Chapter 478
Empress Zheng Teaches Her Son
...
Not only Wu Min, but all the ministers who had caused chaos and harm to the Song Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Song periods were singled out by Zhang Chun, who planned to have them all taken away by Zhao Yu.
The first to be affected were the ministers who made mistakes during the reigns of Emperor Huizong, Emperor Huan, and Emperor Gou of the Song Dynasty.
The first one is Wang Fu.
To be honest, Wang Fu was one of the more capable ministers. He was good at making money, shrewd, and adept at understanding the emperor's intentions. Historically, he knew that Emperor Huizong was obsessed with recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, so he vigorously promoted the strategy of "allying with Jin to destroy Liao and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun" without considering the actual situation of the Song Dynasty. As a result, the Song army collapsed at the first contact in the war of allying with Jin to attack Liao. Not only did they fail to recover their lost territory, but the Jin people also saw through the Song Dynasty's strengths and weaknesses, which laid a fatal hidden danger for the Jingkang Incident.
The second is Pai Shih-chung, who succeeded Wang Fu.
He was a typical "auspicious prime minister," ignorant of military and political affairs, mediocre and incompetent, but a master of flattery. He spent his days collecting rare flowers and stones, fabricating auspicious omens to present to Emperor Huizong, and even organized painters to create auspicious picture albums, exaggerating the false objects such as auspicious herbs, auspicious clouds, and auspicious beasts as symbols of national prosperity, which pleased Emperor Huizong greatly and enabled him to obtain the position of prime minister.
As the Jin army drew ever closer to Kaifeng, he had no strategy to counter it and only advised Zhao Ji to flee south, completely disregarding the safety of the ancestral temples, the state, and the people of the capital.
The third is Li Bangyan, who succeeded Wang Fu along with Bai Shizhong.
He was infamous and nicknamed "Li the Prodigal." Born into the common people, he had some literary talent but no integrity as an official. He was greedy, lustful, and skilled in jesting and dancing, treating the imperial court as a playground.
He handled political affairs based entirely on personal likes and dislikes and calculations of self-interest. Faced with the Jin army pressing in, he advocated ceding territory to seek peace, even at the cost of betraying the interests of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was denounced by his contemporaries as a "traitor to the state."
The fourth is Cai You.
There's not much to say about him; he's uneducated, a typical sycophant. Relying on Emperor Huizong's favor, he formed cliques, eliminated dissidents, and ruthlessly exploited the people. To seize power, he didn't hesitate to turn against his father. At the same time, he strongly encouraged Emperor Huizong to indulge in extravagance, building palaces and gardens, wasting countless resources. At crucial moments, he even withheld urgent reports from the front lines, harming the country and its people.
During the reign of Emperor Huan of Song, the prime ministers he appointed were even worse.
Xu Churen, for example, came from the imperial examination system. When he served as prime minister, although he had certain talents, he was stubborn and arrogant. He had a deep grudge against Wu Min, the junior prime minister, due to their differing political views.
One day, while arguing about strategies to resist the Jin dynasty in the imperial court, the two men became enraged and threw inkstones at each other, leaving the court in a mess.
Seeing this, Zhao Huan was both angry and helpless, so he simply dismissed both of them.
Geng Nanzhong, a contemporary of Xu Churen and Wu Min, was a typical capitulationist. He tried his best to exclude Li Gang, Zhong Shidao and other pro-war ministers, advocated ceding Hebei and Hedong to seek peace with the Jin people, and even withheld the memorials of the pro-war faction to obstruct the army's preparations for war.
Even more absurdly, he spread rumors that "the Jurchens are invincible," which undermined public morale and caused Kaifeng to miss a crucial opportunity for defense.
He Li, however, was a pedantic and stubborn bookworm who, despite holding the position of prime minister, lacked decisiveness. When the Jin army besieged the city, instead of adopting pragmatic strategies such as strengthening the city's defenses and recruiting righteous troops, he naively believed in the illusory claims of the "Six Jia Divine Soldiers" and pinned his hopes on sorcery to repel the enemy. As a result, the city gates were wide open, and the Jin army marched straight in.
Sun Fu was just like He Li, both obsessed with superstition. As the Vice Privy Councilor, he should have been in charge of military defense, but he strongly advocated Guo Jing's "divine soldiers" technique and handed over the power of defense to this person, which caused the Song army's defense to be in complete chaos. In the end, he was captured along with Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan and died in the north.
In addition, Zhao Huan's reign also included ministers such as Tang Ke and Nie Chang. Although they were not able to turn the tide, they were not confused and performed admirably during the Jingkang Incident.
During the reign of Zhao Gou.
Another group of high-ranking officials emerged, such as Wang Boyan, Huang Qianshan, Du Chong, and Wan Qixie.
These high-ranking officials were either incompetent, greedy and cunning, or subservient and surrendering; all disregarded the safety of the nation for their own selfish interests and historically harmed the interests of the Song Dynasty.
As time travelers, how could Zhao Yu and Zhang Chun possibly give these people another chance to harm the Song Dynasty?
