I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 276 Zhao Yu's Son Has Grown Up

...

From dawn to dusk, the imperial kitchen provided the candidates with a simple meal, and all the candidates handed in their papers.

The candidates' examination papers were written in vermilion ink (called "vermilion papers"), and then copied by a special person in black ink (called "black papers"), in order to prevent the examiners from identifying the candidates by their handwriting.

After the candidates submit their papers, the preliminary examiners will first review them and make preliminary rankings, and then submit them to the re-examiners for review. If the two examiners disagree, the final examiner will coordinate the ranking.

After the papers were graded, the proposed rankings were presented to Emperor Huizong for review.

Zhao Yu could make adjustments based on the circumstances (such as promotion or demotion), and the final rankings would be determined as first, second, and third.

To Zhao Yu's surprise, the top scholar recommended by the examiners was neither Zhao Ji nor Qin Hui, but the twenty-two-year-old Mo Chou.

Zhao Yu knew Mo Chou very well, knowing that he was known as "Swift Ghost" by the people of the capital during the Jingkang Incident.

Mo Chou earned the nickname "Swift Ghost" because in 1863, after Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan were captured by the Jin dynasty, the Northern Song court faced a major upheaval. Mo Chou quickly defected to the Jin. When the Jin wanted to install Zhang Bangchang as the "Emperor of Chu," he actively served the Jin, leading Jin envoys to inspect the Northern Song treasury, shuttling between the Northern Song court and the Jin camp, and working tirelessly to help the Jin establish a puppet regime. This eagerness for personal gain and his accomplice to the enemy aroused extreme resentment and contempt from the people of the capital, hence the nickname "Swift Ghost," intended to satirize his ghostly and eagerness in serving the enemy.

Historically, Mo Chou had already passed the imperial examination with top honors. Unexpectedly, during his own reign, the examiners selected him again and wanted him to be the top scholar.

What Zhao Yu was looking at was not the ink scroll, but the vermilion scroll.

Zhao Yu picked up Mo Chou's vermilion scroll and took a look.

Hey!
Putting aside Mo Chou's character, his strategy article is undoubtedly a masterpiece of literary talent.

Zhao Yu's gaze slowly moved across Mo Chou's vermilion scroll. Even with Zhao Yu's imperial perspective, he couldn't help but be secretly amazed by the talent and insight revealed in Mo Chou's writing.

The article begins by quoting extensively from classical texts, offering a profound and insightful analysis of the current situation. It reflects both a deep understanding of past history and unique perspectives on the future direction of the nation.

Mo Chou's strategic vision in the article, which proposed to unite with the Jin to destroy the Liao, recover the five prefectures of Yan, and pacify the three prefectures of Luan and Ying to complete the unification of the country, not only had a macro-level vision but also specific implementation steps. His words were filled with an urgent desire to serve the country, as if they could reach people's hearts through the pages.

After reading it, Zhao Yu only said one sentence: "What a pity for such good writing."

As soon as Zhao Yu said this, all the examiners guessed that Mo Chou would most likely not become the top scholar.

The examiners chose Chen Jue as the runner-up.

Chen Jue and Zhao Yu also knew this. In history, he was magnanimous and kind, treated people with sincerity, and was indifferent to fame and fortune. During his reign, he strongly advocated resisting the Jin dynasty and quelled three rebellions. He was known as "bringing peace to one region" and was a model of incorruptibility throughout history.

When Zhao Yu opened Chen Jue's strategy, he found that Chen Jue's writing was equally outstanding, revealing a sense of composure and wisdom in his strokes.

Chen Jue's articles, like the earnest teachings of an elder, offer both a calm analysis of the current situation and a profound exposition of his governing philosophy. He advocated strengthening centralized power, reorganizing the military, encouraging agriculture, and developing the economy to enhance the country's overall strength. He emphasized internal governance while observing external developments, waiting for the situation between Liao and Jin to become clearer before deciding whether to ally with Jin to destroy Liao or with Liao to destroy Jin. His words reveal a steadfastness and composure unmoved by the changing circumstances.

Zhao Yu carefully studied Chen Jue's strategy and couldn't help but admire him inwardly. This man truly possessed the talent to govern the world; his insights were profound and his strategies comprehensive, which were truly rare.

