I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 97 The shortcomings and strategies of Zhuzi
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The meal with Zheng Xiansu was boring.

There were only six dishes for one person at the table, and they were all vegetables and tofu, two of which were even pickles.

If it weren't for the fish and the plate of Dongpo pork, the five girls would have felt that Zheng Xiansu was punishing them instead of treating them to a meal.

It is no exaggeration to say that since the five women came to Zhao Ya's harem, every meal they had was much better than this one.

So much so that, right after coming out of Zheng Xiansu's place, Ye Shiyun couldn't help but complain: "Are you really that frugal? You only have these few dishes when you treat us to a meal?"

Li Lin said: "She was taught by Empress Dowager Xiang and must have inherited her virtue of frugality. She may even carry it forward. It's not targeting us, but she is leading the way in frugality."

Ma Xiaojiao said, "I really can't understand it. If being a queen means living like this, what's the point of being a queen? We can eat whatever we want and do whatever we want. Isn't that much happier than being a queen?"

Yuan Qingcheng said, "Perhaps everyone's pursuits are different. The happiness that Empress Zheng sought might not lie in material abundance or the satisfaction of her appetite, but in spiritual enrichment and the fulfillment of her responsibilities. It might be a state of mind that transcends material comforts, and it was the belief and ideal that she upheld as empress."

Ye Shiyun interrupted Yuan Qingcheng's sigh: "That's profound, Qingcheng. You're almost reaching the level of philosophy. I was just complaining that she's too frugal for a queen. I just don't understand why."

Ma Xiaojiao agreed: "Yes, I don't understand her either. But never mind, I admire her as a person, but we should just live our own lives, simple and happy, that's fine."

At this time, Li Lin looked at Zhang Chun and asked, "Why haven't you said anything?"

Zhang Chun finally spoke up: "I was wondering how you guys can still be so relaxed. Don't you know that our good days are about to end?"

Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng also looked at Zhang Chun. Li Lin asked directly, "What do you mean by that?"

Zhang Chun said slowly, "Have you forgotten her nine rules?"

"What nine?" Ma Xiaojiao asked.

"It's about not colluding with in-laws or something like that. It has nothing to do with us." Yuan Qingcheng said.

Zhang Chun smiled coldly: "It has nothing to do with us?"

"Her nine principles are a summary of the brilliant methods used by many empresses throughout history to govern their harems. Like Tai Chi pushing hands, gentle on the surface, yet concealing hidden secrets. She integrated political schemes into the details of daily life, achieving control over the harem without appearing to be showing off..."

After Zhang Chun's explanation, the four girls realized that Zheng Xiansu transformed her personal desires into the motivation to maintain imperial power, and achieved absolute control over the harem under the gentle appearance. This "silent and subtle" art of governance is more terrifying than the palace fighting with swords and swords, because what she wants to control is people's hearts.

For example, the implementation of the "Palace Imperial Examination" was created by Empress Liu E of Song Zhenzong, who was comparable to Wu Zetian in the Zhao Song Dynasty. She used the imperial examination system to reform the harem promotion system. With this trick, Liu E made the concubines in the harem at that time obsessed with preparing for exams and promotions, and there were no vicious palace fights for decades. Liu E also used this to cultivate her own think tank, which not only controlled the entire harem, but also played around with the entire Zhao Song Dynasty.

After listening to Zhang Chun's analysis, the four women were stunned! They really didn't expect that what they thought was a routine speech could actually hide such a profound meaning.

Looking at these political idiots, Zhang Chun was speechless.

Zhang Chun glanced at Li Lin again, "With your political level, you still want to compete with me for the leadership position. If we are led by you, I'm afraid we won't even be able to get past Pei Sui."

After reacting for a while, Yuan Qingcheng said, "But this doesn't seem to have anything to do with us, right?"

After hearing what Yuan Qingcheng said, Ye Shiyun also reacted: "Yes, we are with Zhao Ya, Queen Zheng should not be able to control us."

Zhang Chun nodded. "You're right. With Zhao Ya protecting us, Empress Zheng will definitely not touch us. But have you ever thought about this? They live like ascetics, while we stand by and eat and drink freely, enjoying a carefree and carefree life. How can they not be jealous of us? Then we will become opposites."

