Chapter 115

…

Jiying Hall.

This was one of the imperial palace's most important banquet halls, where the Emperor frequently held grand spring and autumn feasts and imperial examinations for jinshi candidates.

Many did not expect that Zheng Xiansu's palace examination celebration banquet was also held here.

In fact, aside from minor differences—such as the fact that palace examination graduates wore green flowers instead of red ones—the palace examination for selecting officials differed little from the civil service examination, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric.

This made people realize that although Zheng Xiansu came from a humble background, her authority was no less than that of any former Empress.

At the same time, the imperial consorts and palace women saw clearly that Zheng Xiansu's palace examination was no mere game—it was a serious matter.

What followed proved that Zhao Yu indeed strongly supported Zheng Xiansu's endeavors.

Zhao Yu not only attended the banquet in person but also publicly announced: Liu Mingda, the female Zhuangyuan, shall be promoted to the third-lowest rank among the Seventeen Concubines—Chongyi—and shall assume the post of Shanggong effective immediately; Zhang Chun, the female Bangyan, shall be promoted to the second-lowest rank among the Seventeen Concubines—Chongrong—and shall assume the post of Siyan effective immediately; Zhang Chun, the female Tanhua, shall be promoted to the lowest rank among the Seventeen Concubines—Yelu Chongyuan—and shall assume the post of Siji effective immediately.

Although Liu Mingda, due to her young age, did not receive the legendary ten consecutive nights of imperial favor, she was instantly promoted from a lowly laboring palace maid to a Grade 2 Senior Chongyi—effectively rising at the speed of a rocket.

Crucially, the Shanggong was the highest-ranking female official in the Shanggong Bureau, responsible for managing palace affairs, including guiding the Empress and imperial consorts in ceremonial protocol, and sometimes serving beside the Emperor to convey matters from the Empress and the inner court.

This position would inevitably bring her frequently into Zhao Yu's presence, ensuring not only frequent imperial favor but also his heavy reliance.

Siyan and Siji were both important female officials close to the Emperor.

The former was responsible for announcing and submitting memorials—that is, conveying internal and external petitions to the Emperor—and for reading imperial edicts, requiring constant attendance beside him.

The latter: managed written records of all palace bureaus; during the Emperor's handling of state affairs, she might record relevant matters beside him for future reference.

These two posts meant they followed Zhao Yu every single day.

What did this signify? Did it need to be said?

It was clear from this how valuable the palace examination truly was.

This would inevitably drive the women in Zhao Yu's harem to immerse themselves in studying literature, court etiquette, needlework, and moral cultivation, hoping to achieve a splendid comeback like Liu Mingda and others.

The next day, another exhilarating rumor spread through the harem.

Last night, the female Bangyan Zhang Chun was summoned to the Emperor's bedchamber.

It was clear now that the harem's rumor—that the top scorer would receive ten consecutive nights of imperial favor—was no mere gossip…

…

Nowadays, affairs in Zhao Yu's harem were no longer merely about his personal desires; they sometimes served as barometers of his political stance.

For example, a group of chancellors presented Zhao Yu with eleven or twelve young women, yet Zhao Yu chose to first favor Zhang Dun's own granddaughter, Zhang Chun—this was a clear political signal: Zhao Yu still intended to retain Zhang Dun as Chancellor and had no intention of replacing him in the short term.

Had Zhao Yu first favored Cai Xuan instead, Cai Jing might well have replaced Zhang Dun as Chancellor.

Someone might say, that doesn't make sense, does it?

Zhang Chun was the first among these eleven or twelve young women to be favored—not because she ranked second in the palace examination?

What do you think these chancellors believe? To them, Zhang Chun's second-place finish itself was a vital political signal that Zhang Dun would remain in power and retain his influence; what did Zhang Chun's personal performance matter?

This was, in fact, one reason why the chancellors sent women to Zhao Yu.

They wanted to see what Zhao Yu truly thought—since he never revealed his real political stance.

Observing whom Zhao Yu favored could serve as a highly effective weather gauge.

Just like Zhao Xu, who favored Liu Qingjing, a supporter of the New Party, and despised Meng Xiang, a supporter of the Old Party.

Zhao Yu's chancellors hoped to gauge his true inclinations through this method…

…

At today's morning court, Zhang Dun appeared unusually energetic; he not only reported dozens of minor and major matters to Zhao Yu in one breath but also revealed a major issue he had long suppressed:

"Your Majesty, it is now the end of February; we must manage the Yellow River. Otherwise, when the flood season arrives, disaster will surely follow…"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yu flew into a rage.

Originally, the Yellow River flowed peacefully on its own, coexisting harmlessly with humans.

