Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 294: Conferring the title of Princess Taiping
In early December, a heavy snow fell, dyeing the entire Guanzhong area white, the mountains looked like clusters of jade, and the forests looked like silver makeup.

In such a cold winter, the official road thirty miles west of Chang'an City was bustling with convoys heading from west to east.

Because of the Kangguo incident, the countries in the Western Regions sent envoys later this year than in previous years. Only after Pei Xingjian defeated the rebels did the countries send envoys to Chang'an one after another.

Among them, the envoy from King Kangguo was sent last.

There was nothing he could do about it. He had just captured the capital and regained the throne, so he was able to send an envoy.

Although the Kangguo rebels were defeated, they moved the capital's property to another large city in the west in advance.

The King of Kangguo spent a lot of effort to raise this gift, and it finally arrived in Chang'an City in December.

The envoy from Kangguo this time was Shi Sanlang’s father-in-law, Kangna.

After the capital of Kangguo was captured, he fled to Anxi Protectorate with the king.

Because he had been to Chang'an and his son-in-law was a Tang person, King Kangguo relied on him a lot in negotiations with the Anxi Protectorate during the period when he was fleeing.

Now that the Tang Dynasty has helped Kangguo to restore its country, Kangna has been promoted to a higher position and his son has even married the princess of Kangguo because of his experience of sharing weal and woe with the king.

Kangna could be said to have turned a disaster into a blessing. With a happy smile on his face, he was sitting in a carriage, chatting with a Tang man.

The Tang man was Gao Youdao.

He had originally set out half a month earlier than Connor.

Just because he was concerned about the emperor's instructions, he made another careful visit to the Anxi area, which delayed him, and he met the envoys from Kangna in Xizhou.

Gao Youdao wanted to learn more about the situation in the Western Regions, so he revealed his identity and traveled with Kangna.

Along the way, the two had a pleasant conversation. One asked about the situation in the Western Regions, and the other learned about the officialdom in Chang'an. They happily exchanged information.

From Kangna, Gao Youdao learned about the situation further west in the Kingdom of the Arabs.

The Caliph of the Arab Empire was leading his western army in a fierce battle with the Byzantine Empire, and was gaining the upper hand. His cavalry had already invaded Kunlun (Africa), and his military force was extremely powerful.

For this reason, a large number of Kunlun slaves were sold to the Western Regions this year.

Even among the Kangguo delegation, there were more than 30 Kunlun slaves who were ready to be presented to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Kangna originally wanted to give a Kunlun slave to Gao Youdao, but the latter declined.

Around 3 p.m., the caravan crossed the Xiwei Bridge. Unable to reach Chang'an before the city gates closed, they stayed overnight in Longmen Town.

The next morning, Gao Youdao and the Kangguo envoys entered the city together and parted ways on Zhuque Street.

Gao Youdao had been away from Chang'an for several months and was eager to return home. He hurried back home, knocked on the door and entered. As he walked quickly into the courtyard, he suddenly saw a swing in the courtyard.

A little girl of four or five years old was swinging on a swing.

The girl was as cute as a piece of jade. While swinging, she opened her eyes wide and looked at Gao Youdao.

Gao Youdao seemed to be petrified, nailed to the spot.

At this moment, he even had an illusion that he had been away from home for several years instead of just a few months, and that the girl was his daughter.

Reason quickly pulled him back to reality from his fantasy.

He walked towards the girl, squatted in front of her, and said with a smile: "Little girl, who are you? Why are you in my house?"

The little girl wasn't afraid of him either. She blinked and said clearly, "Mother said I can't tell my name to people I don't know."

Gao Youdao asked, "Who is your mother?"

The little girl said innocently, "Mother is Mother."

Gao Youdao thought for a moment and said, "Do you know who Du Rong is?"

The little girl nodded and said, "Du Rong is my aunt's name."

Gao Youdao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her call Du Rong "Auntie". He was really afraid that she would call Du Rong "Mom".

Just then, two women came from the corridor. One was Du Rong and the other was a stranger.

The little girl jumped off the swing, ran over quickly and hugged the strange woman's waist.

"Aniang, Aniang! There's a strange uncle over there."

The woman didn't know Gao Youdao and was about to ask Du Rong, but she saw Du Rong running over and hugging Gao Youdao.

She immediately guessed Gao Youdao's identity and took her daughter away.

Gao Youdao and Du Rong hugged each other for a long time. He faintly noticed that his wife was trembling, and smiled: "Okay, I'm back now, right?"

Du Rong choked up and said, "I wrote you a letter, but you didn't reply. I heard that the journey west was full of dangers, so I thought something had happened to you."

Gao Youdao patted her shoulder and said, "It's okay. Everything went smoothly. By the way, who was that little girl just now?" Du Rong looked up at him and smiled, "She's my cousin. What do you think? Isn't she very cute?"

Gao Youdao smiled and said, "It's really adorable. Please help me give birth to a child like him in the future."

