I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 138 I envy neither the mandarin ducks nor the immortals, but only Zhao Yu every day.

...

Hearing Zhang Chun say that she wanted to rule the world and even had ten children, Ye Shiyun curled her lip and said, "Look at you, so capable. If you didn't know better, you'd think you actually had that thing. Who do you think you are?"

Zhang Chun retorted defiantly, "I already told you, I am Zhao Yu. Didn't I get you pregnant, little Shiyun?"

As they spoke, Zhang Chun stretched out a finger and teased Ye Shiyun's chin.

Ye Shiyun removed her chin from Zhang Chun's fingers and turned to Li Lin and Ma Xiaojiao, saying, "I finally understand why Chunchun is so keen on throwing surprise parties for Zhao Yu. What 'Le Jin Lady'? It's clearly because she wants to take advantage of those women."

Zhang Chun chuckled: "You guessed right. Zhao Yu ate the meat and I drank the soup. I even took advantage of Li Qingzhao, the greatest female poet in history. Now, ordinary women can no longer satisfy my growing desires. My target is women like empresses, empress dowagers, and princesses. However, they are not my ultimate goal."

At this point, Zhang Chun looked at Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng, who was still cooking not far away, and said excitedly, "My ultimate target is you four transmigrators. You are my best prey, hehe..."

Without saying a word, Li Lin cleaved the armrest of the hardwood armchair in two with a single palm strike.

Seeing that even the grand chair, which was many times harder than her bones, couldn't withstand Li Lin's palm strike, Zhang Chunxin said, "I really admire Zhao Yu. He dares to take a fierce woman like Li Lin and even got her pregnant. There's really no one like him."

At the same time, Zhang Chun immediately became obedient. She hurriedly said to Li Lin with a fawning look, "Sister Lin, I was just joking. I don't have any special fetishes. I'm a pure woman, the kind who only likes men. I'm not a lesbian. I was just scaring those girls. Even if you gave me a million lives, I wouldn't dare to make a move on you. If we're really going to play around, it'll be you playing me."

Ye Shiyun looked at Zhang Chun with disdain for her bullying of the weak and fear of the strong. She coaxed Li Lin, saying, "Sister Lin, just go along with Chun Chun's wishes. She wants you to play with her, so play with her. With candles and a small leather whip, with her servile nature, she can definitely be easily trained into a female slave. If you don't know how, I'll help you. I guarantee I'll train her to kneel down and lick your toes."

Li Lin shooed Zhang Chun and Ye Shiyun away like flies: "You two perverts, stay away from me, don't corrupt my son."

Ma Xiaojiao watched this scene unfold and laughed heartlessly.

Not far away, Yuan Qingcheng noticed that ever since Zhang Chun, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, and Ma Xiaojiao started sharing a husband, especially after they all became pregnant with Zhao Yu's children, there were no more barriers between them. They dared to talk about anything, and discussing Zhao Yu's preferred positions was commonplace. Yesterday, Zhang Chun even asked Li Lin and the other two women for advice on whether it was necessary to change the accessory into a plug-in, and even asked them if they wanted to join in.
Yuan Qingcheng felt that the distance between herself and Zhang Chun and the other three women was growing further and further apart. Now, the distance had even grown to the point where the four women could sit together and talk freely, while she could only use cooking as an excuse to stay away from them, who dared to say anything crude.

Yuan Qingcheng knew very well that Zhang Chun and the other three women were not deliberately isolating her. On the contrary, they had been trying to pull her along, afraid that she would fall behind. To this end, they were even trying to match her with Zhao Yu, so that she would not become an outcast among them.

The problem is that Yuan Qingcheng is always thinking, "There are always treacherous people trying to harm me," so she has never felt safe and doesn't trust anyone.

This meant that Yuan Qingcheng had previously let down Zhang Chun and the other three people's good intentions.

Until... Yuan Qingcheng became Zhao Yu's personal cook, and her contact with Zhao Yu increased.

For some reason, Yuan Qingcheng trusted Zhao Yu completely, without the sense of distance or awkwardness she felt when interacting with other natives of this world.

Moreover, Yuan Qingcheng always felt inexplicably happy whenever she saw Zhao Yu eating the delicious food she had carefully prepared.

This made Yuan Qingcheng regard preparing dishes for Zhao Yu every day as her most important task.

Fortunately, Zhao Yu only needed Yuan Qingcheng to prepare one meal a day; otherwise, Yuan Qingcheng might not have had time to do anything else and would have had to focus on being Zhao Yu's personal cook.

The reason Yuan Qingcheng became like this is because Zhao Yu was too good at flirting.

On the second day that Yuan Qingcheng became Zhao Yu's cook, Zhao Yu reached first base, and three days later he reached second base.

