I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 343 New World Set Sail

The northwest border is filled with yellow sand.

Chu Zhao stood on the city wall, looking at the distant sky. At the end of the horizon was a deep red, and there was a sense of desolation in the grandeur.

The dynasty and territory he is in now is the Song Dynasty, which is similar to the Song Dynasty in history books, but also slightly different.

For example: the current emperor, whose father is Zhao Heng, corresponds to the historical Emperor Zhenzong of Song, and even the reign title is the same, but there are many differences.

For example, there was no such person as Kou Zhun, the famous prime minister during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Instead, there was a famous prime minister named Ke Zheng.

His experience is very similar to that of Kou Zhun in history, as well as other famous figures such as the Five Ghosts in "The Chronicles of Emperor Zhenzong", none of whom existed, but similar figures replaced them.

For another example: Su Shi was not even born yet, but the world already had the poem "Nian Nujiao: Remembering the Past at Chibi".

There is also the current queen, who is the mother of his current body. In history, the corresponding person should be Liu E, but in this world she is called Liu Wan.

However, with the previous experience of time travel, Chu Zhao guessed that he should have traveled to the world of film and television again.

This is not a historical record, but a fictional film and television world.

As for which specific film or TV series it is, Chu Zhao still hasn't figured it out.

The main reason was that apart from "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty", he had never watched any complete film or TV series from the Song Dynasty. At most, he had only seen some clips, but after comparing them over and over again, he still couldn't figure out which film or TV series he had traveled to.

Chu Zhao also communicated with the system, but after sending him through time, the system said that the host had too many complaints about their system, and the Tiandao League asked them to go back for a meeting. So before Chu Zhao had the chance to ask clearly, the system left.

Of course, it is understandable that he was in a hurry because he was in a meeting.

But the question is, hasn’t this meeting lasted a little too long?
He is already sixteen years old and the system has not come back yet.

Wow, a meeting has been held for sixteen years, that’s really impressive.

Fortunately, some system functions were still usable, but there were no system tasks, which made it impossible for him to judge the world he was in.

After traveling through time, his identity became Zhao Heng's fourth son Zhao Wei, a person who never existed in history. Now he has only one very famous half-brother still alive - Zhao Zhen, who later became Song Renzong. His current location is the border between Xiazhou and the Song Dynasty.

As for him, a prince, why would he appear in the northwest border?
The year before last, which was the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, he escaped from Tokyo City on his own and has been here for more than a year. His father was so angry that he had issued more than a dozen golden decrees.

Even though he had won battles along the way and had grown his army from 500 men at the beginning to the current army of 10,000, becoming a fierce tiger on the northwest border, Zhao Heng had been urging him to return to Beijing.

On the one hand, I am worried about his safety.

On the other hand, the talent he showed since childhood made Zhao Heng and the court unwilling to see him become a military general.

As we all know, in the Song Dynasty, the status of military generals was very low.

Civil officials have always looked down on military generals. Even the top nobles are in the civil officials' contempt chain.

Especially those upright civil servants, who were even more incompatible with the nobles in the court.

Although it has always been the mainstream that civil officials in all dynasties look down on military generals, compared with other dynasties, the Song Dynasty was definitely the most serious one.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the Song Dynasty, scholars were superior to others, especially those who had achieved academic honors. They were given various preferential treatments, such as not having to kneel before officials, tax exemption, etc.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the nobles are inferior to the civil officials. For example, the top nobles have equally high status and dare to confront the civil officials. It’s just that in terms of momentum in the court, the civil officials are the dominant ones after all.

The reason for this is also inextricably linked to Emperor Taizu of Song. After all, wearing the yellow robe and giving up military power with a cup of wine were all done by Emperor Taizu of Song.

In short, military officers were not valued and the status of military men was low.

Therefore, the civil officials were naturally not happy to see the prince Zhao Wei, or even the future emperor of the Song Dynasty, degenerate and join the army.

Not to mention that Zhao Wei had shown outstanding talent for study since he was a child. He passed the imperial examination under a pseudonym at the age of thirteen.

As for why the military officers were unwilling to see Zhao Wei join the army?
Because he has always been very close to military officers, the generals in the court hoped that he would stay in Tokyo Bianliang and help speak for them in the court.

After all, when Zhao Wei ran away, Zhao Heng had already ordered him to participate in politics, so he could definitely help them.

But who would have thought that he actually ran away secretly.

Therefore, everyone in the court, both civil and military, was extremely opposed to his joining the army. Ever since Zhao Wei emerged on the northwest border and his identity was passed back to Bianliang City, everyone in the court had been criticizing Zhao Heng for his poor discipline.

Among them, civil officials were the majority, and among the civil officials, the most prominent was Ke Zheng, Zhao Wei’s teacher in this life.

After learning that his disciple, who had passed the imperial examination at the age of thirteen, had secretly come to the northwest to join the army, he criticized Zhao Heng every three days and every five days.

