Chapter 466 Choice

Sometimes people have to rely on luck, Li Shizhi met Princess Ashina when his luck was bad, and he lived very comfortably as a slave in the princess's house. The princess fell in love at first sight with this handsome and eloquent Han son, and she was very obedient to him, and she couldn't be more good. In the steppe, where the environment is already relatively harsh, Li Shizhi's life is probably the envy of most Turks.

But with Li Shizhi's heart, he is not satisfied with such a time to spend time, but there is nothing else to do at the moment. Gradually, he asked the princess about some national affairs, and the princess was willing to provide him with information, and even praised him for not losing his ambition.

At this time, the Tang West surrendered city south of Yinshan had not yet learned of Li Shizhi's whereabouts. Yin Ci ordered a siege on all sides, but after many days to no avail, he intuitively felt that it was becoming more and more difficult to catch this person.

Seeing that he cared so much about Li Shizhi's whereabouts, but failed to make meritorious service to catch him, the generals had no choice but to ask for guilt when they saw Yin Shizhi. Yin Ci sighed and said: "It's man-made, criminals can fly from the border, and I can't blame you." ”

Now, Yin Ci felt that he couldn't delay any longer, and he had to report to Xue Chongxun as soon as possible. The matter did not work out smoothly, so he blamed himself many times in the secret letter, claiming that he had failed the commission of King Jin and so on. Then he sent his henchmen to get the customs clearance seal, and hurried back to Chang'an with the secret book.

At this time, Xue Chongxun had almost forgotten about Li Shizhi, and someone only remembered him when he mentioned him. In fact, Li Shizhi's strength was difficult to pose any threat to him, but he was not at ease at that time, so he asked Yin Ci to get rid of it to prevent future troubles. In Xue Chongxun's concept, if there is a potential enemy, if there is a chance, it is best to strangle it in the cradle, and if there is a chance to fight back, what if the others are strong and are not asking for trouble?

After he received the secret letter from Yin Ci to understand the ins and outs, he thought for a moment: although this matter was not very clean, the person ran away and was still missing; But since Li Shizhi has killed someone, it is very easy to plant the death penalty on him, how can a person who has not seen the light even if he has great ability in both civil and military affairs? Is it a reckless uprising?

Xue Chongxun smiled, if a person like Li Shizhi wants to be a reckless hero, I'm afraid that the bull's head is not right. So he immediately picked up the pen to give Yin Ci a letter of relief, but the accident was unexpected, since Li Shizhi absconded in fear of the crime, he decided to put it on the case, and asked the emperor to remove his clan identity and arrest him sooner or later.

After replying to Yin Ci's letter, Xue Chongxun quickly put this matter out of his mind. What he is most concerned about now is not a Li Shizhi who is just a hidden danger, but the most important thing at the moment: joining forces to attack the Turks.

There are two goals in this matter, in addition to cutting off an external threat of the empire to avenge the attack on the Huaqing Palace, and the goal of the "alliance leader" proposed by Su Jin. The latter was clearly a significant step in his development to the pinnacle. The alliance leader of various countries, similar to the Heavenly Khan Alliance during Taizong's time, has a great influence.

Due to the slow pace of transportation in this era, it was necessary to prepare in advance to assemble the coalition forces before the war, and the matter of contacting the leaders of various countries and tribes was already being carried out one after another. It was not the first time that the Tang Dynasty had relied on the strength of the nomads in a foreign war, so this matter did not arouse people's doubts in the court and the imperial court, and of course, no one would have thought that Xue Chongxun would ambitiously plan to let the leaders of various countries "promote" him as the leader of the alliance.

However, he has realized that the matter is not so simple, and there are many complex issues. He can't talk to anyone else, he can only think about it himself, and he does often feel a little headache.

Even the initiator Su Jin, Xue Chongxun couldn't talk to him in detail. When Su Jin proposed this proposal, Xue Chongxun was awakened, but he did not agree with it and did not continue to discuss. If something goes wrong and you can't carry out your plan, you can use Su Jin as a scapegoat, and push yourself cleanly. Therefore, Su Jin can't participate in this plan, and he can't rely on his staff in this matter, and he can only be Xue Chongxun's layout in the early stage, so that he can advance and retreat freely.

