I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 270 The Scheme for Conferring Merit and Titles: Turbulent Times Unfold in the Harem
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As soon as Zhang Chun opened his mouth, Yuan Qingcheng wanted to roll her eyes. 'The Emperor was right after all. That stupid fellow is useless and loves to cause trouble. My sons Zhao Xing and Zhao Sheng are only nine years old, and Zhao Jin is only four. What's the rush to plan their futures? Besides, the Emperor is handling this matter; why should we worry about it?'

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Zhang Chun mention this, Li Lin and Ma Xiaojiao both sat up straighter, while Ye Shiyun remained as nonchalant as she was.

"Are you referring to the prince's marriage?" Li Lin asked.

The term "a prince leaving the palace" refers to a prince leaving the palace after reaching adulthood to live in his own residence, while simultaneously receiving corresponding titles, official positions, and powers. It is an important part of the royal system.

This coming of age does not mean that the prince is actually an adult, but rather that he is usually ten years old or older (the specific age varies depending on the emperor's attitude, the prince's status, etc.), and the court arranges his marriage.

This could be brought forward or postponed depending on political needs.

In the case of other emperors of the Zhao Song Dynasty, princes were usually granted the title of prince (such as a prince of the first rank or a prince of the second rank) when they came of age, and were also given corresponding titles (such as "Prince of Yan" or "Prince of Xu"), which were symbols of status and position.

The imperial court would also build or allocate special residences for princes as their homes after they married, and the specifications of the residences were determined according to their rank.

After leaving the palace, princes may be granted honorary or actual official positions and participate in some court affairs (but in order to prevent princes from interfering in politics, their actual power was usually limited), while having their own staff and subordinate agencies.

In short, for princes, leaving the palace signifies the transition from prince to independent member of the imperial clan, and is an important marker of their established political status; for the court, this system not only reflects the preferential treatment given to members of the imperial family, but also maintains the stability of imperial power by regulating the residence and scope of power of princes.

Zhao Yu was definitely the most unique emperor among all the emperors of the Song Dynasty.

His uniqueness lies not only in the fact that he was the greatest emperor of the Song Dynasty besides Zhao Kuangyin, but also in the fact that he had too many sons and too many women.

When the little boy is ten years old, he will begin to develop and will soon reach sexual maturity.

With so many women in the harem, even though Zhao Yu was capable, he certainly couldn't satisfy thousands of women, and some of them must have been unsatisfied.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yu was also very selfish. He liked to sleep with the women in his palace and take them for himself, and had already had relations with most of the women in his palace.

What if one of the women Zhao Yu had slept with got restless and started eyeing the prince? That would cause a royal scandal.

The crucial point is that it involves his own woman and son, which puts Zhao Yu in a difficult position. Killing them is problematic; after all, even a day of marriage is considered a hundred days of kindness, and even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cub. But if he doesn't kill them, they've both cheated on him, which would severely damage Emperor Zhao Yu's prestige. If this gets out, Zhao Yu might be ridiculed for a thousand years, or even longer.

It was precisely for this reason that some officials advised Zhao Yu to release his sons from their homes as soon as possible, so as to avoid his sons cuckolding him and causing him to kill his own sons. Zhao Yu immediately agreed.

The reason it hasn't been implemented yet is mainly because Zhao Yu has too many sons. It would be unrealistic to enfeoff them all as kings and build them special mansions.

The imperial court is currently studying solutions, and once the solutions are finalized, princes who are of legal age will be allowed to marry.

Zhao Yu's eldest son by a concubine, Zhao Yan, is already eleven years old this year, and will be twelve in a few months. It cannot be delayed any longer, or something might happen. Therefore, the matter of the prince's marriage will not be delayed for too long, and at the latest, it must be done before the end of the year.

Ma Xiaojiao's eldest son Zhao Di, Ye Shiyun's eldest son Zhao Cun, Li Lin's eldest son Zhao Qing, and Zhang Chun's eldest son Zhao Tang are all over ten years old and will definitely be among the first batch of princes to be married.

How could a mother not worry about her son's future?
It's no wonder that Zhang Chun brought this up, and that Li Lin and Ma Xiaojiao took it so seriously.

Ye Shiyun, on the other hand, was more open-minded. She thought that since her son was the emperor's son, how bad could his future be? Besides, she still had herself. At most, she could come up with some money-making ideas for her son, and he could definitely become a wealthy man. So she wasn't worried at all.

The key point is that Ye Shiyun doesn't have any expectations for her son's future, unlike Zhang Chun, Li Lin, and Ma Xiaojiao, who hope their sons will go into politics, the military, or be successful.

