I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

Seven days after the Song army landed in England, they defeated the main force of the English army and captured alive all members of the English royal family and royal clan, including King Henry I, Queen Adliza of Louvain, Matilda, known as the "She-Wolf," who challenged medieval gender prejudices and "lost the crown but won the dynasty" with resilience and strategy, Holy Roman Empress, heir to the English throne, mother of the Plantagenet dynasty, and future Queen Matilda of Boulogne. They were all captured and sent to Zhao Yu.

With the war having progressed to this point, it could be said that the entire territory of Europe had been conquered by the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force.

The remaining resistance forces can be quelled gradually.

At the same time, Zhao Yu divided Europe into more than seventy fiefdoms and granted them to his sons.

Zhao Yu then sent his son to invade Africa and divided the continent into more than fifty kingdoms, which he then distributed among his sons.

In this process, just like in Central Asia and West Asia, treasures accumulated by Europe and Africa over thousands of years fell into the hands of the Song Dynasty, with a large number of the best and most precious items ending up in the hands of Emperor Zhao Yu.

In addition, just like in Central and West Asia, almost all the royal families, royal families, clansmen, and nobles of various countries, ethnic groups, and powers in Europe and Africa were captured by the Song army. The men were all escorted back to the Wan Guo City in Beijing, and the women were all taken into Zhao Yu's harem.

To put it in concrete terms, Zhao Yu's harem now contains over 40,000 women, equaling the number held by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Li Longji), second only to Shi Hu, the Later Zhao emperor who "once decreed that all women under the age of twenty and over the age of thirteen throughout the country, regardless of marital status, should become candidates for his harem. Local officials, in order to boost their performance evaluations, often seized other men's wives and daughters, resulting in as many as 100,000 women being selected."

Although Zhao Yu had a dream of killing 100,000 people, he actually didn't need that many women.

Zhao Yu had considered giving some of these royal daughters, princesses, members of the imperial clan, and noblewomen to his sons.

However, Zhao Yu quickly dismissed this idea.

Destroying another country, killing or imprisoning its royal family, royal family, clan members, and nobles, and then seizing their daughters—no matter how you look at it, it is an unforgettable disaster and experience for the parties involved and their relatives and friends. Just like the Jingkang Incident, it is unlikely that those involved would not harbor hatred in their hearts.

If we don't do that, even if we release just one or a few of these people, it could cause turmoil in the Song Dynasty or its vassal states, and could even lead to countless deaths and endless troubles.

If Zhao Yu were to do that, it would be an act of womanly compassion.

However, bestowing these women upon Zhao Yu's sons, especially his sons who were already feudal lords, might allow these women to rise again or even grow stronger through the power of Zhao Yu's sons, thus becoming a future threat.

It was precisely for this reason that when Zhao Yu's sons got married, he only allowed them to marry daughters of Song Dynasty officials or commoners from respectable families, giving no chance for the forces they had destroyed to be resurrected.

Of course, it is true that Zhao Yu was fond of women and enjoyed collecting all kinds of beauties.

Furthermore, as Genghis Khan said, "The greatest joy in life is to defeat your enemies, pursue them, seize all their possessions, see their loved ones weeping, ride their horses, and carry their wives and daughters on your arms."

Although he didn't want to admit it, deep down, Zhao Yu did agree with some of Temujin's words.

After Europe was completely pacified, in addition to leaving a portion of the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force to guard Europe, Zhao Yu also dispatched another Song Dynasty expeditionary force and the Song Dynasty navy to conquer the countries of India.

By the thirty-fourth year of the Hongwu reign, which was the seventh year of Zhao Yu's western expedition, except for a small part of extremely backward regions in Africa and India, as well as some remote islands, the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa had basically been unified by Zhao Yu.

Meanwhile, most of Oceania, North America, and South America had already been occupied by Zhao Yu's son.

The remaining Antarctica, unsuitable for human habitation, has also been declared by Zhao Yu to belong to the Song Dynasty.

At this point, roughly 70-80% of the landmass in this world belonged to the Song Dynasty, and it could almost be declared that Zhao Yu was the ruler of the world.

The world has entered the era of the rule of Zhao Yu and his son.

Some people flattered Zhao Yu, calling him "Emperor of the Universe," meaning a world emperor who ruled over the four corners of the earth.

At this time, Zhao Yu quietly made a decision—to retire.

