Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 581 The Legacy of the Song State

"Trees should be planted."

"The school also needs to be built."

"Talent is the foundation of a nation."

The Song Kingdom of the Western Sea
Feeling his body gradually losing its vitality, Zhao Yu, during his southern tour of the two rivers, pointed to the lush willows on both banks and said to the crown prince accompanying him.

Those trees on the banks of the Xijing and Wei Rivers,

It is no longer the tree that Liu Taigong planted as a hindrance for the Qin Dynasty.
Rather, it was planted by Zhao Yu when he ordered the construction of water conservancy projects everywhere after he came to power.

The old trees were destroyed in the war.

In their desperate search for warmth from the fire, the impoverished people were forced to cut down the willows that helped to smooth the silt from the great river.

The long period of turmoil has passed.
What was left for the newly established Song Kingdom was a scene of utter devastation.

And now,
Along the banks of the two rivers, green willows have grown back.

The local people gradually lost their panic and fear, and began to leisurely enjoy the scenery by the river.

This is a symbol that the State of Song is on the path to prosperity.

This was seen by the Song state's rulers and ministers as a sign that the mandate of heaven for all nations was shifting towards the western sea.

"That's also why I haven't let you inherit the position yet."

The frame rolled by.

The forty-year-old crown prince heard his father say this.

The meaning behind those words is truly profound.

They already have their own grandchildren.
The Crown Prince, who was always praised by his ministers for his "steadiness and composure," couldn't help but forget his shrewdness, and a complex expression appeared on his face.

As the crown prince

He was the same age as the Song state.

As Zhao Yu's successor,

He has been alive for over thirty years.

Born in the second year after Zhao Yu married his beloved wife, among a group of elders,
He was given the auspicious name "Chengye" and was designated by his father as the next head of the Zhao family at a very young age.

He shouldn't have worried about his brothers who would come after him.

But family and nation are completely different.

The pressure they bear is also completely different.

As we get older
As his brothers chased after him,
With the establishment and rise of the State of Song,

Even though Zhao Chengye was the eldest son of the legitimate wife, the crown prince who was favored by his father and trusted by his subjects, he could not help but feel a little anxious.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yu was also a long-lived ruler.

Being the son of a powerful ruler is never easy.

Not to mention being the son of a long-lived, powerful ruler.

"I know it's hard for you as your father."

Seeing his eldest son's slightly stunned expression, Zhao Yu sighed, reached out and patted his shoulder, saying, "But what matter concerning the country isn't difficult?"

With the establishment of the Song Dynasty, everything was in need of rebuilding.

The glory of the Western Qin Dynasty is nowhere to be seen.
The already scarce water and soil resources have been further depleted in the chaos.

Therefore, the Western Sea had to expend far more effort than the Central Plains in order to emerge from the chaos and regain the lost peace.

The ancestral land of the Central Plains is one of the most fertile and prosperous places in the world.

When Zhao Yu became emperor, he would often work tirelessly day and night, saving every penny to handle state affairs, all in order to accumulate more money and grain for the treasury. At that time, he would think of the gap between the Central Plains and the Western Sea, and then grit his teeth with jealousy.

It was so sour that even dates couldn't mask it.

Fortunately, all the hard work will eventually pay off.

He reigned as monarch for about twenty years.

Finally, a new generation has been nurtured under stable conditions.

Do you know why I'm taking you on this trip?

Zhao Yu had previously inspected the Western Sea region, but he always left the Crown Prince in the capital to oversee state affairs.

His other sons would follow him.

This is one of the reasons why the Crown Prince felt worried and wary of his brothers.

After all, as the founding emperor, Zhao Yu could make decisions on many things with a single word, and no one could stop him.

And among his brothers, there were clearly some who harbored progressive ambitions.

therefore,

When the emperor's latest tour included even the crown prince, the officials in the capital were somewhat surprised.

“That’s why.”

Meeting his son's questioning gaze, Zhao Yu pointed to the young men walking on the street.

He said confidently:
"Rebuilding the country may be fraught with difficulties and obstacles, but it is not a difficult task for me."

"But rebuilding people's morality and mindset, getting them out of their despondency and restoring the confidence of their ancestors, is not easy."

In times of chaos,

The chaos not only affected the central government and local powerful warlords,

And then there's the human heart, untouchable and unseen.

If it weren't for the Taiping Dao's early declaration: "Those who transform into beasts and devour people shall be attacked by all under heaven," and their considerable efforts in upholding this oath,
Given Xihai's madness at the time, the cries of the vegetable people would only be heard everywhere.

Therefore, one can imagine the extent to which people's morale has collapsed.

"Your abilities have not disappointed my expectations of you; you will become an excellent ruler who can maintain the family business."

"But you are still lacking in the task of rebuilding the country and winning back the hearts of the people, and such a task cannot be accomplished overnight."

"Otherwise, I would have abdicated long ago and become a retired emperor like your grandfather."

After listening to his father's words and reflecting on what he had heard and seen during this inspection tour, Zhao Chengye fell silent.