Ma Xiaojiao said, "There are too many princes in the imperial family. It is impossible to make them all kings. If they were all made kings, not only would the financial pressure on the court be too great, but the title of king would also become worthless."

Ye Shiyun said, "It's impossible to build mansions for them all; there's no room for that many places in the capital."

Zhang Chun said, "The throne and mansion are minor matters. No matter how bad the emperor's son is, he will still enjoy a lifetime of wealth and honor. What I'm talking about is a more important matter."

This time, even Yuan Qingcheng couldn't sit still. She asked, "What's more important?"

There's no way around it; even if Yuan Qingcheng's sons, Zhao Xing and Zhao Sheng, don't get married this time, they'll definitely get married next year.

Zhao Yu made it sound nice that he would make proper arrangements for all his sons, but after all, Zhao Yu had so many sons that there were too many wolves and not enough meat. As a mother herself, how could Yuan Qingcheng not carefully plan for her own flesh and blood?
Zhang Chun glanced at Yuan Qingcheng, as if to say, "I'm still not over it!"

But Zhang Chun still replied, "Remove the restrictions on the princes."

To prevent princes from interfering in politics, successive emperors and ministers of the Zhao Song Dynasty adopted a series of strict restrictions:
Although princes and other members of the imperial clan could be granted official titles and ranks at a very young age, most of them were military officers with only titles and ranks but no real power. Even if they were allowed to attend court assemblies, they were forbidden from expressing their opinions on important court or national affairs and could only exist as symbols without the right to participate in discussions.

Emperor Shenzong of Song decreed that members of the imperial clan who were granted official positions could not serve in Hebei, Hedong, Shaanxi, or Sichuan, because these places were either close to the border or prone to separatist movements, and this was to prevent them from colluding with local forces. At the same time, members of the imperial clan could not serve as military officers capable of leading troops, and it was virtually impossible for them to become prime ministers—during the Song Dynasty, only Zhao Ruyu, an eighth-generation descendant of Emperor Taizong, served as prime minister, but he was soon demoted.

Before Emperor Yingzong of Song, members of the imperial family were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations and could only rely on honorary positions granted by the court for a living. Although Emperor Shenzong of Song allowed them to participate in the imperial examinations, there were still many restrictions. The purpose was to prevent them from gaining too much power through the examinations and threatening the imperial authority.

Members of the Zhao imperial clan in the capital were required to live in houses built by the imperial court, and were not allowed to choose their residences at will. They needed to apply for permission to go out and register upon their return; even dismounting on the street was forbidden, and violations of these rules would be punished. Furthermore, their meetings with guests were strictly limited; they were generally not permitted to meet with court officials or ministers unless they received approval.

Through these measures, the Zhao Song Dynasty effectively limited the power of princes and members of the imperial clan, basically eliminating their interference in politics and their struggle for imperial power, thus maintaining the stability of imperial authority.

However, it was precisely because of such regulations that not only was there a great waste of the princes and talented members of the Zhao Song Dynasty, but they were also imprisoned almost like prisoners. Crucially, when the Jurchens marched south, they caused the most humiliating Jingkang Incident in history.

If Zhang Chun were to discuss anything else, Yuan Qingcheng, who had already made contact with Zhao Yu, would genuinely have no interest and would not support him. However, since Zhang Chun wanted to remove the shackles from the prince and grant him freedom, Yuan Qingcheng, as the prince's mother, would certainly have to support him. After all, as Zhang Chun said, the throne and the mansion were minor matters, but freedom was a different story. She didn't want her son to be "imprisoned" until his death.

Li Lin had always wanted her son to join the army and fulfill her dream of fighting on the battlefield, so she was definitely the most supportive of Zhang Chun.

Li Lin said, "I have already discussed this matter with His Majesty. Although His Majesty did not say it explicitly, I can tell that he also intends to send the princes out to gain experience and serve our Great Song Dynasty. However, the ministers in the court strongly oppose this matter, so His Majesty has not given in."

Ma Xiaojiao asked, "Then the problem now is how to get the ministers to agree to this?"

Ye Shiyun said, "If princes and members of the imperial clan enter politics, the military, or business, they will definitely compete with ministers and threaten their interests. They will not easily agree to such things."

Zhang Chun smiled slightly: "They have no choice but to agree."

"What do you mean?" Yuan Qingcheng asked.

“Because the emperor has too many princes, according to the regulations established in the past, it is impossible to accommodate so many princes. They can’t expect the emperor to strangle the princes that are born or to prohibit the emperor from having any more princes, can they?” Zhang Chun said.

Even if Zhao Yu were a powerful and influential emperor with a strong military record, and even if he were a weak and incompetent emperor like Emperor Renzong of Song, his ministers would not dare to have such rebellious thoughts.

