Chapter 118: Reclaim All Imperial Power

…

"Wah…"

A loud cry rang out, and Zhao Yu's tense heart eased slightly.

To be honest, Zhao Yu had no idea whether Li Lin or Ye Shi Yun could save Shen Fuling and her child.

In his previous life, Zhao Yu had never heard that Li Lin or Ye Shi Yun had any medical experience.

But Zhao Yu had once read the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual"; though he hadn't memorized much, he was certain that Ye Shi Yun was reciting the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual."

Crucially, they had indeed produced obstetric tools like forceps and other medical instruments—there was a real chance they could save Shen Fuling and her child.

That was why Zhao Yu had agreed to let them try, treating it like a last-ditch effort.

Now, the facts proved they might actually succeed.

"Huh, these women really do have skills!"

"And Shen Fuling and her child are just lucky to be alive!"

Soon, a female official stepped out to announce: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations! Lady Shen and the Imperial Prince are both safe!"

In truth, the female official felt a bit uneasy, for Ye Shi Yun was still directing a palace maid skilled in needlework to suture Shen Fuling's wounds, and Ye Shi Yun was still muttering nonsense like "Now it all depends on whether she can withstand postoperative infection."

But then again, at least Shen Fuling and the infant prince now appeared unharmed—especially the prince, who looked remarkably healthy.

This news had to be delivered to Zhao Yu first.

"It's a son!!!"

Upon hearing that Shen Fuling had given birth to a son, Zhao Yu was overjoyed.

Don't say Zhao Yu is too pragmatic.

The fact is, in this feudal society, bearing a son is far more useful than bearing a daughter—especially for an Emperor.

Without exaggeration, with this son, Zhao Yu's throne was virtually secured.

Let's say it this way: if any event arose that threatened Zhao Yu's hold on the throne, he could immediately name his own son Crown Prince.

At that point, Zhao Yu's son would become the most legitimate heir of the Zhao Song dynasty, and no one would dare easily plot to replace Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu immediately issued an imperial edict: "With the birth of the Imperial Prince, the state flourishes anew; I wish to share this joy with all ministers—civil and military, inside and outside the court, shall be granted silk according to rank… A general amnesty across the realm, let all under heaven rejoice…"

Zhao Yu also rewarded the midwives, imperial physicians, attendants, palace maids, eunuchs, and junior eunuchs for their services.

Not long after, someone brought Zhao Yu's son to him.

As soon as he took the infant in his arms, Zhao Yu realized the boy was heavy—likely at least eight catties.

—Later, following Ye Shi Yun's advice, Zhao Yu issued a stern edict, strictly mandating: pregnant imperial consorts must regulate their diet, consume more high-quality protein such as lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy, along with vegetables and fruits rich in dietary fiber, eat small frequent meals, and avoid overeating to prevent excessive fetal size and difficult delivery. Additionally, pregnant consorts must engage in moderate exercise—such as walking and climbing stairs—to control weight, enhance cardiopulmonary function, and strengthen muscle strength…

Zhao Yu looked at his son and noticed the boy's face was wrinkled, yet he could still discern traces of his own features.

When their eyes met—the infant's gaze blank yet curious—Zhao Yu's heart felt gently brushed by a warm current, a profound, indescribable bond of blood.

Zhao Yu gently touched the infant's tiny hand with his finger; the boy's hand twitched slightly, as if responding to this first joy.

"You are my Imperial Prince…"

Zhao Yu whispered softly, his eyes shimmering with tenderness.

Then, Zhao Yu personally named his son "Zhao Yan."

The character "Yan" is composed of water and movement, originally meaning water flowing smoothly along a river to the sea, extended to signify spreading and expansion.

Zhao Yu hoped that Zhao Yan's birth would set a good beginning, granting him more offspring, so he would no longer have to worry about succession.

After suturing Shen Fuling, Ye Shi Yun and the others were quickly escorted by eager attendants to her new residence—a separate courtyard Zhao Yu had just granted her.

In Zhao Xu's reign, bearing a son for the Emperor might not guarantee Empress status, but at least a Noble Consort.

Even in Zhao Yu's reign, Shen Fuling had given birth to Zhao Yu's eldest son born of a concubine—she was bound for great advancement.

This courtyard was merely the first of Shen Fuling's rewards.

Soon, Zhao Yu personally visited Shen Fuling and, unprecedentedly, held her in his arms for over an hour.

During this conversation, Zhao Yu expressed his desire to reward Shen Fuling's family—but to his surprise, Shen Fuling did not know who her family was.

Zhao Yu could only abandon the idea and instead granted personal honors to Shen Fuling.