The spittle really sprayed on Zhao Heng's face, so much so that Zhao Heng avoided him and pretended to be sick and dared not go to court.

He was just about to capture Zhao Heng and personally go to the border to bring Zhao Wei back to Bian Jing.

Of course, while being angry, Ke Zheng was also very relieved.

Everyone knows that the Song Dynasty’s biggest rival now is the Liao Kingdom, but the relationship between the Song Dynasty and the Xiazhou Dingnan Army is not harmonious.

The Dingnan Army was the predecessor of the Western Xia during the Song Dynasty. The regime established by the Li family by uniting the various ethnic groups, including the Dangxiang Qiang and Tuoba tribes, had always been in alliance with the Liao Dynasty to resist the Song Dynasty.

Before Zhao Wei came to the northwest, the Dingnan Army often harassed the northwestern border of the Song Dynasty.

Although no large-scale fighting broke out between the two sides, the Song Dynasty was always at a disadvantage.

What happened after Zhao Wei left?

Zhao Wei, with his five hundred personal guards, won battle after battle and defeated the Dingnan army step by step.

The number of his subordinates has grown from 500 at the beginning to 10,000 now.

Not to mention that his subordinates were extremely powerful, the key point was that for more than a year, Zhao Wei not only did not ask the court for even a penny of support, he even managed the northwestern border in an orderly manner.

In addition, there was the battle that took place at the beginning of this autumn.

Originally everyone thought it was just a small-scale friction, but as the fighting went on, Zhao Wei turned it into a battle between 10,000 and 100,000. The imperial court was ready to send troops to reinforce, but before the court was ready, news came from Bianliang City that Zhao Wei had led 10,000 soldiers to defeat the Dingnan Army and was preparing to attack the Dingnan Army's territory.

The court was pessimistic about Zhao Wei's counterattack. Zhao Heng issued five golden medals within a month, asking Zhao Wei to keep his troops in place and wait for court officials to negotiate with the Dingnan Army.

But Zhao Wei ignored them. When no one was optimistic about him, he led his soldiers to counterattack. In the end, he beheaded 50,000 people and captured nearly 10,000 cattle, sheep and horses. He forced the Dingnan Army to seek peace and signed the "Northwest Armistice Treaty", paying tribute of 50,000 taels of silver and 1,000 war horses to the Song Dynasty every year.

After this battle, Zhao Wei and his Blood-Clothed Army became famous overnight. Zhao Wei became the most famous young general in the Song Dynasty. In the legends of people all over the world, the fourth prince Zhao Wei was the Huo Qubing of the contemporary dynasty.

Of course, the reason for this is that there has been no war in the Song Dynasty for many years since the Treaty of Chanyuan. This rare victory will naturally be widely praised in the court.

It is worth mentioning that because of this incident, Zhao Heng almost went to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth again.

Fortunately, Zhao Wei wrote a letter to persuade him again.

Why do we say again and again? Because in the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Zhao Wei dissuaded Zhao Heng once.

In short, because of the publicity and praise in the court, Zhao Wei became the Huo Qubing of the contemporary dynasty, and his name spread all over the world. However, compared with the martial arts achievements that people all over the world paid attention to, teacher Ke Zheng valued civil governance more.

After all, among the two princes now, Zhao Wei is the legitimate eldest son.

If nothing unexpected happened, Zhao Wei would be the future emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Does the emperor need martial arts?

Yes, but civil governance is more necessary.

What about Zhao Wei’s civil administration?
According to the news transmitted from the northwestern border to Bian Jing, in just over a year, the people in the three northwestern counties under Zhao Wei's governance had completely achieved food and clothing.

Not only was there no problem with food and clothing, but they could even eat meat a few times a month.

It can be said that among the people of the three northwestern counties, Zhao Wei is the most respected person in the world.

Wenzhi, need I say more?
Anyway, Ke Zheng might not be able to do that.

There are military achievements and there is civil governance, and civil governance is even more important than military achievements.

what is this?
This is both civil and military.

With such a prince, the Song Dynasty will surely prosper.

How could Ke Zheng not feel gratified to have such a student? !
As a result, recently there have been calls in the court of Bianliang to make Zhao Wei the crown prince, and the calls have been getting louder and louder.

Zhao Wei didn't care much about being the crown prince. He cared more about the system mission he had completed during this time travel.

It is unknown when the system consciousness will return, so the system tasks did not appear.

However, Zhao Wei had a feeling that as long as he met the key characters in the film and television dramas, he should be able to activate the system task, and perhaps there would be no need for the system consciousness that could disappear at any time.

So, he was already thinking about how to deal the final blow to the Dingnan army, and then leave here and return to Bianjing. After all, Bianjing should be the place where he would most likely run into key figures.

