I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

Although Zhao Yu claimed to be leading a western expedition, he actually lived in Chang'an for over a year. He said he would delegate court affairs to Zhao Shou, but in reality, he made the major decisions, while Zhao Shou, as before, could only manage minor matters. Even officials like Li Gang and Chen Gou would frequently travel to Chang'an to report to Zhao Yu.

It wasn't until the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force conquered the entire Western Karakhanid Khanate that Emperor Zhao Yu moved his capital to Dingxi (historically known as Yemili), the "provincial capital" of the Western Regions. Only then did Zhao Yu become less involved in court affairs.

Dingxi City was the city established by Tong Guan when he recovered the Western Regions and ruled over them. It was an important city in the Emin River basin, including the northern route of the Silk Road.

After so many years of development, Dingxi City has become the political, economic and cultural center of the Western Regions.

Although this place is quite far from Beijing, the capital of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Yu has not left the Song Dynasty, so the Song Dynasty is still under Zhao Yu's control.

Zhao Yu stayed in Dingxi City for more than a year.

It wasn't until the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force conquered the entire Central Asia, and the Song Dynasty's railways and highways had already penetrated deep into Central Asia, that Zhao Yu decided to continue westward and move his imperial carriage to Samarkand, the former capital of the Western Karakhanid Khanate and now the capital of the Yu Kingdom.

It can be said that it was only at this point that Zhao Shou truly began to oversee the state.

Zhao Shou had always been well aware that he could never compare to his overly dazzling father, the emperor.

Not only him, but throughout history, China has produced so many emperors, but which of them unified the entire East and prepared to unify the whole world?
His father, the greatest emperor of all time, was someone that not only he, but even Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Song could not compare to.

Therefore, Zhao Shou was not discouraged because he could never be as good as his father, nor would he live in his father's shadow for the rest of his life.

On the contrary, Zhao Shou felt that since his father had passed on such a glorious stage to him, he had to shine with his own brilliance no matter what.

It's important to know that the second emperor was also very important.

Emperor Taizong of Han, Liu Heng, was the second emperor of the Han Dynasty.

After Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, pacified the country and established his dynasty, the dynasty was fraught with crises, including the division of power among princes and the decline of the people's livelihood. In addition, the court was filled with factions and undercurrents.

At the beginning of Liu Heng's reign, the country was surrounded by the Xiongnu and the power of the kings of the same surname was growing. The country had already suffered from the chaos of the end of the Qin Dynasty and the struggle between Chu and Han, and was already devastated and the people were displaced.

However, Liu Heng was well-versed in the principle of "rest and recuperation." He abolished harsh laws, reduced taxes and levies, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, and allowed the people to rest. Externally, he adopted a strategy of appeasing the Xiongnu and stabilizing the borders. Internally, he used gentleness to overcome strength, gradually weakening the power of the vassal kings and consolidating the central government's authority.

It was Liu Heng's prudent management as a "conservative ruler" that allowed the Han Dynasty to stabilize from its initial turmoil, accumulate sufficient national strength, and lay a solid foundation for Emperor Wu's subsequent territorial expansion and the four-hundred-year reign of the Han Dynasty.

Imagine if Liu Heng hadn't been so steady and pragmatic, the Han Dynasty might have already collapsed amidst internal strife and external invasions, and there would have been no Western Han or Eastern Han Dynasty.
The second emperor of the Tang Dynasty was Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin.

At that time, the Tang Dynasty had just ended the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and the people's hearts were not yet fully won over, facing internal and external troubles.

After ascending the throne, Li Shimin quickly shifted his focus to governing the country.

He humbly accepted advice, appointed virtuous ministers such as Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling, improved the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, and rectified official corruption; he reduced taxes and levies, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, allowing the people to live and work in peace and quickly restore production; in foreign affairs, he planned and dispatched famous generals such as Li Jing to attack the Turks in the north, pacified Gaochang and Kucha, expanded into the Western Regions, and laid the foundation for the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

It was Li Shimin's great talent and pragmatic management that not only stabilized the rule of the Tang Dynasty, but also created the prosperous era of "Reign of Zhenguan", allowing the Tang Dynasty to grow rapidly from a new dynasty into a celestial empire where all nations paid tribute.

Imagine, without Li Shimin, how could the Tang Dynasty have escaped the shadow of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty? And how could it have become one of the most glorious dynasties in Chinese history?

Conversely, dynasties whose second emperors were incompetent, tyrannical, and cruel often could not escape the fate of "dying after only two generations."

Qin Er Shi (Hu Hai) is the most typical negative example.

Qin Shi Huang swept across the six kingdoms and unified the country, creating the great achievements of "standardizing writing, unifying the width of cart tracks, and standardizing weights and measures," thus establishing the first unified centralized dynasty in Chinese history.