When he was old enough to remember things,
Zhao Yu has already made a name for himself.

As he grew older, when he went out as a successor of the Zhao family,

Zhao Yu even became the ruler of a region, taking the first step towards ruling the Western Sea.

Upon careful recollection,

There is indeed a distance between him and the true face of the chaotic world.

And just as the father commented,

He also lacked the ability to mend the shattered hearts of people.

Zhao Yu then said:
"Now, twenty years later, people's hearts have finally been able to reunite."

“Those young people who grew up under the rule of the Song Dynasty and were in their prime were a great help to you and your children in governing this country and bringing the Song Dynasty to a time of true prosperity and flourishing.”

Talent doesn't appear out of thin air.
In many cases,
Only through long-term training can we acquire the talent needed to govern a large country.

And this foundation of cultivation,

It is also inseparable from the wealth accumulated through hard work, and the stable development that brings adults raising children a bright future.

otherwise,

No matter how much paper is produced, or how many books are printed,

Savvy and capable people would not spend their own money and increase their burden by supporting a son who is away studying.

“Your father has prepared these things for you.”

"Once you take over, you will naturally understand my good intentions."

"...What about the younger brothers?"

After a while, Zhao Chengye suddenly brought up another topic.

In this cramped carriage, which carried one of the most distinguished father-son pairs in the entire land, he opened his heart to Zhao Yu and asked:
"Why do you dote on Qingque and Zhinu so much?"

This led to the idea that it could replace him, putting immense pressure on him.

Perhaps it was because the worship of the "Black Bird" was popular in the Western Sea,

People here often use feathers to name their children.

When Zhao Yu was in the local area, he followed local customs.

Furthermore, since Qin and Zhao were originally one entity, both being descendants of the Black Bird, they naturally would not reject this tradition.

Upon hearing his eldest son's question, Zhao Yu began to explain:
“You are all siblings from the same mother.”

"Since I love you, I will naturally love them too."

"Moreover, the Song Kingdom's territory is interconnected, but the roads are not accessible. If you want to safeguard this nation, you brothers will inevitably need to help and support each other in the future." Human hearts are made of flesh and blood; even if there are precedents, it's impossible not to be moved by certain things.

But in the end, Zhao Yu still provided his eldest son with a guarantee.

"After I return, I will arrange for them to take up their fiefs."

"As for the fiefdom they are going to, you shall decide which one it is!"

Zhao Yu previously,

Following the example of the Han dynasty, he persuaded his adult sons to stay, so that the family could gather in Andu City, surround their elders, and enjoy family happiness.

Therefore, although the princes of the Song state had titles and fiefdoms, these were merely superficial and had not been truly implemented.

This approach, which was intended to be a hopeful endeavor, instead triggered a negative reaction akin to raising a treacherous insect.

He then stroked his son's shoulder, and with the melancholy of an old man in his twilight years, he said:
"I have heard that Emperor Ming of Han and his brothers are very close and support each other a lot, so I want you to do the same."

Zhao Yu liked to compare the Song Dynasty with the Han Dynasty in various aspects to verify the mandate of heaven.

But now it seems,
He was somewhat inferior to Emperor Guangwu of Han in being a father and instructing his children.

Zhao Chengye lowered his head and said with some shame:
"I'm afraid my talents are no match for Emperor Ming of Han."

"Why belittle yourself!"

Zhao Yu laughed heartily, "All you need to do is adopt the same demeanor you had when you were regent, and outlive him, and that will be great!"

In Zhao Yu's view, the lifespan of the current Han emperor was an absolute and fundamental problem that could damage the very foundation of the dynasty.

The successive ascensions of young emperors can cause certain things to fall into a cycle.

The power of the nation, the power of the people.

This is often accompanied by internal stagnation and weakening.

fortunately,

He got along well with the high-ranking Taoist priests of Taiping Dao.

After using the methods employed by Emperor Taizu of Sui to mediate the relationship between the state and religious sects,

Zhao Yu then invited Taoist masters skilled in health preservation from various places, even Xinxia, ​​to teach his descendants methods of cultivating their spirit, in order to prevent the Song dynasty from experiencing the same problem of "lack of successors" as the Han dynasty.

unfortunately,

However, the modern Han dynasty is unable to achieve this.

After the fall of the Yan state in Liaodong, the Han dynasty gradually lifted the various restrictions imposed on the Taiping Dao, but vigilance did not disappear.

At least,

When Han emperors invited renowned doctors to treat their health, they dared not invite Taoist priests.

……

"The Roman envoy has arrived?"

Back in Andu City,
Zhao Yu had not yet recovered from the fatigue of inspecting the territory when he received this news.

He therefore realized:
"I'm afraid that Augustus has already secured his position, otherwise why would he dare to send an envoy here so openly?"

The two countries are adjacent.

Zhao Yu still harbored a deep desire to recapture Yu Bi City from Rome.

They naturally kept a close eye on what was happening in the other country.

When Rome replicated the Qin dynasty's classic "Four Dynasties of Chaos" narrative...

