Chapter 336 Uninvited Guest

After returning from Byzantium, Li Qing'an immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in the Hezhong region. Although his inappropriate report to Lizhi was to maintain the status quo, maintaining the status quo is not a solution to the crisis. On the contrary, if he does not take action, the crisis will become deeper and deeper.

Those attending the meeting were all senior civil and military officials who were currently in Suiye, including Li Fei Yuanli, the highest military commander in the Hezhong region, and Luo Qiming, the coordinator of the Hezhong Joint Conference who had just arrived. Luo Qiming is the son of Luo Pinfang of the Yinlong Association, who is the nominal uncle of Li Qing'an. He is proficient in Arabic and Sogdian. He is also the only official in the Anxi Army of the Yinlong Association. He is nominally the coordinator of the Joint Conference of various countries in the Hezhong region, equivalent to the secretary-general of the So-called Alliance in later generations, but he actually controls the highest administrative power in the Hezhong region.

The critical situation in the river caused Luo Qiming to rush back to report to Li Qing'an. The report Li Qing'an reviewed on the carriage was written by him.

"General, envoys, the sectarian conflicts in the river did not happen today. They had long hatred. When the white-clothed Dashi ruled the river, they forcibly promoted Islam, exploited the Zoroastrians, sold them into slaves, and destroyed their temples. At that time, the hatred between Zoroastrians and Islamists was already deep, and the uprisings and resistances of Zoroastrians also broke out one after another, but they were repeatedly brutally suppressed. Now the Tang army occupied the river and supported the Zoroastrians to a certain extent, which caused their decades of hatred to break out and revenge on the Islamists. This is the root of their conflict. The battle between temples is just an appearance. I now suspect that Dashi has sent people to sneak into the river to stir up flames. Bukhara's recent rebellion is likely to be the result of Dashi inciting Dashi."

At this time, Li Fei Yuanli stood up and said, "In my opinion, we should use cruel killing to make the Islamists surrender, just like the Muslims suppressed the Shiite uprising back then. We must not be ruthless."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone snorting softly. Li Qing'an turned his head and looked at it. It was Cui Qianyou. He had just arrived back today and was about to report his work to Li Qing'an. He also participated in this emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Hezhong.

Seeing that Cui Qianyou seemed to have something to say, Li Qingan waved his hand and told him not to speak for the time being. He said to Luo Qiming: "Do you have any solutions to the crisis? This is the report I hope to hear."

Luo Qiming bowed and said, "I have also considered it. I believe that first of all, we cannot favor Zoroastrians too much. This will not only fail to solve the problem, but will intensify the conflict. This is our lesson in the past year. As long as the conflict between the two sects is fair, we can serve as mediators to mediate the conflict between the two sides and let the two sides sit down to negotiate. But the problem now is that we have favored Zoroastrians too much in the past year, making the Islamic Shiites no longer believe in us and have begun to have an enemy.

We will lose the role of mediators, so I think we should fight against the 20 major boards of the Zoroastrians, and not allow them to destroy mosques in various places at will, ease our conflicts with the Shiites, and then let the joint meeting play a leading role. We mediate the conflicts between the two sides behind the scenes, find a compromise that both sides can accept, and then take continuous effective measures to stabilize the situation and crack down on the infiltration of the Dashi River. Our subordinates think that this will truly stop the riots in the river."

Li Qingan heard something in Luo Qiming's words. Luo Qiming was actually implying that it was Li Fei Yuanli's interference in the affairs of the river, which led to the intensification of the conflict. However, he did not dare to offend Li Fei Yuanli and did not dare to say it explicitly. Li Qingan nodded and then turned to ask Cui Ganyou, "Is there a good solution for General Cui?"

Cui Ganyou has always wanted to replace Li Fei Yuanli as the head of military and political affairs of Hezhong. Of course he would not let this opportunity go. He stood up and bowed to Li Qing'an first, bowed and bowed to everyone, and said slowly: "I think the solution to the Hezhong area should be a combination plan. In the long run, my support for Luo Enjun's plan should indeed be gradually built on the trust among the two sects of believers. The Tang army must not participate in the sect struggle, nor can it favor the Zoroastrians. This is a major mistake made by General Li Fei in the past year."

