I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 349 Poor parents in the world
...

Seeing how capable Zhang Chun really is, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng were truly impressed by her.

At the same time, they really couldn't understand why Zhang Chun liked to cause trouble so much. Why couldn't she just be an imperial concubine or a noble consort?

Moreover, this time Zhang Chun is going even further, actually wanting to become the person in charge of the entire Americas.

Furthermore, judging from Zhang Chun's words, it's not just talk; he genuinely intends to operate in this way.

Of course, Zhang Chun's claim that each of the five of them would occupy a continent is definitely false. It's one thing to let Li Lin's son occupy Europe and Yuan Qingcheng's son occupy Oceania, but it's too far-fetched to let Ma Xiaojiao's son occupy Africa and Ye Shiyun's son occupy Antarctica. Especially the latter. If they really divided it like that, Ye Shiyun's fiery temper would definitely cause a scene with Zhang Chun on the spot.

From beginning to end, only Zhang Chun's desire to monopolize the Americas was genuine.

Zhang Chun consulted with the other four women, hoping they wouldn't send their capable sons to America to compete with their own sons, and also to help them arrange for Zhao Yu's less capable son to be sent to America.

Even the promise to take his four daughters to America to retire in the future was a lie.

Even if Zhao Yu were to abandon them one day, there would be no reason for the four women not to go and live with their sons in their old age, but instead to live under Zhang Chun's roof.

Even someone as naive as Ma Xiaojiao could see that.

Ma Xiaojiao thought to herself, 'My dear Chun-jie, don't push yourself too hard. You might kill yourself doing this!'

Out of kindness, and also because of her long-standing relationship with Zhang Chun, Ma Xiaojiao reminded Zhang Chun: "Sister Chun, such a big matter cannot be accomplished by the few of us alone. Only with the intervention of the government will there be a sliver of hope."

Zhang Chun knew that Ma Xiaojiao was right. The Americas were too big, occupying two of the seven continents. Such a large territory could not possibly be controlled by a few concubines in the harem, even if there were only tens of millions to less than one hundred million Native Americans with extremely low combat power there.

Such a vast territory could not be conquered and ruled by the Song Dynasty without sending eight or ten million people.

But then again, it is precisely because of this immense difficulty that Zhang Chun is pursuing it.

Zhang Chun had long seen that among the five time travelers, she was the least successful. She could only offer advice to Zhao Yu and be a behind-the-scenes hero. Not to mention leaving a significant mark in history books in the future, even now, very few people know about her "great achievements". If her sons are successful in the future, she can still leave a surname. But if all her sons are useless, with so many concubines of Zhao Yu, she may not even be able to leave a surname.

All three were time travelers who made tremendous efforts, and Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng will surely shine in history. But she is like a dark star hidden in the night sky; even if she emitted a faint light, she is unlikely to be remembered for long.

Zhang Chun was very unwilling.

This sense of discontent grew wildly in her heart like weeds, making her eager to leave her own deep mark in this magnificent river of history.

To achieve this goal, small-scale efforts are simply not enough.

Imagine what Zhang Chun would have to do to make her fame rival that of the other four women.

No.

Zhang Chun's goal was never to be on par with the other four women, but to surpass them. They had all transmigrated; as prophets knowledgeable in history, they should rule this world. And all she wanted was the Americas—was that too much to ask?

Zhang Chun said to the four women, "As long as you promise not to fight me internally and to help me as much as possible, I will find a way to persuade the emperor."

The four women looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Seeing this, Zhang Chun said unhappily, "We've been sisters for decades across two lifetimes, you wouldn't even help me with this little thing, would you?"

The world is so big, and there are so many good places. There's really no need for the four women to let their sons compete with Zhang Chun's son for the Americas.

Furthermore, according to Zhang Chun's thinking, the Americas might become the most chaotic place in the world in the future, so it's a good thing that their son doesn't go and join in the fun.

The key point is that since Zhang Chun has already said those words, both morally and logically, the four women have to give him face.

So all four women agreed. They all said that when the fiefdoms were distributed in the future, they would not allow their sons to go to the Americas, and that if there was anything they could do to help Zhang Chun, he should just ask.

Having won over the four women, Zhang Chun's confidence soared. She thought to herself, 'Only the local official is left. I need to find a way to guide him to act according to my plan…'

……

The discovery of the new continent was a major event not only for the five women, but also for the ministers and officials of the Song Dynasty.

The political logic of Song Dynasty literati was never aimed at "occupation," but rather prioritized "status" rather than territorial control. The core of their foreign relations was the "tribute system," which involved incorporating foreign states into the "Celestial Empire" order through investiture and bestowal of titles, emphasizing "pacifying distant peoples" rather than direct rule.