However, after Qin Shi Huang's death, Hu Hai, under the instigation of Zhao Gao, altered the imperial edict, murdered his brother, and seized the throne. After ascending the throne, he not only failed to inherit Qin Shi Huang's governing philosophy, but instead became licentious and tyrannical, murdered his brothers and sisters, eliminated loyal ministers and generals, and increased taxes and corvée labor, causing untold suffering to the people.

The once stable Qin Dynasty collapsed in just three years due to Hu Hai's meddling. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up in rebellion, and the former nobles of the six states restored their rule. In the end, Qin was destroyed by Liu Bang.

What a glorious dynasty it was! It perished after only two generations simply because of the wrong choice of its second emperor. This shows the decisive role that the second emperor played in the survival of the dynasty.

Zhao Yu was not the first emperor of the Song Dynasty, but under his rule, the Song Dynasty achieved the unification of the East, expanded its territory to Central Asia, and established a glorious foundation that was unprecedented in history.

Zhao Yu's achievements far surpassed those of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Song. What he left behind was a vast empire with a wide territory, strong national power, and a complete system.

Although Zhao Shou was not the second emperor after the founding of the Song Dynasty, he succeeded Zhao Yu, the "Emperor of a Thousand Ages," and in fact, he undertook a similar "second emperor" mission as Emperor Taizong of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang.

Zhao Shou was always very clear that he was inheriting a dynasty at its peak, seemingly prosperous but actually fraught with hidden challenges.

For example, the governance challenges brought about by the vast territory, the people's livelihood and recuperation after expeditions, the balance of power between the central government and the frontier, and how to safeguard the vast empire established by the emperor, or even elevate it to new heights, etc...

Zhao Shou knew that he could never replicate his father's groundbreaking achievements, but he could be a competent "ruler who maintains the status quo" and a key link in the dynasty's continuity.

He doesn't need to fight like his father and conquer new territories, but he must learn to be steady and consolidate his foundation.
He doesn't need to do everything personally and make decisions unilaterally like his father, but he must know how to recognize talent and appoint people wisely, and maintain balance in the court.
He must be wary of the lessons learned from Hu Hai, and must not indulge in pleasure, neglect state affairs, or become complacent because of his father's glory.

The glory of the Song Dynasty was forged by his father, the emperor, with his iron will and wisdom.

Whether the Song Dynasty could last long depended on whether Zhao Shou could shoulder the heavy responsibility of being the "second emperor".

Throughout China's millennia-long history of emperors, every dynasty that managed to stabilize itself under a second emperor invariably ushered in a golden age that lasted for centuries. However, once the second emperor lost his virtue and ability, no matter how glorious the foundation laid by the first emperor, it could not escape the fate of disintegration.

More than a decade ago, Zhao Shou had already begun to get involved in the affairs of the Song Dynasty.

After more than a decade of managing and understanding the Song Dynasty, Zhao Shou and those around him had long since developed a set of ideas for governing the Song Dynasty.

That is, while continuing to follow the development path of the Song Dynasty set by his father, Zhao Shou wanted to recuperate and stabilize the country like Liu Heng, and to humbly accept advice and work hard like Li Shimin. He wanted to be a ruler who could defend the city... Zhao Shou had already told his father about his ideas and received his father's support.

Now that Zhao Shou has taken power, he can finally realize his ambitions.

Zhao Shou's first proposal was a talent-first promotion system.

In other words, in the selection of talent, Zhao Shou did not consider background, who his father was, or which aristocratic family he came from; he promoted people based solely on their abilities.

In addition to the imperial examination system, he also established the "Rural Talent Recommendation Order" to encourage local officials to discover talented people and skilled individuals in the countryside. Even if they were the sons of tenant farmers or artisans in the marketplace, as long as they had a skill or talent, they could enter the court to serve as officials, be given local positions, or enter the "state-owned enterprises" of the Song Dynasty to make the best use of their talents.

Thanks to this system, the Song Dynasty did not experience a shortage of talent simply because the emperor changed from Zhao Yu to Zhao Shou. On the contrary, many talents that Zhao Yu and his time travelers missed due to their foresight were discovered by Zhao Shou, who was free from historical interference.

Zhao Shou's move ensured that the Song Dynasty would not lack talented administrators for at least several decades, even if the Song Dynasty's territory expanded six or seven times, and there were still a large number of vassal states and overseas colonies.

Zhao Shougan's second major achievement was that, based on the reforms implemented by his father, the emperor, namely "equalizing the poll tax and land tax" and "the gentry paying taxes as a whole," he forcibly reduced the actual land tax rate to three percent.

Before the reign of Emperor Zhao Yu, the nominal tax rate of the two taxes in the Song Dynasty was 3% to 10%. With the addition of additional exploitation such as transfer fees, conversion fees, additional consumption fees, and grain tax, the actual tax burden often reached 15% to 25%, and in the wealthy Jiangnan region, it could even exceed 30%.

This caused immense suffering for the people, leading to widespread displacement and numerous peasant uprisings throughout history.

