Joy of Life: I, a man, became the Queen of Northern Qi?

Chapter 145: When the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked; when the bird is dead, the bow is put away!
Seeing that Queen An had completed her instructions before leaving, Uesugi Po slowly approached his adoptive father in the tent, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.

"Say whatever you want to say. Everyone has left and there are no outsiders here."

Shangshan Hu narrowed his eyes and watched this scene. The arrival of the national teacher and his party today made him see many things clearly: according to the time calculation, Li An'er should not have stayed in Qingshan for a long time, and rushed to the front line without stopping. Everything seemed to have been expected long ago. It didn't take much effort for him to gain Ku He's trust and help him with all his strength. I don't know how he did it.
Judging from Ku He's attitude today, I wonder how much the Queen has paid in secret?

"Godfather, from now on, are we really going to obey this woman?"

Shangshan Po tilted his head to look in the direction where Li An left. His sight seemed to be able to penetrate the tent cloth. The scene where Queen An was slapped in the face just now was still vivid in his mind. It was hard for him to swallow this breath. "In the battle with the Qing army, we were the ones charging in the front. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry under the Queen did not move at all. Judging from the words they just said, they would not be willing to let them cooperate with us."

"When Grandmaster Ye Liuyun arrives, it will be Imperial Master Ku He who will fight him to the death. Our Queen has not contributed anything, she just stood behind the scenes and watched the show. How could she take advantage of such a big opportunity so easily?"

As he said this, Uesugiha looked gloomy: "What a good plan!"

"Not to mention the internal scheming within our Great Qi, even the opposite Nanqing is not a solid block. I have heard that old Qin Ye has a close relationship with the Queen Mother in the Qing Palace. Although the Qin and Ye families nominally support Crown Prince Li Chengqian, the only one who is really putting in a lot of effort at this moment is the cunning Qin Ye!" Uesugi Tora smiled gently at his adopted son, not at all annoyed by his advice that was filled with personal emotions.

What he said also pointed out the various relationships behind Qin Ye.

"What does godfather mean?"

"You are still too young. You often fail to see the essence of things!"

Uesugi Tora raised his hand and pointed in the direction of Qing Jun, saying, "There is no such thing as neutrality in this world. Those who haven't made a bet are often because they know the benefits but don't see the risks clearly. Throughout history, the eldest son has always been the heir apparent, and the crown prince, as the crown prince of a country, is the legitimate object of support."

“Although the Emperor of Nanqing is now in his prime, and the day of his abdication is still a long way off, all the ministers in the court should at least choose to support the Crown Prince on the surface. After all, the Crown Prince was chosen by the Emperor, and expressing their opinions is not only not wrong, but can also make people feel at ease. On the contrary, those who are neutral or reject the Crown Prince will make Emperor Qing alert!”

Uesugi Po was confused. He had just been talking about Queen An's insidiousness, and now his adoptive father was talking about the situation in Nanqing?
Could it be that the Southern Qing court is referring to the Northern Qi?

"My foster father also said that Qin Ye is as cunning as a fox. Why would he choose to make his position clear at this time as long as he can get away with it on the surface? We are in the same situation when our armies are facing each other. Could it be that what happened today is the same?" Uesugi Po has been in the military camp since he was old enough to understand. There is always a kind of naivety in his eyes that makes him look very cute (silly*).

However, the question asked to Uesugi Tora also hit the key point.

Shang Shanhu heard this and said in a deep voice: "Qin Ye is already old. With his current status and position, he can no longer rise. If he goes one step further, he will be crowned king! But although he is a ninth-rank expert, his time is up. After his death, will his descendants be able to take over such a huge power and protection?"

"Before the war, he must choose one of the princes and serve him wholeheartedly. If he follows the dragon like this, he won't have to worry about the future of his family's descendants even after a hundred years."

Winning a battle is a merit, and this battle is a great victory. It is a great achievement that will shock the emperor, and there is no reward for it. It will not benefit Qin Ye at all, and will make Emperor Qing suspicious. But what if he loses? Then disaster will come at any moment!
Since we cannot afford to lose, why not submit to a prince and let him take credit for this victory for later?

"Qin Ye's appearance in front of the battle represents the intention of Queen Mother Nanqing! Crown Prince Li Chengqian will recognize his actions today and he knows it very well." Uesugi Tiger's expression showed worry, "But we are different! Whether it is for the sake of our future or your grandfather who is trapped in the enemy camp, even if we have spent all our capital, we must accompany Queen An to continue the show!"

"Don't even mention wanting to quit halfway, even if we slack off a little later, I'm afraid both of us, father and son, will have to stay in this central military tent!" Even though one of them is a ninth-rank warrior and the other is a seventh-rank teenager, and they are surrounded by thousands of troops, how can they feel safe in front of the great master Ku He?