That's right.

It means retirement.

Although Zhao Yu is only in his fifties, he looks even younger than his twenties. He is strong and healthy, and can handle five or seven women a night without getting tired. He could work for several more decades.

But Zhao Yu did not want it to be this way.

'I wasn't reborn just to work all the time. If I were reborn and still just work without enjoying anything, wouldn't I have wasted my life?'

Moreover, Zhao Yu felt he was entitled to retire.

Putting aside the fact that Zhao Yu has practically conquered the world.

Let's just talk about the economy.

Thanks to the great development of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution, as well as Zhao Yu's unification of the world, the global economy generally improved, especially in the Song Dynasty, which became quite prosperous.

It can be said that the Song Dynasty has now eliminated the situation of people starving to death. Even the vassal states of the Song Dynasty have gradually eliminated the situation of starvation, as long as they do not encounter problems of their own or encounter factors beyond human control.

As the Industrial Revolution greatly increased human productivity, Song Dynasty goods flooded into all parts of the world. Traditional products such as silk, porcelain, and tea remained highly sought after, while new light and heavy industrial products quickly took over the market.

Merchants from all over the world flocked to the port cities of the Song Dynasty, and cargo ships shuttled back and forth at the docks, loading and unloading goods from all corners of the world.

As a result, major cities in the Song Dynasty, including some remote ones, experienced rapid development.

The currency of the Song Dynasty became the universal currency in world trade. Whether in bustling European cities, ancient African tribes, or North and South America, the currency of the Song Dynasty circulated freely. As for Asia, it goes without saying that the currency of the Song Dynasty was the only currency in Asia.

This further expanded the economic influence of the Song Dynasty, and various regions established trade relations with the Song Dynasty to obtain Song currency and Song goods.

With the prosperity of the economy, the culture of the Song Dynasty also spread to all parts of the world.

The poetry, painting, calligraphy and other art forms of the Song Dynasty were sought after by nobles and literati from various countries.

Many foreign students flocked to the Song Dynasty to study its culture and technology.

Furthermore, Zhao Yu's own wealth was undeniably the greatest in the world.

Even before becoming emperor, Zhao Yu understood that he must keep his personal money separate from the nation's money and not mix them. It was precisely for this reason that Zhao Yu had been accumulating wealth over the years, and Ye Shiyun was his most capable assistant.

However, because Zhao Yu had Ye Shiyun, an economic expert from a thousand years in the future, his methods of accumulating wealth were very clever and not criticized by others.

I won't go into details about how they accumulated initial capital through early raids on property.

It is only said that in the process of the development of the Song Dynasty, some businesses that others were unwilling to do inevitably emerged.

For example, in the earliest maritime trade, when others were unwilling to invest, Zhao Yu invested in building treasure ships, organizing caravans, and opening up the Silk Road.

For example, in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, when others were unwilling to build various factories, Zhao Yu personally funded the construction of all sorts of factories.

For example, before anyone realized that coal, oil, and natural gas would become the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution, Zhao Yu invested money in finding coal, oil, and natural gas, developing advanced mining technologies, and even building oil and gas pipelines.

For example, when the imperial court introduced financial products such as stocks, funds, government bonds, and stock index futures, and no one bought them, Zhao Yu would pay for them.

Furthermore, Zhao Yu truly refused to give away any particularly lucrative deals to others.

For example, Zhao Yu appointed trusted confidants to manage the Clark Canal and the Suez Canal.

For example, Zhao Yu always kept 20% of the revenue from the wars he waged against foreign powers.

Wait, wait, wait...

In short, Zhao Yu is now the undisputed richest man in the world. Even if Zhao Yu had dozens more women and dozens more children and grandchildren, and Zhao Yu and his women and children squandered his wealth, he probably wouldn't be able to spend it all in a hundred lifetimes. It could even be said that his wealth could support the Song Dynasty for a hundred years without any problem.

Most importantly, Zhao Yu's sons and ministers were also very capable. They not only followed Zhao Yu to conquer almost the entire world, liberating all slaves and bringing humanity from slave society to feudal society, but also connected the world with railways, highways and seagoing vessels, and started the Industrial Revolution, which took human civilization a big step forward. They also governed and developed the world very well.

Furthermore, children and grandchildren have their own destinies, and Zhao Yu cannot be a slave to his children and grandchildren forever—he has so many children and grandchildren, his sons can have sons, and his grandsons can have grandsons. If he really can't let go, it will never end.