Therefore, after discovering the New World, especially after learning that there were tens of millions of indigenous people there, and even the Mayan civilization, some small kingdoms, and some small tribes, the scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty believed that these political forces in the New World were "barbarians from afar." They could first send envoys with gifts such as silk, porcelain, and tea to convey the emperor's grace and try to get them to "submit and pay tribute" (even if it was just symbolic). If the indigenous civilization was of a certain size (such as the city lords of the Mayan civilization), their leaders could be appointed as "governors" or even "kings" to recognize their autonomy in exchange for nominal submission, rather than sending troops to garrison them.

In short, the scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty did not want to pursue territorial sovereignty, but hoped to achieve control over the New World through trade (exchanging for rare resources such as precious metals and specialty crops) and cultural symbols (such as accepting tribute), similar to the relationship between the Joseon Dynasty and Dali at that time.

It's actually quite funny. The scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty didn't even know how big the Americas were or how far away they were from the Song Dynasty. They wanted all the political forces there to acknowledge the Song Dynasty as their suzerain state. Furthermore, they didn't want to contribute anything. They just wanted to encourage caravans to trade because they had a huge share of the profits from maritime trade and tariffs. Ideally, they wanted to establish small "trading outposts" (similar to the foreign merchant outposts in Guangzhou and Quanzhou) with the consent of the Native Americans. These outposts would be guarded by Song merchants and a small number of troops (only responsible for protecting the outposts), rather than conquering the entire land.

If the Native Americans resisted, they preferred to withdraw and cut their losses rather than go to war—because the cost of transferring troops across the ocean was extremely high, and the Song Dynasty's military system emphasized defense over expansion, so they wouldn't expend their core forces on lands far overseas. More importantly, they didn't know the true fighting capabilities of the Native Americans and dared not engage them in battle.

In any case, the scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty emphasized the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, believing that the civilization of the Central Plains was superior to that of the barbarians, and that the Central Plains was a vast and resource-rich region that lacked nothing, so there was no need to conquer the New World.

In other words, if we follow the thinking of the Song Dynasty scholar-officials, we would first explore and open up sea routes on a small scale, then establish contact with the Native Americans under the guise of "tribute," acquire resources through trading posts, and maintain relations through symbolic investiture. We would not pursue territorial domination or engage in violent conquest. This kind of occupation is closer to a combination of a distant trading partner and a nominal vassal, which is completely different from the modern European model of "land plunder, extermination of natives, and colonization of immigrants."

Zhao Yu completely ignored the thoughts of the Song Dynasty's scholar-officials. First of all, these scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty simply didn't understand one thing.

The point is, the New World wasn't discovered by these Song Dynasty scholar-officials, or even by the Song court. It was discovered by Emperor Zhao Yu himself, who spent his own money to make it happen. According to the agreement between Zhao Yu and those navigators and adventurers, all the regions they discovered belonged to Zhao Yu. What did this have to do with these Song Dynasty scholar-officials? What right did these Song Dynasty scholar-officials have to decide the future of the New World?
Based on this, Zhao Yu renamed the new continent "Prince Continent" without consulting the scholars and officials of the Song Dynasty.

In other words, from this moment on, Zhao Yu had already decided to make the Americas part of his son's fiefdom.

Zhao Yu did not merely make this decision; he directly began laying the groundwork in this direction.

First, Zhao Yu continued his personal involvement, ordering navigators and adventurers to explore safe Pacific routes. The Pacific routes were closer than the Atlantic routes and could utilize the East Asian-Southeast Asian island chain to establish intermediate supply stations, such as Guam and Hawaii, and to establish the first "exploration outposts" on the west coast of the Americas (such as California and Peru)—similar to the "trading stations" of European colonists.

At the same time, Zhao Yu ordered his second son Zhao Xiu and third son Zhao Da to each lead three thousand elite troops and a group of craftsmen to the Prince Continent to survey the terrain, record resources (precious metals, arable land, minerals), and make initial contact with the local natives (to test their level of civilization and ability to resist).

In the coming period, Zhao Yu will send his sons to the Prince Continent one after another.

Zhao Yu had already planned that he would not immediately grant specific lands, but would first divide the Americas into dozens of regions based on the exploration results (such as western North America, Central America, and the Andes Mountains in South America), with each region corresponding to several sons (to avoid the power of a single son becoming too great), and clearly define the rule of "first come, first served, with the size of the fiefdom determined by resources"—this would both utilize the competitive motivation of his sons and avoid imbalances in the initial granting due to insufficient information.