Therefore, Zhao Yu adopted Zhang Chun's suggestion and prepared to take all these people away.
Among them, there was one person who was controversial, and who made Zhao Yu somewhat hesitant.
This person is Qin Changjiao.
He was undoubtedly a villain for all time. He controlled the government for nineteen years, vigorously promoted a policy of surrender, killed generals who advocated war, suppressed anti-Jin forces, and signed a series of humiliating treaties with the Jin people, turning the Southern Song Dynasty into a small, isolated court and extinguishing any hope of recovering the Central Plains.
However, on the other hand, he does have a knack for managing the economy.
Moreover, before he went to study in Northeast China, he had a decent moral character.
Considering that Li Gang and his ilk had not proven their economic capabilities, Zhao Yu ultimately kept him on.
In addition, there were also officials like Liu Ru, who historically described the Jin army as "men like tigers, horses like dragons, climbing mountains like monkeys, entering water like otters, their momentum like Mount Tai, and China like a pile of eggs"; Si Jin, who historically threatened the people of Bianliang (Kaifeng) by saying that if they did not hand over their valuables, the Jin army would "kill all the men, abduct all the women, burn all the palaces, and take all the gold and silver"; Wu Kai and Mo Chou, known as "Swift Ghosts"; Wang Shiyong and Xu Bingzhe, fathers-in-law of the Jin people; and other treacherous, incompetent, mediocre, and stupid officials; Liu Yu and Ren Dejing, who had betrayed the country in history (their entire families were taken away by Zhao Yu, who planned to make them "die" on the front lines); and ministers who liked to engage in internal strife, get entangled in the debate between the new and old parties, and were good at stirring up trouble rather than doing practical work. All of them were on Zhao Yu's list of those to be taken away.
As for the generals...
Zhao Yu brought along almost every famous general from various regions, including Xia Zhan from Qinghai-Tibet, Wei Ming Amai from Western Xia, Yelü Mage from Liao, Wanyan Zongya from Jin, Tuo Junjing from Goryeo, Taira no Kiyomori from Japan, a host of famous generals from the grasslands, the Western Regions, Tibet, the Indochina Peninsula, Dali, and many more...
Zhao Yu also brought along all those unruly Song generals.
Not to mention those Song generals whose achievements were too great and could easily overshadow the emperor, they were naturally also on the list.
Only generals like Zhong Shidao, Zhong Shizhong, He Guan, Liu Qi, Zhang Jun, Yang Yizhong, Yao Youzhong, Liu Guangshi, and Zhe Yanzhi, who had historically proven their ability to execute imperial orders without question, were retained by Zhao Yu and Zhang Chun to help the Song Dynasty defend its vast territory.
In other words, even generals like Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Wang Bing, Li Yanxian, and Zhao Li, who were loyal to the court but had strategic principles and did not blindly follow orders for peace, were taken away by Zhao Yu.
As for the troops?
Nothing said.
Zhao Yu brought with him at least 90% of the foreign soldiers from Qinghai, Tibet, Western Xia, Liao, Jin, Goryeo, Japan, Mongolia, the Western Regions, the Indochina Peninsula, and Dali.
In addition, Zhao Yu brought three Shenji Army units, along with 100,000 Imperial Guards of the Song Dynasty.
As for the navy, Zhao Yu brought not only the main force of the Song Dynasty navy, but also all the other naval forces recruited from Liao, Jin, Goryeo, Japan, and the Indochina Peninsula.
In short, Zhao Yu brought all the hidden dangers of the Song Dynasty with him this time, completely separating them from the Song Dynasty's homeland.
……
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
Empress Zheng was worried that her son, Zhao Shou, might have reservations about Zhao Yu's decision not to abdicate, so she specially sent someone to summon Zhao Shou to Kunning Palace to instruct him, lest he overthink things or do something unwise that might anger Zhao Yu and harm himself. Empress Zheng was now forty-six years old.
Despite her consistent efforts in skincare, she still developed undeniable crow's feet around her eyes and gray hairs on her head.
Empress Zheng was a very shrewd woman. She knew that all of this showed that she was about to grow old.
Empress Zheng, who had lacked nothing and had no regrets in her life, was not afraid of this.
Because of Zhao Yu's unwavering support and affection, Empress Zheng gladly accepted this fact.
Moreover, seeing that Zhao Yu was still young and energetic like a youth, Empress Zheng spared no effort in finding young and beautiful women to accompany him.
As a result, almost all the outstanding women of the Zheng family entered the palace to become Zhao Yu's concubines. Empress Zheng also took in hundreds of adopted daughters, among whom the more famous ones included: Pei Sui, the Grand Chancellor; Liu Mingda and Liu Mingjie, the two Noble Consorts Liu; Consort Qiao; Consort Wei; Consort Zhu Lian; Consort Xing Bingyi; Consort Yelü Tabuyan; Consort Wanyan Wulu, etc.
In short, despite Empress Zheng's advanced age and the end of her sexual relations with Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu's favor towards her remained undiminished, and neither Zhao Yu nor Empress Zheng ever disappointed the other.
Just like this abdication incident.