Zhao Yu once attempted to take advantage of the situation and seize present-day Constantinople, the western capital of the Qin state, and the eastern capital of Rome.

However, the people of Qin have always been serious and meticulous when it comes to undertaking large-scale projects, and have never shown any regional discrimination.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Sichuan, which has channeled the Minjiang River for centuries and created the "Land of Abundance," is an example of this.

The Great Wall, which defended the northern border regions of Central China for centuries against the nomadic peoples of the grasslands and maintained peace in many places, is like this.
They went to the west to rebuild the ancestral temple and constructed the Jade Wall City, which symbolized the glory of Western Qin.

The latter is sturdy and rigid.

The Song army sent by Zhao Yu repeatedly clashed with the Jade Disc, only to return empty-handed each time, experiencing the same bitterness as the Romans who coveted the jade disc but always met with failure.

Ok,
From this perspective,
Rome truly lived up to its reputation as the "Great Qin Dynasty".
The State of Song was truly the successor to the State of Western Qin.

all in all,
When that descendant of Qin Luo, whose background was ambiguous and whose intelligence was unknown, ascended the throne, Zhao Yu received the news immediately and deduced the other party's situation.

He even made preparations for the departure of the fifth Roman emperor.

But the results are always unexpected.

"He seems like a tough guy to deal with."

They were able to send envoys to present credentials.

This at least proves that the various forces within Rome had reached a general consensus.

otherwise,

With everyone so engrossed in internal strife, where would they find the time to send envoys in the name of the nation to establish friendly relations with their neighbors?
Considering Rome's long-standing reputation for unruly citizens and its wild Praetorian Guard,

Zhao Yu couldn't help but say to the Crown Prince, "I hope he can pass away before you!"

A monarch who could reconcile the various factions in Rome, maintain his throne, and not be overthrown by the Praetorian Guard, who were accustomed to choosing their own leaders.
It was not a good thing for the State of Song.

It's better to die sooner!
He looked down at his gray beard and said with a sigh:
"I'm afraid I won't make it through."

Zhao Chengye didn't say anything polite, he just nodded and answered his father's words with a heavy heart.

The vitality of the junior high school has just been restored.
Then, external enemies rose up.

Problems just keep piling up.

Fortunately, the Song Dynasty was newly established, and the spirit of sweeping away the chaos of the world had not yet dissipated.

Zhao Chengye did not develop a fearful or evasive attitude towards foreign enemies simply because he was a "conservative ruler".

then,

The father and son roused themselves and received the Roman envoy.

The dead ghost standing by, arms crossed, grumbled and mumbled to Octavian:
"Are you still going to challenge my great-grandfather to a duel now?"

The Western Qin dynasty had many emperors.

Apart from Ying Pijiang and a few others who were rarely home, there were always those who stayed behind in the Western Sea, staying at home to guard the graves.

Don't say

When the world is in chaos,
Aside from Emperor Gong of Qin, that unworthy descendant who had the idea of ​​making money off his ancestral tombs,

Many warlords also intended to supplement their logistics by developing the tombs of the Western Qin emperors.

If it weren't for the dead ghost watching over us...

It seems that none of them could escape the visits of the tomb raiders.

Having just returned from the East and not yet having had time to return to Rome, Octavian, unaware of the current situation, remained silent.

To prevent the "mad" mixed-race person from further deteriorating Rome's power and thus affecting his peace after death, he had previously refused all news from Rome in recent years.

They remained confined to the Central Plains of the East, fleeing the likely tragedy of dynastic collapse.

Who would have thought that a rare moment of weakness and avoidance, both before and after death, would bring such a wonderful surprise?

According to the Roman envoy's account,

The mixed-race people not only consolidated the power within the country, but also extended their reach to Northern Qin, seizing several counties near Rome.

Tsk,
It seems he was just pretending to be crazy all along.

but,

Without knowing the full picture, I will not comment.

Octavian said to the Qin ruler who remained in charge of the Western Sea:
"We cannot draw conclusions about the agreement yet."

"I need to go back to Rome and learn about the changes it has undergone over the years before I can answer your question."

If a mixed-race person could truly revive Rome, that would be wonderful.

But if he harbored feelings for the Chinese people and used his position and power to allow them to occupy Rome, replacing the wolf offspring's rule over the Mediterranean, he could become the true "Great Qin."
Octavian would not agree!
Furthermore,

He was nearly fifty when he ascended the throne, and now he is even older. How much energy does he have left to govern the country?

Is Rome destined to follow the same strange cyclical path as the Han Dynasty?
"This is all your fault!"

On the way back to Rome,
Octavian then rebuked Gan Ying.

Gan Ying, who had been eagerly awaited by the Roman emperor and even dragged to Rome after his death, also held herself in dissatisfaction and emphasized:
"How many times have I told you!"

"I don't know any spells, I don't understand divination, and I don't possess any mysterious Eastern power!"

Rome and the Qin people were neighbors for hundreds of years, and in the end, Rome learned both the good and the bad from each other.

Why blame him?

(End of this chapter)