I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 15 Three Cunning Rabbit Cave
Returning to his hometown in Xiuzhou and sleeping in his own bedroom, Zhao Zi said he still has a strange feeling that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

It has been almost ten days since he traveled to this world. Except for the days when he slept on the boat, he stayed at the Murong family's farm every night as long as he was on shore.

The Murong family was much richer than his, and they used to sleep in silk quilts (made of silk, not cotton) at night. Back home, they could only sleep in reed quilts. They were stuffed with white reed fluff, the kind they picked directly from the waterweed by the lake. It was free, just a little labor-intensive.

The moment he covered himself with the quilt, Zhao Zicheng had a more intuitive understanding of the family's predicament.

"It seems that cotton cultivation is still not widespread enough. Cotton cloth is available on the market, but it is much more expensive than ramie and linen, and has no cost advantage over low-end silk.

How could anyone have thought of using cotton directly as filling for quilted jackets and quilts? I must promote cotton cultivation in the future, even if we don't improve cotton weaving technology, just using it directly for warmth. The Song Dynasty had already lost its northern pastures, and sheepskin and wool were expensive, so large-scale cotton cultivation was the only way to strengthen the country.

Zhao Zi said that he was daydreaming and found another task to do, so he wrote it down for the time being.

There was no rush. The climate in the Jiangnan water towns was not suitable for growing cotton. Later, cotton in China was mainly grown in places with long summer sunshine and low rainfall, such as the Northwest.

During the Song Dynasty, the Northwest was not under the control of the imperial court. As a second choice, they could only grow cotton on the Shandong Peninsula. Later, Zhao Zi said that if there was an opportunity to extend the sphere of influence to Shandong or even further, he would consider it.

……

Perhaps because of the change of bed and also because he was not used to the stiff reed quilt, Zhao Zi said that he did not sleep well that night and woke up at four o'clock the next morning.

It was uncomfortable to just lie there, so Zhao Zicheng simply got up, practiced breathing exercises for a while, and stayed up until about five o'clock in the morning. Then he quickly washed up and practiced martial arts alone in the yard.

He has been practicing martial arts for seven or eight days, and the novelty has not yet worn off. He is at his most excited.

This world didn't have those mysterious internal skills, but it did have breathing techniques. The basic breathing technique Zhao Zicheng had learned was a modification of Duan Yuyan's, drawing on the strengths of many others. It didn't even have a proper name.

Judging from the literal meaning of the content, it should be very orthodox Taoist Kung Fu, probably based on the Xiao Wuxiang Gong from her maternal lineage.

While the modified breathing method isn't particularly advanced, it's well-suited for those beginning in adulthood, allowing for quick entry and steady progress. Duan Yuyan herself didn't practice martial arts as a child, instead reading extensive martial arts texts. Later, facing adversity, she began practicing to protect herself and support her family.

Zhao Zi said that after only seven or eight days of practice, he felt that his lung capacity had increased a lot, his heartbeat at rest had become lighter, and he felt refreshed and his ears and eyes were sharp.

After arriving in the yard, he took a heavy wooden stick instead of a sword and continued to practice the basic sword skills he had learned in the past few days.

After practicing for about half a watch, his mother, Mrs. Hu, heard the noise and stood up to see him practicing martial arts. She was also shocked:
"How did you manage to master martial arts after being away for two years? Even if you passed the Imperial College entrance exam, you should continue to devote your energy to literary affairs. Even if you can't study, at least learn some government laws and regulations."

Zhao Zi said he didn't want to argue with his parents any further, so he just casually explained, "This is also for strengthening the body. The situation is not peaceful these days, and the roads are not safe when traveling far away. I even encountered pirates when crossing Taihu Lake a few days ago, so I thought of practicing."

When Mrs. Hu heard that the Taihu pirates had caused such a big stir, she immediately stopped opposing him and instead expressed concern for her son's safety. Finally, she asked, "How long can you stay this time?"

