I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 52 Leaving Beijing to take office
Zhao Zi said that he had said enough today.

After pretending to be drunk and debating with Chen Dong and others on the sources of the legitimacy of the current dynasty and the characterization of the previous dynasty, Zhao Zicheng pretended to be completely drunk and fell asleep on the table without saying a word.

Zhao Ji, who held a high position, saw that he had exhausted all the tricks he could muster. He felt very satisfied after gaining a lot today, and even inadvertently understood the temperament and character of his distant cousin. After a short while of entertainment, Zhao Ji also asked for a singing girl to perform, and the banquet officially ended.

Chen Dong and others left on their own, and Zhao Zicheng was also helped into the car by Murong Yan.

Zhao Ji was not in a hurry to return to the palace. He stood by the window and watched Zhao Zicheng and others' carriages leave downstairs. Then he turned around and asked Li Shishi casually:
"How are you doing there?"

Li Shishi said tenderly, "His sister is also a person of integrity, outspoken and honest, and cannot bear to see suffering."

Li Shishi did not say much, but just stopped there.

When she and Murong Yan were feasting in the inner room, Murong Yan had tried to speak as little as possible and was very restrained, not making any mistakes. These impressions were all deduced by Li Shishi based on the few words she had heard.

People like Li Shishi are very good at observing people's words and expressions. To be able to get to her level, one's emotional intelligence and ability to judge people must be very good.

Li Shishi actually discovered some flaws. Based on Murong Yan's tone and expression when she mentioned Zhao Zicheng, she felt that they might not be biological siblings.

Li Shishi had no evidence either, she just relied on her woman's intuition to make this judgment. But she didn't intend to expose this. She just thought Zhao Zicheng was telling a white lie, perhaps because he didn't want the women around him to be noticed by other members of the Zhao family, so as to avoid complications.

She was happy to see this happen, because Murong Yan was much prettier than her, and she didn't want another young and beautiful beauty to appear whose surname was not Zhao.

The final result was that Zhao Ji was very satisfied with Zhao Zicheng, and in order to avoid trouble, Li Shishi also tried her best to speak well of him, hoping that the "brother and sister" would be sent away as soon as possible.

Finally, Li Shishi casually asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think of that young man?"

"He is smart and clever, and can draw inferences from one instance, but he doesn't have much sophistication. He is still too young." Zhao Ji commented casually.

The most profound impression Zhao Zicheng left on him was that of an idealist who was well-educated, creative and daring to think.

Of course, there is no such word as "idealist" today.

If a member of the imperial clan is concerned about the country and the people, is cunning, or hides his or her own ambitions, then he or she must not be employed. Even if the Song Dynasty is very tolerant of the imperial clan, this is not acceptable.

But if he's just an idealist, then that's fine. Such a person is too easily offended and too principled to have the political savvy to form cliques. It's not a bad idea to let him showcase his strengths.

After making this judgment in his mind, Zhao Ji figured out how to use this distant cousin.

……

Zhao Ji quickly sent Li Shishi back to Zhen'anfang, and then drove back to the palace.

As soon as he arrived at the palace, Zhao Ji arranged several things in succession.

First, he called in the Hanlin Academy and several officials in charge of national history, and discussed with them the official ideology of the current dynasty regarding the historical materials of the previous dynasty. He also discussed with these officials the views of Zhao Zicheng that he had heard at the dinner table today.

Of course, Zhao Ji would not disclose the sources of these theories, as he simply regarded them as his own occasional gains from reading. He saw that Zhao Zicheng was concealing his identity, so there was no need to make any more fuss.

Zhao Zicheng had anticipated this and didn't mind it. This kind of thing was easy to offend people. This new doctrine could easily be labeled as "warmongering and advocating for the expansion of military operations against Liao and Xia," and would easily incite the resentment of the civil service clique who preferred to suppress military commanders. Zhao Zicheng didn't need this kind of literary fame.

All he needed was for this ideology to spread and gradually establish itself. As for whether he owned the "copyright" for this doctrine, Zhao Zi claimed he didn't care. Even before Jack Ma became famous, he had to specifically attribute his own words to Bill Gates. Now, Zhao Zi claimed that his influence was limited, and having his words spoken through the emperor's lips was a net gain, not a loss.

