I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 115 A Gorgeous Counterattack
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Jiying Palace.

This was one of the important banquet halls in the imperial palace of the Zhao Song Dynasty, where the emperor often held spring and autumn banquets, imperial examinations for Jinshi, and other activities.

What many people didn’t expect was that the palace imperial examination celebration banquet hosted by Zheng Xiansu was also held here.

It can be said that apart from a few minor differences such as the flowers worn by the concubines and palace maids who passed the imperial examination were green instead of red, there was not much difference between the imperial examinations in the palace and those in the imperial court, and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing.

This makes people realize that although Zheng Xiansu came from a poor family, her power was no less than that of all the previous queens.

At the same time, this also made the concubines and palace maids in the harem realize that the palace imperial examination held by Zheng Xiansu was not a joke, but a very serious matter.

What happened later also proved that Zhao Ya did support Zheng Xiansu in doing these things.

Zhao Ya not only attended the banquet in person, but also announced publicly: the female top scorer Liu Mingda was promoted to the third-to-last rank among the seventeen concubines, and would serve as a Shang Gong from now on; the female second place scorer Zhang Nan was promoted to the second-to-last rank among the seventeen concubines, and would serve as a Si Yan from now on; the female third place scorer Zhang Chun was promoted to the last rank among the seventeen concubines, and would serve as a Si Ji from now on.

Although Liu Mingda did not enjoy the legendary ten consecutive days of favor due to her young age, she was promoted from a palace maid to a second-rank concubine in an instant, which can be said to be a rocket-like rise.

The key is that Shang Gong is the highest female official in the Shang Gong Bureau, responsible for managing palace affairs, including guiding the etiquette of the queen and concubines in the harem. Sometimes she also serves beside the emperor and conveys relevant matters of the queen and the harem.

With such an identity, she would definitely appear around Zhao Ya frequently, and would not only be favored by Zhao Ya, but also be highly valued by Zhao Ya.

Si Yan and Si Ji were also important female officials around the emperor.

The former was responsible for publicizing and reporting to the emperor, that is, conveying internal and external affairs to the emperor, and was also responsible for reading imperial edicts, etc., and needed to be by the emperor's side waiting for orders.

The latter: in charge of the written records of various departments in the palace. When the emperor handles government affairs, he may record relevant matters with him for future reference.

These two positions are always with Zhao Ya.

What does this mean? Need I say more?

From this, it is not difficult to see how valuable this imperial examination was.

This will also inevitably make the women in Zhao Ya's harem immerse themselves in reading, court etiquette, needlework skills, and moral cultivation in the future, in order to achieve a gorgeous counterattack like Liu Mingda and others.

The next day, another piece of news came out that excited the people in the harem.

Last night, the second-place female candidate Zhang Nan slept with the emperor.

From this, it's clear that the rumor circulating in the harem that the winner will receive ten consecutive days of favor is definitely not groundless...

……

Nowadays, the affairs of Zhao Ya’s harem are no longer just the choice of Zhao Ya’s lower body, but sometimes it is also a barometer of Zhao Ya’s political attitude.

For example, a group of ministers sent eleven or twelve young women to Zhao Ya, but Zhao Ya chose to visit Zhang Dun's granddaughter Zhang Nan first. This was a very obvious political signal - Zhao Ya would continue to use Zhang Dun as prime minister and had no intention of replacing Zhang Dun in the short term.

And if the first person Zhao Ya visited this time was Cai Xuan, it is possible that Cai Jing would replace Zhang Dun as prime minister.

Some people may say, isn’t this right?
Zhang Nan was the first of these eleven or twelve young ladies to be favored by the emperor. Wasn't it because she got the second place in the imperial examination?

Do you think these ministers believed this? If they were to see it this way, Zhang Nan's second place was itself an important political signal that Zhang Dun would continue to be valued and maintain his power. As for Zhang Nan's performance, what did it matter?
This is actually one of the reasons why the ministers sent women to Zhao Ya.

They wanted to see what Zhao Ya, who never revealed his true political attitude, was thinking.

And seeing who Zhao Ya favors may be a very effective barometer.

Just like Zhao Xu, he likes Liu Qingjing who supports the New Party and hates Meng Xiang who supports the Old Party.

The prime ministers of Zhao Ya's dynasty also hoped to find out Zhao Ya's pulse through this method...

……

This morning, Zhang Dun seemed particularly energetic. He not only reported dozens of matters, big and small, to Zhao Ya in one breath, but also reported to Zhao Ya a major matter that he had been suppressing:
"Your Majesty, it's already the end of February. We must regulate the Yellow River. Otherwise, when the flood season arrives, I'm afraid there will be a disaster..."

When Zhao Ya heard this, he was furious.

Originally, the Yellow River was flowing peacefully and coexisting peacefully with humans.