A few days ago, Zhao Yu reached third base.

At the current rate, it won't be long before Zhao Yu hits a home run.

In Yuan Qingcheng's opinion, she and Zhao Yu should be considered to be in the midst of a passionate romance... right?

At least Zhao Yu did not force Yuan Qingcheng to sleep with him.

As for Zhao Yu taking advantage of her?
Yuan Qingcheng not only didn't feel the aversion she had imagined, but she also looked forward to the surprise of meeting Zhao Yu every day.

No sooner had the stir-fried potatoes, eggplant, and green peppers been put into the pot than Yuan Qingcheng gave her maid Xu Poxi a wink, telling her to go and ask Zhao Yu whether he was coming to eat with them or if she should pack the food and send it to him.
After receiving the order, Xu Poxi went to the Chuigong Hall to find Zhao Yu.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Yu had no political affairs to attend to today, so he went to see the princesses of Kucha and Western Xia, whom he had been somewhat unsatisfied with the previous night.

In grassland areas, due to the harsh living environment, conflicts often occur between tribes over resources and population.

Bride kidnapping is, to some extent, a manifestation of this conflict and a means of increasing the population and strengthening the power of the tribe.

At the same time, nomadic tribes on the grasslands revere strength and bravery, and bride kidnapping is seen as a way to demonstrate a man's courage and strength. Being able to kidnap a woman from another tribe is considered an honor.

The most typical example is that in history, Genghis Khan's wife, Börte, was once abducted by the Merkits.

Later, with the help of his allies, Temujin defeated the Merkits and rescued Börte.

At that time, Börte was already pregnant, and soon after gave birth to her eldest son, Jochi.

As for the women who were robbed, they knew that resistance might lead to more serious consequences, such as being violently harmed or even losing their lives. In order to protect themselves, they had no choice but to accept the reality of being robbed.

At the same time, faced with powerful bride kidnappers and an unfamiliar environment, they may feel isolated and helpless, unable to see any hope of escaping or changing their fate, and thus choose to give in to reality.

Crucially, the awe of the strong in grassland culture leads some women to believe that being taken away by a strong man is an honor, thus accepting this outcome.

More importantly, some women are influenced by the concepts of marriage and women's roles in their own tribe or the tribe that practiced marriage by abduction. They feel that women are in a subordinate position in marriage, and even if they are abducted, they should obey the arrangement of fate and fulfill their responsibilities as wives.

Both the Kucha culture and the Qinghai-Tibetan culture belong to the standard grassland culture. Therefore, Zhao Yu was not surprised at all that the Kucha princess submitted to him, even though he had killed her only son.

To Zhao Yu's surprise, the Western Xia princess yielded and cooperated.

For half the time, women held power in the Western Xia dynasty.

This distinguished Western Xia women from women in other regions. Western Xia society had a special name for women: "Ma Kui"!
In the Tangut language, the word "woman" is pronounced "ma" and the word "big" is pronounced "kui". "Ma Kui" means "strong woman", which also refers to "female soldiers" who can participate in battle.

The Western Xia Dynasty was plagued by constant warfare in its early years, resulting in repeated casualties among the men. This gradually led to insufficient productivity, a shortage of soldiers, and a lack of manpower for the entire nation, thus necessitating the deployment of women into battle.

This made the women of Western Xia chivalrous, courageous, and vengeful.

Historically, it was said that "in the Xia Dynasty, it was considered shameful not to seek revenge."

If a Western Xia woman was unable to avenge her enemy due to her own weakness, she would gather some strong women, treat them to cattle, sheep, wine, and food, and then lead them to storm the enemy's house, set it on fire, and take revenge.

This has become part of the culture of the Western Xia women.

Therefore, Zhao Yu was quite worried about the Western Xia princess before, after all, he had killed her husband and was afraid that she would follow the example of Gulbelejin Guowohatun.

But Zhao Yu was overthinking things.

Compared to the princess of Kucha, the princess of Western Xia was more proactive and more compliant. It can be said that without her cooperation, Zhao Yu might not have been able to have both of them.

Afterwards, Zhao Yu embraced the Western Xia princess and asked her what was going on. He learned that she had no intention of going to the nearly destroyed Qinghai-Tibet for a marriage alliance. It was Li Qianshun and others who forced her to leave her hometown and family. She had no feelings for Xi Sheluo Sa, whom she had only spent a few days with, and that's why she was so grateful to Zhao Yu for rescuing her.

Of course, all of the above is only the Western Xia princess's side of the story. Perhaps she just wanted to find someone to rely on or even a long-term meal ticket in the unfamiliar Zhao Song Dynasty, nothing more.

