I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

After Ma Xiaojiao passed away, Zhao Yu did not appoint another empress, but instead had Li Lin manage his harem.

At this point, although Zhao Yu did not completely belong to Li Lin, she, as the woman who had been with Zhao Yu the longest, had effectively become Zhao Yu's legal wife.

Crucially, even in his old age, Zhao Yu still paid attention to health preservation, diligently practicing "Convict Conditioning," "Yoga," Taoist health cultivation techniques, and martial arts. Li Lin was able to accompany Zhao Yu in all of this.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that Li Lin was able to live as long as Zhao Yu.

Ten years after Ma Xiaojiao's death, Zhao Di passed away.

Zhao Di reigned for a total of twenty-three years.

His greatest achievement during his reign was the use of force to suppress all forces that dared to disobey the rule of the Song Dynasty.

In addition, he governed the country with filial piety and strictly adhered to the national policies and development direction of the Song Dynasty established by Zhao Yu and Zhao Shou.

It can be said that Zhao Di played a pivotal role in connecting the past and the future. Under his rule, ocean-going fleets connected the East and West at sea, and highways and railways built an intercontinental transportation network on land. Trade routes reached all directions, and goods flowed day and night. The Song Dynasty became the core of world trade, and global trade developed greatly and rapidly.

He also devoted himself to promoting industrial development, improving techniques, expanding workshops, and increasing production capacity. Iron smelting, weaving, shipbuilding, and machinery industries all progressed in tandem, resulting in abundant national resources and full granaries.

He also devoted himself to education, vigorously promoted the three-dormitory system, and spread Sinology to the world, making outstanding contributions to cultural export.

In the medical field, Zhao Di, based on the "Ye Shiyun Medical Classic", vigorously promoted the hospital system, popularized affordable medicines, and improved epidemic prevention and control, resulting in increased life expectancy and stable livelihoods for the people.

During Zhao Di's reign, he worked diligently, maintaining the status quo without slacking off and making progress in his work. He used military prowess to preserve the unity of the world, used civil administration to enrich his great achievements, and used construction to solidify the foundation of the country, further promoting and extending the prosperous era of revival established by Zhao Yu and Zhao Shou.

After Zhao Di's death, his son Zhao Zichi succeeded him.

After personally visiting the Chengde Mountain Resort to consult with Zhao Yu, Zhao Zichi issued an imperial edict posthumously honoring Zhao Di as Emperor Shizong.

Although the emperor of the Song Dynasty changed from Zhao Yu's son to Zhao Yu's grandson, it did not affect Zhao Yu's status in the slightest.

This was not only because Zhao Zichi was also the crown prince personally groomed by Zhao Yu, but also because Zhao Yu helped Zhao Zichi three times.

The first time was when Zhao Di died and Zhao Zichi succeeded to the throne.

At that time, Zhao Di died suddenly on his way to inspect Jiangnan. Moreover, from the onset of the illness to his death, only a few hours had passed. The urgency of his condition and the haste of the process far exceeded the norm.

This sudden death disrupted the established rhythm of the succession of the Song Dynasty's imperial power, foreshadowing subsequent political turmoil.

According to the secret succession system established by Zhao Yu, the succession to the throne was carried out in a "two-box" system: one box for the succession was hidden behind the "Zhengda Guangming" plaque in the Qianqing Palace, while the other was carried by the emperor as the core evidence for confirming the heir after his death.

However, after Zhao Di's sudden death, the accompanying ministers and eunuchs immediately searched according to ancestral rules, only to find that the Qianqing Palace lock box was far away in the capital, beyond their reach; and the lock box for establishing the heir apparent that he carried with him was also nowhere to be found. Zhao Di's personal imperial chest was repeatedly searched, but the secret edict for the succession was never found.

The predicament of the "lost imperial edict" instantly caused an upheaval in the Song Dynasty: the foundation of the state was uncertain, people were in a state of panic, and the imperial family members, officials and governors in various regions who remained in the capital were all in a wait-and-see mode, and there was even a hidden political risk of coveting the throne.

