Chapter 45 Return

After the meeting between the Hanyuan Palace and the Zichen Palace, Princess Taiping returned to Chengxiang Palace and summoned Xue Chongxun to meet him. Xue Chongxun naturally had no choice but to do so.

In the past few days, Princess Taiping has been obedient to him in court affairs. Not only has he passed the policy of transforming the French into the Apocalypse, but he also supported his foreign policy. He even obeyed Xue Chongxun's wishes in court internal affairs such as Empress Dowager Gao's residence.

This made Xue Chongxun very satisfied with her mother, so he naturally tried to accommodate her in other matters.

At this time, the unity of mother and son can obviously strengthen common power and consolidate the existing structure, which is of great benefit.

When Xue Chongxun came to Chengxiang Hall, he was told by the eunuch that Princess Taiping was not in Xinglou and was taken to the back hall.

But after walking in for a while, he was stopped by the palace maids, which made Xue Chongxun a little angry and glared at the palace maids.

He regarded the Ming Palace as his home, and always went wherever he wanted, and almost no one dared to stop him.

The palace maid hurriedly said: It is inconvenient for Your Highness to bathe in the pond. Please ask the prince to report to Your Highness later.

Xue Chongxun felt very embarrassed. When he stood for a while and turned around and wanted to leave, a palace maid said strangely behind him: Your Highness asked the prince to go in and sit and wait... It doesn't matter if there is a curtain outside the bathhouse covering it.

Xue Chongxun had to grit his teeth and walked in. His emotions thought of everything that happened that day in his mind, but he instinctively resisted such thoughts and was completely unwilling to admit his dirty psychology.

Just after a cold sweat broke out in his palm, he realized that the place was indeed relatively closed. The layers of curtains in front were completely dense and light-tight after they were put down. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that I am thinking too much.

This is his first time here. It is probably the place where the ladies of the palace in Chengxiang Palace bathe and dress. It is not what men should come, and even the eunuchs have not seen each other.

He waited for a while, and someone called him in to meet him. Princess Taiping should have finished her work.

The servants lifted up layers of silk curtains and curtains. After Xue Chongxun walked in, he saw a pool the size of a small swimming pool, surrounded by wood, and the water inside was steaming like a hot spring, with some petals floating on it.

Princess Taiping was already sitting on a chair on the other side, and several palace maids were busy rubbing her hair.

Xue Chongxun walked over to the pool and politely said: My son, I will pay homage to my mother.

Princess Taiping pointed to Hu Bed next to her and said: This place is not as good as Huaqing Pool, especially in winter, you can enjoy the snow in the hot springs.

yes.

Xue Chongxun responded, took a look at Princess Taiping inadvertently, and his heart was in a state of uproar.

Although she was wearing a long skirt without any exposure, she obviously didn't wear too much clothes after taking a shower, and her skin was so wet that the fabric in some parts was tightly attached to her body.

Xue Chongxun even saw the complete outline of her plump breasts under the clothes. Because they were very close, even the shape of the nipple printed on the clothes was clearly visible.

That day, Xue Chongxun threw herself into her arms. At that time, she felt that her breasts were big and soft, which made people breathe and could not feel suffocating. Today, Princess Taiping was wearing thin clothes and just now she realized that her bust was really spectacular.

I want to repair the Huaqing Pond and stay for a while when winter comes.Princess Taiping said lightly.

Xue Chongxun hurriedly retracted his uneasy mood and thought to himself that his mother should treat me as a family and would be careless about the details.

He calmed down and said: After Liu An's salt coup, he could increase a lot of income to the treasury. In the early implementation of the money law, he could actually obtain a large amount of money by printing paper money. The expenses of a hot spring were just a small budget. My mother could send someone to build the Huaqing Pool more comfortable.Only when the mother is satisfied can the sons fulfill their filial piety.

Princess Taiping smiled satisfied: Chongxun is the best way to think about me.

Xue Chongxun said: We are one family that is not divided into each other, and it is different from Sanlang and our family.If a mother is not noble, the son can also receive blessings; if a son makes meritorious and do good things, he can also share the mother's worries and problems.

I am very happy that you can think of this, but I hope family affection will not change due to the years.Princess Taiping's loving smile seemed to reveal a hint of melancholy.

Xue Chongxun fully understood her. Not to mention their mother and son, even after Li Longji ascended the throne, he launched a coup, not only dealing with their Taiping family, but also dealing with Li Longji's own biological father, the Tai Empress Li Dan.

Even if there are moral constraints of the king, minister, minister, father, son, son, and betrayal, even if there is a moral constraint between the king, minister, minister, father, and son, it cannot stop betrayal...

At this time, he didn't know what to say, and his promise of loyalty, trust, benevolence and righteousness was not as strong as diamonds.

Xue Chongxun was silent for a moment, then stood up and reached out to ask for the wooden comb in the palace maid's hand, and combed Princess Taiping's long hair to show her closeness.

Princess Taiping closed her eyes and rested for a while, and said slowly: Just stay tonight.