Zhao Zicheng thought for a moment and said, "Maybe half a month at most. I'll be back in Suzhou in half a month and ready to go to Tokyo."

This time also takes into account the time required for Zhu Jie to build the old flower and stone rockery and the time required for Huang Shang to replace the damaged Taoist canon, so we just have to get there before them.

Zhao Zi said that he didn't want to return to Suzhou too early to avoid any problems with Zhu Jie, who might suddenly grab him and ask him to do something.

When Mrs. Hu heard that her son could only stay for half a month, she felt a little distressed, but she didn't say anything. She just went to prepare breakfast and then told her husband about the situation.

Because Zhao Zicheng was practicing martial arts, Hu cut a few more pieces of rice cake for breakfast, cooked them together with last night's leftovers, and added some vegetable leaves and lard.

Breakfast was meatless because, in the rural villages outside the city, it was difficult to preserve slaughtered pigs, and it was difficult to sell the leftover meat, so pigs were only slaughtered during the Lunar New Year. If they wanted to have some meat, they could only add lard to their rice porridge and rice cakes.

Unlike people living in the city, who can go directly to the butcher to buy meat every day.

Commerce in the Song Dynasty was indeed developed, but it was only developed in the cities; the countryside remained the same as in the previous dynasty.

At lunch, Mrs. Hu could kill a chicken for her son, make soup with it, and eat it within a day, so there would be no problem of it going bad.

Zhao Zicheng, eating these simple meals, thought it would be better to have his parents and relatives move to the city. Firstly, it would be easier to buy supplies and they could eat pork and mutton every day. Secondly, when Fang La rebelled next year, they would have a place to hide. Living outside the city would make it easy for them to be harmed by small groups of bandits and would be unsafe.

He mentioned this suggestion at the dinner table, and his father, Zhao Ling, was a little impatient: "You live well in the village, why move to the county town? You've only had money for a few days!"

Zhao Zicheng was embarrassed to tell the real reason, so he used his health as an excuse: "I will be going on a long journey soon. The roads are getting more and more dangerous these days. I have to practice martial arts diligently every day. It is not convenient to eat meat every day if I live in the farm. I can't let my mother kill chickens every day." Zhao Zicheng finished his meal in a hurry while speaking, and then he counted the gold and silver he brought back yesterday with his parents so that they would know what was going on.

Mrs. Hu felt sorry for her son, and since she was rich now, it wasn't expensive to buy a house in the city for a small place like Xiuzhou. In the end, the mother and son worked together to convince Zhao Linghua.

Zhao Linghua was still reluctant to leave the farmland unattended, so Zhao Zicheng said, "If all else fails, we can choose relatives who are close to our family and give them the farmland for free. We won't be short of the rent in the future.

Forgive my frankness, but now that I've made it big, the Zhao family of Xiuzhou will definitely still be centered around ours. At the very least, the other relatives must be convinced. The eldest brother of the eldest house, relying on his title of founding marquis, used to oppress our family. This situation will need to be gradually resolved.

For ordinary people, even if they passed the imperial examinations and became officials, it was not easy to get promoted to a noble title. However, as members of the imperial family, we have one advantage: as long as we serve as officials and make meritorious contributions, the court will grant us a noble title much faster than ordinary officials.

If I become a county magistrate or a sixth-rank magistrate in the future, my family will surely be granted the title of founding marquis. And if my relatives all obey my family, it will be much smoother when the Zongzheng inspects things in the future."

Zhao Ling remained silent after hearing these words. He had not expected that his son had become so arrogant and ambitious.

Normally, a student with two A's in the Imperial College exam would start at the highest rank, an eighth-rank county magistrate. Yet his son, thinking so far into the future, was already attempting to surpass the title of the eldest son, who had been separated from the previous two generations. I wonder what he was thinking.

However, Zhao Linghua also knew that what his son said was indeed correct. As a member of the royal family, if he made some achievements, his promotion might not be faster than that of ordinary officials, but his promotion to rank would definitely be faster. This was the blessing of his bloodline.