What's even more remarkable is that, as an emperor, when selecting and employing people, one must not only value their talent and learning, but also consider their character and loyalty, and Chen Jue was good at both.

Emperor Zhao Yu was overjoyed: "Chen Jue has the talent to govern the country and bring peace to the nation."

Upon hearing this, all the examiners understood that Chen Jue was about to be given an important position.
Zhao Yu then picked up the third-ranked scholar chosen by the examiners.

Upon seeing the name, Zhao Yu was dumbfounded—it was Zhao Tang!

All the examiners had access to were the examination papers; they had no way of knowing who the top scholar, the second-place scholar, and the third-place scholar were. They could only rank the candidates based on their actual performance.

Furthermore, even if these examiners wanted to curry favor, they should have done so with Zhao Shou, since Zhao Shou was the Crown Prince and had the Empress behind him. Zhao Cheng was currently just one of Zhao Yu's many sons, and his mother, Zhang Chun, did not yet have such influence.

Zhao Tang was able to get third place, which made Zhao Yu look forward to his son.

Zhao Yu picked up Zhao Cheng's strategy and saw that it was written on it:

With the Jurchens rising to power and the Liao dynasty on the verge of collapse, a tripartite balance of power was looming. This presented our Great Song with a golden opportunity to unify the country and seize the treasure lands of the Northeast.

Since the Liao Dynasty and our dynasty made peace and established an alliance, there has been no war on the border for eight years. Now the Liao emperor is incompetent, and the Jin emperor has repeatedly defeated his army. His situation is precarious. However, even a centipede with a hundred legs does not die easily, and the tribal foundation has not been destroyed. If we have the support of our Great Song Dynasty, we can still fight against the Jin.

Some say that Liaodong is weak and can be bullied, and that we should ally with Jin to destroy it. This is a great mistake.

If Liao falls quickly, Jin will surely come to our northern border. What was once a barrier between us and Liao is now pressing directly at Bianliang. This is like removing the barriers and inviting tigers and wolves into our territory.

Therefore, although the Liao dynasty is declining, it still serves as a shield for us and should not be easily abandoned.

The Jin dynasty, originating from Baishan, possesses a formidable army of sharp weapons and armor, invincible in battle—truly a tiger and wolf army. If they send envoys to establish friendly relations and agree to jointly attack the Liao, it is not out of admiration for our virtue and righteousness, but rather to exploit our strength to seize Liao territory. Observing their actions, they occupy every city they capture, and exploit every captive civilian they enslave; their greed and cruelty are blatantly obvious. If we forge a deep alliance with them and help them destroy the Liao, once the Liao is destroyed, they will surely turn their attention southward; their wolfish ambitions must be guarded against.

The best course of action now is threefold:
Strengthening the borders is paramount. Increase garrison troops in Hebei, Hedong, Yunzhong, and Ningxia; repair city walls; train soldiers; stockpile grain and weapons; making the northern frontier an impregnable fortress. Seeing our preparedness, the Jin will dare not act rashly; seeing our strength, the Liao will not dare to be negligent. Maintain peace with Liao to preserve their power. Send envoys to Liao to reaffirm the old alliance. While we need not fully commit to the war, we can provide grain and silk to alleviate their urgent needs, explaining the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold," thus encouraging them to regroup. If Liao survives, the Jin and Liao will inevitably weaken each other, neither able to attack our Great Song, allowing us to prepare for war with composure.

Keep the Jin at a distance without provoking their anger. If the Jin comes to negotiate again, we can feign compliance, using excuses such as "border defenses are not yet in place" and "the need to discuss ancestral temples" to delay the process. We should neither reject them too harshly nor sign a treaty with them. In this way, we can force the Liao to voluntarily return the five prefectures of Yan and the three prefectures of Pingluanying, thus reaping the benefits of their actions.

Next, Zhao Cheng gave a detailed introduction to the treasure land of Northeast China, emphasizing its abundant resources, especially its black soil, which he described as "an ounce of soil equals two ounces of oil," making it the best land, better than all the land in the Song Dynasty.

Finally, Zhao Cheng concluded by saying that the greatest problems facing the world were "greed" and "negligence".

