Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 757 Negotiation
For Li Chengqian, ever since the explanation in Taiji Hall that day, he had fewer and fewer opportunities to see his father.

On the contrary, he became increasingly busy.

When the prince traveled, the Eastern Palace accompanied him. However, because his father ordered that the trip must not be costly, the entire Eastern Palace was struggling with what and how much to bring. Therefore, Li Chengqian found for the first time that he had to make decisions on so many things by himself.

Before he finished these tasks, Du Ruhui, Shang Shu You Pushe and Minister of Personnel, came to invite him, saying that a Persian monk of the Nestorian Church had arrived.

So he could only hurriedly put on the imperial robe, which he had rarely worn, and hurriedly followed the eunuch to the Dianke Office of the Honglu Temple.

Sitting in the carriage, Li Chengqian was even in a daze, because he remembered that his father had mentioned to him the divine general named Xue Rengui, and that he was temporarily entertained here when he came to Chang'an.

Now Xue Rengui has become famous in the Western Regions. It is said that he has made the acquaintance of a Turkic Khan and reported it to Aye, hoping to remotely control the northern desert and restrict the ambitious Xueyantuo.

And my father even said that when he goes to the Western Regions in the future, he will fight side by side with Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang. I wonder what the personalities of these two generals who are particularly valued are like?
In addition, the last time the Japanese envoys came, they were also entertained here. Aye and he praised Pei Shiqing for his ability to understand the hearts of the Japanese people, and his power was even greater than that of the navy led by Li Shiji. He was quite fortunate in his words, and said that if it were not for future generations who talked about Japan's affairs, the country's sharp sword would have been almost destroyed.

It can be said that in just two years, the Dianke Office was of vital importance. Does that mean we should suggest that Aye pay more attention to the Honglu Temple?
While thinking about all sorts of things, Li Chengqian felt the carriage shake, so he subconsciously wanted to get off the carriage:

"Have we arrived at the Honglu Temple?"

What he saw when he came out was Qingque holding Zhinu:

"Brother, Zhinu insisted on seeing you, and I didn't care even though I told him I was busy..."

Li Chengqian is now fourteen years old, and Li Tai is only one year younger than him. It is obvious that he knows a lot about the affairs in the palace. However, Li Zhi, who is only five years old, is obviously not clear or understands anything. Moreover, it is difficult for Li Tai to suppress him at this age when he is the most lively and active.

"Brother, hug..."

Li Chengqian smiled and tried to pick up his brother, which also eased Li Tai's embarrassment. Then he simply turned his head and said:

"In that case, then just follow me."

After getting on the carriage, Li Tai ignored his brother who was swinging his legs with a silly smile on his face, and said with a little concern:
"Will this..."

Li Chengqian consoled him, "The Nestorian envoy is neither an envoy of the state nor a minister of another country. Why should you care so much about him?"

In fact, it was just as Li Chengqian thought. Du Ruhui only trembled a little when he saw the prince holding one in his arms and holding another by his hand.

What was Li Chengqian's expression like? He was even a little curious:

"Minister Du, I have not seen the reception envoy. Later..."

Du Ruhui looked relaxed:
"Your Highness, I don't know how to do this. I will take care of it later."

This was as it should be. Li Chengqian nodded and agreed, and then he saw what was the etiquette of the envoy.

Led by the Minister of Rites, the group entered the room prepared by the Honglu Temple. Li Chengqian finally met the Persian monk that his father was a little concerned about.

He was wearing a burqa, which was very different from the ones worn in the Central Plains. He was not very tall, at least not as tall as his father and Du Shangshu.

Although his hair is black, it has some strange curves. The most eye-catching thing is his nose, which is tall and narrow, and the narrowed nose wings on both sides form a distinct hook at the tip of the nose.

Li Chengqian took a quick look and then looked away. Then he saw his younger brother Li Zhi leaning forward to look at the man with the hooked nose.

However, the Persian monk did not show any anger at all. He even stretched out his head to let Li Zhi see more clearly, which made His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin of the Tang Dynasty chuckle.

But soon the Persian monk was stopped by people from the Honglu Temple, and was told to leave in a clear manner.

After the two families sat down, Du Ruhui knocked on the table. In fact, there was no need for the Minister Du to speak. A very young official beside him spoke in a dry language:
"His Majesty the Emperor knows your intentions, but within the territory of the Tang Dynasty, you cannot talk about gods and ghosts without His Majesty's permission, as this will only confuse the people..."

Li Chengqian remembered that this official was Ma Zhou, the previous top scorer in the imperial examination. Aye seemed to be very concerned about his health... But could this Persian monk also understand elegant language?
He saw that the Persian monk was also listening attentively, and soon there was a trace of obvious displeasure on his face. The reason was naturally Ma Zhou's dry words, because there was no twists and turns in the meaning.

First, Ma Zhou accused the other party of spreading misleading words without the emperor's permission, and according to the law he should be hanged. However, the emperor was lenient with him because the foreigners were unaware of the matter. He only needed to promise to bring some Western classics to the Tang Dynasty, and then this crime would be forgiven.

As expected, a quarrel soon broke out. Surprisingly, the Persian monk spoke in quite authentic elegant language. He argued vigorously that the Tang Dynasty's move was rather disrespectful. He came with good intentions to pay homage to the Heavenly Khan, but he suffered this crime for no reason. If he had not come, wouldn't he be safe?
Unexpectedly, Ma Zhou was very decisive. He waved his hand and asked the guards outside the door to come in to arrest the man and prepare the noose. Seeing that it did not seem to be a false statement, the Persian monk immediately changed his face and said that it was not impossible to discuss it.

Li Zhi was still looking at the hooked nose swaying back and forth curiously, while Li Chengqian and Li Tai were already looking at each other in bewilderment. What was happening here was too different from what his Confucian teachers had taught him.

The imperial guards retreated for the time being. Li Chengqian didn't know whether the imperial guards had really prepared the noose, but at this moment he felt that Ma Zhou's attitude was already aggressive.

Because according to Ma Zhou, agreeing to collect classics can only pardon the crime on the basis of the magnanimity of the Tang emperor, but if one wants to promote the sect, then one needs to exchange more for it, such as the national situation and military strength around Persia.

This made the Persian monk frown again, and he tried to carefully express how powerful Persia was, but Ma Zhou only smiled and asked:
"Persia was so powerful, so why did it fail to win the war against Rome even though it sought help from the Western Turks?"

So the Persian monk's expression suddenly changed, but he still managed to remain calm and said: "Then Rome..."

Ma Zhou smiled and tapped his head and said:
"I forgot that the dynasties before my Tang Dynasty had many names for Rome, including Fulin, Pulan, and Voluni. Now my Tang Emperor has given it a name, the Roman Empire."

The Persian monk finally lost his voice: "How do you know..."

Persia's conquest of its old enemy went from victory to defeat within a decade. Considering the remote geographical location made it difficult to transmit information, so this news could be considered quite new. So it was quite shocking to the Persian. After all, he had only known this news for two or three months. How could this Tang official use it as a bargaining chip?

Ma Zhou felt relieved.

Fortunately, it seems that the speculations he and Du Shangshu made from the few words and phrases of later generations were correct.

It seems that Nestorianism can temporarily serve as a help in conquering the Western Regions.

(End of this chapter)