Chapter 459: Accidental Discovery

After Cui Yao left, Rashid fell into deep thought. He had just figured out one thing, that is, why Ye Haya wanted to go to the Tang Dynasty in person. He was going to gain political capital. To put it bluntly, it was to show the Chinese people that the Caliph was young and did not make any changes, and now only Ye Haya can clean up the mess. Once Ye Haya and the Tang Dynasty were over, and if the Tang Dynasty had negotiated, he would be replaced by prisoners of war from the Tang Dynasty, his reputation would rise sharply and he would gain more power. Even if he could not get it back, it would be that his Caliph would be seriously guilty.

The Battle of Broken Ye was like a strong wind that blew away the mist, which suddenly presented the severe domestic situation to Rashid. The situation was already very clear. Yehaya was Lu Buwei of the Abbasid Empire. He was even more powerful than Lu Buwei. He controlled the power of the entire empire, and even his two sons also controlled the financial power and judicial power of the empire. According to this arrangement, even if his son succeeded to the throne after his death, the power of the empire will still be in the hands of this Persian family. Rashid gently rubbed his temples. In this increasingly severe situation, how could he break this situation? "Yehaya, Lu Buwei". He repeatedly weighed these two names, and suddenly, a bold thought flashed out of his mind.

Almost all afternoon and night, Rashid was considering his plan. He pondered over and over again, looking for possible loopholes, weighing the consequences. Early the next morning, he finally made up his mind and said to the guards: "You go and invite Mr. Cui now, I have something to discuss with him."

Early in the morning, Cui Yao came to the Imperial Library as planned, but not to teach the public oriental history classes. His history classes will only be available tomorrow. Today, he will teach Princess Abasai to Tang poetry classes, and make up for the courses that were delayed by teaching Qin history to the Caliph yesterday afternoon. The class place is located in the east building of the library, which is a place where princes and nobles often appear. Generally speaking, women of Dashi do not have much education opportunities, and even have few opportunities to go out. However, Princess Abasai is an exception. She enjoys the best everything, including the best cultural education. Rashid invited her to teachers, who were the most famous scholars of the Abbasid Empire, and even the elders of the church, explaining to her the true meaning of Islamic teachings.

In this way, Princess Abasai became the youngest and most learned woman in the empire, and became the most eye-catching moon in Baghdad. She had countless halos on her body, and she was loved by thousands of people. Countless people wanted to marry her, but Rashid has announced to the whole country that Abasai will never become a bride.

As soon as Cui Yao's figure appeared in the corridor, two princess' servants immediately led him into the teaching room. He entered the room. Princess Abasai had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Mr. Cui is here." Abasai quickly stood up and bowed to him. Unlike yesterday, she looked dignified and quiet today. She had a thin black veil on her face, only a pair of bright eyes, which made her already fair skin look whiter and more charming. This surprised Cui Yao. He taught her Chinese and Tang Shi for nearly three months, and never saw her wearing a mask. What happened today?

Cui Yao didn't think about it carefully, he bowed and smiled, "Then let's start!"

He took out a copy of Tang poems that he had copied last night from his bag and handed them to Abasai, "Today we will talk about Li Bai's "Winning to Wine".

He walked to the opposite side of Abasai and sat down, and said solemnly: "You read it first to see if you can read it."

Abasai read it silently and began to read it stutter. She had not been studying Chinese for a long time, only three months, and she did not have the advantage of Cui Yao living completely in the Arabic world. After reading the first two sentences, she could not continue reading it. She had to smile apologetically and pushed the poem forward, signaling Cui Yao to teach her.

Cui Yao was also expected of this result. He took a sip of tea, moistened his throat and said, "In the poem, the Yellow River is the mother river of our Han people. Just like the Tigris and Euphrates, you can't do it. It rushes thousands of miles and is powerful. The poet starts with it and lays the style of this poem. Let's talk about the first sentence first. Don't you see the water of the Yellow River coming from the sky, flowing to the sea and never returning. This sentence starts from nothing, without any simplicity, and writes it majestic. Look at the water of the Yellow River rolling in the sky, like the wind in the sea, unstoppable. You can see from this that Li Bai's pen falls into the wind and rain, and you can also feel the broad mind of our Tang Dynasty. Read it with me."