Didn't you see that just now, Ku He's disciples Mu Peng and Hai Tang Duo Duo were eager to try, wanting to defeat him in the name of sparring? This represents Ku He's own will!
If I hadn't been useful enough to clean up the battlefield after the Grandmaster Battle and surround and wipe out the defeated Qing army, I would have been killed by Queen An without even having the chance to speak, let alone get back my foster father Sean's promise.
"So what should we do next?"

"After listening to my foster father's words, I feel that I have benefited a lot. Now that there are all kinds of hidden truths, why don't we just follow Queen An's instructions? If we win, not only will we get credit, but Grandfather will also be able to return safely. Even if we lose, the blame will not fall on us. The Queen, who seized power and commanded the battle, will bear it!"

At this moment, Uesugi Po gave people a feeling of being able to make a brilliant plan, but he couldn't figure it out. His words and deeds brought the situation back to the beginning, with no change at all.

"Now there are two things that I am concerned about as a father."

Shangshan Hu tapped the table in front of him gently, listening to the busy movements of the soldiers outside, and said softly: "First, Qin Ye supports the prince. No matter what the outcome of this battle is, Li Chengqian's prestige in the court will increase greatly. Is this what his rival, the second prince Li Chengze, wants to see? If he doesn't want to see it, what means will he use to drag him down? This is related to the war situation and is very critical to our next deployment!"

The strategy proposed by Ang Lee was really too crude!
There were no details to mention, only the general idea of ​​what should happen, and he had to worry about the rest. What if Imperial Master Ku He was defeated and died? Then what would be the future of Northern Qi?
In a duel between Grandmasters, there is no such thing as stopping when the time is right. Once you start fighting, how can you give up if you don’t achieve results?

Now the situation of the two of them is very awkward. The success or failure of the whole situation depends on Ku He alone. However, the news of the arrival of the national teacher has been leaked. How can Emperor Qing, who is like a real dragon in the world, not have a way to deal with it? Will everything go as smoothly as Queen An said?
"Two tigers are fighting, but we, the prey, are left to wait." Shangshan Po also looked solemn and asked in a deep voice, "If the Second Prince of Qing Kingdom wants to use some tricks, what will he do?"

"We don't need to know what will happen, let alone investigate!"

At this time, Uesugi Tora seemed to be lost in thought. While he lowered his head in silence, he also responded to his adopted son's question with his divergent thoughts. Otherwise, how could he rise from a grassroots to the position of a great general? He was not lacking in mental methods:
"This pair of strange brothers from the Qing Kingdom each have their own agenda. If the weak prince wants Li Chengze not to trip him up, he must first reach a certain agreement with him. Otherwise, even if the opponent launches an attack, it will be less powerful."

"We just need to wait quietly. If Li Chengze takes action, an envoy from Nanqing will secretly pass on the news! Otherwise, if they reach an agreement, the pressure we face will be even greater."

It's sad to say that the whole country is at war and two emperors are competing.

At this time, the Qing court is still mixed with political games. I don't know what the Qing emperor is thinking. On the one hand, he has established the status of the crown prince, and on the other hand, he wants to train a second prince to sharpen the other side, thinking that he is a forging stone. I don't know if he is shooting himself in the foot.
Thinking of this, our Great Qi seems to be much more relaxed with only this little emperor.
Although there was an additional emperor and empress who were at odds with each other and fighting for power, it was less complicated than Nanqing. There was no Princess Chang, Chen Pingping, or Prime Minister Lin. All these similar people in the Northern Qi court were killed by Queen An.

……

"Is there nothing we can do but wait?" Uesugi Po murmured softly.

This subtle word brought Shangshan Hu back to his senses from his deep thoughts. He glared at his adopted son with some regret. Shangshan Hu was already a little angry at this time, and said carefully: "In the past, you hung out with those ruffians in the army. Have you learned all the military tactics that your father showed you? Let me ask you, if the national teacher had not come, with the troops we have, with sufficient food and complete weapons, what is the chance of winning this battle?"

Seeing that his adoptive father was testing him, Uesugi Po did not respond in a hurry this time. Instead, he pondered for a moment before giving his answer:
"Seventy percent!"

"Our Great Qi is not like Southern Qing. There is no one like the Second Prince holding us back in the court. Even Queen An and Your Majesty want to win this battle. If it weren't for the relationship with my grandfather, they would be able to go all out without any hindrance. On the other hand, the Qing Kingdom is scheming against each other, and as one side gains strength while the other loses strength, we have our godly military master to coordinate the overall situation! The Qing Kingdom is attacking and is not familiar with the geography; while our army is on the defensive and is well rested, so we should have a 70% chance of winning!"

"Six hundred thousand versus four hundred thousand, the advantage is on my side!"