Ah?Xue Chongxun was stunned for a moment, and the wooden comb in his hand almost fell to the ground.

how?Princess Taiping was also a little surprised, and then smiled meaningfully, "What are you thinking about?"I mean, you go and accompany Jincheng. Isn’t Jincheng in Chengxiang Palace?

Xue Chongxun then said: Yes, my son follows his mother's intention.

He said as he thought: My mother didn't like Princess Jincheng before, but now she remembered her for Jincheng, which should be to try to eliminate the barrier between mother and son...

It would be very beneficial for her to think about it like this.

Princess Taiping said again: Since you two are in love, it is useless for me to persuade you now.I have thought of a way for you to let Jincheng become a monk first to eliminate his secular identity, and then grant her the title of a partial concubine.Those who are idle outside naturally have to talk about their shortcomings, but it doesn’t matter.

Princess Taiping thought this trick was very useful. When she was just a teenager, the Tubo people called her to marry her. Gaozong and Wu Zetian were so fond of her. Of course, she didn't want to go to Tubo even if she beat her to death, so she became a monk and became a Taoist priest.

Then he married a handsome nobleman from a noble family and was held in his hand and did not dare to neglect at all. It was much better than marrying him far away from his parents.

So Xue Chongxun stayed in Chengxiang Palace according to Princess Taiping's wishes, and was not a problem with the royal princess' tenderness and affection for one night in the palace.

He naturally told Princess Jincheng that his mother had made ideas for her status, and instructed Jincheng to try his best to repair the relationship with Princess Taiping in order to reduce internal conflicts.

……

He returned to the King's Mansion the next morning and learned from Xue Liu that the envoy of Nanzhao had sent a gift.

This kind of etiquette exchange was not only a personal relationship, but neither Sun nor Xue Liu came forward, but let the officials from the prince's country receive it.

Xue Chongxun came directly to the Prince's Kingdom, and Wang Changling and others talked about that.

They moved a box into the hall and opened it, and saw that it was filled with colorful pearls and gems. At most, pearls were valuable things produced in the south, and they seemed to be of great value.

However, Xue Chongxun was not moved and said without hesitation: These people have some intentions to give gifts. If I accept them, I will seem insecure if I don’t say a few words for them. Moreover, I am not greedy for this thing, so I will return it to the people of Nanzhao!

Wang Changling said: Xue Langmingjian, I think such a gift is not considered a bribe.A few years ago, when Princess Taiping was not in power, she would prepare a special piece of court tributes from various places for her. Even foreign envoys never missed the Beijing. This is the recognition of Princess Taiping's status by the people of the world.Now that Nanzhao has made a special trip to Beijing to prepare generous gifts for Xue Lang, it should not be a bribe. It doesn’t matter if we accept them, but it’s embarrassing to return them.

Xue Chongxun said: Yesterday, my mother met with Nanzhao envoy Zhang Jiancheng in Zichen Hall. Zhang Jiancheng sued the Heman tribes and clinging to Tubo and want to raise troops to attack.The Liuzhao land is thousands of miles away from Chang'an, with high mountains and dense forests. We can't confirm the authenticity of it for a while.I think Nanzhao had the ambition to annex the surrounding areas, so I sent envoys to the DPRK to seek legality of expansion.Although Nanzhao's pro-Tang Dynasty can be used as a force to restrain Tubo, you have always known the diplomatic strategy I advocated that has never changed since Longyou: you cannot over-trust foreign tribes; you can't divide and weaken the barbarians and strengthen the military preparations of the Han people.Therefore, I cannot support Zhang Jiancheng's report, so I feel ashamed of my property.

Wang Changling pondered for a while, since that was the case, the prince should not have stored these jewelry.But now it is a bit unkind to return it. After all, Nanzhao has always been obeyed by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and has never rebelled, so we have no tribute to him... I thought of a plan to achieve both sides.

Xue Chongxun sat down and picked up the teacup and said casually: "Young uncle, but you said it's okay."

It is impolite to come but not come back. We can give back jewelry of the same value, which not only maintains face but also does not hinder business.

Xue Chongxun said as soon as he heard this: This is a good method... The prince does not seem to have jewelry in it, so I have to ask the inner palace about this.

Of course, the person he was asking about was Sun. Only Sun liked and had the financial resources to collect gold, silver and gems.

However, she didn't let her give it for free. After Xue Chongxun said that, he asked someone to bring the box given by Nanzhao, thinking that it would be like to exchange southern pearls for her Western Regions gems.

After Xue Chongxun returned, he found Sun and handed her a box of pearl jewelry. Sure enough, Sun was very surprised when he saw it.

But she quickly asked where the thing came from.

Xue Chongxun then told the whole story and the consequences, and asked Sun to estimate the price and select some collection of Western Regions gems to give them back to the people of Nanzhao.

Sun likes jewelry, but he is also a general person. He immediately agreed: Most of the things I put in were given by Xue Lang, but it was just for you to put them. When you can use them, I will tell me that it is... Giving a gem of the same value back makes our family look stingy. According to the market price of Chang'an, we can also let the people of Nanzhao know that our princes of the Tang Dynasty do not lack their little things.

Xue Chongxun smiled and said: What the lord said is that this is what I should do with this kind of small profit in wealth.