Nowadays, most of the literary officials and historians in the court have been washed away by the waves, and only the flatterers are left, and very few dare to confront the emperor head-on.

So when those people were summoned and heard that these observations and thoughts came from the emperor himself, they all praised and echoed him, saying that this statement was indeed worthy of research and improvement. However, they did not commit to a deadline for revising the discussion section of "History of the Five Dynasties", obviously hoping to stall for time.

Fortunately, Zhao Ji was not in a hurry and let them study and discuss it slowly. Anyway, as long as this theoretical system supporting the Northern Expedition was produced before the court went to war with the Liao Kingdom in the future, it would be fine. It didn't matter if it took a year or two.

After stealing his distant nephew's "academic achievements" for himself, Zhao Ji felt a little guilty and embarrassed.

So the next day, he found Liang Shicheng again and asked him more about Zhao Zicheng.

Seeing that the emperor was interested, Liang Shicheng observed his words and expressions and felt that the emperor had a good impression of Zhao Zicheng, so he followed the emperor's wishes and said some good things.

Zhao Ji fully understood the things Zhao Zicheng had done before and the work he had done. He became more and more satisfied with him and simply said "good".

Liang Shicheng thought that His Majesty was going to promote Zhao Zicheng, so he asked tentatively, "Does Your Majesty need the Ministry of Personnel..."

"No need, just follow the regulations. The original vacancies will be filled, but it can be done faster." Zhao Ji directly rejected Liang Shicheng's speculation.

He didn't want Zhao Zicheng to realize immediately that the person he met yesterday was the emperor, so he couldn't immediately impose an official title outside the law.

But later on, as long as Zhao Zicheng performed well, all promotions could be expedited. Being remembered by the emperor was already a very powerful blessing, even if it was only remembered secretly.

Liang Shicheng immediately understood and knew what to do.

Zhao Ji continued, "Since Zhao Zicheng has been tinkering with cement imitation stone and artificial exotic flowers and trees, I'm afraid he'll offend Zhu Jie sooner or later. Send Zhu Jie a private letter, saying that you've guessed my intentions and ask him to be more restrained and not get on with him. I won't send Zhu Jie a secret order directly."

Liang Shicheng was startled and quickly obeyed the order.

He also had no idea what tricks Zhao Zicheng used to please His Majesty.

If we were to ask what the most valuable blessing would be for returning to Jiangnan to be an official, it would undoubtedly be "to prevent Zhu Jie from being a hindrance."

Zhu Jie's power in Jiangnan had reached its peak, and even the prefects of the top prefectures and counties could be ordered around by him. For a local official in Jiangnan to be able to carry out his work normally without being hindered by Zhu Jie was a privilege even the prefect couldn't obtain.

After Zhao Ji sent Liang Shicheng away, he still felt a little guilty.

He used the theories of his distant nephew to consolidate his rule and prestige, but he couldn't just openly promote him and reward him, so he had to resort to these tricks first. This feeling often makes people who have been in high positions for a long time feel uncomfortable.

After much thought, Zhao Ji came up with a temporary solution for compensation.

Zicheng's nephew is also a member of the royal family! Although he is still young and has not yet reached adulthood, he still has family.

For an ordinary family, it is very difficult for a son to become an official and to benefit his parents through his official duties. Only parents can benefit their children.

But for members of the imperial clan, the situation was completely different. For members of the imperial clan who held official positions and were registered with the Zongzheng, it was perfectly normal for the court to grant them preferential treatment and promotions after they had held a position for a long time, without any need for a reason.

Haven't you seen a bunch of princes, dukes, and dukes being promoted to higher ranks? Where's their achievements? If you really want to make up an excuse, you can say that he was well-educated and trained his royal family members to be law-abiding. That's also a reason.

When Zhao Ji thought of this, he called the Zong Zheng again and asked him to secretly check Zhao Zicheng's genealogy.

Then he saw that Zhao Zicheng's father, Zhao Linghua, had been promoted to the ninth rank of "Right Guard" at the age of twenty, the lowest military officer rank. He had served for twenty years without ever being promoted—mainly because he had done nothing, just a fixed salary, with no chance to make any contributions. Zhao Ji felt pity for him. He then looked at the rest of Zhao Zicheng's lineage and discovered that Zhao Linghua's eldest brother, Zhao Zicheng's great uncle, had originally inherited the title of "Founding County Marquis" from the previous generation. Zhao Linghua had no title because he was not the eldest son of the family.