These words are full of heroic spirit, great passion and extraordinary heroism!
If those ignorant outsiders heard it, or if those stupid scholars in the court who only knew how to read and had no idea what war was, they would only applaud and forget everything else!

Sure enough, after hearing these passionate speeches, Uesugi Tora's eyes turned black and he almost suffocated. He even wanted to order the law enforcement officers to execute military law on his beloved son!

"madness!"

He slapped the table with his palm, causing the objects on the surface to bounce slightly. Although the general used some strength, he still left a palm print on the table that had been baptized by war for many years. Even the legs of the table were shaking slightly.
"Let me tell you, your chances of winning are slim!"

"From the very beginning of the war, it depends on how long Emperor Qing wants to fight and how much land he wants to annex from Da Qi! Under the premise of not touching the bottom line of Imperial Master Ku He and thus leading him out of Qingshan, the war will only have one outcome, and that is that we will be defeated and sent to Southern Qing to discuss the issue of compensation! By then, even if my adoptive father can come back, Your Majesty and Queen An will also pay a huge price. For the sake of the dignity of the country, even if these two do not take action, Imperial Master Ku He will send someone to kill my adoptive father to give an explanation to the court."

"what?"

Shangshan Po didn't understand why his adoptive father said that. Wasn't it assumed that there was sufficient food and weapons? If there was only less than two months of food, how could they be defeated?

"I don't understand, I hope the general can help me solve it!"

The young general also corrected his attitude and only talked about his military position. He no longer dared to use the father-son relationship to please others.

"The reason is simple!"

"Besides the fact that the enemy's troops are far superior to ours and more elite, there is another factor that determines success or failure: intelligence!"

"Chen Pingping is known as the king of the night. How do you think he got that reputation? He has been sending out spies to operate in various parts of Northern Qi for many years. I don't even know how many of his men are in our army now. I can only ensure that my personal guards are not infiltrated. With such a huge disparity in intelligence, how can we win?"

Shangshan Hu frowned and sneered, "Not to mention the Red Armor Army and the Black Cavalry, who are the backup of the opposing army, but just talking about our army's previous deployment, I'm afraid it has already been placed on Qin Ye's table. If this goes on, even if the founding emperor of Da Qi is resurrected, he can't even think of building a second empire!"

The Northern Qi army was like a sieve. Faced with this fact, Uesugi Po's face turned pale but he couldn't utter a word.

When the two armies meet, momentum comes first.

If they are targeted, the morale of the entire army will be destroyed like an avalanche after just a few small battles, and the generals will fall into self-doubt over their improper command. Over time, they will be doomed to failure!

After a long time, Uesugi Po asked with trembling lips: "Since we have anticipated this situation, we just need to take the opponent by surprise before the battle and disrupt their plan." He stopped talking halfway because he also realized that this was a defensive battle.

And what does defense rely on?
Nature is a natural barrier and a city wall
Needless to say, the enemy had already crossed the city without paying much of a price. But what about defending the city? Since there were spies in the army, how could the city be defended? Could it be that, as my foster father said, there was only one way out, defeat?
From this point of view, the arrival of Queen An is not only not a bad thing, but a good thing!
Both the father and the son were able to escape unscathed afterwards.

Little did people know that in the original novel, Uesugi Tora was stripped of his post as general of the entire army by the Northern Qi central government because of the disastrous defeat in this battle, and was recalled to Shangjing City to serve as the General Huaiyuan!

General Huaiyuan, although the name sounds nice, he is sitting in the capital with only a hundred private soldiers by his side.

His status was indeed respected, but it was a promotion in name only and a demotion in reality. However, he had no soldiers. Even if Uesugi Tora was really a tiger, he could only go to court obediently and sigh helplessly at home while hugging his women. Tigers were trapped in cages, and apart from providing entertainment for people, they could only scare others.

Suddenly, Uesugi Po, who was still in deep thought, raised his head and asked Uesugi Tora urgently, "Foster father, didn't you just say that you were worried about two things? I've already mentioned the first point, what about the second point?"

Looking at his adopted son's face that was tender yet resolute, somehow, Uesugi Tora's original anxiety subsided a lot. In this quiet tent, Uesugi Tora said quietly: "Everything is prepared, and nothing is prepared. As a father, I wish my worries were unfounded."

"When facing Nan Qing, we just need to do our best. If there is a literary response, we will use literary means, and if there is a martial art, we will use martial art!"

"But what about ourselves?"

"You have seen everything that Queen An said and did just now. Not only does she behave strangely, but she also has an abnormal temperament. Since ancient times, the one who is the master of the army will be abandoned after his death. We just need to wait and see. In the next few days, we should be careful in what we say and do!"

"I'm afraid that Li An'er will do the same thing again after this incident."

"The bird is gone and the bow is hidden!"

(End of this chapter)