But over eighty years ago, a lowly official named Li Chui, in his treatise *The Book of River Management and Topography*, claimed: the Yellow River's course would continuously shift northward, eventually diverting its lower reaches from Henan and Shandong into the Yan-Yun Sixteen Prefectures of Hebei, emptying into the Bohai Sea.

It was well known that the Yan-Yun Sixteen Prefectures belonged to the Liao Kingdom during the Song era; Li Chui argued that if the Yellow River truly diverted into these territories, the Liao might send a naval force upstream along the river to directly attack Dongjing Bianliang.

In reality, given the ship technology of this era and the Liao's inferior population and economy, organizing such a massive upstream offensive was pure fantasy.

Yet ministers during the reigns of Emperor Renzong, Emperor Shenzong, and Emperor Zhezong actually believed Li Chui's nonsense and urged Emperor Renzong, Emperor Shenzong, and Zhao Xu to immediately alter the river's course to prevent this terrifying scenario.

And Emperor Renzong, Emperor Shenzong, and Zhao Xu were fools—they accepted these suggestions.

Thus, the Zhao Song dynasty began this half-century-long suicide project during Emperor Renzong's reign.

First, during Emperor Renzong's reign, two minor breaches caused the Yellow River to shift northward, forming the Henglu and Shanghu channels; fearing the Liao would exploit the diversion to launch an invasion, Chancellor Fu Yanguo proposed sealing the breach and diverting the river into the eastern Liu Ta River.

After heated debate, Emperor Renzong agreed to implement it.

Soon after completion, the Liu Ta River burst its banks; not only were the workers and nearby civilians drowned, but because the naturally formed northern channel had been blocked at Chan Yuan, floodwaters reversed and inundated forty-five southern counties, destroying thirty million mu of farmland and devastating Hebei.

After Emperor Renzong's death, during Emperor Shenzong's reign, court opinions on Yellow River management remained divided: one faction argued that altering the course would cause the old channel to collapse and advocated maintaining the northward flow; the other advocated opening the Ergu River to redirect the flow eastward.

Out of fear of the Liao, Emperor Shenzong firmly supported the latter.

The result: the year after the Ergu River was completed, the Cao Cun breach occurred; the Yellow River diverted into the Huai River, shattered the entire lower river system, and created a vast flood zone. One-fifteenth of the nation's grain-producing regions became a hell on earth, and the political, economic, and cultural order along the river faced collapse.

During Emperor Zhezong's reign, Zhao Xu, eager to gain historical fame by restoring the river, ignored the fact that the old riverbed had already risen significantly and attempted to return the Yellow River to its former course.

The result: last year, the Yellow River breached at Huangkou, severed its eastern flow, and surged northward, washing away even the Yu Temple atop the mountain; prefectures and counties in Hebei and Shandong suffered catastrophic losses due to nature's fury.

—In regions north of Dezhou, only thirty to forty percent of the population survived the flood peak; north of Cangzhou, it was worse—survivors accounted for only ten to twenty percent of the original population. Entire Hebei became a desolate, uninhabited wasteland, its grain and tax contributions reduced to ten to twenty percent of what they were before the absurd river restoration project!

This was the historically famous Three Reversions of the Yellow River.

After these three river restoration projects, vast areas of Hebei, northern Jiangsu, and Shandong were reduced to barren wastelands—no roosters crowed for miles, no people remained.

Without exaggeration, these years of madness did not achieve the strategic goals of previous emperors; instead, they caused the Yellow River to shift unpredictably, spread flood zones everywhere, degraded agricultural production in Hebei, shattered political, economic, and cultural order, dismantled the northern defense system, destroyed countless military strongholds, drained the imperial treasury through massive relief spending, and absolutely accelerated the decline of the Zhao Song dynasty.

Crucially, anyone with basic geographical knowledge knew that the Yellow River's course shifted due to the natural accumulation of silt, raising the riverbed.

Tell me—how could those idiot emperors have done such self-destructive, pointless things?

And worse—they left this mess to Zhao Yu.

Worse still, Zhao Yu couldn't ignore it.

Historically, after the Northern Song dynasty fell, the Yellow River remained a mess; Zhao Gou simply walked away to the south and established the Southern Song dynasty, handing the burden of managing the Yellow River to the Jin.

The Jin, originally grown strong and wealthy through rampant plunder during the Jingkang Humiliation, collapsed under the weight of its new responsibility—pouring vast state funds into Yellow River management until its strength waned and it was finally destroyed by the Mongols.