But more than eighty years ago, a minor official named Li Chui mentioned in his book "The Book of River Guides": The course of the Yellow River will continue to move northward, and eventually the course of the lower reaches of the Yellow River will change from Henan and Shandong to the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in Hebei, and flow into the Bohai Sea.

As we all know, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun belonged to the territory of the Liao Kingdom in the Song Dynasty. Li Chui believed that if the Yellow River really changed its course to the territory of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Liao Kingdom might send its navy upstream along the Yellow River into the heart of the Central Plains to attack the city of Tokyo Bianliang.

In fact, given the power level of ships at that time, it was simply a fantasy to organize such a large-scale upstream attack when the population and economy were at a disadvantage.

However, some ministers during the reigns of Emperor Renzong, Emperor Shenzong, and Emperor Zhezong of Song actually believed Li Chui's lies. They advised Emperor Renzong, Emperor Shenzong, and Zhao Xu to quickly find a way to divert the Yellow River to avoid such a terrible thing from happening.

Song Renzong, Song Shenzong and Zhao Xu were also fools who actually adopted these suggestions.

So the Zhao Song Dynasty began this half-century-long self-destructive project during the reign of Song Renzong.

First, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the Yellow River broke its banks twice, causing it to change course to the north, resulting in the Henglong Road and the Shanghu Road. Fearing that the Liao Kingdom would use the diversion of the Yellow River to send troops, Prime Minister Fu Yanguo proposed blocking the breached river channel and diverting the Yellow River to the Liuta River in the east.

After some debate, Song Renzong chose to agree to its implementation.

Not long after the project was completed, the Liuta River burst its banks on the spot, and not only were the construction workers and the surrounding people all drowned, but the naturally formed northward river channel was blocked at Chanyuan, causing backflow floods to flow back into the 45 counties on the south side, destroying 30 million acres of farmland and causing severe damage to the Hebei region.

After the death of Emperor Renzong of Song, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, opinions on the management of the Yellow River remained divided. One faction believed that changing the river's course would cause the old river to burst its banks and advocated maintaining the Yellow River's northward flow, while the other faction advocated opening a second river to divert it eastward.

Out of fear of the Liao Dynasty, Song Shenzong insisted on supporting the latter.

As a result, the year after the Ergu River was built, the Caocun dike burst, the Yellow River took over the Huai River and flowed into the sea, destroying the lower reaches of the Yellow River and creating a huge flood area. One-fifteenth of the country's grain-producing areas became a living hell, and the political, economic and cultural order along the river basin faced collapse and disintegration.

During the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song, Zhao Xu, anxious to leave a legacy in history by rectifying the Yellow River's diversion, ignored the fact that the riverbed was already high and attempted to redirect the Yellow River back to its original course. As a result, the previous year, the Yellow River burst its banks at Huangkou, cutting off its eastward flow and rushing northward, completely obliterating the mountaintop Yu Temple. Counties throughout Hebei and Shandong suffered heavy losses from this wrath of nature.

In many areas north of Dezhou, only 30 to 40 percent of the people survived the flood peak. The situation was even worse north of Cangzhou, with only 10 to 20 percent of the original population surviving. The entire Hebei province was reduced to a barren wasteland, with the remaining grain tax reduced to 10 to 20 percent of its pre-Huhe River disaster.

This is the extremely famous Three Changes Return to the River in history.

After these three river diversion projects, many areas in Hebei, northern Jiangsu and Shandong were eventually turned into barren land. There was no crowing of roosters for thousands of miles, and the area was desolate and uninhabited.

It is no exaggeration to say that after all these years of turmoil, the Three Changes in the Yellow River not only failed to achieve the strategic goals desired by the previous emperors, but also caused the Yellow River to change its course at will, and the Yellow River flooding areas were everywhere, resulting in the degradation of agricultural production in Hebei and other places, the collapse of the political, economic and cultural order, the basic loss of the northern defense system, and the destruction of many important military towns in Hebei. The court spent a lot of money and grain on disaster relief, so that the treasury was extremely empty, which absolutely accelerated the decline of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

The key point is that anyone with a little geographical knowledge knows that the Yellow River changed its course because the accumulation of silt in the Yellow River caused the original riverbed to rise, which is a normal phenomenon.

You said, those idiot emperors before had to look for trouble and do things that harmed others and did not benefit themselves.

The key is that they left this mess to Zhao Ya.

What’s even more infuriating is that Zhao Ya can’t just ignore it.

Historically, after the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, the Yellow River was still a mess. Zhao Gou rushed south to establish the Southern Song Dynasty and handed over the task of governing the Yellow River to the Jin Kingdom.

The Jin Dynasty, which had become powerful and wealthy due to its massive plundering during the Jingkang Incident, took over the mess of the Northern Song Dynasty, and a large amount of national finances were used to control the Yellow River. Unable to bear the burden, the national strength weakened and it was finally destroyed by the Mongols.

