I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 202 Zhang Chun's New Ambition
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"I have something very important that concerns all of us and I want to discuss it with you."

As soon as the five women were seated, Zhang Chun couldn't wait to explain why she had invited the other four women.

Unexpectedly, Li Lin said, "Wait a minute. What do you mean by naming Wei's son Zhao Gou? Do you want to be captured and taken to the Jin Kingdom?"

Zhang Chun was a little embarrassed and regretted it! But since things had come to this, she couldn't very well say that she hadn't really thought much about it and had just been a bit cheeky.

Zhang Chun could only feign indifference and say, "It's just a name, is it really worth making such a fuss about? Just because this child is named Zhao Gou, does that mean he is the historical Zhao Gou? They're even different races, how could they be the same person?"

Feeling that saying it like that was a bit irresponsible, Zhang Chun added:
"Now our Great Song has defeated the Liao Kingdom and recovered the Datong area. We are about to recover the Western Xia. Compared with the Northern Song in history, we no longer have the biggest obstacle. We can develop in peace for one or two decades. The key is that with our leaders, we can definitely eliminate all the hidden dangers of our Great Song. How can our national strength be weak? How can the humiliation of Jingkang happen again?"

"Even if the Jurchens were to suddenly become powerful and attack again like in history, with a few of us here, the Emperor certainly wouldn't be like Emperor Huan of Song in history, wavering between war and peace, running away one moment and staying the next, ultimately allowing the Jurchens to trap him like a turtle in a jar. If the Song army really can't withstand the Jurchens' attack and marches south, we can have Zhao Yu lead us south. Even that coward Zhao Gou could establish the Southern Song Dynasty, so there's no reason why we can't."

"Even if we can't stay in Jiangnan anymore, we can always go out to sea and find the New World. If we can't defeat the Jurchens, can we not defeat the Native Americans?"

Hearing Zhang Chun say this, the four women thought it made sense. The reason why the Jingkang Incident could happen was because Zhao Huan made a wrong step at every step. If he had made a right step, the Jingkang Incident would never have happened.

Zhang Chun continued:
"Zhao Gou was able to become the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty not because he was particularly capable, but because all of Zhao Ji's other sons had been captured by the Jurchens, leaving him as the only one. Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Liu Qi, Zhang Jun, Liu Guangshi, Zong Ze, Li Gang, Zhao Ding, Li Guang, and others had no other choice. As long as we avoid this situation, even if the historical Zhao Gou were to be reborn, what is there to worry about?"

"The key is that we are here to keep an eye on things. As long as Wanyan Aguda dares to establish the Jin state and rebel against Liao in the future, we will persuade the emperor to support the Liao state in destroying the Jin."

"Historically, one of the reasons why the Jin Dynasty was able to swallow up the Liao Dynasty like a snake swallowing an elephant was that the Song and Jin Dynasties signed the Alliance at Sea to jointly attack the Liao Dynasty, which gave the Jin people the courage to destroy the Liao Dynasty."

"As long as our Great Song supports the Liao Kingdom in quelling the rebellion, we don't even need to send troops directly. Just by cheering on the Liao Kingdom and providing some food and supplies, the Jin Kingdom won't be able to destroy the Liao Kingdom so easily."

"Once the Liao and Jin dynasties have bled each other dry, our Great Song will send troops to first recover the five prefectures of Yanjing, the three prefectures of Pingluanying, and a number of passes, and then take over the Northeast..."

After Zhang Chun's repeated deceptions, no one cared about his sharp tongue anymore.

Zhang Chun then changed the subject, saying, "I really have something very important to tell you."

Ma Xiaojiao was quite compliant with Zhang Chun, and she cooperated by asking, "What important matter is it?"

Zhang Chun said very seriously, "The Emperor has too many sons. If this continues, not to mention whether our sons will have a better future and development, if they are not properly settled, these princes may become a heavy burden on our Great Song Dynasty, and may even cause internal strife. Think about it, in history, which of the bloody battles caused by the struggle for the throne were not brothers fighting each other and family members killing each other? We must never let such a tragedy repeat itself among the Emperor's princes, and we must not let our sons be involved in it."

Zhang Chun's words were unanimously agreed upon by the four women.

Zhao Yu now has about thirty sons, and the key point is that Zhao Yu is only twenty years old, not yet reaching the peak of a man's fertility.

If Zhao Yu put in the effort, he might not be able to surpass Mulai Ismail, but he should have no problem surpassing Liu Sheng.

As a result, Zhao Yu's sons could very well become rampant, bringing many negative consequences.

"What good ideas do we have? We can't exactly give Zhao Yu a sterilization operation, can we?" Yuan Qingcheng said.

"You even want sterilization surgery? If you dare to advise Zhao Yu to use musk or fish bladders, do you think those concubines who haven't yet served him or given birth to a son will beat you to death?" Ye Shiyun said.