—Under the political logic of feudal dynasties that "there cannot be two suns in the sky, nor two emperors in the country," the stagnation of the imperial succession could easily lead to political turmoil and even threaten the stability of the rule.

This demonstrates the urgency of the situation.

In this time of crisis, Chancellor Chen Kangbo, Privy Councilor Yue Fei, and other important officials took the lead in requesting Zhao Yu to appoint a new emperor for the Song Dynasty.

This was supported by almost all the ministers and members of the imperial clan. They did not consider the feelings of Crown Prince Zhao Zichi at all, and jointly sent a telegram to Zhao Yu, asking him to make a decision.

As is well known, Zhao Yu had thousands of sons and even more grandsons, many of whom were more outstanding than Zhao Zichi.

The key point is that although Zhao Yu has been abdicated for more than 20 years, his prestige is so high that he still commands great influence.

It's no exaggeration to say that even if Zhao Zichi had Zhao Di's edict of succession, let alone if he did, Zhao Yu wouldn't have been able to become emperor if he wanted someone else to take the throne.

At that time, Zhao Zichi probably hated his father Zhao Di to the core, thinking how could he have lost such an important document as the imperial edict.

Zhao Zichi was also very worried that his grandfather Zhao Yu would choose one of his uncles to be emperor. After all, no matter how close a grandson is, he can't be closer than a son.

Just as Zhao Zichi was anxiously waiting to see if he would be able to become emperor, Zhao Yu's telegram arrived.

In this telegram, Zhao Yu clearly stated that Zhao Zichi was the crown prince, and since the emperor had passed away, the crown prince should succeed to the throne, and no one else should object.

With Zhao Yu's telegram, all those with ambitions and ulterior motives fell silent.

The crowd no longer waited for the imperial edict to pass the throne and quickly supported Zhao Zichi to succeed Zhao Di to the throne.

Meanwhile, Zhao Zichi inherited the throne from Zhao Di, and Zhao Di's edict of succession was found in the baggage of one of Zhao Di's personal eunuchs.

The edict of succession issued by Zhao Di stated that the throne was to be passed on to Crown Prince Zhao Zichi.

This edict of succession was later compared with the edict of succession behind the "Upright and Bright" plaque, and they were found to be exactly the same.

However, these two edicts of succession can only serve as icing on the cake now; what truly plays a decisive role is Zhao Yu's telegram.

After returning to Beijing, Zhao Zichi immediately went to the Chengde Mountain Resort to kowtow to Zhao Yu, showing an extremely close relationship with him.

The second thing Zhao Yu did for Zhao Zizhi was that, with Zhao Yu's support, Zhao Zizhi completely abolished the land tax that had existed for thousands of years, instantly gaining him a good reputation that would last a lifetime.

However, this also greatly reduced the imperial court's fiscal revenue.

This leads us to the third thing Zhao Yu did to help Zhao Zichi.

The third thing was that Zhao Yu handed over half of the revenue from the various companies, factories, mines, canals, and patents he controlled to the Song Dynasty. This not only filled the huge fiscal hole caused by abandoning land taxes, but also greatly increased the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue.

With these things, even if Zhao Zichi was mediocre during his tenure, he could still secure his position, enjoy peace and prosperity, and steadily take over this prosperous era of peace and tranquility.

Moreover, Zhao Zichi was also a very capable emperor.

In short, after Zhao Zichi ascended the throne, he continued to follow the established policies and development path laid out by Zhao Yu, Zhao Shou, and Zhao Di, and the Song Dynasty continued to prosper, while the world continued to enjoy peace and stability...

Li Lin lived to the age of eighty-three before passing away.

At this time, Zhao Yu had less than 5,000 concubines left. It can be said that all the concubines who were in the same period as Li Lin, or even those who came a few years later, such as Li Qingzhao and Li Shishi, had already passed away.

Li Lin stayed with Zhao Yu for another sixty or seventy years, so it's safe to say she had absolutely no regrets.

This is why, before she died, Li Lin didn't say anything sentimental, only saying, "Your Majesty, I'll go first and wait for you in the other world."

