I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 27 Servant Gao Qiu
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"Servant Gao Qiu?"

After a moment's reaction, Zhao Ya realized that Zhao Ji was still only the Prince of Duan. Gao Qiu during this period was naturally not the General Gao in "Water Margin" who forced many heroes to join the Liangshan Mountain, but was just a vagrant and impoverished young man.

"He probably showed off his excellent football skills by chance at the residence of Prince Consort Wang Shen. Zhao Ji happened to be nearby and was greatly impressed. He was then asked to work as a servant at the Prince Duan's residence."

"Calculating the time, he should have become a popular figure around Zhao Ji by now with his eloquence and his mastery of entertainment."

Zhao Ya's mind moved: "Perhaps I can use Gao Qiu?"

Thinking of this, Zhao Ya asked Liang Shicheng to bring Gao Qiu in.

What surprised Zhao Ya was that Gao Qiu did not look like Wei Zongwan at all, but had a rather handsome appearance.

Think about it too.

Zhao Ji was an artist. When he hired people, he first looked at appearance, and even attached the most importance to appearance. If Gao Qiu really looked like Wei Zongwan, he probably would not be valued by Zhao Ji, let alone promoted by Zhao Ji to become the Minister of Defense of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

However, no matter how good-looking Gao Qiu was, it did not affect Zhao Ya's dislike for him.

This is not just influenced by "Water Margin".

More importantly, although Gao Qiu was not among the six thieves, his treachery was even worse than that of the six thieves.

Most importantly, of the six thieves, with the exception of Zhu Jie, the other five had made some contribution to the Zhao Song Dynasty, while Gao Qiu was a complete parasite. Furthermore, aside from his football skills, Gao Qiu had virtually no other abilities, not even as good as Zhu Jie, who had turned the southeast upside down.

Historically, Gao Qiu's rise to power followed Zhao Ji's ascension to the throne. While lacking in governance, he was adept at forming cliques and colluding with treacherous officials, bringing chaos to the Northern Song officialdom. In military matters, to curry favor with Zhao Ji and amass wealth, he even transformed hundreds of thousands of imperial guards into craftsmen, leading them to undertake massive construction projects. This disorganized the army and significantly reduced its combat effectiveness, directly contributing to the Jingkang Incident.

For such a talentless and treacherous person, even if he looked like Daniel Wu, Zhao Ya would not have any good feelings towards him.

But then again, if Zhao Ya wanted to get rid of Zhao Ji and replace him, Gao Qiu might be a good breakthrough point.

Based on this, Zhao Ya smiled and said to Gao Qiu, "I heard that you are good at Cuju. How about you teach me a few things?"

Gao Qiu didn't expect that Zhao Ya had also heard of his name.

Gao Qiu said hurriedly, "I never thought that my humble name would reach Your Majesty's noble ears. I am so lucky. Since Your Majesty is so interested, I will be there at your service and do my best to please Your Majesty."

Gao Qiu's face was filled with humility and flattery, while he was thinking in his heart: "If I can gain the appreciation of King Shen again, I will have another person to rely on in the future in this treacherous officialdom. Maybe I can rise to the top and gain more power and wealth."

Gao Qiu thought to himself a little ecstatically: "Who would have thought that this little game of Cuju could allow me to navigate the world of power and wealth and earn enough political capital. Being an official in the Song Dynasty is so easy! Perhaps, with my good kicks, I will one day be able to hold a high position, ride a fine horse, have a successful career, and have smooth financial luck..."

Looking at Gao Qiu, who was beaming, Zhao Ya secretly shook his head: "He's just a sycophant, yet he's able to thrive under Zhao Ji. This shows just how corrupt the Northern Song officialdom had become under Zhao Ji's management."

Zhao Ya pretended to exchange a few pleasantries with Gao Qiu, then heard Gao Qiu say, "My prince said he has made an appointment with the king to play Cuju, and sent me to invite the king to his house for a gathering tomorrow at 9:00 a.m."

Let’s meet him. Can Zhao Ya be afraid of Zhao Ji?
The key point is that Zhao Ya also wanted to paralyze Zhao Ji and buy himself some time for development.

So Zhao Ya agreed to the appointment.

Then, Zhao Ya looked at Liang Shicheng and said calmly, "You arrange for the senior official to have a meal, and then ask him to go back and report."

Liang Shicheng immediately understood what he meant and invited Gao Qiu to the gatehouse. Along the way, he chatted with Gao Qiu enthusiastically...

