I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 141 The Two-Year Term Has Arrived
Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and the wheels of history quietly turned from the fifth year of Xuanhe to the seventh year of Xuanhe.

Shortly after the Song and Jin dynasties negotiated the redemption of Yanjing, Wanyan Aguda died. The Jin state underwent a strategic contraction for more than half a year. In the second half of the fifth year of Xuanhe, there were no major actions, and the Jin state focused solely on adjusting its internal power structure.

In early 1917, the second emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Wugumai, finally secured his position and began to launch the final attack on the Liao Dynasty. When the Jin Dynasty reached a negotiation with the Song Dynasty and returned Yanjing, the Liao Dynasty had not yet been completely destroyed. Of the five capitals of the Liao Dynasty, only four had been captured by the Jin Dynasty, and the westernmost capital, Xijing, was still in the hands of the Liao people.

Throughout the year, the Jin army first captured Datong, the last western capital of the Liao Dynasty, and then defeated the last main force of the Liao army at Yinshan. Emperor Tianzuo of Liao suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Jin army, and in order to avoid annihilation, he led his people to continue fleeing westward into the territory of Western Xia in order to seek temporary refuge.

It must be said that Emperor Tianzuo of Liao's actions were even worse than those of Liu Shan—at least Liu Shan knew that "there has never been a case of entrusting the throne to another country" and that "the shame of two humiliations is nothing compared to one humiliation."

However, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao's last struggle did cause some minor trouble for the Jin Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty had to waste several months in diplomatic negotiations with the Western Xia, warning the Western Xia that "if you return the Liao Emperor, your annual rewards will be doubled. If you protect the Liao Emperor, then the Jin and Xia will go to war."

Ultimately, the Western Xia could not withstand the threat from the Jin Dynasty, or perhaps they were simply relieved to have sold the Liao emperor for a good price, and then expelled Emperor Tianzuo of Liao from the country. Emperor Tianzuo of Liao had no choice but to retreat back to Shanxi.

Finally, in the spring of the seventh year of the Xuanhe era, the Jin army annihilated the remaining forces of Emperor Tianzuo of Liao at Jiashan in Yingzhou, and Emperor Tianzuo himself was captured by the Jin army. Thus, the Liao dynasty was finally and completely destroyed.

(Note: Yingzhou is present-day Ying County, Shanxi Province. There are still many ancient Liao Dynasty buildings there until modern times. Liang Sicheng even went there for archaeological research when he wrote "Yingzao Fashi".)

It is now the seventh year of the Xuanhe era, the seventh month of autumn. More than three months have passed since the Liao Dynasty was completely destroyed.

Kaesong, formerly the royal palace of Goryeo.

Zhao Zicheng, who should theoretically be in mourning at home, has actually been living in the Goryeo royal palace for quite some time now.

Recently, he has had no political affairs to worry about. Apart from farming, scientific and technological advancements, and construction, he spends the rest of his time diligently practicing martial arts and exchanging skills with his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Yue Fei.

That's right, Zhao Zicheng is in mourning.

It's quite a coincidence, but it also aligns with the original trajectory of history.

Two years ago, after he was promoted to Grand Master of the Palace and Duke of Xiu for his meritorious service in negotiating with the Jin Dynasty and abolishing the tribute agreement, Zhao Zicheng quickly became the target of increasing suspicion from his uncle, Emperor Huizong.

The main reason is that Zhao Zicheng, as a member of the royal family, had indeed achieved a very high level of officialdom and accumulated more and more merits.

For ordinary civil or military officials, the more merits they make and the higher their promotions, the better, because they don't have to worry about their achievements overshadowing their superiors.

However, the situation for the imperial clan was completely different. The Song Dynasty was considered to be very open-minded in its management of the imperial clan, allowing them to study and participate in the imperial examinations, and even allowing them to guard local areas and have appropriate access to military power after becoming officials.

Regardless of the circumstances, Zhao Zicheng was not Zhao Ji's biological son, and at this point, his career was essentially over. Any further good performance would only result in additional honors or titles, but certainly no increase in real power or authority; in fact, his power and authority would likely be gradually diminished.

Less than two or three months after Zhao Zicheng's last major meritorious service and promotion, Zhao Ji began to ponder this matter.