'Don't you see the water of the Yellow River coming from the sky, flowing to the sea and never returning.' Abasai read this sentence to Cui Yao in stuttering Chinese. Her eyes were leisurely and fascinated, as if she had seen the majestic water of the Yellow River in the poem. She read it again with Cui Yao, and she could barely read it in full. Her eyes then moved to the following sentence, and suddenly she screamed in surprise. She knew most of the Chinese characters in the poem, "Don't you see the bright mirror in the high hall sad white hair, and the morning is like blue hair and the evening turns into snow."

Without Cui Yao's explanation, she silently chewed the profound meaning of this poem. Decades of life seem to be condensed in this short poem, "The morning is like blue hair and snow in the evening". This is the ending that makes every woman heartbroken. Abasai suddenly thought of herself, the ban on her brother's never allowed her to get married. Her eyes slowly became blurred, and a heartbreaking sadness appeared in her beautiful eyes.

Suddenly, Abasai suddenly covered his mouth and rushed towards the corner of the wall. She bent down and retching desperately. The maid behind her was also frightened. They rushed to the princess, and a maid shouted: "Princess, go back quickly! She is more powerful than yesterday's reaction."

Abasai's back suddenly became stiff. She slowly raised her head and stared at the talkative maid fiercely. The maid's face turned pale in an instant. She turned her head and looked at Cui Yao.

At this moment, Cui Yao couldn't help but remember the gentle twist of Abasai on the back of Zheerfair's hand yesterday morning. It was an extremely natural intimate action, but what kind of ulterior motive secret is hidden? He suddenly felt that he had discovered an embarrassing secret.

At this time, someone at the door whispered: "Is Mr. Cui in the room?"

"Here! Here!" Cui Yao stepped forward and opened the door as if he had obtained a savior. He saw Rashid's guard standing outside the door. He saluted respectfully, "Mr. Cui, your Majesty invites you to go."

"Okay, I'll go now." Cui Yao hurriedly put away his things and walked out the door as if he was running for his life.

"Mr. Cui!" Abasai suddenly called him. Cui Yao then remembered that he should say goodbye to her. He just turned around, but he couldn't say a word. What he saw in his eyes was a sad face, a pair of eyes full of tears and begging. There was so much helplessness and pain hidden in those eyes. Cui Yao suddenly understood something, he nodded silently and walked quickly.

After a night, Cui Yao came to the Dashi Palace again. He was in a very heavy mood. Abasai's tears were always lingering in his mind. He had heard that Rashid had given orders. The cruel and inhumane order was said to be from Rashid's love for his sister. This reminded Cui Yao of the marriage arranged by his grandfather, and endless sympathy surged in his heart.

"Mr. Cui, Your Majesty is waiting for you in the room." The guard pushed open the door and smiled at Cui Yao.

Cui Yao then realized that he had arrived in front of Rashid's inner palace. He immediately put Abasai's affairs aside, pushed the door and walked in. The light in the room was dim and the curtains had been put down. Rashid was standing next to a reduced map with his hands on his back. This was a map of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty and the Zhenzhu River Basin. Next to it was a map of Dashi, but Rashid was staring at the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty and fell into deep thought.

"Your Majesty, are you asking me for trouble?" Cui Yao whispered to interrupt Rashid's contemplation. Rashid turned his head and smiled gently, "I'm so sorry for calling you here these two days."

"Your Majesty, please speak as long as you have something to do." Cui Yao also said politely. He thought that perhaps the story he told yesterday had something that was unclear to Rashid, so he specially called himself again.

"I have some ideas to discuss with you." Rashid pointed to a chair and smiled, "Let's sit down and talk!"

Cui Yao sat down, and he looked at Rashid with some clues. He hadn't seen him for a while, but he had made frequent appointments in the past two days. What is the medicine sold in this gourd? Could it be that he wanted to let him go back, or did he think he was King Ying Zheng of Qin? Various thoughts were intertwined in his heart, and he couldn't help but reveal a look of confusion in his eyes.

Rashid looked at him and seemed to understand Cui Yao's thoughts. He pondered for a moment and said frankly: "Mr. Cui has been in Baghdad for almost half a year, and his language has improved rapidly. I heard that you have read a lot of books on Islamic culture and history in the Imperial Library. Then I would like to ask you, who do you think is stronger between the Abbasid Empire and the Tang Dynasty, and who will swallow who in the future? Is it my caliph's army to occupy Chang'an, or your Tang emperor's army to occupy Baghdad? I hope you will be honest, don't be because you are a Tang Dynasty person."