However, even so, it didn't matter. Zhao Yu never thought of having any romantic feelings for the women he had captured. They were nothing more than his medals and playthings. If he were to develop feelings for them, he would be foolish.

To be honest, despite the fact that the Western Xia princess was young, beautiful, and proactive, she really didn't have the charm of the Kucha princess.

Did Emperor Zhao Yu prefer older women?

How can it be!

Zhao Yu's favorite woman must have been an eighteen-year-old.

But the princess of Kucha was indeed exceptional, resembling Monica Bellucci, and even more so, resembling Monica Bellucci during her time in "Malèna." In addition, Zhao Yu was forty years old in his previous life, which meant he was actually six or seven years older than the princess of Kucha, giving him a psychological advantage.

This allowed Zhao Yu to have his way with the princess of Kucha without feeling guilty.

It is worth mentioning that by completely controlling the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region and cutting off trade with the Western Xia, thus monopolizing the Silk Road, the Song Dynasty could generate an additional trade revenue of about one to three million strings of cash annually. This was equivalent to two to five percent of the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue. Although it was not enough to completely change the Song Dynasty's fiscal structure, it could significantly strengthen the northwest border defense and weaken the Western Xia.

Furthermore, previously, the Song Dynasty had to purchase warhorses from the Western Regions and Tibet every year, spending about 200,000 to 500,000 strings of cash. After controlling the Silk Road, the cost of horses dropped sharply, and the trade volume continued to rise. This would save the Song Dynasty 300,000 to 800,000 strings of cash annually. More importantly, the Song Dynasty no longer had to worry about being held hostage by the Western Xia and Qinghai-Tibetan Tibet when it came to purchasing warhorses.

Yesterday, Lü Huiqing sent someone to report that he had already sent people to escort the envoys of the Kingdom of Kucha to Bianliang City, and they would arrive soon.

If the princess of Kucha had acted as an intermediary, the negotiations between the Song Dynasty and the Kingdom of Kucha would have been much more pleasant.

In other words, the Princess of Kucha was not only Zhao Yu's bedchamber, but also an important pawn on his political chessboard. Her existence would open a door to the Western Regions for the Song Dynasty.

At this moment, Zhao Yu was receiving a massage, his head resting on the soft body of the Kucha princess and his feet draped over the long legs of the Western Xia princess.

While massaging Zhao Yu, the two women introduced him to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Western Xia, and other Western Regions countries in their not-so-fluent Chinese.

At the same time, a group of young women and girls from the Western Regions were demonstrating their dance to Zhao Yu. Dressed in magnificent Dunhuang dance costumes, they resembled apsaras emerging from ancient murals, carrying the unique mystery and dreamlike quality of Dunhuang. They were like the sun-drenched sand dunes of the Dunhuang desert, both passionate and profound, as if they were describing to Zhao Yu the breathtaking murals of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

Zhao Yu found it both pleasing to the eye and felt as if he were in the magnificent Dunhuang landscape, with the goddesses and musicians in the murals appearing vividly before his eyes.

Zhao Yu's hands roamed over the bodies of the princesses from Kucha and Western Xia. Their soft, smooth bodies constantly reminded him that he wasn't dreaming. These exotic women truly were his spoils; they were diligently trying to please him…

As lunchtime approached, the princesses of Kucha and Western Xia invited Zhao Yu to stay and try the hand-grabbed rice they had made.

However, Zhao Yu politely declined.

Yuan Qingcheng had already told Zhao Yu that she was going to use the Siberian tiger, black bear and other wild game that Yelü Yanxi had given her to cook herself a delicious meal today.

This is incomparable to eating with your hands.

Moreover, Zhao Yu did not believe that anyone in this era could cook better than Yuan Qingcheng.

Therefore, Zhao Yu followed his own custom and went with Xu Poxi, who had come to find him, to eat the delicious food that Yuan Qingcheng had carefully prepared for him.

As soon as Zhao Yu entered, he saw Yuan Qingcheng intently plating the food, arranging it in a way that made her carefully prepared dishes look even more appetizing.

Zhao Yu hugged Yuan Qingcheng from behind.

Yuan Qingcheng didn't need to look to know that Zhao Yu was definitely taking advantage of her.

Yuan Qingcheng struggled symbolically as she said, "They'll laugh at me."

Zhao Yu kissed Yuan Qingcheng on the pretty face and said, "Why be afraid of them? One day I will definitely teach you and your five fellow disciples to serve me together..."

The four women who were chatting soon discovered that Zhao Yu was trying to win over Yuan Qingcheng, and that Yuan Qingcheng was playing hard to get.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Chun couldn't help but say, "I envy neither the mandarin ducks nor the immortals now, I only envy Zhao Yu every single day..."

……

(End of this chapter)