Especially at that time, Zhao Zicheng's reputation for virtue and goodness spread far and wide among the people, and more and more people knew that he had risked his personal safety to argue for the country.

Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) then planned to gradually remove Zhao Zicheng's local official post in Dengzhou and Laizhou to prevent him from becoming too powerful in the region.

Then, Zhao Zicheng could be given a more prestigious official post in the capital, Bianliang, which would require him to reside there. This would keep him out of contact with military and local governance, ensuring he would obediently work under the emperor's watchful eye in the capital.

At that time, Emperor Huizong had even thought about the specific position: he would send this distant nephew to the Court of State Ceremonial, let him start as a junior minister, and even gradually promote him to the position of chief minister in the future.

The Court of State Ceremonial (鸿胪寺) did not exist before the reforms of the Yuanfeng era in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, it did exist during the Han and Tang Dynasties, and was in charge of matters concerning tribute from barbarian tribes in all directions, essentially equivalent to the diplomatic department in later times.

The reason why the Court of State Ceremonies was not established in the early Song Dynasty was mainly because the Song Dynasty's diplomacy was relatively humiliating. You still had to pay annual tribute to the Liao and Western Xia. How could you have the face to use an office that was in charge of "tribute" affairs to manage diplomacy? You didn't even know whether others were paying tribute to you or you were paying tribute to others.

It was from the Song Dynasty onwards that the powers of the Ministry of Rites within the Three Departments and Six Ministries system reached their full maturity. The Ministry of Rites not only gained comprehensive authority in the fields of education and the imperial examinations, but also received full authorization in foreign affairs. While the Court of State Ceremonial (鸿胪寺) handled its own affairs during the Tang Dynasty, by the early Song Dynasty, all of these were transferred to the Ministry of Rites.

It wasn't until the Yuanfeng reforms in the Northern Song Dynasty that the Court of State Ceremonies was re-established, and diplomatic work became a matter of "dual leadership," with the Court of State Ceremonies and the Ministry of Rites each managing a different area.

If Zhao Ji's plan were implemented, it would be absolutely reasonable, and no one could find fault with it. Even the second-in-command of the Court of State Ceremonial held a higher position than the prefect of Dengzhou and Laizhou.

This is a normal promotion, a reward for meritorious members of the imperial family with a good reputation.

However, fate played a cruel trick on him. Just as Zhao Ji's plan was about to be implemented, Zhao Zicheng's father, Zhao Linghua, finally passed away.

Zhao Zicheng was required to observe the mourning period, so he was relieved of his duties but retained only his official rank and title.

In all honesty, Zhao Zicheng had no prior indication of his father's passing. He was serving in Dengzhou and Laizhou at the time and was completely unaware of the situation back in his hometown of Xiuzhou. Furthermore, Zhao Linghua's illness had come on suddenly, so he couldn't notify his son, who lived in Shandong, to return and care for him. By the time the news reached Shandong and Zhao Zicheng rushed back to visit, his father had already passed away.

Furthermore, although the "History of Song" does not record the exact year of Zhao Linghua's death in detail, several points are certain: Zhao Linghua did not live to see the birth of his grandson, Zhao Bocong, who was the only biological son of Zhao Zicheng in history.

The historical Zhao Bocong, who later became Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Zhao Shen, was born in 1127, the second year of the Jingkang era/the first year of the Jianyan era.

Therefore, historically, Zhao Linghua died at least before 1127, and Emperor Xiaozong of Song never met his biological grandfather.

Now, it's reasonable that Zhao Linghua actually died in the latter half of the fifth year of the Xuanhe era, which was only three to four years before the second year of the Jingkang era/the first year of the Jianyan era.

Moreover, it should be considered that "Emperor Xiaozong's grandfather had already died before he was born," which can be further deduced to mean that "his grandfather had died at least three years before he was born."

In ancient times, people were required to observe mourning for their deceased parents. Strictly speaking, those in mourning were forbidden from having sexual relations with their spouses. After Zhao Linghua's death, Zhao Zicheng was ordered to abstain from sex for twenty-seven months according to the rites. Therefore, his son could not have been born until at least thirty-five months after his father's death, which would have been almost three years.

So Zhao Zicheng really didn't get involved in this matter at all; it was all a matter of chance that things naturally developed this way.