…… When it was time to ponder and weigh up, Xue Chongxun's favorite place was the quiet study courtyard by the Listening Rain Lake. Last time, he said to Du Xian that the courtyard was very quiet, but in fact, he just said casually in response to the situation, and what could really give him peace was the inner house. Compared with the other courtyards, it was obvious that the palace was heavily guarded and safer, and the sense of security was something that Xue Chongxun was very obsessed with.

There is a waterhole outside the back door of the study, and there are a few cherry trees planted around it, at this time it is when the fruit is ripe, Xue Chongxun sat on the edge of the waterhole for a while, but saw that the fruit on the tree was crystal red and very cute, so he couldn't help but stand up and get a glass bowl, and then picked some cherries and put them in the bowl and took them to the waterhole to wash.

He ate one first, and when he turned around and saw Sanniang walking around the front door, he greeted, pointed to the bowl in his hand and asked, "Do you want to taste it?" Sanniang shook her head, Xue Chongxun still tasted it, and at this time, a wet and cool breeze blew from the treetops, bringing people indescribable comfort in a somewhat dry and hot afternoon, and the surroundings were very quiet only occasional birdsong, and his mood seemed to calm down.

At this time, he was thinking that no matter how many things a person has in life, there is only so little that he can grasp in his hand, just like a cherry full of trees, and he only eats half a bowl.

Is that ambition necessary? He had thought about this question before, and the answer was that it was necessary, since he didn't become a loyal subject and obedient to the people in the first place, it was a point of no return. It's only now that I find it too risky that I occasionally question it; Or maybe you shouldn't think about such a problem in such a comfortable and peaceful environment, peace and happiness are addictive.

Then there was Princess Taiping, the person who had the greatest and most important influence on him. Xue Chongxun thought about it, of course, he thought that the matter of the alliance leader had to be hidden from her, because once she knew about it in advance, with Princess Taiping's knowledge, she would probably be able to detect his ambition immediately. How will she react? This Xue Chongxun couldn't be sure. He is now feeling like a child who has done something wrong and then lied to his parents.

Gradually, he no longer knew what the cherry in his mouth tasted like.

If you must seize this opportunity to achieve your goal, and try to hide Princess Taiping in advance in order to succeed, then when the time comes, how will she feel when she suddenly learns the whole cause and effect? It's about the power of the society and the country, and it's a royal family full of brutal struggles, even if the mother and son reach that point, the trust will definitely be gone.

Once you lose the trust you had before, the contradictions of power will be sharply exposed, and it is inevitable that you must divide the winners and losers, just like Princess Taiping and Li Longji at the beginning, in fact, Li Longji was very loved by Princess Taiping when he was a child. Maybe Xue Chongxun would win if he was prepared, but he was sure that he wouldn't be happy if he won; What if I lose......

There may be a worse result, this world should not have been inherited by him Xue Chongxun or a woman, once the strength of their family is weakened, whoever should be in the world is whoever it is, maybe God will do so.

So Xue Chongxun pondered again, and told Princess Sù Taiping before the layout. The problem here is that if she disagrees (which is more likely), not only will she lose a rare opportunity in vain, but it will also cause negative effects, and it is better to give up completely and not even mention it. Then Xue Chongxun's thinking returned to the original point of whether it was necessary to do this, and then thought that this was something that had been considered before and came to a result...... It's like a circle, and like a problem, the program has entered an endless loop of thinking.

He felt that there was something wrong with his logic, and there must be something wrong in the middle. He got up and walked to the waterhole, poured a few handfuls of cold water on his face, and a few drops of water soaked from his lips to his mouth.

Sitting on the wooden board next to the door, Xue Chongxun looked at the gently swaying water surface and was stunned again.

There are only two possibilities after suing Princess Taiping, either she is completely in favor of it, or she is against it and becomes wary. Xue Chongxun felt that the latter was more likely, and when the time came, would Princess Taiping try to prevent him from gaining the military power to crusade against the Turks? However, regardless of whether there is a large army or not, the generals of the Shence Army stationed in the south of Chang'an City are all his descendants, and this force of people and horses cannot be controlled by nominal authority; In addition, there are also ministers in the DPRK who are inclined to Xue Chongxun. In this case, he will not face the situation of being completely controlled by Princess Taiping. In fact, since Princess Taiping recovered from illness and returned to power, Xue Chongxun has already formed the strength to compete with her.

