The Prodigal Son

It took Qin Yu a quarter of an hour to finish explaining his general plan.

Upon hearing Qin Yu's plan, Zhao Luan's gaze instantly turned fervent, and her chest heaved violently.

Kill three birds with one stone!

That was indeed a plan to kill three birds with one stone!

Not only can the threat of the Prince of Chengyang be eliminated at minimal cost, but it can also lull the Northern Qi into a false sense of security, while simultaneously exposing those ministers in the court who harbor treacherous intentions!

Do not!

It's four carvings!

It can also help him reconcile with the Empress Dowager!

wonderful!

Wonderful!

Zhao Luan became more and more excited as she thought about it, and the way she looked at Qin Yu changed.

Qin Yu even suspected that she wanted to hug him and kiss him.

After a long while, Zhao Luan tried to suppress her excitement and asked Qin Yu curiously, "How did you make the emperors in the imperial tombs appear?"

Qin Yu's plan is indeed excellent!

But the two most important points of this plan are the ancestral spirits appearing at the Ningzhou Imperial Mausoleum and the Empress Dowager's cooperation!

"Your Majesty, I can demonstrate!"

Qin Yu smiled and said, "Please have someone send over a few things: candles, opaque paper, and a paper cutout of any shape you like."

"I'll have it delivered right away!"

Without Zhao Luan giving any instructions, Shangguan Youyi immediately went to carry them out.

Soon, the things Qin Yu had requested were delivered.

Qin Yu found a dimly lit corner, processed the items slightly, and arranged them neatly.

Zhao Luan and Shangguan Youyi, unaware of what he was doing, curiously approached him.

As Qin Yu lit the candle, using the principle of pinhole imaging, a blurry shadow appeared on the paper behind it.

"What...can we tell from this?"

Zhao Luan frowned.

I've been curious about this for ages, and this is what he shows me?

"Your Majesty, please don't be anxious."

Qin Yu began moving the candle to find the right focus.

As the candle moved, the image on the paper behind it became clearer and clearer.

Finally, a clear projection appeared on the paper behind.

"These are paper-cutting patterns!"

Shangguan Youyi stared wide-eyed and exclaimed in surprise.

Zhao Luan also noticed it, and her phoenix eyes lit up: "This...this is amazing! I'll try it!"

As she spoke, Zhao Luan immediately leaned over and snatched the candle from Qin Yu's hand.

Like a curious child, Zhao Luan moved the candle back and forth, her bright eyes fixed on the image on the paper.

Watching the image change from clear to blurry, Zhao Luan was even more amazed.

At this moment, Zhao Luan's attention was entirely focused on the image, and she was completely unaware of the distance between herself and Qin Yu.

At close range, Qin Yu could clearly smell Zhao Luan's body fragrance.

It has a subtle, refreshing quality.

This caused Qin Yu's heart to flutter.

When he glanced at Zhao Luan's face, he saw a childlike smile on her face.

It looks just like a child playing with their favorite toy.

It has to be said that this female demon is quite charming when she's in a good mood.

She even shattered his own Dao heart.

"Is it pretty?"

Just as Qin Yu was engrossed in watching, a faint voice suddenly rang in his ear.

Qin Yu's eyelids twitched, and he was about to look away when Zhao Luan turned her head to look at him.

Her eyes held a mixture of amusement and anger.

"what?"

Qin Yu feigned ignorance, "What did Your Majesty say?"

"They're putting on quite a show!"

Zhao Luan's smile vanished, her gaze suddenly turning cold and sharp. "How dare you spy on me! Your audacity is truly growing!"

"No, no!"

Qin Yu, as if waking from a dream, vehemently denied it, saying, "I just saw Your Majesty's ear and suddenly thought of something. I was momentarily distracted. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"ear?"

Zhao Luan frowned, looking at him with confusion.

What else can you think of when you look at your own ears?

"right!"

Qin Yu, without blushing or flustering, nodded solemnly, "I suddenly remembered that when I was looking at the map before, I found a country called Chang'er Man between the two countries of Lanzhu and Nandan. I was wondering, are they barbarians?"

Hearing Qin Yu's words, Shangguan Youyi, who was preparing to watch the show, couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration.

I've seen people who can talk a lot, but I've never seen anyone talk this much!

She had seen Qin Yu stealing glances at Zhao Luan just now.

She was certain that Qin Yu was spying on Zhao Luan.

Who knows, this guy might already be having all sorts of fantasies!

He can actually bring up the Long-Eared Barbarians now?

If we ever need to travel to another country, we might as well send Qin Yu as an envoy!

"Those aren't barbarians, they're from the Ji Kingdom!"

Zhao Luan glared at him irritably and said slowly, "In the past, after the late emperor opened Raojin and Yijin, he sent out fleets to sail far away and establish ties with neighboring countries..."

Da Ning's fleet sailed for a long time before reaching Ji State.

Having heard that the State of Ji was rich in grain, the Da Ning fleet wanted to establish trade relations with the State of Ji.

However, the people of Ji were extremely xenophobic. They not only killed the envoy of Da Ning, but also attacked Da Ning's fleet, causing Da Ning to lose hundreds of crew members.

When the news reached the capital, the late emperor was furious.

However, because Ji State was too far from Daming, and Daming was powerless to attack it, the late emperor ordered people to change Ji State to a barbarian land on the map.

Because the people of Ji State had long, pointed ears, somewhat resembling wolf ears, they were called Long-Eared Barbarians.

As Zhao Luan was speaking, she suddenly stepped on Qin Yu's instep.

"hiss……"

Qin Yu gasped dramatically, "Your Majesty, you've truly misunderstood! My admiration for Your Majesty is as boundless as a surging river; how could I possibly offend Your Majesty?"

"Stop trying to outsmart me!"

Zhao Luan glanced at them, steer the conversation back on track, "So, you want to use this to make the emperors in the imperial tombs appear?"

"right!"

Qin Yu nodded, "I can create other things to make the manifestation even more realistic!"

"Is there another way?"

Zhao Luan immediately became curious.

"right!"

Qin Yu smiled, "However, I cannot demonstrate those methods in a short time! Please have Your Majesty order someone to bring me the list of personnel recruited in previous Hundred Flowers Festivals. I would like to find some capable people from that list!"

"no problem!"

Zhao Luan readily agreed, and thinking about Qin Yu's plan, she became excited again: "As long as you can handle the matter of the ancestral manifestation well, based on my understanding of the Prince of Chengyang, he will most likely go to worship! In that case, we might not even need your later plans!"

Zhao Luan was extremely excited.

As long as the Prince of Chengyang goes to pay his respects, she can make arrangements in advance and take him down in one fell swoop!

As long as we capture the Prince of Chengyang, we can send someone with our imperial edict to seize control of the frontline army in Yinzhou!

"Isn't this a bit too risky?"

Qin Yu was surprised by Zhao Luan's decisiveness, but also somewhat worried. "The Prince of Chengyang has been operating in Yinzhou for many years. Even if we take him down while he's in Ningzhou to pay respects to his ancestors, I doubt his generals will simply surrender."

"You don't need to worry about that, I have my own arrangements!"

Zhao Luan's face radiated confidence.

Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly understood.

She has people under the Prince of Chengyang!

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. The Prince of Chengyang had been stationed in Yinzhou since the time of the late emperor.

How could such a shrewd man as the late emperor not have placed his own people under the Prince of Chengyang?

Having figured this out, Qin Yu chuckled and said, "As long as Your Majesty has confidence, then there's no problem!"