However, there was one stroke of luck, a blessing from heaven for the Song Dynasty. In this life, Zhao Zicheng, after arguing with the Jin Dynasty to abolish the annual tribute clause and returning with merit, while his father was still alive, began to bide his time and pretend to indulge in women.

Including his previous hints to Wang Chengxun, a prominent merchant, that he promised to take his younger sister, Wang, as a concubine, Zhao Zi said that he finally fulfilled the promise during that period, which was in July or August of the fifth year of Xuanhe.

Furthermore, Zhao Zicheng also realized a problem: he had been married for two and a half years, and neither of his wives had given birth to a child. If the world fell into chaos in the future, his lack of an heir might affect the determination of the generals and civil officials in the court to support him.

If the close branches of the royal family were to be wiped out, and a member of a slightly more distant branch were to be enthroned, it would be necessary to check whether that member had produced a son. If the member had no children, he might have health problems, and even if he were enthroned, he might not have a successor, and the process of adoption might have to be repeated, thus increasing the risk to the wealth and status of the ministers who had contributed to the succession.

Therefore, at that time, in order to show that he was truly indulging in women, and also to show that his body was fine, Zhao Zicheng genuinely devoted himself to his wives, concubines, and maids after returning from the negotiations.

Previously, he lived with his wives and concubines without counting the days, taking things as they came. But during that period, he started to count the days carefully and live with whoever was in danger.

In addition, before his father passed away, he had his family members in Xiuzhou secretly look for beautiful women for him. In the end, they selected several beauties surnamed Zhang and agreed to send them to serve as maids. He didn't have any strange fetish; he just thought that Zhao Zicheng's wife in history seemed to be a woman surnamed Zhang, who later gave birth to Zhao Shen and Zhao Bocong.

He was also afraid that after his wife changed in this life, she would not be able to give birth to a son similar to the one in the original history. After all, Emperor Xiaozong of Song in history was considered a relatively good and wise ruler of the Southern Song Dynasty.

So, if we can find a Zhang woman from our hometown of Xiuzhou who was a good match for us, and get closer to her, we might be able to gamble on another son, Zhao Shen.

Since they're idle anyway, they'll definitely take more concubines in the future, so whoever benefits will benefit. Although Zhang is a very common surname, limiting the selection to Jiaxing County, excluding outsiders, requiring them to be beautiful and of high social standing, greatly narrows the pool of potential candidates.

Furthermore, Zhao Zicheng already held a high position at the time, being a legitimate Duke. Many women were willing to send their daughters to the Duke's mansion as maids or concubines, and thus several were indeed selected.

Finally, after months of hard work, Zhao Zicheng's luck with offspring unexpectedly turned around.

The Murong sisters became pregnant one after the other, and one of the Zhang family maids they brought also became pregnant a little later. However, the Wang family maid sent by the maritime merchant Wang family was favored, but her belly did not show any signs of pregnancy.

All of this happened before Zhao Zicheng's father passed away. About six to eight months after his father's death, he had one son and two daughters, so even if people later scrutinize the dates, they cannot accuse him of filial impiety.

The couple's marital life had already been completed at least four to two months before his father's death. There is no evidence that he continued to be indecent in this regard after his father's passing.

Amidst these fortunate events, there were also some slightly regrettable details: the Murong sisters indeed each gave birth to a daughter. It seems the strange gene in Duan Yuyan's lineage that "daughters can only give birth to daughters" is still continuing. Perhaps it's because the women in their family simply can't produce sperm carrying the Y chromosome during chromosomal recombination.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng had taken in more concubines. After discussing it with the Murong sisters, he secretly exchanged Zhang's son with Murong Qiu for adoption, and then had Murong Qiu give her daughter to Zhang for adoption. Since they were all his own children, Zhao Zicheng would definitely love them all equally, and he didn't need to worry about one of his legitimate daughters becoming a concubine's daughter and falling out of favor.

The advantage of doing this is that it can be claimed to outsiders that Zhao Zicheng has given birth to a legitimate son, which will make outsiders' expectations of their family more stable in the future, and will make it more likely for outsiders to place their bets on Zhao Zicheng.

Murong Qiu had no objection, because she had long noticed the curse on her family. It was said that her maternal grandmother's mother, and even her maternal grandmother, and her mother, had only given birth to daughters for three generations.