Zhang Chun added in his mind, "How can I lead them?"

Ma Xiaojiao blinked her beautiful eyes and asked, "Let them hold grudges, let them oppose us, but what impact will it have on us? Can they really attack us? If all else fails, we can move there once the Qingcheng Agricultural Research Base is built. It'll just be a matter of having them build a few more houses."

Ye Shiyun agreed, "That's exactly what I want. Those natives don't want to play with me, and I don't want to play with them either. Every day they talk about women workers or poetry. We have no common topics at all."

Yuan Qingcheng was even more supportive: "My place is very big, it's no problem to build a big villa for each of you."

Zhang Chun was convinced. She thought to herself, "If we move out, it will be exactly what Queen Zheng wants. She's eager for us troublemakers to get out of here. How can I possibly let her have her way? The key is, if I can't get along well with the concubines in the harem, how can I overthrow Queen Zheng, become the empress, and rule the six palaces? If I can't become the empress, how can I become Wu Zetian?"

Zhang Chun said bluntly: "If you want to leave, go ahead. I won't leave anyway."

Ma Xiaojiao was puzzled: "Why?"

Zhang Chun rolled his eyes: "Will Zhao Ya go with you?"

After Zhang Chun said this, Ye Shiyun and Ma Xiaojiao were speechless.

How could Zhao Ya leave the palace for such a long time? He had to work in the palace and return to the harem to take care of his concubines.

If Zhao Ya didn't leave and they left, it wouldn't be long before Zhao Ya, who had countless women, would forget them completely. Then, they would be the ones who suffered.

It was not until then that Ye Shiyun and Ma Xiaojiao realized that they were different from Yuan Qingcheng. Yuan Qingcheng was too busy hiding from Zhao Ya and could of course move to her agricultural base to live, but they could no longer live without Zhao Ya.

At this time, Li Lin said: "I won't leave either. Wherever Zhao Ya is, I will be there." Ye Shiyun immediately pulled back the words: "I was just joking. Zhao Ya is my life. How can I leave him?"

Ma Xiaojiao also said: "I will definitely have to go to Qingcheng more often, but I won't live there, otherwise the officials will not be able to find me."

Seeing this, Yuan Qingcheng could only shut her mouth tactfully.

Seeing that the women had turned the corner, Zhang Chuncai said again: "Since we can't leave, we have to face the problem of getting along with them. In my opinion, otherwise, we should listen to Queen Zheng first. The "Nu Xun" is only a little over a thousand words. With our IQ far beyond our time, we can easily memorize it. Even the "Nu Ze" is only a few tens of thousands of words. As for the imperial examination she organized, we can definitely pass it with a little study. Poetry is even easier. If we just copy a few poems, we can beat all of them. If you don't know how, I can teach you. But we really need to abide by her frugality and rules... Hey, don't leave!"

When Li Lin's four daughters heard this, they realized that if they wanted to live in peace with other concubines, they would have to do so much, so how could they live in peace?

Ye Shiyun said bluntly: "It's that simple, you can do it yourself, don't call me, you want me to suffer, no way!"

Zhang Chun looked at the backs of Li Lin and the other two girls and said angrily, "These brats are not worth having a say in!"

Thinking that he wasn't particularly fond of luxury and was a natural rule-abiding person, Zhang Chun gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, I'll do it!"

However, Zhang Chun felt a little scalp-tingling when he thought about living that kind of ascetic life.

"In the later years of Emperor Zhenzong's reign, Liu E showed some signs of trying to undermine him. If Empress Zheng were to imitate Liu E, Zhao Ya might mind. If that were the case, wouldn't that be my chance?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Chun immediately ran to Funing Palace to find Zhao Ya.

It just so happened that Zhao Ya also wanted Zhang Chun to give him some advice on whether his idea of ​​"after the crisis is resolved, slowly try to convert part of the army into the police system and delegate public security responsibilities to local governments" would work?
So, knowing that Zhang Chun was coming to see him, Zhao Ya put everything else aside and asked Liang Shicheng to call Zhang Chun in.

