I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 19 I can’t do art, and you can’t be an emperor

...

"We're going to teach Zhao Ya that kind of thing?!!!"

Yuan Qingcheng stared at Ma Xiaojiao with wide eyes, as if to say, "You're crazy about wanting to leave here. You're even rushing to do something like this?!!!"

Ma Xiaojiao was stunned at first!
When Ma Xiaojiao realized that Yuan Qingcheng had misunderstood, her pretty face immediately turned red. Then the red color quickly spread from her face to her neck, and then quickly moved downwards, finally reaching her heels!
Ma Xiaojiao punched Yuan Qingcheng hard with her fist: "What are you thinking?!!! I mean, Sister Chun has contacted Zhao Ya, can we use this as an excuse to leave here? Who said we were going to teach Zhao Ya that kind of thing? Oh my!~"

Yuan Qingcheng then realized she had made a huge mistake and felt extremely embarrassed. She quickly tried to save the situation, saying, "According to...according to what you said, this is really a good opportunity. So, you keep an eye on it for a while while I go find Sister Chun. She might be meeting with Zhao Ya later. Let's see if we can seize this opportunity."

After saying that, Yuan Qingcheng left as if escaping.

Soon, Yuan Qingcheng found Zhang Chun again and told him about Ma Xiaojiao's idea.

Zhang Chun's eyes lit up. "This is even better than my perfect script. As long as I can be chosen, with my beauty and talent, I will definitely be able to charm Zhao Ya and make him fall at my feet. I will then be the first woman to bear his child. By then, Empress Xiansu and Imperial Concubine Yisu will all be relegated to the back seat. With a little more planning on my part, it's not certain who will be the crown princess."

Although he was overjoyed in his heart, Zhang Chun said calmly on the surface: "This is a good idea. I will discuss it with Zhao Ya later..."

……

Zhao Ya first briefly discussed with Empress Dowager Xiang the specific details and time of his marriage to Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu.

In the former case, Zhao Ya only stated that he wanted to marry Zheng Xiansu as the princess and Wang Yisu as the concubine. Everything else was decided by Empress Dowager Xiang.

As for the latter, Zhao Ya also said that it was entirely up to Empress Dowager Xiang to make the decision.

In this era, the engagement ceremony was called the "Six Rites", which included the steps of Nacai, Wenming, Naji, Nazheng, Qingqi and Qinying, which usually took several months or even a year to complete.

In other words, in the short term, Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu will not be able to marry into Prince Shen's Mansion and will still stay with Empress Dowager Xiang.

In addition, during this period, Zhao Mao, Princess Yangguo, and Zhao Xu passed away, which may have delayed Zhao Ya's marriage.

So, for Zhao Ya, time is enough and he doesn't need to fight for more time.

It is worth mentioning that Empress Dowager Xiang asked Zhao Ya to marry Guo Ting as a concubine like Wang Yisu.

This was a reward for Guo Cheng's defeat of the Xia army. It was something that Empress Dowager Xiang and Zhao Xu had agreed upon long ago. Guo had also heard about it, so it was not a good idea to trick her. Otherwise, if this led to Guo rebelling against Song and joining Xia, it would give Zhao Xu and Liu Qingjing an excuse to attack Empress Dowager Xiang and Zhao Ya.

Zhao Ya speculated that this Guo Ting should be the original owner's princess, Mrs. Guo, in history. Since he had inherited everything from the original owner, he would not be short of another woman.

Moreover, although the Guo family is not as good as the Zhong, Yao, Zhe, Yang, and Liu families, it can also be regarded as a medium to large military family in the Western Army.

Also, Guo Ting has a younger brother named Guo Hao, who was one of the "Three Great Generals of Shu" in the early Southern Song Dynasty. In history, he assisted Wu Jie in achieving a great victory at Heshangyuan.

From this perspective, Guo is somewhat useful.

The key point is that whether to marry Guo Ting is not up to Zhao Ya, but is decided by Empress Dowager Xiang. Empress Dowager Xiang asked Zhao Ya for his opinion to give Zhao Ya face, not because she had to ask Zhao Ya.

How could Zhao Ya not know what is good for him?

So Zhao Ya agreed immediately.

Then, Zhao Ya and Empress Dowager Xiang discussed how to deal with Liu Qingjing and how to respond to the possible revenge that Liu Qingjing and the New Party might be planning.

The two agreed that because Zhao Ya threatened to overturn Meng Xiang's verdict, neither Zhao Xu nor Liu Qingjing would dare to act rashly in the short term. However, because of Zhao Mao's existence, Zhao Xu would sooner or later make Liu Qingjing the queen, and this could not be stopped at all.

Fortunately, because Zhao Ya has the courage to "dare to pull the emperor down at the cost of his life", even if Liu Qingjing becomes the queen, she will not dare to easily set her sights on the empress dowager for a long time in the future.

In fact, what Empress Dowager Xiang was worried about was not the present, but the future.

On this point, Zhao Ya kept his mouth shut and didn't say that there was no need to worry about the future. Instead, he agreed with the Queen Mother Xiang and said that they could only wait and see what happened and then deal with it. After finishing the business, Zhao Ya didn't leave, but accompanied the Queen Mother Xiang for another meal.

