I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 156: Zhang Chun is banished to the cold palace?
……

"Hmm~ Your Majesty, please have pity on me and give me a chance to show my talents, okay~!"

Zhang Chun used every trick in the book to "persuade" Zhao Yu.

Honestly, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, Zhao Yu would have found it hard to believe that Zhang Chun, who solemnly teaches history in the video, could be so sassy.

In fact, it's not just Zhang Chun; Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng are completely different people in bed and out of bed, not to mention their carefully crafted images in videos.

Looking at Zhang Chun, who was acting coquettishly and panting heavily, Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel a subtle emotion welling up in his heart.

The flickering candlelight illuminated the blush on Zhang Chun's cheeks, adding to her alluring charm.

A playful smile involuntarily crept onto Zhao Yu's lips: "Tell me, what exactly do you intend to do?"

Zhang Chun was overjoyed. She thought to herself, 'What use are your four abilities if you can't please Zhao Yu? That's the only way to achieve great things and live a good life. Hmph, with the skills I've mastered, you could never learn them, even if you beat me to death. What makes you think you can fight me?'

It's not hard to see that Zhang Chun has begun to abandon her identity as a transmigrator, resolutely sliding into the abyss of relying on Zhao Yu for survival. She parted her lips slightly, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of cunning:

"Your Majesty has been on the throne for nearly three years. Our Great Song Dynasty has experienced an anti-corruption campaign, with many corrupt officials being punished. Your Majesty has also expanded the borders to Longyou, sending a large number of officials there, which has led to a growing shortage of young officials in our court. This is truly detrimental to the development of our Great Song Dynasty. I hope Your Majesty will resume the imperial examinations as soon as possible. Your Majesty is willing to dedicate twenty years of your cultivation to cultivating a group of loyal and patriotic talents for Your Majesty and for our Great Song Dynasty..."

Even Zhao Yu was impressed by Zhang Chun.

While Zhang Chun might seem foolish, she always manages to find unconventional ways to do things that others wouldn't expect. For example, at this moment, she noticed something that many others had overlooked: the Zhao Song Dynasty lacked outstanding young officials, which could easily lead to a talent gap in the future.

But if you say Zhang Chun is clever, she gives herself away the moment she speaks. She's not even nineteen years old yet, where would she get twenty years of experience from?
Zhao Yu really didn't want to find fault with Zhang Chun and force her to fabricate lies to deceive him, so he could only pretend not to notice the loopholes in her words.

Putting aside the flaws in Zhang Chun's words, his suggestion is quite interesting.

In the past, Wang Anshi's Three-Tier System, which divided the Imperial Academy into Outer, Inner, and Upper Tiers, was widely accepted by the literati. After all, selecting students for promotion based on their academic performance was fairer and more intuitive, and it also motivated students to learn.

However, from the very beginning of the Three Schools system, the old and new factions engaged in fierce debates on the new learning and Confucianism in the court and in the academic field.

In order to provide theoretical support for the reform, Wang Anshi reinterpreted and re-explained Confucian classics, forming his own unique academic thought system, known as "New Learning." Its core idea emphasizes "practical application to the world" and advocates solving real-world social problems through the study of classics.

Furthermore, Wang Anshi opposed the tedious commentaries and empty talk about principles in traditional Confucianism. He believed that Confucian classics should be integrated with practical politics. For example, in his "New Interpretations of the Three Classics," he re-annotated the "Book of Poetry," the "Book of Documents," and the "Rites of Zhou," giving them new meanings to meet the needs of the reform movement.

This conflicted with the traditional Confucian practice of emphasizing inheritance and following old commentaries.

In addition, traditional Confucianism often explores human nature based on Mencius's theory of the inherent goodness of human nature or Xunzi's theory of the inherent evil of human nature.

Wang Anshi, on the other hand, proposed that "human nature cannot be described as good or evil," believing that human nature is an innate quality, while good and evil are acquired behaviors.

This view differs from the traditional Confucian theory of human nature and has sparked debate in academic circles.

From the perspective of the Song Dynasty, the most important thing was that the new learning provided a theoretical basis for Wang Anshi's reforms, emphasizing the need for active government intervention to achieve national prosperity.

This contradicts some of the political ideas in traditional Confucianism that emphasize following nature and using moral persuasion as the primary means of influence.

Finally, the new education emphasized cultivating talents with practical skills and a pragmatic approach to governance. Wang Anshi reformed the education system, establishing specialized schools and disciplines, focusing on developing students' practical abilities and innovative thinking, and cultivating a group of officials and talents who supported the reforms.

While those trained in traditional Confucianism also studied current affairs and historical and classical texts, they placed greater emphasis on the cultivation of Confucian classics, poetry, and prose.

In short, one is progressive, the other conservative; one is radical, the other steady; one focuses on reform and strengthening, the other tends to restore the old system.

What started as an academic debate gradually escalated into a fierce conflict.

During the Yuan You era, a heinous incident even occurred at the Imperial Academy where an official named Huang Yin burned the woodblock prints of Wang Anshi's work, "New Interpretations of the Three Classics."