Instead of using the court's resources, Zhao Yu personally allocated initial resources to Zhao Xiu and Zhao Da, including immigrants (recruiting refugees and tenant farmers from the Central Plains, using "land grants" as bait, promising "land upon clearing land" in the Americas), artisans (responsible for establishing simple factories, such as iron smelting and textile workshops), an army (to protect immigrants and strongholds), and industrial equipment (such as steam pumps and simple mechanical tools).

The size of these "start-up packages" is allocated according to the estimated resource value of the fiefdom (e.g., more resources are allocated to areas estimated to have gold deposits).

Zhao Yu summoned Zhao Xiu and Zhao Da and personally instructed them to initially focus on "defensive expansion"—immigrants should cultivate land around their strongholds and build fortresses. If the natives resisted, they should prioritize deterrence rather than massacre (after all, the number of immigrants and troops was limited, and a protracted war needed to be avoided). If the Native American civilizations they encountered were weak (such as scattered tribes), they could cooperate through trade. If they encountered stronger civilizations (such as the Mayan civilization), they could first confront them and then divide and rule them once the Song Dynasty's forces on the Prince's Continent were strong enough (similar to how European colonists used conflicts among native tribes to eliminate them).

That's right.

Zhao Yu is playing a grand game.

Zhao Yu planned to wait until his sons had established themselves in the Prince Continent before rewarding them with fiefdoms based on their performance, such as how much territory they controlled and how much money they earned for him.

During this process, princes who did not perform well, or those who could not endure the hardships of pioneering, including those who failed in the competition, would be brought back by Zhao Yu, who would then arrange new paths for them.

In short, after making the plan, Zhao Yu didn't make a sound at all, and sent his trusted confidants to escort Zhao Xiu and Zhao Da away from the Song Dynasty to embark on their journey to the Prince's Continent.

The reason why Zhao Yu was so cautious was mainly because he was afraid that someone would stop him from doing this. So he took the initiative to make it a fait accompli and then, even if someone objected, it would not change the fact that Zhao Yu was going to implement the overseas enfeoffment system.

Pity the parents of the world.

Although Zhao Yu acted very discreetly, Zhang Chun, who had been closely watching Zhao Yu's attitude towards America, noticed it as soon as he made his move.

In fact, as early as when Zhao Yu named the Americas the Prince Continent, Zhang Chun, who already knew Zhao Yu, guessed that Zhao Yu wanted to make the Americas the fiefdom of his sons, or at least some of them.

This has both advantages and disadvantages for Zhang Chun.

On the positive side, Zhang Chun could take advantage of the situation and send her son to the Prince's Continent to gain the upper hand.

The downside is that even if Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng's sons don't compete with Zhang Chun's son, Zhang Chun's son will still have plenty of rivals.

'I can only do my best; the rest depends on whether my son has the potential to become an emperor.'

Thinking of this, Zhang Chun came to Zhao Yu and said to him, "Your Majesty, I would like to request on behalf of Tang'er and Kai'er to go to the Prince's Continent to pave the way for our Great Song Dynasty."

Seeing this, Zhao Yu remained silent for a while before asking Zhang Chun, "Are you sure you don't want to wait any longer?"

Hearing Zhao Yu's question, Zhang Chun hesitated again.

They've been married for a long time, how could Zhang Chun not understand that Zhao Yu meant she wasn't waiting for the position of crown prince?
To be honest, Zhang Chunzhen was a little conflicted when Zhao Yu asked her this question!
Everyone knows that Zhao Cheng has performed well, and if Zhao Shou were to pass away one day, Zhao Cheng might become the crown prince.

The problem is, Zhao Shou performed quite well, showing no signs of being incapacitated.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Chun asked Zhao Yu, "Does Tang'er have a chance?"

Zhao Yu said noncommittally, "Tang'er is not bad."

Hearing Zhao Yu say this, Zhang Chun was a little annoyed.

Zhang Chun understood that Zhao Yu wanted Zhao Cheng to be Zhao Shou's "backup plan" but didn't want to make any promises to Zhao Cheng.

Zhang Chunxin exclaimed, "What a scumbag!"

After calming down, Zhang Chun understood Zhao Yu. From Zhao Yu's perspective, he certainly wanted the crown prince to be absolutely safe and sound, but he also didn't want Zhao Shou's rivals to have any unrealistic fantasies. After all, as long as Zhao Shou didn't cause any problems, Zhao Yu would definitely not replace Zhao Shou as the crown prince.

However, Zhao Yu also made it clear that he thought highly of Zhao Cheng, and that if Zhao Shou was not up to the task, he was willing to give Zhao Cheng a chance.

This was actually the limit of what Zhao Yu could do.

Now, it remains to be seen what choice Zhang Chun and her son Zhao Tang will make...

……

(End of this chapter)