Li Fei Yuanli's face changed when he heard him name. Just as he was about to attack, Li Qing'an glared at him fiercely, scaring him to swallow the anger that was about to come back to his stomach. In fact, Li Qing'an was also a little dissatisfied with Li Fei Yuanli. At that time, when he handed over the river to Li Fei Yuanli and Luo Qiming, he repeatedly reminded that the Tang army should not favor either side, unless it was trying to overthrow the Tang army's occupation, the army was not allowed to participate in local disputes, and religious disputes could only be The joint meeting came to solve the problem. Unexpectedly, Li Fei Yuanli did not take what he said to heart, but sent troops to help the Zoroastrians demolish the mosque. This led to the intensification of the conflict, which made the Shiites point the finger at the Tang army, and even shouted the slogan "Get out of the river" and "Kill Li Qing'an". This is regrettable. On this issue, Li Fei Yuanli really bears an unshirkable responsibility, and Cui Ganyou was not wrong.

But now is not the time to punish Li Fei Yuanli. Now Anxi is suffering from internal and external troubles and can no longer create conflicts. Without scolding Li Fei Yuanli, he said to Cui Ganyou: "Continue to talk about it, what is the short-term solution."

"The short-term solution for low-level responsibilities is to divide and govern it, that is, to separate Shiites and Zoroastrians. Since Bukhara is the most quarrel, start with Bukhara. The dense water flows through Bukhara City and divides Bukhara into two. This is just the boundary of dense water, so that the two sects of believers live on one side and are not allowed to communicate. As for the mosques that trigger the riots, they will be temporarily closed and Islamists are not allowed to pray. This will also calm the dissatisfaction of Zoroastrians, and at the same time conduct a whole city investigation to search for spies sent by Dashi."

Cui Ganyou's plan made Li Qing'an think of the partition of India and Pakistan in later generations. Although there were future troubles, it was indeed a quick way to resolve conflicts in some ways. However, what Li Qing'an thought of was to move the Islamists to the west of the Amu River, that is, Khorasan, and let them establish a country there and establish a country with Shiites in power. In this way, a hostile country would appear in the west of Dashi, which would become the biggest restraint of Dashi. He could not put his hopes too much on Byzantium.

But this is a later story. Li Qingan didn't want to say it yet, so he nodded and said, "General Cui's plan can be one of the alternatives. Do you have any better plans?"

Just when the Political Affairs Hall held an emergency meeting overnight, an uninvited guest came to Li Qing'an's home. In the main living room of Li Qing'an's house, the four people with bright moon, dance clothes, and poetry and painting looked serious. Opposite them was sitting opposite them, Ellenni, the Byzantine princess who had just returned from the frozen city, and sitting next to her was Xiaolian with an awkward look on her face. She was the translator between them.

Originally, Ellenni was their distinguished guest, but as soon as she entered the door, she said something that made them look at each other. Today she came to discuss with them the marriage issue of their and Li Qing'an. It was this sentence that made her lose the decent guest treatment she deserved, and she didn't even have a cup of tea that should have been given to her.

Wuyi sat at the lower head of the bright moon, and the seats of the two were less than one foot apart. Her seats were intentional arrangements by Rushi. Since the quarrel last night in front of Li Qing'an, the two of them had never said a word. Now they are willing to sit together, thanks to Rushi. Rushi lived up to Li Qing'an's trust. After her earnest persuasion, the conflict between the two of them eased a little today and did not intensify. Especially last night, Li Qing'an went to the Political Affairs Hall because of the anger, which made Wuyi a little regretful. At noon today, she sent someone to invite Zhao Shenjun's sister and returned Zhao Shenjun's marriage note to her, regretting the marriage.

Mingyue soon learned about this. Although she knew that it was actually what Li Qing'an meant, from the fact that this incident itself also showed that Wuyi was actually giving in, which also gave her face and her anger disappeared a little.

So when Rushi arranged for her to sit with Wuyi, she didn't say anything. Although they didn't say anything, they sat together after all.

At this time, Mingyue found that the red treasure bow on Ellenni's back seemed to be the one in Li Qing'an's carriage. The more she looked familiar, she finally couldn't help but say to herself: "Her bow and arrow look so familiar."

Although Mingyue was talking to herself, her voice became louder. When Wuyi heard it, her attention immediately fell on the bow. She had played with the bow before, and was more familiar than Mingyue. She recognized it at a glance and said, "It's really the bow in the carriage."

The two looked at each other, their eyes full of surprise. Li Qing'an's bow never gave it to others easily. How could it be on this Western princess? Could it be?

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At this time, Ellenny saw their suspicion, and held the bow in his hand and smiled proudly: "This bow was indeed given to me by Li Qing'an, and it was the kindness he gave me."