……

During this period, Zhao Ji went to Cide Palace many times to seek an audience with Empress Dowager Xiang.

But Empress Dowager Xiang was really disappointed with Zhao Ji.

The key point is that now we have Zhao Ya, a son who is filial, politically savvy and obedient, for comparison.

This made Empress Dowager Xiang even more reluctant to forgive Zhao Ji.

Not only Empress Dowager Xiang, but also Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu, who were almost given to Zhao Ji by Empress Dowager Xiang, were not available to Zhao Ji, which made Zhao Ji very suspicious.

After being rejected several times in a row, Zhao Ji decided to send someone to ask the people in Cide Palace why the attitudes of Empress Dowager Xiang, Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu were so firm.
Who would have thought that before Zhao Ji sent anyone, news came out that Zhao Ya wanted to marry Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu as princesses.

This incident had a significant impact on the royal family.

The main reason was that the vast majority of clan members believed that Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu were of too low birth and were not worthy of Zhao Ya.

Many members of the royal family also couldn't understand why Zhao Ya married two maids of Empress Dowager Xiang as princesses. Wasn't this lowering his status?

Fortunately, Zhao Ya married Guo Ting, who had a decent background and family background, as his concubine, so he didn't abandon her to live with her grandmother.

But then again, after this incident, everyone could see that Zhao Ya and Empress Dowager Xiang were firmly tied together.

But no one can understand why. Now that Zhao Xu already has a son, Liu Qingjing is obviously going to defeat Queen Dowager Xiang and become the most powerful woman in the Zhao Song Dynasty. Queen Dowager Xiang is very likely to lose power. But at this critical juncture, Zhao Ya chose to keep Queen Dowager Xiang in the cold. Why?

Compared with Zhao Ya, Zhao Ji was much smarter.

Before Zhao Xu had a son, Zhao Ji was very close to Empress Dowager Xiang.

But after Zhao Xu had a son, Zhao Ji began to visit Zhao Xu and Liu Qingjing frequently again.

It is worth mentioning that the reason why Empress Dowager Xiang was unwilling to see Zhao Ji was because Zhao Ji was two-faced and did not have a firm political stance like Zhao Ya.

In fact, Zhao Ji was also feeling bitter.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to visit the Empress Dowager Xiang, but the Empress Dowager Xiang doesn’t want to see him. What can he do?
In fact, Zhao Ji's idea was to make friends with both Empress Dowager Xiang and Liu Qingjing so as not to offend either side.

But Empress Dowager Xiang was too ruthless. Just because he chose to protect himself in Funing Palace, she married Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu, who were prepared to be given to him, to Zhao Ya.

Although Empress Dowager Xiang had not told Zhao Ji before that she wanted to give Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu to him, everyone could see that she had this intention.

Zhao Ji also looked forward to getting the beautiful and intelligent Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu.

Unexpectedly, in the end, the cooked duck suddenly flew away.

The key point is that Zhao Ya wanted to marry Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu as princesses, but Zhao Ji only wanted to take Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu as concubines. This made it impossible for Zhao Ji to compete with Zhao Ya, and it was impossible for him to win over Zhao Ya.

More importantly, there was no engagement between Zhao Ji and Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu, and they had not even made any promises, while Zhao Ya had already made clear engagements with Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu. At this time, if Zhao Ji still competed with Zhao Ya, people would definitely laugh at him for stealing his brother's concubine and hindering Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu from climbing up the social ladder, which was not what a gentleman would do.

It can be said that Zhao Ji suffered a huge loss.

Clay figurines also have a third element of earthiness.

What's more, Zhao Ji was a noble prince.

In addition, the birth of Zhao Mao made Zhao Ji less interested in competing for the throne.

Of course, this does not mean that Zhao Ji did not want to be emperor, but with Zhao Mao around, he definitely had no chance.

Zhao Ji even heard from Zhao Xu's confidants that Liu Qingjing was lobbying Zhao Xu to make Zhao Mao the crown prince, to completely determine the heir apparent and put an end to the other clan members' desire to covet the throne, and Zhao Xu was quite tempted.

Therefore, Zhao Ji simply began to suppress his own ambitions and wanted to protect himself.

But for some reason, Zhao Ji always felt that Zhao Ya's recent abnormal behavior was not that simple.

Zhao Ji organized this Cuju game to see what Zhao Ya was up to...

……

(End of this chapter)