As soon as they met, Zhao Ya smiled and said, "What gust of wind blew my beloved concubine here?"

As soon as Zhao Ya opened her mouth, Zhang Chun knew that Zhao Ya must have some use for her, otherwise he would not call her his beloved concubine.

Zhang Chun thought, "Okay, I'll solve your problem first, then bring up my problem and see how you respond."

"I have nothing to do, so I came to visit your place." At this point, Zhang Chun retreated and said, "If your Majesty has something to do, I can come back another day."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ya immediately reached out and hugged Zhang Chun, letting her sit on his lap. He said, "My beloved concubine, you have come at the perfect time. I have something I can't make up my mind about. Please help me analyze it."

Having done more intimate things with Zhao Ya before, Zhang Chun was not afraid to sit on his lap. She cleverly put her arms around Zhao Ya's neck and said delicately, "I'd like to hear more about it."

So Zhao Ya expressed his thoughts.

Of course, Zhao Ya couldn't even utter the word "police." Instead, he suggested separating the county lieutenant and establishing a separate government office. He would select the military personnel responsible for public security and assign them to this new office, which would be responsible for public security management, household registration management, and other areas...

Zhang Chun's eyes lit up after hearing this. She thought to herself, "Isn't this just about building a police system? I didn't expect you to be so smart."

"This matter has certain feasibility, but if implemented, it will face many risks..."

Zhang Chun's analysis:

The Zhao Song Dynasty currently possessed a large army (especially the Imperial Guards and the Xiang Army), but its combat effectiveness was low, and vacancies were severe, making military expenditures a financial burden. Transferring redundant troops to the police force would help alleviate financial pressure. By disbanding redundant troops, resources could be concentrated on training and equipping elite units, thereby improving the overall combat effectiveness of the army.

Furthermore, local security during the Zhao Song Dynasty relied primarily on patrol inspection offices, county lieutenants, and the Baojia system. However, these institutions were limited in capacity and could not cope with the increasingly complex security issues. Establishing a specialized police system could make up for the lack of local security forces.

However, such reform still involves problems and risks.

For example, the army and the police have different responsibilities, organizational structures, and management methods; local finances may not be able to support the operation of the police system; this move may trigger resistance or even rebellion from vested interests; delegating public security responsibilities to local governments may weaken the central government's control over local governments and trigger a power game between the central and local governments; the dismantling of redundant troops may cause a large number of soldiers to lose their jobs, and if they are not properly resettled, it may cause social unrest.

In response to these situations, Zhang Chun offered five feasible suggestions based on relevant historical cases and later police systems, namely:

First, find a few controllable areas in the Gyeonggi region to conduct pilot implementation;
Retrain and reorganize officers and soldiers entering the police system to enable them to master skills such as handling civil disputes and catching thieves. Establish an organizational structure for local police and clarify their duties and powers.

The imperial court would provide a certain amount of financial support to help local governments establish and maintain police systems, and encourage them to raise funds through taxation or other means to reduce the burden on the central government.

Proper resettlement of disbanded soldiers, such as providing severance pay, land, or employment opportunities, to avoid causing social problems;

While delegating public security responsibilities to local governments, the central government retained certain supervisory powers and the power to appoint and dismiss personnel to prevent abuse of power or corruption within the local police system. In other words, the police system's operating funds were primarily provided by local governments, but the central government established a separate department to manage the police system, and local governments had no right to interfere...

It has to be said that although Zhang Chun was only a second-rate aide, she had a thousand years more knowledge and experience than people of this era, so she could still give a lot of unique suggestions. The key was that she could keep up with Zhao Ya's thinking and fill in the gaps for Zhao Ya, which was something that the prime ministers and ministers could not give Zhao Ya sometimes.

As for whether what Zhao Ya and Zhang Chun discussed would be incompatible with local conditions, they could simply discuss and improve it with a group of prime ministers and ministers.

Zhao Ya kissed Zhang Chun's lips fiercely and praised her generously, "My beloved concubine is truly my female Zhuge Liang." Then he changed his tone and said, "How about my beloved concubine staying with me today?"

……

(End of this chapter)