Of course, in addition to the system tasks, after traveling to the Song Dynasty, he also wanted to destroy the Liao Kingdom and take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

But Zhao Wei knew very well that this was unrealistic, at least not for the time being.

Looking at the entire Song Dynasty today, it is estimated that there are few people willing to start a war, especially a war with the Liao Kingdom.

He is now just a sixteen-year-old young general. Even if he becomes the crown prince, he will not have much say in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty. He is far less powerful than the civil service group. Haven't you seen that his emperor father was criticized by the civil servants?

Given the situation of the Song Dynasty, there was only one possibility for it to destroy the Liao Dynasty: it had enough military power.

After all, a great man once said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Only with military power can you stand tall and have the right to speak.

"I only have less than 10,000 men now. Let alone going back to Bianjing to fight for the right to speak, even destroying the entire Dingnan Army is a problem."

Zhao Wei sighed deeply, retracted his gaze, went down the city wall, summoned Zhao Huai'en, Li Junxin and others, and then the Blood-Cloth Army began the journey to suppress the bandits.

Zhao Wei naturally didn't need to take any action in suppressing bandits. He was happy to have some free time and spent most of his time practicing internal skills. However, the speed of his practice was as slow as a snail.

For example, if his cultivation speed in Shaobai and Shaoge's world is 100, then his cultivation speed in this world is at most one thousandth, a difference of a thousand times.

There are two reasons. One is that when he was in Shaobai Shaoge's world, the system gave him the gift of a natural martial vein, so he was a top talent in martial arts training. The other reason is that this world is probably a very low-level martial arts world, and it may not even have the word "martial arts" on it.

It is precisely because of these two reasons that his cultivation speed is extremely slow. It is estimated that even if he cultivates to the age of 100 in this world, he may not be able to reach the Vajra Mortal Realm of Shaoge's world.

The situation in this world now is very similar to the Shaoge world he left. Although he can practice some internal strength, the most he can do is pick leaves to hurt people, and his power is roughly the same as that of a crossbow arrow.

But after all, it is a technique given by the system. Although the speed of improving internal strength is extremely slow, it is constantly enhancing physical fitness and strength. Anyway, lifting a thousand pounds is easy now.

In addition to practicing, Zhao Wei would also practice martial arts with his soldiers or visit the people under his rule. He lived a relaxed and comfortable life.

He is a person who has experienced peace and war, so he knows better the value of peace. Just like in modern society, if it were not for peace, how could people live so comfortably.

But unlike the peace in later generations, the peace in the Song Dynasty was somewhat false, a false prosperity.

The same is true for the current northwestern border. If he does not destroy the Dingnan Army, this land will surely be engulfed in war again after they leave.

Zhao Wei didn't believe in any treaties. He only believed that only dead foreigners would not pose a threat to the peace of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, while the Blood-Clothed Army was recruiting robbers from all directions on a large scale, they were also constantly harassing the Dingnan Army and using the Dingnan Army to train their troops.

Two years passed in a blink of an eye, and it was the ninth year of Dazhong Xiangfu.

This was the last year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era. The Blood-Clothed Army under Zhao Wei had grown to 50,000 men, reaching the limit of what the people in the northwestern border could support.

So he prepared to take the initiative to tear up the peace treaty he had previously signed with the Dingnan Army and launched an offensive against the Dingnan Army.

That day was Zhao Wei's eighteenth birthday. He was celebrating his birthday in the big tent with Li Junxin, Li Yi and others, waiting to attack the Dingnan Army after his birthday.

Just then, a voice was heard outside the door.

"General, someone is coming from Bianjing."

"Enter."

As the words fell, an old eunuch walked in led by his personal guards.

He wore a black jade on his head with a piece of white jade inlaid on it, a white round-necked outer robe, a white leather belt around his waist, and a pair of thin-soled boots on his feet. He looked energetic, and there was no flattery in his eyes, but rather a sense of majesty.

"This old slave has met His Highness."

Zhao Wei was also familiar with this old eunuch. His name was Xu Jinzhong, and he was Yan Chenghan's adopted son.

Everyone knows the corresponding person in the official history, but it is definitely not Liu Chenggui, one of the Five Ghosts. After all, Liu Chenggui is dead now.

Xu Jinzhong is currently the Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and holds the sixth rank.

Don't underestimate the sixth rank. You should know that the highest eunuch in the Song Dynasty was only the fifth rank, and it would take ten years to have a chance to be promoted.

Xu Jinzhong was able to become the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the age of 40, which can be said to have marked the pinnacle of a eunuch's life.

"No need to be polite, Mr. Xu." Zhao Wei waved his hand. "I don't know why I asked you to come here in person?"

"Your Highness, the Queen is seriously ill, and the Emperor wants you to return to the capital as soon as possible."

Xu Jinzhong said, took out a letter and handed it over respectfully: "This is a letter from His Majesty to you."

(End of this chapter)