But Zhao Linghua's eldest brother has passed away, and his son's generation has been demoted to a lower rank and is no longer a marquis.

"It's really disgraceful that a branch of the imperial family has such a talent, yet not even a marquisate remains. So, let's find an excuse to show some favor to Zhao Linghua's lineage, allowing them to inherit the title of Marquis of Kaiguo County. And then give them a civil servant position that's barely worthy of it."

With a stroke of his pen, Zhao Ji resolved the title issue of Zhao Linghua and Zhao Zicheng.

This title had originally been held by Zhao Zicheng's grandfather, but it was not passed down to his father's branch. Now the emperor has shown mercy and helped them split the founding county marquisate that their ancestors had only one into two, and neither of them was demoted. It is indeed a special treatment, but it also makes sense and will not arouse suspicion from outsiders.

……

On the other hand, Zhao Zicheng pretended to be drunk and was dragged back to the inn by Murong Yan.

Murong Yan carried his arm and went into the house and closed the door. Before she could turn around and get some hot water, Zhao Zicheng sobered up immediately.

"You're not drunk?" Until this moment, Murong Yan still didn't know the identity of the guest she met today. She just thought he was a very noble prince of the royal family. Naturally, she couldn't understand why Zhao Zicheng pretended to be drunk.

Zhao Zicheng took the half-filled bottle of warm water from Murong Yan, wrung out the linen towel, and cleaned his face. He calmly asked, "Xianmei, you drank with that woman for so long, you should have seen it clearly, right? She must be around 27 or 28 years old?"

Murong Yan hadn't reacted yet. She just recalled it briefly and nodded silently.

"Then it's most likely Li Shishi. This way, the uncle's identity is even more certain. My performance today should be considered acceptable, but I can't stay in the capital for long, lest I be summoned again in the future and cause complications."

I will pack up and prepare for the journey as soon as possible these few days, and leave Beijing as soon as I receive news from the Ministry of Personnel."

Zhao Zi said that he hadn't had the opportunity to observe Li Shishi up close all day, and even if he had, he wouldn't have dared to look up and see her too closely, so he could only ask Murong Yan about this. Since the girl gave a positive answer, it was a bit of circumstantial evidence.

Murong Yan was increasingly surprised and quickly asked about the cause and effect. Zhao Zicheng briefly explained what he could say, and Murong Yan then realized how much trouble he had gone through.

In the next two days, Zhao Zicheng and Murong Yan stayed at home and rarely went out, preparing to leave Beijing as soon as possible and packing their things.

Zhao Zicheng's prediction turned out to be not too wrong. Three days later, Liang Shicheng sent someone to inform him that there was news from the Ministry of Personnel and the process should have been completed.

"It's really fast. If it weren't for the unexpected incident that day, this process would probably have taken another month."

When he returned from the Ministry of Personnel, Zhao Zicheng couldn't help but sigh.

Murong Yan: "What official position was he finally granted? Was it as Zhu Jie promised?"

Zhao Zi said, "No change. He is indeed the County Magistrate of Gusu, an eighth-rank official."

The news of his father Zhao Linghua's title and promotion was not conveyed through Zhao Zicheng, so he didn't know about it yet. He only knew about his own appointment.

His luggage had already been packed, so Zhao Zicheng simply went to the Directorate of Works to say goodbye to Jia Dan and greet Chen Dong and other acquaintances. He left the city the day after receiving his appointment.

There was no farewell banquet as we had just had one a few days ago, so there was no need for it.

When Zhao Zicheng left the city, he only took Murong Yan, as well as the Murong family's stewards and servants.

The others had already left with Yang Zhi seven or eight days in advance.

Zhao Zicheng traveled south, walked for a whole day, walked more than fifty miles along the Bian River, and spent the night in Zhuxian Town.

Yang Zhi had also received the news in advance and stayed temporarily in Zhuxian Town, waiting for Zhao Zicheng to join him.