Zhao Yu patted Li Lin's hand and replied, "Okay."

After Li Lin left, Zhao Yu lost much of his sexual interest in women.

This doesn't mean that Zhao Yu was incompetent.

Rather, most of Zhao Yu's concubines were no longer young, and Zhao Yu simply couldn't muster any sexual interest in them.

Later, Zhao Zichi had his empress personally select three hundred young beauties for Zhao Yu and send them to the Chengde Mountain Resort, intending for them to serve Zhao Yu. Over the years, the reason Zhao Yu had not taken any new concubines was that he did not want his women to live a miserable life after his death due to being destitute, and he did not want them to remarry and be cuckolded.

Therefore, Zhao Yu's original intention was not to have these women.

But this was also Zhao Zichi's way of showing filial piety.

The key point is that Zhao Yu was indeed feeling very frustrated.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Yu said to the women: I am already eighty-seven years old. If you follow me, you will definitely face a day when you live as widows and have no one to rely on in your old age. Therefore, those who are willing to stay must be prepared to die for me.

In reality, Zhao Yu was just trying to scare these women into backing down.

Zhao Yu also said, "If you are unwilling to be buried alive with me, I can bestow you upon my children and grandchildren."

really!

Hearing Zhao Yu say this, more than a hundred girls chose to leave.

However, to Zhao Yu's surprise, even after he said that, more than a hundred young girls were still willing to stay with him, and even willing to be buried with him after his death.

Later, Zhao Yu asked them the reason.

They generally answered that it was an honor for them to serve Zhao Yu, the first emperor of all time, and it would be an even greater honor if they were lucky enough to bear him a child. Even if they gained nothing, they would still be happy.

These women have all said so, so besides trying his best to get them to have more children, how could Zhao Yu really betray their sincerity?
Zhao Yu himself never expected that he would live for another twenty years and still show no signs of dying.

By this time, Zhao Yu had reduced his number of concubines to less than three hundred, and more than one hundred of them were the same group that Zhao Zichi had presented to him twenty years earlier.

During the twenty years that Zhao Zichi was in power, the Song Dynasty developed very smoothly and very rapidly.

Zhao Zichi lacks Zhao Di's domineering nature and will not easily start a war, but if he judges that he must go to war, he will be more decisive and ruthless than Zhao Di.

In terms of civil administration, Zhao Zichi continued to follow the national policies and development direction established by Zhao Yu, Zhao Shou, and Zhao Di.

The difference is that during the twenty years that Zhao Zichi served as the emperor of the Song Dynasty, he valued education the most, that is, the promotion of Han learning.

Under Zhao Yu's guidance, Zhao Zichi vigorously promoted simplified characters and Mandarin, making Chinese language and characters the most widely used language and script in the world.

After Zhao Zichi passed away, his throne passed to his second son, Zhao Mingde.

At this time, Zhao Yu was over 110 years old, but he was still vigorous and lived in the Chengde Mountain Resort. Although he did not concern himself with politics, he was still the pillar of the Song Dynasty that no one dared to underestimate.

As soon as Zhao Mingde ascended the throne, he came to kowtow to Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu was not stingy. After giving his son some more stocks, funds, and bonds, he also gave Zhao Mingde a three-year tax exemption. Then he distributed all his savings to his descendants. At the same time, he gave Zhao Mingde all the remaining stocks, companies, factories, mines, canals, patents, etc., to help him consolidate his power.

Zhao Mingde was an extremely conservative man. After ascending the throne, he revered Heaven and his ancestors, worked diligently in governing the country, and rarely explored new avenues. He fully inherited the national policies and guidelines set by the four emperors Zhao Yu, Zhao Shou, Zhao Di, and Zhao Zichi, and dared not deviate from them even slightly.

He knew that the Song Dynasty, after generations of diligent governance, had become a celestial empire respected by all nations, with trade routes connecting the five continents, industrial bases spread throughout its territory, Han Chinese education reaching every corner of the world, railways and highways crisscrossing the land, and a full treasury and stable livelihoods. In such a prosperous era, maintaining the status quo was a great achievement, while reckless changes would be a disaster.