He said, “To covet the empty fame of Liaodong and ally with Jin is to invite disaster; to ignore the threat of Jin and neglect preparations is to destroy oneself. The advantage of Song lies in using stillness to control movement: guarding our own borders, stabilizing the crumbling Liaodong, and letting Jin and Liaodong be locked in a stalemate. When both sides are exhausted, either Liaodong will recover or Jin will be internally weakened, then we can act according to the circumstances. In this way, we can retreat to protect our borders and people, maintain lasting peace, advance into the Northeast, establish unparalleled achievements, and build an everlasting legacy.”

After reading Zhao Cheng's policy essay, Zhao Yu immediately pictured Zhang Chun's delicate face and thought to himself, "This woman must have guessed the question correctly!"

Even if Zhao Cheng were a genius, he was only eleven years old. It was impossible for him to write such a policy essay on his own.

The key was Zhao Cheng's insight; he actually predicted, with almost unobservable insight, that the Jin dynasty would rise and the Liao dynasty would perish.

It cannot be said that there are no such signs now, but in reality, as of now, the Liao Dynasty has only lost Tokyo, as well as four capitals, vast territory, nearly ten million people, and a million-strong army. The Jin Dynasty, on the other hand, has only occupied part of the northeast. Even though they have incorporated the Jurchen people, their actual population is only a few hundred thousand, and their fighting army is less than one hundred thousand.

Numerically speaking, it's really hard to say whether the Jin Dynasty could definitely swallow up the Liao Dynasty like a snake swallowing an elephant.

This may explain why the examiners only awarded Zhao Cheng the third-highest rank. Otherwise, given his extensive knowledge of the Northeast and the fact that his essay was clearly written by someone else, he could very well have been chosen as the top scholar.

As for why Zhang Chun was able to predict the exam questions correctly?

It's too simple.

Zhang Chun was Zhao Yu's trusted advisor. Zhao Yu often discussed current affairs with Zhang Chun and asked him for advice.

Just a few days ago, Zhao Yu had discussed with Zhang Chun the matter of Wanyan Aguda sending an envoy to request investiture.

At the time, Zhang Chun didn't say much.

Zhao Yu thought to himself, 'So she's saving the opportunity for her son to shine; this woman's starting to play mind games with me.'

Zhao Yu put down Zhao Cheng's strategy essay without mentioning his name or giving him any evaluation.

Seeing this, the examiners below dared not ask any questions and could only wait for Zhao Yu to continue reading.

Fourth place goes to Zhao Ji.

Emperor Huizong's literary talent was comparable to Mo Chou's, and they shared the same views. In other words, Emperor Huizong also advocated for an alliance with the Jin dynasty to destroy the Liao dynasty, recover the five prefectures of Yan, and pacify the three prefectures of Luan and Ying to complete the unification of the country.

However, although Zhao Ji was a talented writer, his lack of understanding of the Liao and Jin dynasties made his strategies somewhat grandiose and impractical.

This may be why he only ranked fourth.

Incidentally, the examiners only saw the ink-written scroll and not Zhao Ji's slender gold calligraphy. Otherwise, they might have chosen him as the top scholar just for his exquisite handwriting.

Zhao Shou and Zhao Kai's policy essays ranked quite low, almost at the bottom.

This also shows that these two little guys still have a long way to go.

In short, Zhao Shou's views were somewhat similar to Chen Jue's, tending towards conservatism and advocating for a wait-and-see approach. His articles were also quite well-written.

For an eleven-year-old boy, Zhao Shou performed very well.

Zhao Yu thought to himself, 'The Empress's years of diligent teaching have not been in vain.'

Zhao Kai's view was the same as Mo Chou's and Zhao Ji's, that is, to support the alliance with Jin to destroy Liao, recover the five prefectures of Yan, and pacify the three prefectures of Luan and Ying to complete the unification first.

Zhao Kai's policy essays possess the ambition and drive that a young person should have, and his writing is also quite good.

It's clear that Wang Yisu put a lot of effort into getting Zhao Kai involved.

Zhao Yu thought to himself, 'Although this child's views are problematic, it's already quite remarkable for someone his age to have such a performance.'

Emperor Zhao Yu specially set aside several days to read through all seven hundred or so policy essays before personally ranking the successful candidates of this year's imperial examinations...

……

(End of this chapter)