No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 16 Brother Su, what do you think?
Speaking of this matter, Li Yonghe immediately fell silent.

Seeing Li Yonghe's attitude, Zhao Zhen, the emperor known for his kindness, could not help but said angrily:
"Every time I talk about this, my uncle pretends to be deaf and dumb. Doesn't he want to share my worries?"

Seeing that he couldn't play deaf and dumb this time, Li Yonghe started another trick - fooling around.

Li Yonghe said:
"This is a matter of national importance. I am only a military officer and cannot say anything more."

Zhao Zhen was really angry this time. He said:

"This is my family affair, please let my uncle speak."

Li Yonghe continued:
"How can an outsider talk about the family business?"

Zhao Zhen clenched his fists, but finally put them down and sighed dejectedly.

Now, what the Song emperor cares about most is not the war in the northwest, nor the Liao Kingdom in the north, but the issue of his own succession to the throne.

Zhao Zhen had no children.

It’s not that Zhao Zhen couldn’t have children. For example, Princess Fukang, who hired a cat, was Zhao Zhen’s biological daughter, and she was now fourteen years old.

It’s not that Zhao Zhen had never had a son.

But last year, in March of the first year of the Qingli period, his second son died at the age of three, and his eldest son died at birth. He was unable to raise the children he had, and to this day he has no children.

Zhao Zhen has been in power for twenty years, and now the throne is vacant. In a feudal dynasty, this is a major event involving the foundation of the country, and it is something that Zhao Zhen worries about day and night.

The thirteenth militiaman that the queen mentioned was Zhao Shu, the great-grandson of Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, grandson of King Shang, Zhao Yuanfen, and the thirteenth son of King Pu'an Yi, Zhao Yunrang, who is now the commander of the Yuezhou militia.

In his early years, because there was no royal heir, Zhao Shu was raised in the palace by Empress Cao.

After Zhao Zhen's second son was born, Zhao Shu sent him back to his own home, but he also often came to the palace to visit Queen Cao.

Originally, as long as the son could grow up safely, the issue of succession to the throne would be solved.

Unfortunately, he died at the age of three, so Empress Cao proposed to Zhao Zhen to formally adopt Zhao Shu as his heir and wait until she gave birth to a son in the future.

Zhao Zhen naturally didn't want to.

However, in the outer court, the queen's proposal had many supporters, and many officials from the censorate wrote letters requesting that the national foundation be established as soon as possible.

This is also why, when the case of the evil book came out, Emperor Zhao Zhen, who was always tolerant, also issued an edict to the Imperial City Bureau to conduct a thorough investigation. It was really the issue of succession to the throne that touched his sensitive nerves.

Seeing that Li Yonghe was unwilling to get involved in this matter, Zhao Zhen was helpless.

The uncle and nephew looked at each other in silence. Finally, Li Yonghe looked at the sun shifting and asked:
"Official, what about Su Ze?"

Zhao Zhen understood what his uncle meant. He said, "Su Ze will take the Ministry of Rites examination this year. Let's wait and see what happens after he passes. This dynasty has its own way of employing people. If I promote him now, I will harm him instead."

Li Yonghe also nodded.

It is not impossible for the emperor to promote his favorite ministers.

For example, if the emperor has a position of poet, he can directly grant it to a scholar without any official title.

In addition, there are other ways to become an official, such as through imperial favor and conscription.

But this is the political atmosphere today. Ministers who are not Jinshi graduates are discriminated against in officialdom.

Anyway, Su Ze is still young, so let him take the exam first. If you pay attention to him in advance, it will only stunt his growth.

Zhao Zhen stood up and looked at the two sentences on the screen again. His love for talent could no longer be suppressed.

He paced back and forth for a long time before he said:
"Give this article to Scholar Ouyang and General Fan."

The scholar Ouyang is the Hanlin scholar Ouyang Xiu, who was in charge of imperial edicts. The commander Fan is the current deputy commander of Shaanxi.