After the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in the Central Plains, they were deeply affected by the flooding of the Yellow River. Finally, a flood broke out at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and a one-eyed stone man was washed out, which incited the whole world to rebel against the Yellow River. The Yuan Dynasty, which lasted only a hundred years, collapsed.

It can be seen how important it is to control the Yellow River. If it is not handled properly, it may lead to the destruction of the country.

The "Three Easy Returns to the River" project was like defusing a bomb. Cutting the wrong wire detonated three bombs, which directly killed himself and the subsequent Jin and Yuan dynasties.

Historically, it was not until the Ming Dynasty that successive emperors of the Zhu family invested a lot of manpower and financial resources to completely control the Yellow River floods.

Looking at this history, do you think Zhao Ya could not clean up this mess?

In fact, Zhang Dun had long wanted to talk to Zhao Ya about controlling the Yellow River.

However, the Yellow River flooding last year became the largest man-made disaster since the Song Dynasty. As the prime minister, Zhang Dun had an unshirkable responsibility.

This is also one of the places where Zhang Dun is most vulnerable to attack.

The old party, including the conservatives in the new party and those who were eyeing Zhang Dun's position as prime minister, were all preparing to use this incident to attack Zhang Dun.

It is precisely because of this that Zhang Dun has been suppressing this matter.

Now, if we don’t control the Yellow River, it may be too late.

In addition, Zhao Ya was the first to visit Zhang Nan, which gave Zhang Dun confidence.

Only then did Zhang Dun bring up the issue of controlling the Yellow River.

really!

As soon as Zhang Dun finished speaking, countless people stood up to impeach him.

Not only Zhang Dun, but all those who had participated in the control of the Yellow River or even offered suggestions for its control were impeached.

—At the time, the New Party was in power, and the Old Party was in opposition. Consequently, such massive casualties and economic losses occurred. Do you think the Old Party would have missed this golden opportunity to overthrow the New Party?
Soon, even Zeng Bu and Cai Jing, who belonged to the New Party and had their eyes on Zhang Dun's position as prime minister, were eager to stand up and overthrow Zhang Dun.

Zhang Dun's situation was already precarious.

At this critical moment, Zhao Ya said, "This matter started during the reign of Emperor Renzong. It has been four dynasties and several decades since our reign. It is inappropriate to put the blame on those who came later to remedy the situation."

As soon as Zhao Ya opened his mouth, Zhang Dun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Those who tried to use this incident to bring down Zhang Dun were all disappointed.

At the same time, many people who were good at flattery were enlightened. They felt that sending women to Zhao Ya was really effective, and Zhao Ya had helped Zhang Dun to take on such a big thing.

Of course, most of those who think so are treacherous villains. Those who truly understand things see that Zhao Ya can distinguish right from wrong, is responsible, and dares to take responsibility for those who do things. This makes them dare to let go and work for Zhao Ya.

Zhao Ya then set the tone directly and clearly: "The most urgent task is not to investigate the previous responsibilities, but how to control the Yellow River floods. My dear ministers, please speak freely."

Who would have thought that when Zhao Ya asked everyone to speak freely, some guys really dared to speak freely.

Even today, there are still people who dare to use the excuse of defending against the Liao Kingdom as an excuse to seek death and continue to divert the Yellow River.

Zhao Ya's veins popped when he heard this.

The key point is that these people relied on their eloquence to almost win the argument.

Zhao Ya could no longer bear to listen. He did not care whether these people were really stupid or had some kind of black interest chain. He directly stopped the ministers' quarrel and said, "The ministers are really stupid. The ...

"First, clear the silt from the river to maintain smooth water flow and reduce siltation. Widen the river in key sections to enhance flood discharge capacity. Second, reinforce the embankments with earth and stone to improve flood control capabilities. Plant trees on both sides of the embankments to stabilize the embankments with their root systems and prevent soil erosion. Third, build diversion channels in key sections to divert floodwaters and reduce pressure on the main river. Set up flood storage areas in low-lying areas to store water during floods and reduce pressure downstream..."

Zhao Ya rarely gave specific policy guidelines directly. He usually listened to his ministers' opinions and then chose to support the ones he thought were right.

But this time, Zhao Ya really couldn't stand some people taking ignorance as truth, speaking nonsense, and misleading the country and the people. More importantly, the disaster of the Yellow River concerns the safety of the people and the stability of the country. How could he allow these short-sighted people to act recklessly?
In short, Zhao Ya gave concise instructions, saying that people should stop looking for trouble and just manage the river reasonably according to its current course, and stop trying to change the direction of the Yellow River.

Seeing this, those who really understood how to control the Yellow River all breathed a sigh of relief. They thought to themselves that it was fortunate that the new emperor was not as ignorant as the previous three emperors, otherwise the people would have suffered a great disaster again, and the Song Dynasty would have been destroyed.

Afterwards, Zhao Ya appointed a minor official whom no one expected to be in charge of regulating the Yellow River...

……

(End of this chapter)