Du Rong blushed slightly, spat, and said, "I'm not an ordinary little girl. Maybe I'm destined to be the queen in the future."

Gao Youdao lost his voice and said, "What did you say?"

Seeing his astonishment, Du Rong chuckled, took his hand, and said, "You've been in Anxi for so long, and a lot has happened in Chang'an City. Let me tell you about it one by one."

She pulled Gao Youdao into the bedroom and told her husband all the major events that had recently happened in Chang'an City.

The two most important things are that the empress and the imperial concubine both gave birth to dragon seeds for the emperor.

Especially Empress Wu, who gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

"You don't know, when His Majesty learned that the Empress had given birth to twins, he was overjoyed and immediately canonized the girl as Princess Taiping! She's the first emperor's daughter to be canonized as a princess so quickly since the founding of the Tang Dynasty!"

Gao Youdao sighed, "Anyone who had twins would be as delighted as Your Majesty. What about the Imperial Concubine? Did she give birth to a prince or a princess?"

The Gao family has a closer relationship with the Zheng family, so Gao Youdao is more concerned about Concubine Zheng's situation.

Du Rong smiled and said, "It's a boy, born at the end of November. The Zheng family held a three-day banquet to celebrate the occasion, entertaining the neighbors for free."

Gao Youdao nodded secretly.

The more saintly princes there are today, the more stable the country will be, which is what he is happy to see.

Du Rong smiled and said, "The last thing is the Crown Prince's selection of a concubine."

Gao Youdao was stunned and said, "The prince is only seven years old. Isn't it too early to choose a concubine now?"

Du Rong said, "This is what Her Majesty the Queen suggested. She meant that if we decide on a Crown Princess first, we can start tutoring her sooner and train her to be a good wife for the Crown Prince."

Gao Youdao remained silent.

The royal family was originally more strict in selecting daughters-in-law. Empress Wu may have planned to personally train the Crown Princess after selecting her.

Du Rong continued, "However, His Majesty did not agree. He said that choosing a Crown Princess now would be too harsh on the little girl."

The Crown Prince is only seven years old, and the Crown Princess must be even younger. It is indeed too harsh to give such a young child private tutoring.

Du Rong said, "Later, the Queen discussed with His Majesty and decided to select several candidates for Crown Princess and have them carefully trained by the family. When she grows up, they will choose one from these candidates."

Gao Youdao's mind moved: "That girl just now is one of the backup candidates?"

Du Rong smiled and said, "Why, do you think she is unsuitable?"

"That's not the case." Gao Youdao scratched his head and said, "But who is that child, and how did he get chosen?"

Du Rong said, "I just told you, she's also from the Du clan. The Empress issued an edict allowing court ladies to recommend girls from their clans and submit their birth dates and horoscopes. My cousin came to me and asked me to submit this child's birth dates and horoscopes to try my luck. Unexpectedly, her birth dates and horoscopes matched the Crown Prince's perfectly, and she was chosen by Her Majesty the Empress."

The Jingzhao Du family has shown signs of making a comeback because Du Fu has returned to officialdom.

Coupled with the relationship between Du Rong and Gao Youdao, the Du family, which had been falling apart, gradually came together again.

The little girl's name is Du Yuhe, and she is the daughter of Du Rong's other cousin Du Bo.

After he heard about the Queen's selection of the Crown Princess, he went to Du Rong, hoping that Du Rong could recommend her own daughter for him.

After Du Rong went to discuss with Du Fu, she agreed and sent the girl's birth date and horoscope to the palace.

As a result, there were four girls whose birth dates were most compatible with Li Hong, namely: Yang of Hongnong, Pei of Hedong, Cheng of Dong'e and Du of Jingzhao.

Empress Wu had already given some rewards to the four families and ordered them to teach their daughters carefully. In the future, the Crown Princess would be chosen from the four families first.

Du Bo is now a penniless person and his family is very poor.

He knew that if he raised his daughter himself, he would definitely not be able to raise a qualified princess consort.

After discussing with his wife, he sent his daughter to Gao Mansion, hoping that Du Rong and Gao Youdao would adopt Du Yuhe as their adopted daughter and raise her in Gao Mansion.

Du Rong said, "You were not at home at the time, so I didn't give him an answer. I just let her stay at home temporarily and wait for you to come back and make a decision."

Gao Youdao touched his chin and said, "What does Madam mean?"

Du Rong said softly, "That child is quite well-behaved. We don't have any children for the time being, so why not keep her?"

She also had another thought: if this child really had the good fortune to become the Crown Princess in the future, it would also be a good thing for her husband's career.

Gao Youdao smiled and said, "Since you want to keep it, then keep it. Madam, please boil some water for me. I need to take a bath before I go to the palace to see the emperor."

Du Rong was delighted to see that her husband agreed to take Du Yuhe in. She agreed and went out to help him arrange it.

(End of this chapter)