Xiaolian next to her was so scared that she almost fell down. She didn't dare to translate this sentence, so she said vaguely: "She said that this bow was a gift from her elder brother."

Unexpectedly, Ruhua, who had been silent next to her, could understand a few Turkic words. She understood the keywords used by Ellenni, and then she said, "No! She was talking about something that was in love, I can understand this sentence."

As soon as she said this, the other three women were stunned. After a while, Mingyue said to Xiaolian: "Xiaolian, don't hide anything. This matter is very important to us. If you deliberately hide us, it is not for our own good. Instead, it will ruin big things. Do you know?"

Xiaolian nodded with a red face, "Sister Mingyue, I understand."

"Okay! Ask her, what is the relationship between her and Dalang? What is a love affair?"

Xiaolian translated over and Ellenni smiled and said, "Do you still need to ask? I had a husband and wife relationship last night, so I came to you."

Xiaolian couldn't say it, she quickly said, "She said that she had already gotten along with her elder brother last night, and that's already that, so she came to find you."

"You're talking nonsense!"

Wuyi was extremely bitter and tears were almost falling. Li Lang should have accompanied her last night, but she didn't expect to go find this vixen.

"Don't worry, let me ask her!"

Mingyue knew that the princess was telling the truth, and she was very likely to have sex with her husband, so she got the bow. Although she hated her so much that she was so angry that she asked Ellenni: "Then what are you going to come to us for?"

Ellenny said calmly: "I remember telling you that I shot my former fiancé to death because he betrayed me. With other women, I never accept my husband and other wives. My faith made me follow the monogamy system. I also specifically asked, the Tang Dynasty allowed couples to separate, and you could not have children for him. It is said that in this case, just a divorce letter is enough, so I hope you can leave Li Qing'an by yourself because I want to marry him."

Ellenni's words were astonished as a thunderous sound on the ground, which shocked the four of them. They had never heard of such a ridiculous thing, but the princess was serious and didn't seem to be a joke at all. At this time, Ruhua said dryly with her lips: "Three sisters, she seems to be saying true. I have heard that the religion of Byzantines stipulates that they must be monogamous."

Mingyue shook her head and said to Ellenni: "Your Highness, Princess, I respect your beliefs and your view of marriage, but I am the wife of Li Qing'an, the matchmaker, and the girl next to me is also Li Qing'an's wife. She is second only to me, and she has also been granted the imperial edict from the court and protected by the laws of the Tang Dynasty. As for these two sisters, they are also Li Qing'an's wives, and they are my recognized wives. This is the marriage system of our Tang Dynasty. If you want to marry Li Qing'an, you must go through my recognition and consent, but I am sorry, I don't accept you. I hope you can find a husband who has the same faith as you, which is the most suitable for you. Li Qing'an is not."

After listening to the translation, Ellenni sneered twice and said, "I know you don't want to leave Li Qing'an, I understand, after all, I am also a woman, but I will convince my father to use what Li Qing'an wants most as a dowry. I also hope you can understand that marriage is more of a transaction of interests between countries."

After saying that, she turned around and left. Mingyue looked at her back and disappeared. She sighed softly and said to Wuyi: "Sister Wuyi, I want to talk to you."

Most women are more emotional animals. They often decide something based on their own feelings. When she is in a state of anger, simple things often become quite serious. But when she is calm or happy, the originally serious things will become simple. Of course, there is another situation. When she encounters another thing she thinks is more serious, the originally serious things will become simple. Mingyue and Wuyi are the last situation. Although they are arguing about the power and obligations of wives and concubines, although this power and obligations are very important to them, when their marriage is threatened by a third party at the same time, their disputes will immediately become unimportant. They need to reach some kind of compromise and jointly deal with the threats from third parties.

In the small guest room of the East Courtyard, the two women who had been arguing for two days finally sat down face to face. There was no third person present. Mingyue sighed softly and apologized to Wuyi: "It's me that I'm a little too impulsive. Some things are just taken for granted, without considering your feelings. Yu Nu and you are like sisters. I shouldn't ask about her marriage. I apologize to you."

Wuyi is a typical person who is in favor of the soft and not the hard. She respects her for a foot, but she returns her to the strong. She has no scheming. She only wants self-esteem. Mingyue's toughness will only make her self-esteem more sensitive and make her resistance stronger. But when Mingyue takes the initiative to apologize to her, the resistance in her heart will disappear, and even the softening level is even greater than Mingyue. Of course, the rudeness and threat of the Byzantine princess also made her very angry. She also understands that she must unite with Mingyue to maintain their common marriage.