In short, it's all a falling out, but the advantage of falling out beforehand is: trust may still be retained, and Princess Taiping should be able to think that Xue Chongxun can completely develop against her behind her back; The disadvantage is that the chances of winning are smaller, and after quietly achieving the goal of the alliance leader, the strength will be further enhanced, and it will be more beneficial to things at that time.

What is most important to you? Xue Chongxun didn't even know himself.

If their predecessors, such as the First Emperor Han Gaozu and other great achievers, encountered the same choice, they would certainly have nothing to hesitate about. Thinking of this, Xue Chongxun felt that he should not have the temperament to achieve great things and win the world. Those who win the world are called the Son of Heaven, maybe they are all people chosen by God, Xue Chongxun, a person who has been confirmed by history not to make trouble, will expose the characteristics of the non-true Dragon Son of Heaven at a critical juncture.

He looked up at the sky, and suddenly realized that the sun had long since disappeared, and a few faint stars had appeared in the sky, and the night was slowly falling. Those few stars made Xue Chongxun's heart swell with an inexplicable loneliness, who could he really trust in this life if he was about to betray his biological mother? Princess Taiping is not only an ordinary relative in Xue Chongxun's heart, he really relies on her from the heart.

At this moment, a burst of speech pulled Xue Chongxun back to reality. I only heard Li Yan'er's voice say, "Husband hasn't eaten yet?" Sanniang's voice said: "Lang Jun is thinking about things, I don't dare to disturb at will." Li Yan'er's voice said, "What can make people hungry?" In the afternoon, I saw that he had come here, and I was waiting for him to have dinner with him, so I asked someone to bring him to the study and think about it after eating. ”

Li Yan'er is the concubine, her words are still quite useful, and Sanniang responded obediently: "Yes." ”

After a while, the footsteps of the maids came, and they put the food on the table, Li Yan'er walked in and sat next to Xue Chongxun, and asked with a smile: "What do you think, let's eat first." ”

"It's fine." Xue Chongxun stood up in response casually, and stretched out her hand to Li Yan'er, and she happily put her little hand into Xue Chongxun's palm and let him pull herself up. Xue Chongxun glanced at Sanniang and said, "There's nothing to do today, you also go to dinner and rest early, and go to the palace with me early tomorrow morning." Sanniang answered the farewell with an expressionless face and left, her expression was difficult to change, and sometimes Xue Chongxun thought that she might not have other expressions.

The meal was ready, and the couple sat down to eat together. Li Yan'er, who usually likes to talk, also became silent, her habit seems to be because she doesn't speak properly when eating, anyway, there are a lot of rules for people from good backgrounds. Xue Chongxun took the initiative to open his mouth: "Let me ask you something, if you do something wrong, you will be angry, will you sue her?" ”

Li Yan'er glanced back at the door, stretched out her little tongue and whispered, "She wants to scold others, of course she won't say it." ”

Xue Chongxun smiled: "What if she would know sooner or later?" ”

"That's ......," Li Yan'er thought for a while, "It's better to admit her mistake earlier, otherwise she will be even more angry." ”

Xue Chongxun smiled faintly and was noncommittal. After being silent for a while, he asked some more about Xue Xia, and the two finished dinner while talking.

…… Early the next morning, Xue Chongxun took the guards to the Daming Palace according to the schedule. When passing by Danfeng Street, the street is already very popular, and the middle of the avenue is full of officials who go to the upper duty. Of course, they are not the only ones who get up early and are greedy for darkness, but also those small street peddlers and pawns, who can only pull aside and let the bureaucrats hurry. Most of the shops on the street were lit up, and they started doing business early.

Xue Chongxun happened to meet Zhongshu Ling Zhang in the middle of the road, saying that today is not the day of the last dynasty, but the ministers have to go to their respective official offices. Zhang said that he was still holding a paper bag in his hand, and after meeting him, he handed the paper bag to the slave next to him with some embarrassment, and said with a smile: "The shortbread next to the West Market, the taste has not changed, I love that taste, and I will not get tired of it for a few years." King Jin is going to the palace to see Her Royal Highness Princess Taiping? ”

Because there is no need to congratulate today, and Xue Chongxun does not go to any official office, he obviously entered the palace to see him. He nodded, beckoned a guard to lead the horse, and rode along the road with Zhang Shuoyi. This has to be changed to another dynasty, and the vassal king and the courtiers will have to suffer trouble if they go together like this. However, the current emperor naturally does not need to bother to beware of excessive contacts between the vassal king and the ministers, so everyone does not need to avoid suspicion.