During the Shaosheng era, the New Party also committed many acts of destroying classics in order to exclusively promote new learning.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song (Zhao Ji), Zhao Ji and Cai Jing not only burned a large number of academic works from the Yuan You era, but also banned the poems, lyrics, and essays written by Su Shi, Qin Guan, Huang Tingjian, and others. Even the related works written by Zhang Dun, a member of the New Party, were mostly destroyed.

At the beginning of Zhao Yu's reign, both the old and new parties attempted to physically eliminate each other's academic influence.

But Zhao Yu refused.

Zhao Yu's approach (actually, Zhao Yu adopted Zhang Chun's suggestion) was to establish a debate academy for the two parties, allowing them to debate, while simultaneously promoting new learning and Confucianism to advance education.

This led to the vigorous development of education.

As early as the reign of Emperor Zhao Xu, Zhang Dun had already extended the Three-Tier System to local state schools and connected them with the Imperial Academy in the capital. This meant that the most outstanding students in the upper tier of the state schools would have the opportunity to take the imperial examinations in the capital, and those who passed would be admitted to the inner tier of the Imperial Academy. This was known as the Tribute System.

During the reign of Emperor Zhao Yu, he appointed Han Zhongyan to oversee the promotion of education. Han Zhongyan further implemented the Three-Tier System and the Tribute System nationwide. This meant that the Three-Tier System was implemented in all prefectural schools across the country. In some isolated cases, certain county towns also used the Three-Tier System to teach official subjects. Furthermore, the most outstanding students from all prefectural schools could also use the Tribute System to travel to the capital, the Imperial Academy, to take examinations.

It is worth mentioning that, unlike Cai Jing in the past who was in charge of promoting education and all state schools in the country had to study only the new learning, Han Zhongyan was in charge of promoting education. Under Zhao Yu's strict requirements, the new learning and Confucianism were given equal importance. Zhao Yu also adopted Zhang Chun's suggestion to "find another way" and proposed a credit system, in which the new learning and Confucianism each accounted for fifty points, and both were used as the standard for selecting talents in the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Today, the total number of government officials and students nationwide has surged to 210,000.

This ensured that the middle and lower levels of the Zhao Song Dynasty would never lack talent.

It was against this backdrop that a group of people, led by Cai Jing, believed that the scale of education was already sufficient to fulfill the function of selecting talents for the country. They hoped that the court would stop the imperial examinations and instead use the Three-Tier System and the Tribute System to select talents for the country.

However, Zhao Yu, who was familiar with history, knew that Cai Jing and his group's proposal was simply unworkable (historically, they themselves abolished this foolish decision in 1120), so he listened to Zhang Chun's advice and rejected it.

What Zhang Chun is saying now is that the Song Dynasty experienced an anti-corruption campaign, resulting in the downfall of many corrupt officials. The Song Dynasty also expanded its borders to Longyou, sending a large number of officials there. This led to a lack of outstanding young officials in the Song Dynasty, which was detrimental to its development. Although this is somewhat exaggerated, it is not without reason.

In fact, Zhao Yu was also planning to hold an imperial examination soon to bring in a batch of fresh blood for the Zhao Song Dynasty.

It can be said that Zhang Chun's suggestion was exactly what Zhao Yu wanted to hear. Coincidentally, next year was the year of the imperial examinations, which was also a suitable time to hold one.

However, judging from Zhang Chun's expression, it seems that she wants to help Zhao Yu select talented individuals.

Given Zhang Chun's profound knowledge of history, if she were in charge of selecting talent, she should be able to find some decent individuals for Zhao Yu and the Zhao Song Dynasty.

However, the problem was that Zhao Yu really couldn't figure out what Zhang Chun's purpose was in actively seeking this mission.
After thinking it over and over again without finding a solution, Zhao Yu simply stopped thinking about it.

In any case, Zhang Chun would definitely have no chance to contact the ministers outside the palace; whatever she wanted to do, she could only do through Zhao Yu.

Furthermore, while it's true that Zhang Chun was well-versed in history, the problem was that Zhao Yu was also familiar with this period of history during the Song Dynasty. It's likely that Zhang Chun wouldn't escape Zhao Yu's grasp.

Therefore, Zhao Yu agreed to Zhang Chun's suggestion: "What my beloved consort says is reasonable. In that case, my beloved consort will oversee next year's imperial examinations. However, remember, you must not let this slip, otherwise..."

Zhang Chun replied knowingly, "Otherwise, it would be more harmful than beneficial to me. If those ministers knew that I, a mere woman, dared to interfere in the selection of officials for the country, they might force Your Majesty to order my death."

Seeing that Zhang Chun knew everything, Zhao Yu was relieved.

……

The next day, Zhang Chun went to help Zhao Yu review the memorials with a spirited expression.

Meanwhile, in his spare time, Zhang Chun would find the list of officials of the Zhao Song Dynasty and write comments for each of them.

When he had more time, Zhang Chun would find the list of people who had participated in the imperial examinations in previous years to see if anyone had slipped through the net.