Wuyi lowered her head for a long time without saying a word. She sighed in her heart and said softly: "Actually, I should apologize to you. After all, you are the mistress of the family and my boss. I should discuss the matter of Yu Nu, put forward my opinions and ideas, and listen to your opinions. We should find a consistent solution, but I refuse you indiscriminately. This is my fault. I should also consider your feelings. I apologize to you!"

As he said that, Wuyi bowed to Mingyue and bowed to Mingyue. Mingyue immediately stopped her, held her hand and smiled, "We are all sisters, we are all family members. It is normal for a family to have bumps and bumps. If you understand each other, everything can be solved. I am not a narrow-minded person. I will never take this matter to heart. I also hope that Sister Wuyi will not take it to heart, as we will still be good sisters in the future."

Mingyue's tolerance was also a little ashamed. She nodded and said sincerely: "I won't take this matter to heart. I will call you Sister Mingyue in the future. After all, you are the eldest, and I am the second time."

"Then we will call each other. I will call you Sister Wuyi, and you will call me Sister Mingyue, so that's how to level it up."

Mingyue also secretly cried out in her heart. She only understood a truth today. Resolving conflicts should vary from person to person. You cannot be tough all the time. Sometimes taking a step back can solve the conflicts easily. Especially for Wuyi, if you give in to Wuyi, she will give in more and resolve the conflicts between her and Wuyi. Mingyue is also very pleased that she is the mistress. If the conflicts between her and Wuyi cannot be resolved, in the eyes of others, it is her incompetence. Now that the problem has been solved, she feels a joy of success.

She sat down with Wuyi's hand and said hatefully: "Now let's discuss how to deal with the scheming man in our family!"

Mingyue stood up, walked to the door and instructed a maid to invite Rushi Ruhua sisters.

Seeing Mingyue's serious expression, Wuyi felt a little uneasy, so she asked, "Do you think Dalang will really marry that Xihu woman?"

"What do you think?" Mingyue asked back.

Wuyi thought about it and said, "I know that many marriages are indeed combined for a kind of benefit between the two countries. If that woman does not insist on monogamy, maybe Dalang will take her as her concubine or concubine, but I think Dalang should not throw us away because of her."

When Wuyi said this, seeing Mingyue was still worried, her heart tightened and asked, "Am I wrong?"

"I know, I should believe that Dalang is not the kind of ruthless person."

Mingyue sighed and took Wuyi's hand and said, "But I am really worried. I don't understand the hearts of men. Some men are willing to sell their relatives for power and official literature. For example, my father is such a person. Not only does he want to give me to the emperor, but my elder sister was forced to marry a Khitan because of him and eventually died in a foreign land. Wuyi, I feel a little nervous."

"Sister, don't worry!"

Wuyi comforted her with kind words: "I don't think Dalang would marry a Xihu woman as his wife no matter what. Not only would the Anxi soldiers be dissatisfied, but the people of the Central Plains would not accept it. I think Dalang would not be so stupid."

Mingyue is a mystery to the authorities. She left a shadow on her because of her father's affairs. The Byzantine princess mentioned that Anxi and Byzantine alliance made her feel that there might be such a possibility. In addition, she has always been infertile, so she was worried that her husband would really divorce her and marry the Byzantine princess. But Wuyi's words reminded her all at once, yes! If the husband really married the Western Hu woman as his wife, can the scholars and common people in the Central Plains tolerate him?

After understanding this, Mingyue's mood improved again, and she couldn't help but feel grateful to Wuyi. At this time, the door opened and Rushi Ruhua's sisters walked in. Seeing Mingyue Wuyi and they were talking and laughing, they were stunned at the same time, and they thought to themselves: "I had a big quarrel last night, why have I made up now?"

Ruhua reacted very quickly, and she immediately figured it out and said with a smile: "Sister, it's for the woman just now!"

“That’s right!”

Mingyue pulled them over and said with a smile: "Sit down quickly, let's discuss how to teach our scheming man a lesson."

After the meeting, Li Qing'an returned home. As soon as he entered the door, he felt that he was still deserted. Just like yesterday, he was not like this before. At least two wives would come up to ask about their well-being with a smile, and took him to dinner. The whole family was talking and laughing at the dinner table. But since yesterday, the feeling of warmth and harmony was gone. Li Qing'an felt depressed. The fire broke out in his two wives, but the fish in the pond affected him.