Now she and her younger sister have both only had daughters. Although this is only their first child, she has a feeling that this situation is unlikely to change in the future.

Since that's the case, the fact that her husband was willing to secretly exchange a concubine's son for a legitimate daughter, taking advantage of the fact that the children were close in age and that outsiders were unaware, and that this was done within their own family first, is already a great favor to the Murong sisters. Murong Qiu is more than grateful.

As for Zhang, who actually gave birth to a son, although Zhao Zicheng's relationship with her wasn't very deep before, he was a man of his word, and a real man should take responsibility. Given Zhang's willingness to consider the bigger picture, if he were to ascend the throne in the future, he would at least grant her the title of Imperial Concubine, perhaps even above Wang, who came from a wealthy merchant family.

Not long after his wives and concubines became pregnant, Zhao Zicheng received the devastating news of his father's death. He immediately restrained himself and began to observe mourning for his father. He did not indulge in any desires afterward.

He originally planned to dedicate the next two years to practicing martial arts whenever he had free time, as women would only hinder his progress.

Two years of rigorous training, abstaining from women, allowed him to rediscover the vigor and prowess he had when he was still a virgin.

In terms of officialdom, once Zhao Ji learned that his distant nephew was due to observe mourning for his father, all the conflicts were easily resolved.

Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji) generously preserved all of Zhao Zicheng's official rank, benefits, and titles, but removed him from his local post, allowing Zhao Zicheng to stay in his hometown to observe mourning and retire in peace.

However, in reality, no one cared about the specific details of Zhao Zicheng's life, and the emperor would not send anyone to monitor him.

Zhao Zi said that as long as he doesn't actually take up an official position and doesn't have any more children, no one will care if he wants to eat meat or travel.

This explains why Zhao Zicheng stayed in his hometown of Jiaxing for a few months, completed his father's funeral arrangements, and then pretended to "live in seclusion to observe mourning," closing his doors to visitors.

In reality, as soon as he "went into seclusion," he had Wang Chengxun arrange for a trading ship to take him to Goryeo, where he began to personally plan his agricultural development and technological advancement projects.

Meanwhile, in the past two years, apart from doing business, Wang Chengxun's merchant fleet used all its surplus transport capacity to relocate refugees to Hebei whenever business was slow.

Wang Chenghun's fleet could make at least two round trips to Korea during each off-season for maritime trade. With two off-seasons each year, they transported a total of eight ships over two years.

In total, at least 300,000 war refugees were evacuated from the Hebei region and transferred to Goryeo to cultivate unclaimed land.

As long as any Han Chinese from Hebei was willing to go to Goryeo, Zhao Zicheng would arrange for each household to be allocated ten mu of land for free, with flat land and sloping land each accounting for half. In practice, the allocation would be adjusted according to the circumstances.

Those who still have the means can apply to the government for more land to cultivate. The government is also willing to use future rents as collateral to lend the land to the people for cultivation.

For example, the land rent and tax rate for directly allocated land is relatively low, and there are no exorbitant taxes or levies. However, if one wants to acquire more land, one must pay an additional half of the land's fixed yield for the next ten years, and only after the ten-year period will one be able to obtain land ownership.

If you don't want to pay such a high tax rate, the government will offer a compromise, such as 20%. But in that case, it's essentially like renting government land; the land ownership won't change no matter how long you cultivate it, and it will always be considered government land.

After two years of production integration, the remaining two million Koreans now include 300,000 Han Chinese.

(Note: The total population of the Goryeo region before the war was about three million. Due to the war and the subsequent losses caused by bandits, hundreds of thousands of people were lost.)

In addition, six prefectures, including Baozhou, north of the Cheongcheon River, and a few prefectures south of the Cheongcheon River and north of the Daedong River, were previously attacked and occupied by the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, several hundred thousand Goryeo people, mainly Balhae, lived in the Jin-occupied territory. The Goryeo population in the Song-controlled area was just over two million.
In addition, there were originally a small number of Han Chinese in the Goryeo region. By the autumn harvest of the seventh year of Xuanhe, the total population of the Goryeo region was about 240 million, of which more than 40 were Han Chinese, accounting for one-sixth of the total.

There will definitely be more gradual immigration in the future. In ten or twenty years, even if the Han people do not become the dominant ethnic group in the area, they will at least be able to share the spoils.

