Volume 1
Shizu was the ninth son of the previous emperor. During the Jingkang Incident, Shizu was ordered to help in times of crisis. He recruited righteous men from all over the country, fed them with food and clothed them with clothes. They were all grateful for Shizu's kindness and righteousness, and they all died to repay him. - "History of the Song Dynasty·Biography of Shizu"
Chapter 1 Mingdao Palace
The autumn wind was rustling, the sun was setting, and in the evening, the Mingdao Palace in Weizhen County, Bozhou (Luyi in later generations) in the Huainan East Road of the Song Dynasty was a place where light and shadow intertwined and the air was refreshing and warm.
Not only that, at this moment, in this huge complex that has the attributes of a temple and a palace, fully armed soldiers and nobles in red and purple can be seen everywhere, and countless civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty are stationed here. Among them, the highest point, the hill behind the palace, is even more strictly guarded and well-ordered. From afar, you can actually see several three-flag dragon banners fluttering in the wind.
Anyone with a little common sense knows that this thing is called Jinwu Banner, which is used exclusively by the emperor. The dragon banner is here, which means that the Zhao Song government is also here.
Such a situation cannot be said to be rare. After all, the officials of the Song Dynasty have always had a tradition of devout Taoism. The previous Song Dynasty official was even known as the Emperor of Taoism, and the Mingdao Palace where the Taoist ancestor's main temple is located was also built by Zhenzong. So it seems normal for the Song Dynasty officials to come here in person to offer sacrifices.
However, unlike the grand occasion when Emperor Zhenzong came here to worship the Taoist ancestor, at this moment , the atmosphere in this royal garden was inevitably solemn and serious... The number of fully armed generals and soldiers was too many, and the literati of the Song Dynasty who always liked to show off their literary talent had no interest in sightseeing. Instead, they met in groups of three or four to have a drink, and their expressions of worry were hard to conceal.
Of course it’s hard to hide!
Moreover, since the Jingkang period, the Jin army invaded the south, the two emperors went hunting in the north, and there were endless rebellions in various places. The Song Dynasty was in fact on the brink of life and death, and the worry of national destruction was by no means unfounded.
What is even more distressing is that at this critical moment, Emperor Zhao of the Song Dynasty, who had just ascended the throne for more than two months, also met with an unexpected disaster. The Zhao family has always valued Taoism, so a few days ago, when Emperor Zhao's ceremonial procession passed by here and headed south to Huaidian to prepare for the fight against the Jin Dynasty, they inevitably had to pay homage to Li Er, the Taoist ancestor of Mingdao Palace. However, after the young Emperor Zhao finished the worship, he actually fell headfirst into the Nine Dragon Well near Mingdao Palace while touring the garden scenery in front of hundreds of civil and military officials, and then fell into a coma for a while!
Of course, he just fainted. Emperor Zhao woke up after half a day, and the two prime ministers also visited him.
But the problem is that after waking up, Emperor Zhao, who was young and strong and could ride a horse for half a day and pull a stone five-bow, acted as usual, but did not continue to move south as planned. Recently, he only made a public appearance accompanied by Kang Lu, the chief escort of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then took no action again.
You know, after the emperor ascended the throne in Nanjing (Shangqiu) two months ago, there was a fierce struggle in the court, and even a counselor and two students died because of it, and a prime minister was dismissed. Only then did the national policy of traveling south to Huaidian and then to Yangzhou be decided. Moreover, the empress dowager had already gone to Yangzhou in advance on this trip to the south, and there were many royal family members traveling with her. Several financially capable ministers also went to Huaiyang and Jiangnan to raise money and food. The imperial generals and commanders also went to the surrounding areas to suppress the rebellion in order to stabilize the road. Even the chief guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs went to the front to clear the way... But the most important and fundamental emperor and the civil and military officials of the court had just set off from Nanjing (Shangqiu) for only a hundred miles, and stopped in Bozhou. What was going on?
As a result, people walking here were in a panic for a while.