When the imperial court promotes you to a higher rank, it will not explicitly say that it is because you have made meritorious contributions, but will often use the excuse that "the emperor cares about family affection and sympathizes with brothers and sisters."

Similar to "Dream of the Red Chamber", when Jia Daishan died, Jia She inherited the title of Duke of Rongguo, while Jia Zheng got his official position by relying on the emperor's "pity for old ministers".

Zhao Zi said that by doing this, of course, he also hoped to stand out as early as possible among the many "Song royal relatives" in Jiangnan, at least to surpass those eldest grandsons among his close relatives.

In this way, in the future, when troubled times come and the entire family of Zhao Ji and Zhao Gou is wiped out by the Jin people, the literati in the south of the Yangtze River will need to support another person with the surname Zhao so that they will be more likely to think of him.

Otherwise, even if he raised the flag to fight against the Jin Dynasty, he might encounter additional resistance if he only had military force but did not have an advantage in bloodline.

Originally in history, when Zhao Gou was frightened into eunuch by Jin Wushu and had to adopt a prince, he asked the clan leader to search the family tree for children with the surname Zhao who were "under ten years old and the seventh generation grandson of Zhao Kuangyin."

After final verification, it was found that a total of 1,040 children met the requirements.

Zhao Gou then examined and selected the children based on their appearance, conduct, quality, and intelligence. Finally, he selected several candidates and trained them for many years before finally selecting Zhao Zicheng's son, who later became Emperor Xiaozong of Song.

Zhao Zicheng said that in his son's generation, there would be thousands of people who would meet the requirements in the future. So even if we trace back one generation, Zhao Zicheng said that in this generation, there would be at least more than 300 people in the country whose bloodline met the requirements like him - this did not include those in the city of Bianjing who would be arrested in the future, but only counted the Zhao family members who lived outside the capital and escaped the Jingkang Disaster.

From this perspective, both Zhao Zicheng and his historical son were exceptionally talented, as they were the elite of the Zhao family, chosen through layers of selection. Song Xiaozong became one of the few wise rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty because he was chosen through a nationwide selection, not simply by bloodline.

Zhao Zi said that before crossing over, the original owner of his physical body could pass the Imperial College entrance exam with two honors based on his own strength. Now that he has crossed over, he feels that learning anything is also very fast.

This body's genes are originally very good. Whether in appearance, intelligence or physical strength, it is an example of "poor people relying on genetic mutations."

It would be difficult to expect him to stand out from the hundreds of Zhaos from other places and be selected by the southern official group. Even if he already had troops at his disposal and had already fought hard against the Jin army and earned a reputation, he still had to try to gain as many bargaining chips as possible.

……

Based on this consideration, it became obvious what Zhao Zicheng should do during these days in his hometown.

For the next two weeks, he continued to diligently practice martial arts every day, and at the same time, he generously bought a house in the county town. He also distributed the farmland in his farm outside the city to his close relatives for cultivation. He still held the ownership of the land, but only temporarily cultivated it for free, and in recent years, he had not collected rent.

If the relatives sublet the land, they would collect the rent themselves, but Zhao Zicheng issued a strict order that if the land was sublet, they could only collect 30% of the rent from the tenants and not exploit the people, otherwise he would take back the management rights.

The Zhao family originally had only a few dozen acres of paddy fields, part of which was planted into mulberry forest for silkworm breeding, so the process was completed quickly.

In his spare time, Zhao Zicheng also tinkered with some small gadgets. On the one hand, it was to improve his living conditions, and by the way, he could also teach those relatives who were good at opening workshops and doing business, and give them some advice on how to make money.

In just half a month, the reputation of Zhao Zicheng's family among the Zhao family in Xiuzhou began to improve visibly. Some relatives even felt that the current clan leader was old, greedy and foolish, and that his sixth uncle Zhao Linghua should be the clan leader.

Time passed quickly. Counting the days, Zhao Zicheng knew it was time to return to Suzhou and prepare to go to Tokyo with Yang Zhi.

(End of this chapter)