In fact, Cui Yao has been considering this question, who will win in the collision between these two Eastern and Western empires? For this reason, he read a lot of books on Persia and Dashi, understood their culture, their history, and even religion, and also made friends with Dashi at all levels. As his understanding of Dashi became more and more profound, his doubts became stronger. Now, as the king of a country, Rashid suddenly asked this doubt that he had been thinking about in his heart, as if a light illuminated his eyes and made him suddenly enlightened.

He immediately smiled and said, "If Dashi is similar to the nomadic peoples in the north in the history of our Han people, barbaric without any cultural precipitation, and you have strong military power, or there is turmoil within our Tang Dynasty, then you may be able to occupy the Tang Dynasty, because you will be assimilated by the Han civilization in the future, but if you are now, you will never be able to occupy the Tang Dynasty. It is not because of how powerful your military power is, but because you have a profound culture and a splendid civilization like the Tang Dynasty, and these are two completely incompatible

Civilization, just like the Han people will not accept Islam, you will not accept our Confucianism. The result is only one war that will never stop for hundreds of years or even thousands of years. Both civilizations will be both defeated, and in the end it will be the great food that has become extremely weak in the demise of the Byzantines. Of course, the same goes for the same thing. Even if I defeated the great food in the Tang Dynasty, I will never be able to occupy this land that believes in Allah. Therefore, I sincerely hope that there will be no war between the two civilizations that attempt to destroy each other, and that will be an ending without a winner."

Cui Yao's words made Rashid fall into deep thought. If he had been disdainful of Cui Yao's views before the Battle of Saiye, but the failure of the Saiye War made him realize the Tang Dynasty for the first time. In the past few months, he has read the Eastern History Lecture Notes compiled by Cui Yao almost carefully. Although Cui Yao's historical lecture notes are only outlines, from the Records of the Grand Historian and from the Book of Han, it is very simple, just like some enlightenment readings, but it is these simple reading books that seem to open a window, broaden Rashid's horizon, and allow him to re-examine his desire for the occupation of the East. This desire comes from silk, tea, porcelain, but Saiye's defeat and Cui Yao's history make his desire gradually less intense, and he also began to realize that occupying the East might be just a dream.

Thinking of this, Rashid smiled and said, "Actually, my thoughts are somewhat similar to you. From you, you can see that the Tang civilization and our Islamic civilization can be exchanged and integrated, but they will not become one in any case. Just like you, Cui Yao, even if you have lived in Baghdad for twenty years and you have become the most knowledgeable Islamic scholar, I believe you will never give up on your Confucianism."

Rashid said as he walked to the map. He pointed to the Byzantine Empire in the north with a wooden pole: "In fact, this is our real enemy. As you said, if our troops were restrained in the Tang Dynasty, then Baghdad would face a catastrophe. Therefore, my Abbasid Empire would never conquer the East. I hope you will go back and convey my words and your views to your Tang emperor. I will also write a letter in person, asking you to take it back."

Cui Yao was stunned. He asked hesitantly for a long time: "Does Your Majesty mean to let me go back to China?"

"You said it right, I have decided to let you go back to your country." Rashid smiled with some emotion: "Actually, I don't want you to leave either. You have brought us the culture and history of the East. You are a respectable teacher, but you are the bridge of communication between the two empires of the East and the West. I hope you can come back. The door of Baghdad is always open to you."

After saying that, he took out a gold medal from his arms and handed it to Cui Yao and said, "This is the Caliph's order, it will allow you to return to your hometown safely all the way."

Cui Yao received the gold medal, and he felt an inexplicable touch in his heart. Frankly speaking, he didn't want to go back now. He also wanted to continue to understand Islamic culture, continue to teach his students, spread the history and culture of the East, and let his students and all the great cannibals know that the Han people are a nation with broad minds. They will never take the initiative to destroy other civilizations, but they are definitely not sheep who can bully others. He nodded and said, "When I go back, I will convey the words of the Caliph to our emperor. He is a great monarch like the Caliph. I believe you will understand each other."

Rashid sat down and wrote a long letter to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. In the letter, he wrote down all the conditions and requirements he issued in detail. Finally, he signed his name. He handed the letter to Cui Yao and repeatedly reminded him: "This letter is of great importance, it is related to the strategic interests of your northern Tang Dynasty and to my life safety. You must keep it well. If the situation is serious, would you rather destroy it and understand what I mean?"

Although Cui Yao didn't know what he wrote, he knew from Rashid's solemn expression that this letter must have great significance. He put it away and said sincerely: "Please rest assured, your Majesty, I will definitely hand it over to our Emperor of Tang safely, and I will leave and return to China tomorrow."
Chapter completed!