There are rumors that although the emperor was not hurt that day, his brain was damaged. He even forgot Concubine Pan and Kang Yaban, and might even have become Emperor Hui of Song. Therefore, the ministers of the East and West Palaces and Kang Yaban of the Ministry of Internal Affairs certainly did not dare to leave. There are also rumors that the emperor is a believer in Taoism after all, so after this incident, he actually suspected that falling into the well was a warning from the Taoist ancestor, advising him not to go south, so he changed his mind for a while, and instead wanted to stay in the Central Plains to fight against the Jin, so he lingered!
Not only that, for example, Kang Lu took the opportunity to imprison the emperor and planned to replace the emperor with a raccoon monster; another example is that the Taoist ancestor appeared in a dream and instructed the gods to come down to earth to help... All kinds of absurd statements became more and more bizarre as the emperor stayed in the Mingdao Palace in Bozhou.
All I can say is that it was fortunate that after Jing Kang, this person was the only legitimate heir of the Song royal family, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble would have happened.
"Hello everyone for archery!"
At this time when people were panicking everywhere, the rear hall, which was the highest ground, was the center of the vortex. Seeing the emperor, as usual, bending his bow and shooting at the target under the dragon flag before sunset, and shooting two barrels of arrows in a row before stopping, Kang Lu, the chief guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was waiting nearby, hurried forward to flatter and ask, "Are you going to have dinner with the guards today as well?"
"Why not?"
The so-called official was wearing a red round-necked shirt, and he was only about 20 years old, but he was tall and handsome, and he looked like a direct descendant of the Zhao family. He just smiled slightly when he heard the words, and seemed to be unconcerned. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"What could possibly happen to me?" This official, Kang, who was about thirty years old, was the only chief eunuch in the palace. He had always been in charge of the confidential documents of the imperial palace, and was as important as the eunuchs in later times. He couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. "Just now, Madam Pan asked me to ask, saying that she hadn't seen the emperor for many days and missed him very much. I thought..."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhao smiled awkwardly while holding the bow in his hand. He did not answer but turned his head away.
"Besides, didn't everyone say they wanted to eat ice cream after their injuries?" Kang Lu saw this and quickly walked around to the other person, continuing to talk with his sleeves gathered. "This Madam Pan specially cooked for everyone today, so why not go and see the heir to the throne!"
"Yeah?"
The young official was slightly startled and hesitated for a moment, but soon he came to his senses and sighed. "Forget it. Just send me some ice cream. I'll share it with my classmate who's dining with me today..."
"Officials!"
Kang Lu was so anxious that he even changed the word "Da Jia" which was used to express intimacy and was only used by him. "That was made by Madam Pan herself. How can we give it to the guards? It's not decent. Even you, the emperor, can't eat with the guards anymore. If it gets out, the ministers outside the court will be dissatisfied and say that the emperor despises scholars and values ​​warriors."
"Since the Jingkang period, is there really any decorum left in the Song Dynasty?" The young official did not change his mind after hearing this, but sneered in public. "If there was any decorum, why would it have come to this? As for the scholars, they are not dissatisfied with the Jin cavalry, so why are they dissatisfied with me?"
After saying this, Emperor Zhao no longer paid any attention to the other party, but walked out of the back hall. Kang Lu was about to follow him, but unexpectedly, several soldiers with swords who were standing beside him stood up and followed him, directly blocking Emperor Kang's way.
Kang Lu rarely lost his composure and panic, and quickly signaled to a lightly-armored officer beside the palace door. Upon seeing this, the tall and dignified young officer lowered his head slightly, but finally stood up and followed the Emperor of Song, their nominal master.
The guards with swords seemed to be able to hold their own against Kang Lu, but they showed a lot of respect for this man. Instead of blocking him, they made way for him. The Song official Zhao Jiu, who was walking in front and saw this scene out of the corner of his eye, did not change his expression at all , but continued to walk out calmly.