In addition, in this era, the average lifespan of humans is only forty years. Even if time travelers like Zhao Yu changed the world and increased the average lifespan of humans, Zhao Yu, as an "old man" in his fifties, should still retire.

Therefore, Zhao Yu entered a state of retirement. Unless it was a particularly important matter, he did not concern himself with anything else and left everything to his sons or ministers.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yu, along with his concubines, moved around and enjoyed the sights of the world as railways and highways were built.

Zhao Yu's behavior made it clear to everyone that he truly had no intention of getting involved in worldly affairs.

In fact, almost everyone could see that if there weren't still some regions in the world that hadn't been conquered by the Song Dynasty, and if the newly conquered regions hadn't been completely stabilized, and if no one could keep Zhao Yu's sons in check and get them to live in harmony, Zhao Yu might have already abdicated in favor of Zhao Shou.

To put it simply, the reason why Zhao Yu had not yet formally passed on his imperial title to Zhao Shou was because he was still the link between his sons. And since the world was still in its early stages of development, he was indispensable as the link and the common supreme leader.

However, discerning people have already noticed that Zhao Yu is transferring all government affairs, including matters between the various vassal states, to Zhao Shou.

—They found Zhao Yu, and unless it was something extremely urgent, Zhao Yu would hand it over to Zhao Shou to handle.

Many people even speculate that Zhao Yu has no intention of returning to the Song Dynasty's homeland, but instead plans to continue living a carefree and comfortable life as he does now, with his women and children.

Those intelligent people understood Zhao Yu's situation.

There can be no two suns in the sky, nor two rulers in a country.

As a vast governance community, a nation needs a unified will, unified laws, and unified commands in order to unite its forces and coordinate all parties.

From a political perspective, the exclusivity of power is the core guarantee for avoiding division and internal strife.

If two monarchs and two supreme authorities coexist in a country, it will inevitably lead to inconsistent policies, disordered rewards and punishments, and conflicting military orders. Subjects will be at a loss, local areas will become independent and dependent on each other, the power system will be torn apart, and ultimately war and separatism will occur.

Throughout history, whenever regimes coexisted or two rulers vied for power, it was a time of turmoil and hardship for the people; whereas an era of unified rule and a single monarch often ensured smooth governance and social stability.

This historical fact repeatedly proves that a decentralized supreme power cannot support a unified country. Only when "there are no two rulers in a country" can power struggles be eliminated and the integrity of the territory and regime be maintained.

Zhao Yu's clear understanding of this situation earned him even greater admiration from the world.

Zhao Yu not only thought this way, but he also did it.

Over the next four or five years, Zhao Yu gradually transferred his power to Zhao Shou and helped Zhao Shou govern the world.

After Zhao Yu and Zhao Shou had completely handed over their power, and Zhao Yu was preparing to issue an imperial edict to abdicate in favor of Zhao Shou, Zhao Shou suddenly wrote a personal letter to Zhao Yu.

This handwritten letter seemed to be a very ordinary greeting, and it also introduced some changes in the Song Dynasty to Zhao Yu. It also mentioned some minor conflicts and frictions between several vassal states, and said that he had dealt with them and that Zhao Yu did not need to worry, as there was nothing serious. However, Zhao Yu noticed that Zhao Shou's name was missing a dot in the signature.

If others saw this, they would most likely guess that Zhao Shou was careless and forgot to write this last stroke.

But Zhao Yu knew that this was definitely not caused by Zhao Shou's carelessness.

Before Zhao Yu's western expedition, he made a pact with Zhao Shou that if any major events occurred in the country, Zhao Shou would write him a secret letter, the code being that the character "Shou" in his name would be missing a dot.

Therefore, when Zhao Yu saw that the character for "longevity" was missing a dot on the letter, his pupils contracted!
Zhao Yu quickly said to Zhang Chun, "Quickly bring the developing solution over."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chun knew something was wrong, so she quickly went to find Ma Xiaojiao and asked her to prepare the developing solution.

Before long, the five women brought over a basin of developing solution and placed it on Zhao Yu's desk.

Zhao Yu immediately turned Zhao Shou's letter over and put it in the basin.

Soon, a line of small print appeared on the letter: Your Majesty, I am critically ill. Please return immediately!

...(End of this chapter)