The four women nodded in unison, agreeing with what Zhang Chun said.

"Let's not even talk about the residences. The imperial city simply doesn't have that much space. In the end, the ministers had no choice but to compromise and allow the princes to choose their own place of residence. It was only a matter of time."

"The real problem is the issue of the throne."

"In the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, especially after Hong Xiuquan's death, the internal rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was extremely chaotic. In order to win people's hearts, the rulers at that time conferred the title of prince on a large number of key generals, which led to a surge in the number of princes to about 2,700. This resulted in a special situation where 'princes were as numerous as dogs and nobles were everywhere.' This was an exception with a special historical background, so I won't go into it."

"Besides, the Ming Dynasty had the most princes in history. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang restored the system of princes, stipulating that all the emperor's sons, except those who inherited the throne, would be granted the title of Prince, and the sons of princes, except those who inherited the title of Prince, would be granted the title of Prince of the Second Rank. This system led to a continuous increase in the number of members of the Ming Dynasty's imperial family, and the number of princes also increased accordingly. According to records, the Ming Dynasty had a total of 87 Princes and 924 Princes of the Second Rank. These princes brought a heavy burden to the Ming Dynasty's finances."

"If the emperor insists on making all his sons princes, the financial pressure it brings will far exceed the financial pressure that the princes of the Ming Dynasty brought to the Ming Dynasty. The key is that our Song Dynasty is also quite cautious in making princes. There are very few princes of different surnames, and the number of princes of the blood is even more limited. The ministers certainly do not want to see the emperor make all his sons princes."

"But not granting the prince the title of king would not be in accordance with the etiquette of our Great Song Dynasty."

"Moreover, deciding whether to confer the title of Prince or Prince of the Second Rank is not an easy choice; there must be some standard for judgment, right?"

"In that case, the Emperor and his ministers can talk. If they can reach an agreement, there is hope that the princes can be freed from their shackles."

The four women's eyes lit up upon hearing this!
Even Ye Shiyun said, "Tell me more about it."

Zhang Chun said with no small amount of pride, "This is the plan I presented to the Emperor to solve this problem. It is based on the Qing Dynasty's policy of bestowing titles, namely: conferment of titles based on merit and succession of titles."

The advantages of doing this are:
Firstly, this would significantly reduce the number of princes, alleviating the financial burden on the imperial court. Conferring titles based on merit meant that princes could no longer simply rely on their birthright; they had to earn their ranks through merit, receiving treatment commensurate with their abilities. Princes without significant achievements would at most receive a low-ranking title, unlike in the Ming Dynasty where they could receive the stipends of princes and dukes even without contributing much. The court's funds could then be spent on more practical matters, such as military pay and the welfare of the people.

Secondly, this would encourage princes to strive for advancement. The descendantial succession system meant that if a father was a prince, a son without merit might be demoted to a county prince, and so on, until he became an ordinary member of the imperial clan. In this way, princes, to maintain their family's status, would have to take initiative—governance in local areas, military service guarding the frontiers, or even business and scholarship; as long as they achieved results and the court recognized them, they could be promoted based on their merits. Over time, the imperial clan would produce more capable individuals, no longer just a group of idle people who only knew how to enjoy themselves. This revitalized the imperial clan's resources for the Song Dynasty.

Thirdly, a stronger imperial clan can help balance the power in the imperial court.

The Emperor approves of my plan.

After a pause, Zhang Chun continued, "The problem now is that although the ministers think my plan is good and they don't have a better plan, they are unwilling to see the imperial family rise and seize the power in their hands, so they are unwilling to give in, and the matter is at a stalemate."

Li Lin asked bluntly, "What do you need us to do?"

Zhang Chun bluntly stated, "Contact the concubines in the harem and have them persuade their families to support this policy. Explain the advantages and disadvantages to them, and make it clear that this is something that will benefit everyone. As long as enough officials support this policy, the Emperor can take the opportunity to remove the shackles from the princes."

"Why not ask the Emperor or the Empress to issue an edict?" Ma Xiaojiao asked.

"The one most affected by removing the restrictions on the princes is the crown prince..."

One of the reasons why the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty restricted princes and members of the imperial clan in this way was to prevent the emergence of political strongmen among them who would threaten imperial power.

Therefore, from the perspective of Empress Zheng Xiansu and Crown Prince Zhao Shou, they certainly wouldn't want to remove the shackles from the other princes.

In this way, it would be inconvenient for Zhao Yu to handle the matter personally.

The best solution would be for them to secretly coordinate this matter.

Once the deed is done, Zheng Xiansu can't say anything more. At most, Zhao Yu will give them a symbolic beating, and that's it.

perfect.

……

(End of this chapter)