However, when he walked out of the hall, Zhao Jiu was not in a hurry to find someone to eat with. Instead, he stood on the slope of the back hall and looked around for a long time. He thought Kang Lu had already gone to deal with the confidential documents. Then he suddenly turned around and gave an order to the young officer following behind him:
"Please Mr. Yang, please go and get the ice cream from Concubine Pan for me, and apologize for your hard work."
As the saying goes, Yang Sheren was caught off guard and could only respond in public and turned away. Zhao Jiu, the Emperor Zhao, also went to the military camp at the bottom of the hill where the sound of horses neighing could be heard.
That’s right!
It was Zhao Jiu, not Zhao Jiu. The Emperor of the Song Dynasty was really possessed by someone as the rumors said! The senior official Kang and the young officer, Yang Yi, were the ones who were in charge of the imperial court. The two powerful figures in the imperial court, one civil and one military, were not overstepping their bounds in their concern for the emperor who had just recovered from a serious injury. Instead, their loyalty was truly commendable!
If Zhao Gou's soul was still in something, he would probably be moved to tears.
Of course, the only problem is that the monster that took over the body of the Zhao Song official was not a civet cat that had become a spirit, but a mortal who himself felt was innocent, a mortal nine hundred years later!
I thought this guy just went home to register his household registration after graduating from college, and visited the Taoist temple by the way. Just because he helped an old Taoist priest to rescue a dog from the cement Nine Dragon Well, when he came to his senses, he became an official of the Zhao Song Dynasty... Who can he complain to?
Tell it to Taishang Laojun?
Would Taishang Laojun mock him and say: What does what happened to you in Li Er Temple have to do with me, Taishang Laojun?
In fact, to be fair, a time traveler who traveled through time and became an emperor, and an emperor who had just ascended the throne at the age of 21, if there really was a mastermind behind the scenes, it could be considered fair to the time traveler... He sat on the throne for 60 years in peace, spent 20 years saving money, 20 years building a steam engine, and another 20 years colonizing the world, during which time he married a bunch of concubines, had dozens of children, raised hundreds of cats and dogs, and designed a zoo. Isn't that good?
Isn’t it delicious?
Of course it smells good, and Concubine Pan smells good too, but the problem is that this emperor is called Zhao Gou, the ninth son of the family, and later generations have always called him Zhao Laojiu. This year's reign is called Jianyan, but it was changed to Yuan two months ago when Zhao Laojiu ascended the throne. The previous six months were called the second year of Jingkang.
In other words, at this time the extremely humiliating Jingkang Shame had ended, the Northern Song Dynasty had been completely destroyed, Hebei and Hedong had fallen completely. As for the Southern Song Dynasty, it had been established in theory, but in reality it had not yet succeeded in gaining a foothold... The entire Song Dynasty court was actually fleeing south with Zhao Laojiu, trying to find a place to survive in Yangzhou.
In this regard, our time traveler Mr. Zhao Jiu, after seeing with his own eyes thousands of soldiers and the Huaixi Plain without any electrification facilities, and asking and verifying again and again in his fairly fluent Central Plains accent, confirmed that he was a time traveler and had indeed become Zhao Gou. He has actually been in a bad mood these past few days.
It's nothing. Zhao Gou's reputation is too bad, not to mention it. The key is that the timing is even worse! In Zhao Jiu's opinion, when he travels back two years to before Jingkang, wouldn't it be better to create the second Xuanwu Gate? Or two years later, travel to Lin'an and settle down directly. Wouldn't it be comfortable?
Does it have to be at this critical moment during the escape?
Jin Wushu, who led an army of 100,000 to search the mountains and seas, is not a fictional character!
Of course, Zhao Jiu's ignorance is due to his blindness to history. Two years ago, he definitely would not have had time to deal with Xuanwu Gate, let alone travel back two years later. If he really traveled back in time, this body would have been that of a eunuch, which would have been a life worse than death.
In short, since traveling through time, this Emperor Zhao, Zhao Gou, Zhao Jiu, or Zhao Jiu, has indeed not been in a good mood for a single day.
