is not to say that the dancer is not beautiful.

On the contrary, a dancer who could dance for the emperor, if not stunningly beautiful, would at least be a tall beauty with delicate features and a graceful figure.

However, no matter how beautiful a beauty is, or how great a dance she performs, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, there are only a few kinds of conventional dances that people will see too many of.

After all, the palace's 'song and dance troupe' was not allowed to perform 'decadent music'.

Fortunately, the skirts worn by the dancers today were relatively thin, and their dancing moves were quite graceful.

After the song and dance, Su Mingzhe and Lin Wan'er both gave out gold and silver as rewards.

After the dancers left, Su Mingzhe looked at the woman in his arms.

At this moment, Lin Wan'er took a vitality pill and recovered a lot of her spirit.

The two looked at each other lovingly, then returned to the bed and entangled with each other again.

It was the next day in a blink of an eye.

Seeing Lin Wan'er waking up with him, he was still full of energy.

Su Mingzhe couldn't help but admonish:
"Wan'er, medicine is poisonous. Although Yuanqi Pills are good, you can't take too much. Do you understand?"

"Got it, cousin."

Lin Wan'er also didn't want to rely on elixirs to receive a man's favor.

But her body was really fragile, and she couldn't satisfy a man without taking the elixir.

In order to give birth to a dragon son as soon as possible, Lin Wan'er wanted to work harder after taking the elixir.

Su Mingzhe also guessed what Lin Wan'er was thinking, and finally stopped trying to persuade her.

A few more days passed.

There was intelligence coming from Northern Qi.

In early October, it began to snow in Shangjing City of Northern Qi.

The Imperial Astronomical Observatory predicts that this winter will be particularly cold.

Several ministers gathered in the imperial study to discuss the negotiations with Northern Qi with Su Mingzhe.

"Your Majesty, if we still can't come to a conclusion in the next few days, I'm afraid the Northern Qi delegation will leave."

Chen Pingping came to such a conclusion, which made Su Mingzhe frown.

Seeing this, Xin Qiwu quickly explained:

"President Chen, although the conditions of Northern Qi are good, we cannot agree to them. If we agree to their conditions, we will have no reason to go to war next year."

If two countries go to war, there must be a reasonable reason.

Before, when the Eastern Expedition Army pacified Dongyi City, it was Si Gu Jian who was used to assassinate the Emperor of Qing.

And next year, the Qing Kingdom is still preparing to launch a northern expedition against the Northern Qi under the pretext of Master Ku He assassinating the Emperor of Qing.

If Northern Qi and Southern Qing really signed a peace agreement, it would not be easy to find a legitimate reason.

After hearing this, all the ministers present nodded and agreed with Xin Qiwu's point of view.

Even if the negotiations fail, we cannot simply agree to Northern Qi's conditions.

After hearing everyone's opinions, Chen Pingping chuckled and said:

"If something can be done, it must be done. If it cannot be done, it can also be done. The Northern Qi delegation went south with the idea that we should not start a war lightly this year and give them time to ease the situation and prepare. Now, their goal has been achieved, and they can pat their butts and leave naturally. However, our Qing country has lost face for nothing, and this kind of thing will be a great blow to the morale of the three armies."

After hearing what Chen Pingping said, the Minister of War, Duke Liu, frowned and said:
"Dean Chen, what do you mean by that?"

"Your Majesty, I think we should at least achieve some results."

Chen Pingping tried to give Su Mingzhe a look. Su Mingzhe understood instantly:
"President Chen and the father-in-law should stay, and the rest of you should go back to work."

After a while, Su Mingzhe, Chen Pingping and Fan Jian were the only ones left in the imperial study.

Since last year, when Fan Ruoruo entered the palace and became the queen, Fan Jian's title was promoted from Si Nan Bo to Si Nan Hou, and he also had the title of "father-in-law of the country".

In addition, Fan Ruoruo took over the inner treasury and asked her father to help her manage it.

The powerful officials in the Nanqing court today are no longer Lin Ruofu, Duke Liu, Qin Ye and others, but the "God of Wealth" Fan Jian.

Su Mingzhe kept Chen Pingping and Fan Jian, and without further ado, he asked Chen Pingping to talk about his plan.

Chen Pingping slowly told us his plan.

Su Mingzhe was slightly stunned: This Chen Pingping is indeed a treacherous minister who can even come up with such a sinister scheme.

But, I like it very much.

"Father-in-law, let's proceed according to Dean Chen's plan. Please cooperate with us."

"I accept the decree!"

Fan Jian left the imperial study expressionlessly and returned to his Ministry of Revenue office, where only then did a hint of annoyance appear in his eyes.

Chen Pingping is truly worthy of being called the 'King of the Dark Night', his mind is truly dark.

However, Chen Pingping's move was truly insidious and vicious.