Li Yonghe understood the emperor's intention. As the emperor, he could not directly help Su Ze, but Ouyang Xiu and Fan Zhongyan, as famous ministers who loved talents in the dynasty, would definitely help Su Ze spread his reputation.

Ouyang Xiu, in particular, has always been very supportive of talented younger generations.

It would be most appropriate to let them do this.

Li Yonghe secretly thought that the emperor's tactics were becoming more and more sophisticated, and left Chuigong Hall with the imperial edict.
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On the other hand, the servants sent by Zhang Daocheng who returned to the mansion received the news that the Imperial City Division had withdrawn from Wang Anshi's mansion.

The Imperial City Bureau has withdrawn?
Could it be that Zhang Xiuyuan has spoken up for Su Ze? Has the government pardoned Su Ze?
That's not right. Even if it's a special pardon, the crime must be reported to the authorities before the government can grant the pardon.

How can there be amnesty without even arresting anyone?
Zhang Daocheng couldn't figure it out and ordered his servants to investigate again, but overall it was good news. At least Su Ze didn't have to go to the Imperial City to suffer the disaster of imprisonment.

Zhang Daocheng called the maid and said to her:
"Go tell Lan Niang that the Imperial City Division's troops have withdrawn, and Su Ze should be fine."

Then Zhang Daocheng warned again:
"The situation is still unclear. Order the women in the mansion to keep a close eye on Lan Niang. She must not leave the mansion and cause trouble these days!"
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At Wang Anshi's residence, Wang Anshi's younger brother Wang Anli heard the sound of the Imperial City soldiers retreating and hurriedly reported to his brother.

Su Ze, Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong didn't care at all. The moment Zeng Gong finished writing the petition and Li Yonghe hurried to the palace to present it to the emperor, the three of them knew that the Imperial City Administration was going to be withdrawn.

Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong did not like to drink, and Su Ze was also unwilling to drink, so the three of them replaced wine with tea and began to chat.

Naturally, we started by talking about classics.

Su Ze naturally did not dare to show off his knowledge in this regard. Wang Anshi was a powerful figure who later annotated the Three Classics, although his annotations were "The Six Classics Annotate Me", which meant that he used annotations to the classics to promote his own political ideas.

However, those who can master the art of "Six Classics Annotated by Me" must have read the classics thoroughly.

Zeng Gong will also be a great scholar of Confucian classics in the future. Although he is young now, he has already had a deep understanding of the meaning of the classics.

Su Ze's predecessor was uneducated, and the time traveler Su Ze also only read superficially without any systematic training in classics.

During this period, he just listened to the two people debating, and occasionally responded with a few words from later generations' views, which also made Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong's eyes light up, and they thought that Su Ze's research on classics was "quite innovative."

But young scholars cannot always talk about boring classics.

Soon, the topic turned to current affairs again.

The biggest problem now is naturally the threat from the northwest.

Li Yuanhao of Western Xia had evil ambitions and dragged the western front into the war. The Song army suffered heavy losses in several battles in the northwest, and even the Liao Kingdom in the north began to restless.

Wang Anshi said fiercely:

"The threat to the northwest doesn't lie with Li Yuanhao! The reason the tiny Tangut nation hasn't been pacified is because of the court!"

Hearing this, Su Ze couldn't help but think of those keyboard warriors in his previous life who would charge forward as soon as they picked up their keyboards. It turned out that people have to grow up slowly. Wang Anshi is only in his twenties now and is not yet a mature politician.

The area controlled by Western Xia was even larger than that of Germany and France in later generations. It is unknown why Wang Anshi came to the conclusion that it was a tiny country.

In later history, Western Xia lasted until the Mongols arrived and it was destroyed. It was definitely not something that could be pacified easily.

Nowadays, in the city of Bianjing, opinions on the war against Western Xia are either "quick victory theory" or "national destruction theory", which is similar to the Internet keyboard politics in previous lives.

Wang Anshi added:

"The imperial officials are idle and idle, and the imperial guards are bloated and redundant. This is the root cause of the Xixia war!"

Zeng Gong also nodded slightly. Wang Anshi looked at Su Ze and asked:
"Brother Su, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)