“This is the government’s Achilles’ heel. Anyone who dares to make this move is just asking for trouble,” Li Lin said.

“What I mean is, from now on, we need to instill the idea of ​​the enfeoffment system in the emperor, so that he can enfeoff all our sons as kings in the future. In this way, our sons can all give full play to their talents and will no longer be raised like pigs. We might be able to achieve more,” Zhang Chun said.

Upon hearing Zhang Chun's words, the four women, who had been nonchalant, all sat up straight.

What Zhang Chun said was extremely important; it was closely related to the four of them and even more so to their son's future.

How could they not take this kind of thing seriously?

Li Lin spoke first, saying, "Enfeoffment? With the territory of our Great Song Dynasty, how could it be enough for Zhao Yu's many sons to be enfeoffed? Do you still think this is the Warring States period, where a piece of land the size of a palm can be a country?"

Ye Shiyun also said, "If the Song Dynasty were really turned into the Warring States period, there would be wars every day. It would be a complete reversal of history. Even if Zhao Yu was willing, his ministers would not agree, right?"

Zhang Chun said, "You didn't understand what I meant. What I meant was that we should keep China's territory unchanged and divide it up to other regions, such as the Indochina Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The world is so big. Don't be like natives and only focus on this tiny place in front of you. Can you broaden your horizons a bit?"

After a pause, Zhang Chun continued, "Leaving aside other places, there wouldn't be any problem if the Americas were divided into one or two hundred small countries."

The four women became even more interested.

"You mean, we should have Zhao Yu send people to find the New World?" Ma Xiaojiao asked.

“That’s exactly what I meant,” Zhang Chun said.

Ma Xiaojiao thought for a moment and said, "The shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty wasn't much worse than that of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty could build treasure ships, the Song Dynasty should have been able to as well. Hmm... As far as I know, there are already passenger ships of 2,000 liang in the south. These ships are made entirely of massive wooden beams stacked together, with a flat top and sharp sides. The ship is divided into three cabins, and the middle cabin is further divided into four rooms. If they can build a ship of 2,000 liang, they can build a treasure ship of 20,000 liang, as long as they find a suitable keel. And once they have treasure ships, they can send fleets to explore South Asia, or even more distant regions, just like Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean."

Ye Shiyun added: "Voyages to the Western Ocean required the construction of ships, the organization of manpower, and the preparation of materials, which were very expensive. Taking the construction of treasure ships as an example, in order to complete the voyage, a large number of sturdy and large-scale ships needed to be built, such as Zheng He's treasure ships. According to historical records, the largest of them was about 148 meters long and about 60 meters wide. The construction process of such giant ships was complicated, requiring a large amount of timber, iron nails, tung oil and other materials, as well as many skilled craftsmen. The cost was huge, which ultimately led the court to burn the blueprints of the treasure ships and impose a major ban on the sea."

After a pause, Ye Shiyun continued, "Therefore, simply going on voyages to the West for the sake of going on voyages is not economically viable and will hardly promote the development of the shipbuilding industry." Zhang Chun asked, "Is there any way to both promote the development of the shipbuilding industry and boost the economy?"

"Yes, in addition to opening up the sea and vigorously developing maritime trade, we can also shift from focusing on inland waterway transportation to emphasizing maritime transport. This would give us a reason to develop ocean-going vessels and cultivate maritime talent," said Ye Shiyun.

Over the years, Zhao Yu has been actively promoting maritime trade, which involves establishing management agencies for maritime trade, formulating trade policies, encouraging maritime merchants to travel abroad and trade with merchants from various regions, and welcoming merchants from all over the world to trade with the Zhao Song Dynasty. Significant progress has been made. It is said that many Arab and Indian merchants are now appearing in major ports in the south. Crucially, the court's revenue from maritime trade has increased several times over.

Therefore, although this area still needs improvement, there's no need to rush it. Zhang Chun simply asked, "What are the advantages of sea transport over inland waterway transport?"

Ye Shiyun spoke fluently:
“Seagoing ships are large and have a strong carrying capacity, capable of carrying a large amount of cargo. For example, Fujian ships can carry thousands or even tens of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure), while inland river ships generally have a smaller carrying capacity. For example, the gang ships commonly used in our Great Song Dynasty have a carrying capacity of only 500 shi at most, which is difficult to meet the needs of large-scale material transportation.”

“Sea transport routes are more direct and less restricted by geography. Our Song Dynasty’s inland waterway transport mainly relies on waterways such as the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, with fixed and winding routes. Sea transport, on the other hand, can choose more convenient routes based on wind direction and ocean currents, directly connecting to important coastal ports, reducing transshipment links and improving transport efficiency.”