After Zhao Yu ascended the throne, he vigorously promoted reforms, abolished the poll tax that had existed for thousands of years, incorporated the poll tax into the land tax, and broke the privilege of tax exemption for gentry, making the tax burden more equitable. At this time, the nominal tax rate of land tax was stable at three to five percent, and the actual tax surcharge was controlled at five to ten percent, which was a rare light tax in history.

But Zhao Shou felt that this was not enough.

He knew that the people were the foundation of the country, and the core of recuperation and development was to ensure that the people had surplus grain and that their families had surplus wealth.

"Your Majesty's reforms to eliminate corrupt practices relieved the people's suffering; today, I am further reducing taxes to benefit the people."

At the court assembly, Zhao Shou declared emphatically: "The land tax will be fixed at three percent and will never be increased. Any local official who dares to impose additional taxes or secretly increase the tax amount will be considered guilty of embezzlement, have his property confiscated, and be exiled. Any gentry or landlord who dares to take advantage of the situation to raise rents or exploit tenants will have their land confiscated and distributed to the landless people..."

In this era, or more precisely, before the reign of Emperor Zhao Yu, poll tax and land tax were two major burdens on the common people.

A tax burden was placed on everyone, regardless of wealth. All able-bodied men, from the very old who had not yet been removed from the tax register to the young children who were on the tax list, were required to pay taxes.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, there were taxes on taxes and taxes on the mouth. Adult men paid money every year, and children also had to pay silver. During the Tang and Song dynasties, there was a tax on the poll tax. Even if tenant farmers had no place to stand, they had to sell their belongings to make up for the tax amount.

Even worse, the poll tax was often tied to corvée labor. If one could not pay the tax, one would have to perform corvée labor in person. The journey to and from the labor service would take several months, leaving the farmland and sericulture in ruins. Often, one would return from a service service with nothing but bare walls.

To avoid this tax, people either concealed their numbers, sought refuge with gentry as slaves, or even drowned their infants, all to have one less mouth to feed.

This poll tax has turned human lives into a burden.

Zhao Yu's good reputation and strong rule in the Song Dynasty were inseparable from his abolition of the poll tax.

Another major obstacle is land tax.

Before the reign of Emperor Zhao Yu, the land tax was already levied in different grades. However, the tax burden was shifted to the people who had to transport grain thousands of miles away at their own expense. The grain was then converted into silk, and the silk into money. After several conversions, the tax burden increased several times over. The additional charges for grain consumption and grain were also cleverly disguised. The grain was measured in large quantities and piled up without being counted. The official tax was one shi, but the actual amount of grain paid was often close to two shi.

Even for self-cultivating farmers, with their few acres of meager land, after deducting seeds, food rations, and paying taxes and surcharges, they still have surplus grain in good years, but in years of famine, they can only sell their land and produce grain.

Landlords who owned vast tracts of land often used their privileges as gentry to conceal their acreage and shift their tax burden onto tenant farmers. Ultimately, the heavy burden of land tax fell entirely on the shoulders of the farmers at the bottom of society.

The "Equalization of Land Tax and Labor Service" and the "Equal Payment of Grain by Gentry and Scholars" implemented by Zhao Yu had actually greatly improved this situation.

Now, Zhao Shou has further set the land tax at a fixed rate of three percent.

This was great news for both the self-cultivating farmers and the gentry who were forced to pay land taxes by Zhao Yu.

More importantly, throughout history, the suffering of the people has largely stemmed from these two mountains. At best, they were displaced; at worst, they rose up in rebellion. The downfall of many dynasties was due to these two mountains crushing the people's spirit. Zhao Shou was able to further reduce land taxes on the basis of Zhao Yu's work, which can be said to have given the people of the Song Dynasty enough space to recuperate.

Based on this one thing alone, Zhao Shou's claim to be the "new supreme ruler of the Song Dynasty" is actually valid.

Moreover, Zhao Shou did more than just this one thing.

His aim was to reduce taxes and levies, allowing the people to recuperate and thrive.

Of course, this was also because his father had opened up enough avenues for him to generate revenue, allowing him to rely on land tax as the main source of fiscal income instead of traditional land tax.

It was precisely because of this that Zhao Shou received very good reviews.

In short, Zhao Shou led the Song Dynasty, which had fully entered a period of peace, on a path of rapid development once again with great enthusiasm.

Zhao Shou's passion was astonishing; he even displayed a touch of the idealism of a poet, forcing people to admit that he was indeed not a mediocre monarch, and that his abilities and talents had truly blossomed at this moment.

Zhao Shou inherited and carried forward all the fine traditions created by Zhao Yu. He also made good use of new people and initiated reforms. Moreover, he was resolute but not conservative, steady but also dared to innovate.

Although Zhao Shou could not complete the modernization process, he did broaden the path to modernization.

People often use lavish praises like "Like father, like son," "Your Majesty has chosen the right crown prince," and "The crown prince will surely be a wise and benevolent ruler in the future" to describe Zhao Shou...

...(End of this chapter)