When everyone reunited, Yang Zhi, Li Jun and others couldn't wait to congratulate him:
"Congratulations, sir, on being appointed Gusu County Magistrate. Your future will surely be limitless."

Zhao Zicheng waved his hand modestly: "When traveling, all this is unnecessary. Besides, I am only an eighth-rank county magistrate. How dare you call me sir? From now on, I can only call you county lady at most."

Lu Da and the Lin family finally had the opportunity to meet in person. Mrs. Lin was a female relative and it was not convenient for her to express her gratitude, so her father, Coach Zhang, and Lu Da did the thanking:

"Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness! Your generosity is truly beyond my imagination. At the time, I was worried about ulterior motives. Now that I think about it, I was really judging others by my own standards. I feel extremely ashamed!"

"Please stand up quickly, old man. Why do you have to do this? I'm so young, wouldn't it shorten my lifespan?" Zhao Zicheng quickly helped Coach Zhang up, but he was in no rush to help Lu Da. He didn't care who was more useful to him; he just showed simple respect for the elderly.

After helping the two men up, Zhao Zicheng first comforted Coach Zhang with a few words, telling him to move to Jiangnan with peace of mind and live a good life. Then he turned his head and looked Lu Da up and down.

Lu Da was frightened by his gaze: "Is there something wrong with me?"

Zhao Zicheng pinched his arm, patted his body, and gently pulled his hair:
"I haven't seen you for seven or eight days. You've definitely lost some weight. I'm not afraid of shadows along the way. And the hair is sticking firmly, too."

Lu Da quickly gave credit to An Daoquan who was standing beside him: "It's all because of Dr. An's excellent skills."

An Daoquan also hurriedly bowed to Zhao Zi and said, "It is all thanks to the good deer antler glue that the county lord obtained from the Ministry of Works. Without good medicinal materials, even if I have medical skills, I will be powerless."

Seeing that the disguise work was very appropriate, Zhao Zi said he was not afraid of wandering around along the way. He summoned Yang Zhi, and everyone finally decided on the route to return to Jiangnan.

It was called a discussion, but in fact it was just Zhao Zicheng's one-man show.

He asked someone to bring a map and pointed directly at it, "This time the Ministry of Personnel's action is a month faster than I expected. It's the hottest time of the year now, and traveling by land is indeed a hassle.

Fortunately, before reaching Yingtianfu, we can still take a section of the canal on our return journey eastward, where the boat is sheltered from the sun and won't get too hot. We'll continue by water, abandoning the boat before reaching Yingtianfu, switching to horses, and then head due east.

On the way back, we'll first go to Xuzhou and see what happens. Then we'll take the Sishui River downstream to Huaiyin, and finally Huaiyin to Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou, the same route we took here. The only difference is the distance between Yingtianfu and Huaiyin. When we came here, we took the southern route along the Huai River, but this time we'll take the northern route overland.

Yingtian Prefecture in the Song Dynasty was not Nanjing in later generations, but Songzhou at that time, which was Suiyang/Guide Prefecture/Shangqiu in other dynasties. There is a very mature waterway canal between Kaifeng and Shangqiu, and you can still take a boat on this section.

However, after arriving in Songzhou/Shangqiu, there is no water route to continue heading due east. You can take a land route over Mangdang Mountain, enter the Sishui River Basin, arrive in Xuzhou, and then go to Huaiyin from Xuzhou.

Zhao Zicheng's goal was certainly not to go to Xuzhou itself, but he had no excuse to go directly to Liangshanpo, so the best he could do was to go to the vicinity of Xuzhou. He also wanted to take advantage of this time to have Lu Da or Lin Niangzi deliver a letter to Chai Jin in Cangzhou, Hebei, warning Lin Chong not to stray into the thieves' lair, and if he was interested in surrendering, he could meet him in Xuzhou.

Anyway, Wang Lun is still the one in charge of Liangshanpo now, so it would be better for Lin Chong to come to him directly instead of going to that villain.

The crowd didn't know his full plan, but they all agreed with this route. They all thought it made sense to go through Songzhou and then to Xuzhou, and it also avoided the territory of Wang Qing, the Huaixi bandit they had encountered on the way here.

-

PS: The map change was a bit delayed and even later.

(End of this chapter)