But there was one thing he thought was strange. Not only was a wife invisible, but there were not even servants. The whole mansion was pitch black, just like the night when everyone fell asleep. But it was still early, so what was going on?

He walked past the outer door and came to the middle courtyard. He saw that the side hall where his wives usually live and gathered were brightly lit, and only this one had lights. Is it like poetry? Li Qing'an was surprised in his heart and walked over quickly, "Squeak!" He pushed open the door, and a bright light hit him, making him dazzling. When he slowly saw the situation in the room, he was stunned for a moment.

The room was brightly lit, and his four wives were sitting together and whispering to each other. He saw that he came back, and the four of them closed their mouths at the same time and sat upright. Li Qingan couldn't believe his eyes. He could see clearly just now that Mingyue was talking to Wuyi, and he felt confused. What's going on? Did they make up again?

"The woman's heart is really elusive!"

Li Qingan was very moved. He had a big quarrel last night, but at this moment he made up again. He felt relieved and walked up to him with a smile and said, "Why are you all gathered here? It seems that I don't really welcome me!"

The four women's faces became gloomy at the same time, and no one paid attention to him. Li Qingan was stunned, "What are you doing?"

Mingyue stood up and said to the other three girls: "Sisters, it's getting late, let's go back and rest!"

Wuyi, Rushi and Liuhua stood up, walked past him, and ignored his existence at all. Li Qingan was also a little annoyed and said everything clearly, what is this? Is it a demonstration to him? His face also became gloomy.

"You stop!" he ordered in a low voice.

In Anxi, Li Qing'an, who was like a mountain falling, failed his first order. His four wives ignored him without any nostalgia or hesitation. They quickly walked out of the side hall and went straight back to the inner house, leaving Li Qing'an in the side hall.

He stood there motionless, confused and annoyed. After a while, he snorted heavily and turned toward his outside study.

The outer study room was dark. He lit the lights in the dark, sat in his rattan chair, and felt sulky. He had not eaten dinner yet, but no one paid attention to him, and even Rushi did not come to see him. Li Qing'an was extremely confused and ignored Rushi, which only means that the problem was very serious. What happened? Could it be?

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Li Qingan suddenly remembered Ellenni. Did they know it? It was impossible for them to know it when they happened on the boat. If it weren't for this, then why? Did it annoy them if they didn't sleep at home last night? It was impossible to think about it. If it were like that, at least Ru Shi wouldn't be angry.

Li Qing'an was thinking a lot in his mind, but he had no clue. He was nestled in a rattan chair and fell asleep unknowingly. In the middle of the night, he was awakened by a burst of rumbling sounds. The study room was pitch black and the lights had gone out. Looking from the top of the window, the stars in the night sky were flashing. It was still at night. Li Qing'an was sleeping with a sore back. He struggled to change his position. At this moment, he suddenly felt that someone in the study room was motionless, and he snored slightly, but his ears were like radars. The slightest movement in the room was brought into his ears.

Only a slight sound of footsteps approaching him, Li Qing'an's eyes narrowed, and the sound of footsteps stopped beside him, and only a faint sigh was heard. He suddenly felt a thick blanket covering his body, and he carefully tucked the corners around him. Li Qing'an had already heard the sigh, it was his concubine Rusi.

Just as the footsteps were about to leave the room, Li Qingan suddenly said in a deep voice: "I haven't eaten for a day, don't you care?"

Rushi came to cover Li Qing'an's blanket. Although they agreed that no one would pay attention to Li Qing'an within three days and let him taste the taste of betraying his family. But at night, Rushi finally couldn't help but come to see him and covered him with a blanket, but he discovered it.

Rushi seemed to be nailed by a nail, standing at the door without moving. Although her husband hadn't eaten for a day made her feel distressed, the woman came to the door to provoke her also made her angry. She had a very conflicted heart. Should she prepare meals for him?

"Tell me the truth, what happened?"

It was okay if Li Qingan didn't ask about this. When asked about it, he reminded Rushi all of a sudden. The four of them reached an agreement. If she betrayed her, wouldn't she offend the other three people and her mistress Mingyue? Thinking of this, Rushi said coldly: "You know more about what you do yourself than anyone else. You have a little heart on the table. If you are hungry, eat by yourself."

She opened the door and walked out quickly, "Stop!" Li Qing'an shouted from behind, but Rushi didn't look back and quickly walked away.

Li Qingan lay down powerlessly, and he sighed deeply. It seemed that they must have known about the Byzantine Princess.
Chapter completed!