Without Zhao Yu even speaking to Empress Zheng, after confirming that Zhao Yu would not abdicate in favor of Zhao Shou, Empress Zheng immediately summoned Zhao Shou and tried to persuade him to change his mindset.
"My son, I pay my respects to my mother!"
When Zhao Shou arrived at Kunning Palace, he paid his respects to Empress Zheng. Empress Zheng said to Zhao Shou with a kind expression, "Your Highness, there is no need for such formalities. We are mother and son, and there is no one else here. Please feel free to do as you please."
Zhao Shou was raised by Empress Zheng herself. Empress Zheng was skilled at raising children, never harsh on him, and gave Zhao Shou plenty of respect and understanding. Therefore, the relationship between mother and son was always very good.
It was precisely because of this that Zhao Shou, upon hearing Empress Zheng's words, no longer insisted on etiquette. Instead, he stood up on his own and sat down to Empress Zheng's left, smiling as he said, "In that case, I have overstepped my bounds."
Seeing that her son was still so close to her, Empress Zheng was very gratified. At the same time, she felt even more that God had been kind to her, not only making her the empress of the world, but also giving her such a good husband as Zhao Yu, as well as several capable and filial children.
Empress Zheng did not directly discuss with Zhao Shou the matter of Zhao Yu not abdicating in his favor. Instead, she first blamed Zhao Shou: "The Crown Princess came to me a few days ago and told me that you have not visited any concubines for nearly three months and have only been concerned with state affairs. Is this true?"
To be honest, there was really nothing about Zhao Shou that Empress Zheng disliked.
If one had to pinpoint a reason, it would be that Zhao Shou wasn't very sexually interested in women.
Over the years, Zhao Shou has never taken any concubines on his own initiative. Apart from the four maids who came with him as his legally married Crown Princess, his concubines were either bestowed upon him by Zhao Yu and Empress Zheng.
All of these together amount to only a dozen or so.
The key point is that among these dozen or so, half of them are virgins.
This shows how uninterested Zhao Shou was in women.
It was precisely because of Zhao Shou's personality that his offspring did not prosper.
To date, Zhao Shou has given birth to two sons and three daughters.
The dangerous thing is that Zhao Shou's second son died young last year.
In other words, Zhao Shou is now left with only one son.
This is extremely dangerous in the process of passing on the throne, and may even be detrimental to Zhao Shou's future stability on the throne.
The most typical example is Emperor Zhezong of Song, Zhao Xu. If he hadn't only had one son who died young, would his throne have passed to Zhao Yu? It could even be said that if Zhao Xu had had more sons, he wouldn't have died in his twenties.
The impact of this event was so great that everyone who participated in it, or even just knew about it, felt a deep sense of unease.
Now, it seems that Zhao Shou may also be showing such signs. How can Empress Zheng and others with interests related to Zhao Shou not be worried?
Fortunately, Zhao Shou is still young, and his eldest son is relatively healthy.
However, even so, Empress Zheng and others still hoped that Zhao Shou could quickly have more sons to ensure that nothing went wrong.
Speaking of this matter, Empress Zheng and the others were also puzzled. In this respect, Zhao Shou was nothing like his father, Zhao Yu. If Zhao Shou had even one percent, or even one thousandth, of Zhao Yu, they wouldn't need to worry about him.
Zhao Shou understood that Empress Zheng and the others' concerns were justified.
To be honest, Zhao Shou also wanted to have a few more sons.
The problem is, for some reason, Zhao Shou really can't get any sexual interest in matters between men and women, and he's becoming less and less interested in it.
However, this involved a man's secret, so Zhao Shou couldn't say it. He only said, "Your subject will be careful."
Next, Empress Zheng spoke with Zhao Shou about the education of his only son.
Gradually, Empress Zheng began to discuss current affairs with Zhao Shou.
Empress Zheng spoke frankly with Zhao Shou:
"My son, do you know that your father could have chosen not to go on the western expedition, and there is no reason for him to personally lead the campaign? Now your father's achievements are great and his achievements are abundant, and the whole world submits to him. If he were to retire and recuperate, he would surely be honored as the greatest emperor of all time and his name would be immortalized when he passes away."
Although our Great Song Dynasty has hidden worries, thanks to the mighty spirit of your father, the emperor, all of them have been suppressed, ensuring our prosperity for decades or even centuries.
Now that your father is personally leading an expedition to the western frontier, it will only increase the uncertainty of his merits and demerits, and will not benefit his own reputation in the slightest. On the contrary, it will bring unforeseen dangers.
With your father's wisdom and insight into the ways of the world, how could he not understand this principle?
However, I resolutely put this into practice, all for the sake of you and your descendants. I wish to eliminate the border troubles and internal abuses of the Song Dynasty, leave behind a peaceful and prosperous world, and ensure that the nation can be passed down for thousands of years, so that you and your descendants will have no worries about the future.
For this grand plan, your father was even willing to abdicate in favor of you; his heart is as clear as the sun and moon!
After a pause, Empress Zheng continued, "However, you must know that your father was first and foremost an emperor, and only later a father..."
...(End of chapter)