In short, Zhang Chun kept her busy, as if she had endless work to do every day.

Zhang Chun often complained to Li Shishi and others that Zhao Yu not only made her review a large number of memorials every day, but also put her in charge of the imperial examinations to select talents for the Song Dynasty. She had endless things to do every day and was almost exhausted.

On this day, Li Shishi, Zhao Yuannu, Cui Nianyue, Xiduo, and Xu Poxi had a small gathering at Li Lin's house.

Zhao Yuannu asked Li Shishi what she had been busy with lately and why she hadn't been to the gatherings. Just because their masters had fallen out didn't mean they had fallen out; they still needed to keep in touch as usual.

Li Shishi complained that Zhang Chun was very busy now. Every day, she had to review a large number of memorials and report to Zhao Yu based on them. She also had to select talents for the Zhao Song Dynasty. Every day, she had to go to work early and not return until dark. Li Shishi had to serve her all the time. Today, Zhao Yu saw that Zhang Chun was too tired and specially gave her a day off. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had time to come out and have a small gathering with Zhao Yuannu and the others.

After Li Shishi and the others left, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng came out from the inner room.

Ye Shiyun said sarcastically, "I didn't expect that Chunchun would be living such a fulfilling life after leaving us?"

“As long as Zhao Yu is there to protect her, even if she really leaves us, her life won’t be affected in any way,” Yuan Qingcheng said.

"That's because Zhao Yu didn't know her evil side and was deceived by her. If I were to tell Zhao Yu that her goal is to become Empress Dowager, you'll see if he pays any attention to her. At that time, she will definitely be the first concubine in our dynasty to be banished to the Cold Palace," Ye Shiyun said.

“Then go tell Zhao Yu,” Li Lin said.

Ye Shiyun immediately fell silent.

She said it, but she did it. After so many years of friendship, and having traveled here together, even though they had quarreled, Ye Shiyun really couldn't bring herself to expose Zhang Chun. After all, in this strange world, they were each other's only support, and they were also each other's closest friends. If they turned against each other, they would lose someone they could confide in.

Seeing that Ye Shiyun was still sharp-tongued but kind-hearted, Li Lin and the others no longer blamed Ye Shiyun for arguing with Zhang Chun that day. After all, what happened that day was really not Ye Shiyun's fault.

"What do we do now? Should we just keep having this cold war with Sister Chun?" Ma Xiaojiao asked.

"This time, we must make Zhang Chun face reality and stop her from daydreaming about becoming the Empress Dowager."

"If she wants to become Empress Dowager, she must first become Empress."

"Who among us doesn't know Empress Zheng's methods? With her blockheaded and impulsive personality, if it weren't for Zhao Yu's strong support, she would have been brought down long ago, before she even became empress in Cide Palace."

"Now, Empress Zheng is the true empress. If she were to anger Empress Zheng one day, Empress Zheng would act first and ask for permission later, and have her beaten to death. Her death would be in vain."

"The most crucial thing is that she wants to be the Empress Dowager. If that day ever comes, won't we all become widows? Who will protect us then? Who will help us realize our dreams? Who will solve... cough..."

At this point, Li Lin deliberately coughed.

Even without Li Lin saying it aloud, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng understood what Li Lin meant.

We've all been through this, and we're all with the same man, so there's really nothing to hide about this kind of thing.

The crucial point is that this is a very real problem. If Zhao Yu were to die before them, they would either end up in a "retirement home" like Meng Xiang and Liu Qingjing, be exiled by the new emperor to guard his tomb, or be forced to commit suicide to be buried with Zhao Yu. Remarrying like the widowed women of the previous life was absolutely impossible. In this feudal society, they were absolutely Zhao Yu's people in life and in death, their loyalty to him unwavering for life, and even for all eternity.

From this perspective, they knew they couldn't let Zhang Chun achieve her dream no matter what. Even if no one else stopped Zhang Chun, they would all try to stop her.

Yuan Qingcheng was the first to agree with Li Lin, saying, "Yes, we absolutely cannot let Zhang Chun run wild anymore. If we have no other choice, we can consider sending her to the Cold Palace to let her calm down."

Upon hearing Yuan Qingcheng's words, Ye Shiyun and Ma Xiaojiao looked at Yuan Qingcheng in shock. They hadn't expected that Yuan Qingcheng would actually have the idea of ​​sending Zhang Chun to the Cold Palace.

Ye Shiyun hesitated for a moment and said, "Chunchun just likes to talk big. I reckon she gave up on being empress a long time ago, and even more so on being empress dowager. To put it another way, even if she hasn't given up yet, with Empress Zheng in front of her, she wouldn't dare to harm Zhao Yu. Otherwise, even if the position of empress becomes vacant one day, without Zhao Yu, who can help her become empress?"

Ma Xiaojiao also said, "Yes, yes, there's no need to send Sister Chun to the Cold Palace. Women who are banished to the Cold Palace suffer a lot."

Li Lin glanced at Yuan Qingcheng, then at Ye Shiyun and Ma Xiaojiao, and concluded, "Let's wait and see..."

……

(End of this chapter)