"Although the initial shipbuilding and maintenance costs of maritime transport are high, in the long run, the unit cost of transporting goods is low when transporting on a large scale. Inland waterway transport, on the other hand, requires a large number of people to pull the boats and dredge the waterways, so the overall cost is much higher."

"Maritime transport can also expand trade to overseas countries. Neighboring Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the Arab world all have abundant goods and trade demands. Inland waterway transport is limited to the domestic waterways, while maritime transport can enable our Great Song Dynasty to establish direct trade links with overseas countries, promoting economic prosperity."

"Most importantly, as long as maritime transport is developed, the government will have an excuse to develop ships, and in time, the Age of Exploration can begin to search for new continents."

Yuan Qingcheng said, "The Americas have high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes and corn, as well as vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers. As long as we can bring these things back, it will be worth it."

Ma Xiaojiao also said, "And rubber. As long as we transplant rubber trees to Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Yunnan, our Great Song Dynasty will not lack raw materials for making tires, and we can also make great progress in science and technology."

Li Lin concluded, "So, the government must vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry and usher in the Age of Exploration."

Zhang Chun added: "In addition to instilling these ideas into the emperor, we also need to instill in him the idea of ​​removing restrictions on the princes. We cannot let him listen to the ministers and raise our children like pigs. We must cultivate them from a young age, let them go out to gain experience when they are in their teens, and when the time is right, we will enfeoff them."

All four women nodded, indicating their agreement with what Zhang Chun said.

Yuan Qingcheng was puzzled. She asked directly, "You can talk to the officials about this yourself. Why are you coming to us?"

Zhang Chun shook his head: "You underestimate the difficulty of this matter. There have been the Rebellion of the Seven States, the Rebellion of the Eight Princes, and the Xuanwu Gate Incident before. The ministers of this dynasty have been on guard against this matter. Therefore, we must all work together to persuade Zhao Yu to make up his mind to lift the seal on our sons. If the five of us cannot persuade the emperor even if we all work together, we should find other concubines with sons to persuade the emperor together. In short, no matter what, we must accomplish this."

After three or four years of training, Zhang Chun has matured a lot.

She knew very well that this was easier said than done.

Putting aside other issues, the Northern Song Dynasty in history failed to achieve unification, and the Southern Song Dynasty was confined to a corner of the country. This was certainly due to the strength of the Song Dynasty's enemies, the Liao, Xia, Jin, and Mongol dynasties, but there were also significant conservative and obstructive forces within the dynasty itself. How much resistance would there be if such a dynasty were to send troops to conquer the world?

To put it simply, both the Ming and Qing dynasties were unified dynasties, but they both later implemented maritime bans without prior agreement.

Let's start with the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty prioritized agriculture, and its rulers believed that commercial activities would lead to social instability. They also believed that overseas trade would encourage people to pursue profits and affect agricultural production. Therefore, they restricted commercial development through maritime prohibitions.

Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty rulers adhered to the traditional concept of "barbarian and Chinese," believing that China was the Celestial Empire and did not need to engage in excessive trade with foreign countries. The maritime ban was, to some extent, a manifestation of this concept in their foreign policy.

Let's talk about the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing rulers feared that interactions between coastal residents and foreigners would incite anti-Qing sentiment and threaten their rule. The maritime ban reduced these interactions and mitigated this risk.

Furthermore, the Qing Dynasty was dominated by a natural economy, and the feudal rulers believed that the country had abundant resources and did not need to rely on overseas trade. The maritime prohibition policy was in line with the ruling needs under this economic system.

Now, several hundred years earlier than the Ming and Qing dynasties, the feudal forces were certainly more powerful than in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult to completely lift the maritime ban, let alone launch continuous wars against foreign powers.

Therefore, this is a grand strategy, and one that requires a long period of planning. We must start laying the groundwork now, otherwise, it is absolutely impossible to succeed.

The first step was to persuade Zhao Yu and get him to stick to this path.

This was not easy, because once Zhao Yu completed the unification, he would be the second most powerful emperor of the Song Dynasty after Zhao Kuangyin, ranking among the top emperors in China. He didn't really need to go through all this trouble.

After all, if Zhao Yu were to take that step, he might not be considered accomplished, but rather someone who is ambitious and eager for quick success.

Moreover, in the process of striving down this path, they will certainly encounter countless obstacles. These obstacles may be so great that the scholar-official class, most officials, the empress's family, the crown prince's party, and other feudal forces will all try to stop them. It is even possible that these feudal forces will unite to overthrow Zhao Yu's rule.

However, crises and opportunities always coexist.

There are those who oppose it, and there are certainly those who support it.

As long as Zhang Chun makes some noise, apart from Zheng Xiansu, all of Zhao Yu's concubines, including the forces behind them, will support Zhang Chun.

In that case, Zhang Chun would possess powerful political influence, at which point she could stir up trouble and even rival Zheng Xiansu...

……

(End of this chapter)