I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1 I traveled through time with five beautiful girls
...

The end of August in the second year of Yuanfu.

He traveled through time and became "Zhao Ya", the twelfth brother of Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, Prince of Shen Zhao Ya, and took a carriage to the palace to congratulate Zhao Xu on the birth of his son.

The Imperial Street was over 200 steps wide, with the Imperial Road at its center. Ordinary people and horses were not allowed to walk on it, but had to walk on the sides. Two ditches ran down the middle of the road, flowing clear water and planted with lotuses. Along the banks grew peach, plum, pear, apricot, and other fruit trees, interspersed with a variety of flowers, creating a scene as dazzling as embroidery.

Looking at this unfamiliar ancient city, Zhao Ya was filled with emotion: "Such a ridiculous thing as time travel can happen to me. It seems that I really have the fate to be an emperor."

When Zhao Ya was born, his parents specially found a master to tell his fortune.

The expert said that Zhao Ya would wear the yellow robe in the future.

Zhao Ya's parents were very happy. Not only did they give the expert a lot of money, they also encouraged Zhao Ya to apply for the history major when he applied for college.

In their words: "How can an emperor not understand history?"

As a result, Zhao Ya became unemployed after graduation.

After years of writing novels at home, and being a keyboard politician, keyboard historian, and keyboard economist, Zhao Ya, who is almost forty years old and can no longer see the hope of becoming a god and has failed many books in a row, can only temporarily join a group, delivering food while looking for inspiration for writing...

Just when Zhao Ya thought that this was the way the fortune predicted by the old man had come true, a surprising turn of events occurred.

That day, Zhao Ya was standing at the door of a restaurant, leisurely reading an online novel titled "I and Five Beautiful Girls Traveled to the Northern Song Dynasty", enjoying the superficial happiness of the moment before taking the order alone.

Who would have thought that disaster would strike while he was at home? A BYD Song flew out of nowhere and hit Zhao Ya directly, then caught fire.

Zhao Ya took a look at the five female internet celebrities in the car who couldn't open the door no matter how hard they tried, and ended his mediocre life.

When Zhao Ya opened his eyes again, he had traveled through time and become a prince who was only one step away from becoming emperor.

The key point is that as an author who has written several historical novels about the Song Dynasty, Zhao Ya was very clear that Zhao Xu's son would soon die, and then Zhao Xu's daughter would also die. After suffering such blows in succession, the already frail Zhao Xu would die in a few months. After that, because Zhao Xu had no children, the new emperor could only choose one of Zhao Xu's younger brothers.

In other words, Zhao Ya really had the chance to become emperor.

According to the original history, the throne would eventually be inherited by the original owner's eleventh brother, Prince Duan Zhao Ji, who was also the culprit of the Jingkang Incident and one of the two emperors who were abducted by the Jin people to study in the northeast, Song Huizong.

After Zhao Ji ascended the throne, he was incompetent, extravagant, and ambitious, squandering the Zhao Song Dynasty's wealth and causing the Jingkang Incident.

This made the original owner a fish in the pond. The Jin people drove him and other members of the Zhao Song royal family northward like livestock.

In the end, the original owner starved to death and was buried in a horse trough.

The trough was too small to accommodate the original owner, and his feet were exposed.

Zhao Ji requested that the original owner's body be transported back to Kaifeng Prefecture for burial, but was rejected by the Jin people. The body had to be cremated on the spot, and it was unknown in which mass grave it was finally buried.

It was not because of the calculation by the expert that Zhao Ya was destined to be the emperor, but because of the extremely tragic ending of the original owner. Zhao Ya did not want to suffer the same fate, so he would never let Zhao Ji become the emperor again.

“I have to replace it!!!”

……

In a side room of Ci De Palace.

Zhang Chun, a top historical author who traveled through time and space to become a Master Attendant; Li Lin, a top military commentator; Ye Shiyun, a top financial anchor; Ma Xiaojiao, the "waste queen" of the tech world; and Yuan Qingcheng, the goddess of grafted seedling cultivation and agriculture, sat in a circle, digesting the fact that they had traveled through time and space.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Shiyun broke the silence: "Tell me, how did we travel through time?"

Ma Xiaojiao said, "A few of us went to attend a meeting with top internet celebrities. At noon, the organizer said parking spaces at a specialty restaurant were tight, so they asked five of us to drive one car. We got into Sister Li's car, but who would have thought that the brakes would fail halfway..."

Ye Shiyun, who didn't want to recall that extremely painful experience, interrupted Ma Xiaojiao and said, "Tell me something that everyone doesn't know."

There was collective silence again.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zhang Chun organized his words and said:
"Listen, everyone is saying that Concubine Liu gave birth to a prince, and the emperor is very pleased. He will definitely give a generous reward to the harem."

"There are many people named Consort Liu Xian in history, but considering that we are wearing Song Dynasty palace maid clothing, the reason can basically be narrowed down to Liu Qingjing, the second empress of Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, and Liu, the favorite concubine of Southern Song Gaozong Zhao Gou."

"Zhao Gou's only son, Zhao Fu, was born to Consort Pan, not Consort Liu."

"Then this Concubine Liu can only be Liu Qingjing."

"Liu Qingjing hadn't become empress yet, and had just given birth to Zhao Xu's only son, Zhao Mao... It should be August 1099 AD."

"If we really traveled to the time point you mentioned, would it be good or bad?" Li Lin asked. "Bad."