After Zhao Zicheng arrived in Goryeo, he no longer needed to live a secluded life. Since the emperor was far away and no outsiders knew what was happening in Goryeo, the commanders of the Beiping Navy and the Nanzhen Navy, which were in charge of coastal defense in the Song Dynasty, were all Zhao Zicheng's confidants.

He would also return to the Central Plains once or twice a year, either to make a proper appearance in his hometown to dispel any doubts that might arise, or to privately inspect the work in Suzhou, Hangzhou, or Dengzhou and Laizhou.

In the past two years, Zhao Zicheng continued to promote cotton planting and cotton textile industry under his rule, and accumulated a lot of wealth through textile trade, especially maritime trade, with a value of about several million strings of cash.

At the same time, he did not forget to make slight improvements to agricultural techniques based on his knowledge and to promote them vigorously.

There's no need to mention the previously mentioned methods such as using "apical dominance" to increase the production of cotton, melons, fruits, and mulberry leaves.

Based on the limited agricultural experience of later generations, Zhao Zicheng organized experienced farmers to conduct their own experiments and verifications, promoting more efficient composting and irrigation methods. He also further improved the structure of existing irrigation machinery such as waterwheels and organized government officials to construct water conservancy projects, thereby enhancing the quality of irrigation for the fields.

In short, after two years of governance, the total agricultural output in the areas under Zhao Zicheng's rule increased by 10% to 20%. The increase in the output of specialty crops such as cotton was even more significant.

The grain reserves in Goryeo's official granaries, as well as in private granaries in Dengzhou, Laizhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou controlled by Zhao Zicheng, all saw a significant increase. Most of the grain in Goryeo was used to resettle immigrants, with the remainder reserved for future large-scale wars.

With the wealth accumulated from the development of agriculture and textiles, Zhao Zicheng developed many new mines in Goryeo and improved blast furnaces, greatly increasing steel production.

However, the improvement in the quality of steel is not very obvious, or rather, it is difficult to improve the quality of steel produced on a large scale.

Only a few high-end alloys manufactured using laboratory processes are truly excellent, but the production volume is too low to be used for large-scale military equipment. They can only be used to create some divine weapons for Zhao Zicheng himself and his trusted generals.

Due to a lack of high-end steel, Zhao Zicheng was unable to unlock the "flintlock" technology tree he had originally planned.

For Zhao Zicheng, as long as he wanted to develop firearms, the mechanical structure was not a problem, and he didn't need to take the detour of developing matchlock guns first and then flintlock guns.

He could have successfully tested the mechanical structure of the flintlock musket in one go, but unfortunately, his metallurgical and processing techniques were inadequate, making it unrealistic to expect to mass-produce muskets by rolling steel pipes.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng's gunpowder improvement went very smoothly. Most people in later generations know the optimal ratio of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal in gunpowder, and also know the importance of thorough mixing and granulation of materials.

Therefore, by the seventh year of the Xuanhe era, Zhao Zicheng's gunpowder technology had far surpassed that of gun barrel technology.

Given this unfortunate situation, he had no choice but to adjust his plans midway, temporarily abandoning the large-scale production of firearms and instead focusing on casting bronze cannons and manufacturing homemade grenades.

Cannons are much heavier and thicker than muskets, so they don't necessarily have to be forged; they can be cast directly.

If you think cast iron has too many pinholes, then you can use bronze to cast cannons first. This was the orthodox technical route for the development of early artillery in history.

The only drawback is the higher price, limiting the production of large quantities. However, even a small number of bronze cannons will be crucial in future siege battles. While this may not significantly enhance Zhao Zicheng's field combat capabilities, it at least ensures that "as long as Zhao Zicheng can defeat the Jin army in field battles, he need not fear siege battles."

As for whether casting bronze cannons will lead to a shortage of bronze and other problems such as a shortage of coins, there is no need to worry too much.

Over the past two years, Zhao Zicheng has made numerous plans to increase copper ore sources.

For example, not long ago, Yue Fei was sent out by him to fight against pirates in Fusang (Japan) in order to expand trade between Goryeo (Korea) and Fusang (Japan) and increase copper mining and imports.

Judging by the days, Yue Fei should be returning soon.

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P.S.: I'm going out now, it's getting late. I'll be taking the day off tomorrow, so I'll update normally early the day after tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)