At first, he felt lost and irritated... Having air conditioning, computers, mobile phones, and Haidilao is not better than being an emperor in exile? Or such a terrible emperor in history? In fact, although this body is very healthy and young, he, a later generation with normal values, still feels a little disgusted and uncomfortable.
And as an ordinary person, don’t you miss home?
So, on the second night after traveling through time, Emperor Zhao tried to jump into the Nine Dragon Well in the Taoist Temple again in person, hoping that the Taoist would have mercy on him, but he failed.
After confirming that there is no way back, the next thing to do is naturally to complain about oneself!
How mature can a young man who was also 21 years old before he traveled through time, who had just graduated from college and hadn't even started working, be? So he started crying secretly in the middle of the night, started saying he wanted to eat ice cream, started to lose his temper and curse people... He felt as aggrieved as in the Metamorphosis.
And it was probably because of these persistent abnormalities that this time traveler naturally aroused the vigilance of Kang Lu and Yang Yizhong.
After a few days of waiting, he finally accepted his fate and prepared to change his identity to continue living. However, the newly-escaped Emperor Zhao of the Song Dynasty had to face a very embarrassing and tense situation:
Not to mention the Song officials who wore hard-winged hats and round-necked purple, red, and green robes, he also had several important figures around him, including Kang Lu, the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was roughly equivalent to the eunuch who held the pen in later generations; Yang Yizhong, the so-called attendant, who was actually the captain of the personal guards of the imperial court; two ministers, Huang Qianshan, the official prime minister of the Secretariat of the East Palace; Wang Boyan, the prime minister of the Privy Council of the West Palace; and Wang Yuan, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp, who was equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards... He didn't recognize any of them! He had never even heard of them!
However, considering that these were Zhao Gou's confidants, and that it was these people who had assisted Zhao Gou in initiating and leading the escape to the south, it could be said that they were the capitulationists who persecuted those who resisted the Jin army and were determined to escape!
Not only that, these people were obviously suspicious of him because of his earlier misbehavior. Whether it was out of concern or vigilance, under Kang Lu's leadership, some people had been keeping a close eye on him, the Emperor Zhao, and apart from his soothing appearance on the second day after his arrival, Zhao Jiu had not had full access to memorials and court officials.
It was obvious that he was isolated intentionally.
Besides that, Zhao Laojiu also left Zhao Jiu a concubine, Pan, and a one-month-old baby... Well... this matter is a bit embarrassing, but it is just embarrassing, and it cannot be said who is taking advantage of whom, because Zhao Laojiu himself is most likely no longer in this world, and the newcomer is obviously a pure soul traveler, without any burden at all!
In fact, after Zhao Jiu learned that the wife and two concubines in this body were all captured by the Jin people, apart from mocking Zhao Gou in his heart for not being a man, he did not feel the slightest bit of empathy (in fact, they were all dead at this time, but in history Zhao Gou found out about this more than ten years later, so he was not ), because he remembered nothing and had no memory fusion at all.
In other words, in Zhao Jiu's opinion, if he could just leave Concubine Pan and the baby in Jiangnan and raise them well, and if he had the chance to bring Zhao Gou's captured family back in the future and raise them in Jiangnan as well, he would be doing himself a favor... and it would also be a way of repaying the favor of Zhao Gou for giving him this body that was both civil and military.
Besides, if you have time to think about these things, you might as well seize the time to build good relationships with the grassroots soldiers and win their hearts. This way, someone can help block the knife when necessary; secondly, you can resolve the soft control of Kang Lu and Yang Yi; thirdly, you can also use this to learn and seek some necessary information...
As for keeping the official identity mysterious in order to maintain authority, it is not wrong, but as Zhao Jiu had said to Kang Lu in a sarcastic tone before, since the Jing Kang incident, could the Zhao Song official be more shameful?
But at the very end, there is still a huge matter in front of the newly emerged Emperor Zhao - after traveling back in time to become Zhao Gou, doesn't he have to fight against the Jin Dynasty? !