This is Zhao Mingde's governing philosophy, which is ingrained in his very being.

Zhao Mingde was diligent and hardworking, getting up at four in the morning every day to review memorials, working late into the night, and personally handling all matters. However, he had no ambition for innovation or progress, and only focused on studying what Zhao Yu and others had left behind.

He advocated filial piety and based everything on the established laws of his ancestors. He would rather stick to the old rules than change them easily, even if they were no longer appropriate.

He preserved everything that Zhao Yu, Zhao Shou, Zhao Di, and Zhao Zichi had established, but he no longer promoted technological improvements, expanded workshops, or explored new trade routes; he only sought stability.

He was well-behaved, did not indulge in luxury, and did not favor others excessively.

He was extremely respectful to his great-grandfather Zhao Yu, sending envoys to inquire about his well-being every day and personally visiting Chengde to pay homage during festivals. He dared not be negligent in the slightest and regarded every word Zhao Yu said as an imperial edict, resolutely carrying it out.

It was precisely because of this that Zhao Yu helped him make important decisions, and during his reign, he neither committed any major offenses nor achieved any great merits.

At least that was the case while Zhao Yu was alive.

Even if Zhao Yu lived a long life, there would still be an end to his life.

One day when Zhao Yu was 119 years old, he suddenly had a premonition that his time was coming to an end.

At this time, Zhao Yu had less than a hundred concubines left. All the women who had been captured by Zhao Yu had been outlived by him (almost all the men in Wanguo City had also been outlived by him).

Moreover, the youngest of Zhao Yu's surviving concubines is almost fifty years old.

Zhao Yu summoned them and gave each of them enough wealth to live for ten lifetimes. He told them that those with children should go and live with their children, and those without children should go and live with their relatives.

To Zhao Yu's surprise, more than seventy women were willing to die with him, and the dozen or so who did not want to die were also reluctant to part with Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu did not make these women make a futile sacrifice, but instead drove them all away. As for whether they would be buried alive with the dead after they left, Zhao Yu did not care.

Finally, Zhao Yu quietly left the Chengde Mountain Resort with only Liu Fangfang and went to the imperial mausoleum he had been preparing for decades.

By the way, all the people who built the imperial mausoleum for Zhao Yu were put under Zhao Yu's control after the mausoleum was completed. Over the years, they have all been outlived by Zhao Yu.

Upon arriving at his imperial mausoleum, Zhao Yu did not allow Liu Fangfang to accompany him up the mountain, but instead went up the mountain alone to enter the mausoleum.

I forgot to mention that Liu Fangfang was Zhao Yu's last head bodyguard. She was extremely skilled in martial arts and very proficient in firearms. She was Zhao Yu's most trusted person. At the same time, like her predecessors, she was also Zhao Yu's woman and had given birth to two daughters for him.

Liu Fangfang always obeyed Zhao Yu's orders without question, without any hesitation.

Zhao Yu forbade Liu Fangfang from going up the mountain with him, so Liu Fangfang did not go up the mountain with Zhao Yu.

However, Liu Fangfang did not leave. She built a wooden house at the foot of the mountain, determined to keep vigil for Zhao Yu forever, and she also wanted to pass on the task of keeping vigil forever...

It is said that after Zhao Yu went up the mountain, he wandered around in many twists and turns, and after consulting the Qimen Dunjia and the positions of the stars, he passed through layers of mist and finally came to an extremely hidden cave.

Next, Zhao Yu passed through eighty-one trials, and in the final trial, he used his own blood as a "key" to open his imperial tomb.

After inspecting the coffins of his concubines one by one, Zhao Yu opened all the mechanisms in his imperial mausoleum, and the entrance to the hidden cave was sealed off by nine heavy gates.

Then, Zhao Yu lay down in a coffin surrounded by dozens of other coffins.

As soon as he lay down, Zhao Yu felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.

Zhao Yu did not struggle, but simply closed his eyes and fell asleep.

……

A very long time passed, perhaps a thousand years, and Zhao Yu suddenly opened his eyes...

(The End of Book.) (End of Chapter)