During the meal, Zhao Ya did not sit still while eating, but took the opportunity to talk to Empress Dowager Xiang about the many problems currently existing in the Zhao Song Dynasty, the mistakes made by the New Party in its reforms, and the solutions to these problems. He also talked about several neighboring countries of the Zhao Song Dynasty, such as the Liao Dynasty, Western Xia, Tubo, Goryeo, Japan, Dali, Li Dynasty, Champa, and Angkor.

When talking about the problems of the Zhao Song Dynasty and the mistakes of the New Party's reforms, Zhao Ya analyzed each problem incisively and thoroughly. Every sentence was like a sharp blade, accurately dissecting the seemingly bright but actually corrupt body of the Zhao Song Dynasty and pointing directly to the key points.

Moreover, it is completely different from Zhao Ji's style of gorgeous rhetoric, elegant writing, and empty talk of ideals.

No matter where Zhao Ya talked about, he quoted from classics, combined historical facts, and closely linked theory with practice. Every solution he proposed was both forward-looking and feasible, as if each one was a golden advice after careful consideration.

When discussing whether to reform, Zhao Ya was not at all as cunning as Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji clearly wanted to reform, but he always followed the Empress Dowager's advice. Zhao Ya, on the other hand, stated clearly that the Zhao Song Dynasty was facing internal and external troubles and that without reform and change, long-term stability would be difficult.

However, Zhao Ya also said that reforms must be carried out in a proper manner and must not be done in a chaotic manner like the New Party did.

The most important thing is that Zhao Yazhen did not just shout slogans, but came up with a feasible plan that could impress Empress Dowager Xiang. The key was to explain the reasons behind it to Empress Dowager Xiang.

Why change the law?

It’s not that the people can’t survive, but that the court has no money.

Why is the court out of money?

It was because the taxes were too heavy that the people were struggling. In good years, they could barely make ends meet, but in bad years, or if the court had to go to war, the people would have no way to survive. Therefore, the people would rather flee to the mountains or work as tenants for local tyrants, or become refugees, than pay taxes to the court and become registered citizens, because they really could not afford it.

However, the wealthy and powerful families do not have to pay taxes, or they use various means to avoid taxes.

Zhao Ya paraphrased Zhu Xi: "Rich families have more property but less tax, which encourages annexation... The imbalance between happiness and hardship causes harm to the public and private sectors, harming the country's ability to implement policies and benevolence. This is getting worse day by day and will never end."

In addition, there is the tradition passed down from our ancestors of not suppressing land annexation.

As a result, the imperial court became increasingly poor, while the high-ranking officials, the gentry, and the wealthy families became increasingly rich.

This has seriously affected the rule of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the law must be changed, and if we want to change the law, we must start from the root...

When discussing the Liao Dynasty, the Song Dynasty's greatest enemy, Zhao Ya not only analyzed its military might and the resilience of its nomadic culture, but also pointed out its internal contradictions and power struggles, predicting that it would inevitably face internal strife in the long run.
When discussing Western Xia, Zhao Ya clearly and thoroughly summarized the reasons for the failure of the Zhao Song Dynasty's previous campaigns against Xia. He also pointed out the current situation of Western Xia's narrow territory and poor people, and emphasized the importance of Hengshan.
As for Tubo, Zhao Ya started from the perspective of religious influence and analyzed its potential impact on regime stability and foreign policy, with unique insights.

When talking about Goryeo and Japan, Zhao Ya used maritime trade as a starting point, emphasizing the importance of opening up the Maritime Silk Road in strengthening national strength and promoting cultural exchanges.
He can also easily talk about relatively remote countries such as Dali, Ly Dynasty, Champa, and Angkor, analyzing their geopolitical significance and their possible direct or indirect impact on the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Zhao Ya's words show both profound insight into history and keen foresight into the future. Crucially, he has true insights into various current situations and industries.

Empress Dowager Xiang remained calm on the surface, but a huge wave of emotion was stirring in her heart! She never expected that this cheap son whom she had always ignored would have such profound insights and outstanding talents.

Empress Dowager Xiang originally thought that Zhao Ya was just like many other princes in the palace, who only knew how to drink and have fun every day and did not care about state affairs.

Even when Zhao Ya harshly criticized Liu Qingjing and confronted Zhao Xu in public, Empress Dowager Xiang simply felt that Zhao Ya was more filial than the other kings.

It was only then, looking at Zhao Ya, who was directing the country, that Empress Dowager Xiang was really a little dazed: "Is this the child I raised? When did he become so outstanding?!!!"

Empress Dowager Xiang subconsciously compared Zhao Ji, the most capable fighter among all the kings, with Zhao Ya. As a result, she found that Zhao Ji could only surpass Zhao Ya in playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs. In other aspects, Zhao Ya could beat Zhao Ji.

This was the effect Zhao Ya wanted. He wanted to tell Empress Dowager Xiang, who was very concerned about the future of the Zhao Song Dynasty: I am not good at art, and Zhao Ji is not good at being an emperor and governing the country...

……

(End of this chapter)