When the Mongols established the Yuan dynasty in central China, they too suffered endlessly from Yellow River floods; by the end of the Yuan, catastrophic flooding unleashed a one-eyed stone man, inciting rebellion along the Yellow River, and the Yuan regime, barely a century old, collapsed.

Clearly, managing the Yellow River was of utmost importance—failure to handle it properly could directly trigger national ruin.

The "Three Reversals of the River" scheme was like defusing a bomb: cutting the wrong wire triggered three explosions, burying not only themselves but also the later Jin and Yuan dynasties.

Historically, it wasn't until the Ming dynasty that successive Zhu emperors poured in massive manpower and resources to finally control the Yellow River floods.

Looking at this history, could Zhao Yu possibly avoid cleaning up this mess?

In fact, Zhang Dun had long wanted to discuss Yellow River management with Zhao Yu.

But last year's catastrophic Yellow River flood—the greatest human-caused disaster since the Song—made Zhang Dun, as chancellor, bear undeniable responsibility.

This was also one of Zhang Dun's most vulnerable points.

The Old Party, including conservative factions within the New Party, and those scheming to seize Zhang Dun's chancellorship, were all biding their time, ready to use this to attack him.

That was precisely why Zhang Dun had suppressed the matter all along.

Now, if they didn't manage the Yellow River soon, it might be too late.

Added to that, Zhao Yu had first visited Zhang Nan, giving Zhang Dun confidence.

Only then did Zhang Dun bring up Yellow River management.

Sure enough!

The moment Zhang Dun finished speaking, countless officials rose to impeach him.

Not only Zhang Dun, but everyone who had previously participated in Yellow River management—or even offered proposals for it—was impeached.

—At the time, the New Party held power while the Old Party was in opposition. Yet the result was massive casualties and economic losses. Could the Old Party possibly pass up this divine opportunity to topple the New Party?

Soon, even Zeng Bu and Cai Jing, both of the New Party and eyeing Zhang Dun's chancellorship, grew eager to step forward and overthrow him.

Zhang Dun's position had become perilous.

At this critical moment, Zhao Yu spoke: "This matter began in Emperor Renzong's reign and has now spanned four dynasties over decades. Blaming those who later tried to remedy it is inappropriate."

The moment Zhao Yu spoke, Zhang Dun exhaled in silent relief.

Those who had hoped to use this to topple Zhang Dun were utterly disappointed.

Meanwhile, many flatterers brightened—they felt sending women to Zhao Yu truly worked; even such a massive issue, Zhao Yu had shouldered for Zhang Dun.

Of course, those who thought this way were mostly corrupt sycophants; truly sensible men saw that Zhao Yu could distinguish right from wrong, bore responsibility, and dared to shoulder blame for those who acted—this emboldened them to serve Zhao Yu without restraint.

Zhao Yu then decisively set the tone: "The urgent priority is not to assign blame for the past, but to manage the Yellow River floods. My ministers, speak freely."

Yet when Zhao Yu invited open discussion, some fools truly dared to speak recklessly.

Even today, some still dared to invoke defense against the Liao, seeking to die foolishly by rerouting the Yellow River.

Zhao Yu's temples throbbed with rage.

Worse, these men, relying on their silver tongues, were nearly winning the argument.

Zhao Yu could no longer endure it. He didn't care whether they were truly foolish or entangled in dark chains of interest—he cut off the ministers' bickering outright and declared against all opposition:

"First, dredge silt from the riverbed to maintain flow, reduce accumulation, and widen key river sections to enhance flood discharge capacity; second, reinforce embankments with earth and stone to improve flood resistance, and plant trees along both sides to stabilize the banks with root systems and prevent soil erosion; third, construct diversion channels at key river sections to divert floodwaters and ease pressure on the main channel, and establish flood retention zones in low-lying areas to store floodwater and reduce downstream pressure…"

Zhao Yu rarely gave specific policy directives. He usually listened to his ministers' proposals and then chose the ones he deemed correct to support.

But this time, Zhao Yu could no longer tolerate fools treating ignorance as truth, spouting nonsense that misled the state and harmed the people. More crucially, the Yellow River's peril concerned the safety of the common folk and the stability of the nation—how could he allow such short-sighted men to act recklessly?

In short, Zhao Yu bluntly instructed: stop creating needless chaos—manage the river properly along its current course, and never again attempt to foolishly alter its flow.

Seeing this, those who truly understood Yellow River management all exhaled in silent relief—they thought: thank heaven this new emperor wasn't as ignorant as the previous three; otherwise, the people would have suffered again, and the Song might have been ruined.

Then Zhao Yu appointed an unexpected minor official to oversee Yellow River management…

…

(End of Chapter)