"Twenty-eight years later was the Jingkang Incident. If we hadn't taken good care of ourselves, we might have been abducted by the Jin people and taken to the bitter cold of Northeast China. We might have become their playthings, or become prostitutes for everyone to have sex with, or even been treated as livestock and traded for cattle, horses, and sheep."

"We can forget about escaping the palace. It's heavily guarded, with a sentry every three steps and a sentry every five steps. It's impossible to escape. And forget about escaping Bianliang City. The real end of the Northern Song Dynasty was just like what's described in 'Water Margin,' full of robbers, bandits, and pirates. If we don't have strong men to protect us, the five of us will most likely end up being robbed and raped, and then sold into a brothel."

"Also, if the Jingkang Incident happens, the whole world will be in chaos. By then, there will be rebel armies and bandits everywhere. We won't be safe no matter where we flee."

After hearing what Zhang Chun said, Li Lin, who had always aspired to command thousands of troops and conquer the Wolf's Lair, had her eyes light up. She had even begun to imagine the scene of herself on horseback, commanding the troops with all her might.

However, Ye Shiyun and the other two daughters believed that there were still nearly 30 years left before the Jingkang Incident, so they had no need to panic.

Seeing that Li Lin and the other three girls hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem, Zhang Chun said leisurely, "Do you think the Jingkang Incident is the only problem we have?"

Hearing this, Li Lin and the other three girls all looked at Zhang Chun: "Isn't it?"

"Zhao Xu's son died at three months old, and then his youngest daughter, Princess Yang, would also die of a sudden illness. These events would be a huge blow to Zhao Xu, causing his already poor health to pass away in the first month of the next year."

"That is to say, if nothing unexpected happens, in another five months, Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, will ascend the throne and rule the country."

"You all know Zhao Ji, right? He was the culprit of the Jingkang Incident, and one of the most incompetent rulers in history."

"The key is that this guy is not only incompetent, but also extremely lustful. At his peak, he had over ten thousand women in his harem. Even so, he would sneak out of the palace from time to time to fool around with prostitutes like Li Shishi and Shao Yuannu. In the future, the five of us may very well become five of those tens of thousands of women."

Li Lin and the other three girls were all dumbfounded: "No way?!!!"

——As women of the new era, especially successful women of the new era, it is obviously unacceptable for them to share a husband with other women, let alone having to share a husband with tens of thousands of women!!!
"Don't scare me. I heard from those people outside that this seems to be the place where a queen mother lives. How could we become Zhao Ji's concubines?" Ma Xiaojiao asked.

"It's true that we are in Empress Dowager Xiang's Cide Palace, but in a year or two, Empress Dowager Xiang will also reach the end of her life. After her death, the young palace maids in her palace will be taken over by the emperor at that time. This is the custom of the Song Dynasty."

"As for the women in the Emperor's harem, the Emperor can have his favor with whomever he wants, no doubt about it. We will definitely not be an exception."

Although I don’t know much about history, I can imagine that if the emperor fell in love with a woman in his harem, how could that woman escape from the emperor’s clutches?

"Can we apply to go back to my parents' home?" Yuan Qingcheng asked.

"Palace maids in the Song Dynasty usually entered the palace at around 13 years old and left after 25. During this period, it was almost as if they were sold to the palace. Their families were not allowed to interfere in their birth, old age, illness, and death."

"In other words, as long as the palace doesn't want us, there's no possibility for us to leave the palace on our own initiative."

"We are all newly arrived palace maids, none of us over 15 years old. If we want to leave the palace this way, we will have to endure at least 10 years."

When they heard they had to wait ten years, the women fell silent again.

After a long while, Li Lin made her own attitude clear: "I don't know what you think, anyway, I don't want to be Zhao Ji's concubine. It's okay for him to be lustful, but the key is that he is extremely stupid and incompetent. I really can't accept such a man."

Zhang Chun smiled bitterly, "We are lucky to be the emperor's concubine and to be favored by him. Otherwise, with our advocacy of gender equality and our habit of being free and uninhibited, we might end up killing ourselves."

"No way?" Ma Xiaojiao said with wide eyes.

"I'm not being alarmist."

"Let's not talk about it for now. The harem has strict rules and regulations. If we are not careful, we will violate the etiquette. If there is no one to protect us, we will be beaten to death in minutes."

"Let me just say that to win favor, the women in the harem will do anything. You've all seen 'The Legend of Zhen Huan,' right? The intrigues and deceptions in the real harem are definitely on par with those in 'The Legend of Zhen Huan,' and are even more cruel. What are they fighting for? It's the emperor's favor. As long as they get it, they can have whatever they want. But if they lose it, they might even lose their lives."

"A few years ago, in this harem, because Zhao Xu disliked Prime Minister Meng and favored Liu Qingjing, in order to seize Prime Minister Meng's position as empress, Liu Qingjing orchestrated a case of witchcraft. As a result, every single person in Prime Minister Meng's palace was beaten to a pulp by Liu Qingjing's men, and many had their tongues cut out and limbs amputated."

After hearing what Zhang Chun said, the hearts of Li Lin and the other three girls all became heavy.

Yuan Qingcheng asked bitterly, "So, being the emperor's plaything is our best way out?"

Zhang Chun sighed, "As much as I hate to admit it, in this feudal society, the emperor is king, especially in the harem. Without his favor, even if we have extraordinary abilities, we won't have the opportunity to display them."

These women, who were very successful in their previous lives, really couldn't accept such a conclusion.

After a long while, Li Lin slowly asked, "Can we find a way to change the emperor?"

……

(End of this chapter)