Zhang said and whispered to get down to business: "The Xianbei Murong clan is loyal, and we have sent it over; Tribes in Shuofang and other states can also be used; The most important thing is to wait for Anton Duhu to contact the surname Tiele Jiu, which is the most useful clan. ”

Zhang said that he obviously didn't expect Xue Chongxun to put forward the significance of the coalition army, and now he is in contact with some tribes who can actually send troops to help the Tang Dynasty fight. In fact, in Xue Chongxun's heart, those kingdoms or tribes didn't care how many people they sent to play a role, they only cared about their posture.

They talked a few words, and when they got close to the Danfeng Gate, there were more people coming and going, so they talked about other anecdotes and entered the palace gate together. After that, Zhang said that he went to the political affairs hall, Xue Chongxun went to the Chengxiang Palace, and the two bowed to each other and said goodbye.

It was the eunuch Yu Liben who received Xue Chongxun out of the Chengxiang Palace, and Yu Liben said when he met: "Your Highness didn't see the courtiers today, and I was going to cultivate quietly, but when I reported that the prince came to see him, His Highness put down his cultivation." ”

Princess Taiping has been obsessed with cultivation since she came back to life after eating the "elixir" refined by Yuqing, just like an atheist who suddenly witnessed a miracle and believed very much that there were gods in the world, and nothing others could change. Xue Chongxun has never persuaded her, originally Taoism is Li Tang's state religion, and he doesn't need to bother to talk at all.

So he only said, "I haven't seen my mother for two days, so I happened to be okay and walked around." ”

Yu Liben took Xue Chongxun to the overpass, "His Royal Highness is in the Star Tower, and it is inconvenient for the miscellaneous family to enter on such a day, please." ”

Xue Chongxun walked to the star tower in the high place, that place was not originally called the star tower, but it was a palace room, just because it was in a high position, Princess Taiping changed its name to the star tower after the channel, taking the meaning that the immortal family was close to heaven. The layout inside is also very different from other palace rooms, there are few gorgeous furnishings, the door is hung with gossip flags, and the Danding is smoky inside, which looks more plain and simple, and has the appearance of the Sanqing Palace. However, the Sanqing Palace is far away from the political center, and Princess Taiping will not go there to cultivate, she may have a different understanding of Taoism, not only seeking to become an immortal, but also not seeing through the prosperity of the world. Indeed, with her temperament, if she is isolated from the world all day long, she will not be able to give orders, and she will indeed be very unhappy.

When I entered the Star Tower, I saw Princess Taiping sitting upright on the soft collapse in the north, and Yuqing was standing beside her with a dusty whisk in her hand. Both of them wore Taoist robes, Princess Taiping wore a plain light color, and Yuqing wore a green robe. I saw that Yuqing was thin and indifferent, more like a cultivator; On the other hand, Princess Taiping has a plump figure, even if she doesn't wear makeup, she has a gorgeous feeling, especially the plump breasts, because she really supports the clothes and the summer clothes are light and thin, and even the outline of the tip of the breast is faintly revealed, without the temperament of a pure-hearted person with few desires.

Xue Chongxun stepped forward, bowed and saluted, "Erchen meets my mother." ”

"Flatten. Have you come today to get down to business? Princess Taiping asked.

Xue Chongxun said: "It's nothing serious, I just miss my mother." ”

Princess Taiping suddenly chuckled and said, "Then you might as well try cultivation with me and let Yuqing teach you." ”

"Erchen ......," Xue Chongxun said sullenly, "I don't have much interest in Taoism." ”

"Yuqing, bring him a Qi Pill." Princess Taiping completely ignored Xue Chongxun's refusal, she was already used to doing things only according to her own wishes, and I was afraid that no one around would dare to disobey.

After a while, Yuqing came over with a wooden box, which contained an elixir that was like a cherry but larger than a cherry. Xue Chongxun's face was ugly for a while, and he said in his heart: There should be a chronic poisonous heavy metal in it, I want to eat it? ”Q