Two days passed.

The Northern Qi delegation had decided to end the peace talks, but the Qing side suddenly relaxed its bottom line and put forward new conditions for the peace talks.

After a heated debate, Marquis Chang'an and Xin Qiwu finally signed a peace agreement.

The content of the agreement does not involve any cession of interests.

However, the Kingdom of Qing proposed that the Princess of Northern Qi marry Su Mingzhe and confer the title of "Concubine Chen".

At the same time, eight noble ladies of Northern Qi were required to be concubines of the Princess of Northern Qi as a dowry. At the same time, a state of land was also required as the Princess of Northern Qi's fiefdom, and was to be taken over by the Kingdom of Qing.

Even though it was such an insulting agreement, Marquis Chang'an actually agreed to it and signed his name on it.

When the news reached Northern Qi, the scholars and literati of Qi rushed directly to the residences of Marquis Chang'an and Marquis Changning and threw rotten cabbage and rotten eggs for three days and three nights.

Marrying a princess and ceding territory is a loss of sovereignty and humiliation of the country!
The Northern Qi Dynasty attached great importance to literary style.

Although this behavior of the scholars and literati was somewhat inappropriate, since there were reasons behind it, the Jinyiwei and the City Guards could only try their best to protect the families of Marquis Chang'an and Marquis Changning from being harmed, but they would not arrest these scholars and literati.

Seeing that his family was trapped and unable to leave the house, Marquis Changning was so angry that he cursed:

"These pedantic scholars don't even know my brother's good intentions. They are such short-sighted people!"

"My Lord, you should think of a way to have the city guards drive these people away."

The housekeeper of the Marquis's Mansion smiled bitterly and said:
"Nowadays, when people in the mansion go out, they are all dirty."

"What can I do? The city guards don't dare to arrest anyone, and the Jinyiwei don't dare to arrest anyone. It's obvious that His Majesty and the Queen Mother want us two brothers to be shields!"

Marquis Changning was very shrewd and wise at this time. He hit the nail on the head and guessed what the Northern Qi court meant.

The Queen Mother and the young Emperor of Northern Qi were indeed planning to let the brothers, Marquis of Changning and Marquis of Chang'an, take the blame for Northern Qi.

I believe that by the time Zhuang Mohan and Chang'an Hou come back, the anger of the scholars and literati will have been vented.

By then, the Queen Mother of Northern Qi would quietly select eight noble ladies as dowry and marry the eldest princess to Nanqing.

As for the provincial capital that Qing wanted, Northern Qi was easy to deal with. They could just pick a remote place near the border of Western Hu and give it to Southern Qing for free.

Anyway, as long as Northern Qi fulfills the peace agreement, and if Southern Qing still wants to save face, the border between the two countries will be able to enjoy a few years of peace.

I have to say that the Queen Mother of Northern Qi's plan was really cost-effective.

In November, the Northern Qi delegation returned home first.

Afterwards, the wedding delegation from Qing Kingdom headed north.

Because of heavy snow that blocked the roads, it was not until the beginning of spring of the following year that the wedding delegation took the Princess of Northern Qi south.

The eldest princess of Northern Qi had a pretty appearance but a rather tough personality.

The Kingdom of Qing wanted to give eight noble ladies from Northern Qi as a dowry. The Queen Mother of Northern Qi originally wanted to personally select eight gentle and virtuous noble ladies as dowry.

As a result, the princess lost her temper:
"My queen, when I go to Qing, I will no longer be a bother to you. Qing has given me eight dowry quotas, and I want to choose them myself. After all, these eight people will be the ones who accompany me for the rest of my life. You won't deprive me of this right, right?"

The eldest princess and the queen mother have always had a bad relationship.

Ever since the young emperor ascended the throne, the eldest princess has been bullied by the empress dowager in various ways and has almost become a idler in the palace.

Also because she is not favored, she is almost twenty years old and has not yet been granted marriage.

Now, the eldest princess has been chosen by the Kingdom of Qing. Although she is still a tool, her status has become more valuable.

The Queen Mother frowned. Faced with the eldest princess' tough attitude, she finally gritted her teeth and agreed to the eldest princess' request.

After several days of thinking, the eldest princess handed the list to the Queen Mother of Northern Qi.

When the Queen Mother of Northern Qi saw the list, her eyelids twitched with anger.

Because this list can be said to have caught all the civil officials, military generals, powerful officials, and noble ladies in the literary world of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Among these eight noble ladies, the one with the most distinguished status is Zhuang Yuer, the granddaughter of the literary master Zhuang Mohan.

The second is Sun Maner, the youngest daughter of the Northern Qi Taifu.

The next is Shen Wan'er, the younger sister of the powerful Jinyiwei commander Shen Zhong.

……

(End of this chapter)