Then, Zheng Xiansu fulfilled her promise by adopting Shen Fuling as her daughter, securing Shen Fuling's position in the harem.

The day after surgery, Shen Fuling developed a high fever.

Ye Shi Yun administered a decoction of honeysuckle to Shen Fuling orally, applied crushed dandelion externally, and summoned the imperial physician to perform acupuncture to regulate blood and Qi, unblock meridians, and harmonize yin and yang.

After all this effort, miraculously, Shen Fuling survived the crisis unscathed.

Li Lin and Ye Shi Yun became instant celebrities; their status in the harem soared, and even Zheng Xiansu grew affectionate toward them, sending them numerous thanks-gifts on Shen Fuling's behalf.

…

During the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong of Song, the system still bore traces of the warlord politics of the Five Dynasties period; both had established their own political factions before ascending the throne, and once emperor, they enforced their will through forceful styles and cunning strategies.

But by the time of Emperor Zhenzong, the Emperor's character was less dominant, and with the promotion of civil over military affairs initiated under Zhao Kuangyin, the scholar-officials' political influence naturally increased greatly.

Thus, the Emperor grew increasingly humble and respectful toward scholar-officials, creating in appearance a new order of shared rule between imperial and chancellor authority.

Later, as the civil bureaucracy matured, the division between imperial and chancellor authority became routine.

By Emperor Renzong's reign, the power of censors was further strengthened.

Imperial authority, chancellor authority, and censorial authority balanced each other.

This made governance clearer on one hand, but also genuinely restricted the Emperor's desires.

After Emperor Zhenzong and Emperor Renzong died and the throne passed to Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Shenzong, these two Emperors refused to accept their imperial authority being checked.

Thus, upon ascending, one instigated the "Puyi Controversy" to fracture relations between the Chancellor and scholar-officials, while the other supported Wang Anshi's reforms, splitting the scholar-officials into New and Old Parties.

After years of political buildup, Emperor Shenzong dismissed Wang Anshi from his chancellorship, achieving his recovery of imperial authority.

By Zhao Xu's reign, the New-Old Party strife sparked by the reforms intensified further, and scholar-officials continued to fight until both sides were crippled.

As a result, chancellor authority and censorial authority continued to weaken, while imperial authority grew even stronger.

By the time of Zhao Yu's reign.

Compared to Emperor Yingzong, Emperor Shenzong (including Zhao Xu), Zhao Yu was extremely weak at the outset of his ascension.

This was primarily because Zhao Yu did not inherit the throne as Crown Prince, but rather "suddenly" became emperor as a prince.

This left Zhao Yu with almost no close ministers from his former princely household.

——Before his ascension, Zhao Yu mostly relied on low-ranking, politically powerless eunuchs like Huang Jingchen, Liang Shicheng, and Accompanying Tong Guan; in the highest-level power struggles, these minor figures were utterly insignificant.

Thus, at the beginning of his reign, Zhao Yu could rely only on Empress Dowager Xiang and the old faction behind her.

But didn't Zhao Yu himself know better than anyone else that Empress Dowager Xiang and the old faction were merely his political allies, not tools he could command?

This forced Zhao Yu, after ascending the throne, to treat his ministers with the respect due a teacher, as Emperor Zhenzong and Emperor Renzong had done, to share imperial power with Empress Dowager Xiang, and thereby buy time to secure his own authority.

Don't think Zhao Yu was overthinking.

Do you know what political slogan some of the old faction proposed at that time?

——The Jiayou precedent.

That is, after Emperor Renzong's death, during the Jiayou era, the successor Emperor Yingzong—even though an adult—was still required to have Empress Cao serve as regent behind the curtain.

In other words, some of the old faction hoped Empress Dowager Xiang would become Empress Cao, and Gao Taotao, and that Zhao Yu would become Emperor Yingzong and Zhao Xu at the start of their reigns.

Although Empress Dowager Xiang appeared to be a serene woman uninterested in political scheming, wholly devoted to Zhao Yu's welfare, and although she only served as regent for three days before returning power to Zhao Yu,

in truth, her attention to state affairs never slackened at all.

It proved that Empress Dowager Xiang not only possessed immense ambition for power, but also highly skilled political tactics, surpassing even Gao Taotao.

Put it this way: although Empress Dowager Xiang often declared she had no interest in politics and supported Zhao Yu's personal rule, whenever matters truly mattered to her, she would clearly express her stance and never yield easily—even, when Zhao Yu and Empress Dowager Xiang disagreed, she would compel Zhao Yu to obey her will.

For example, Empress Dowager Xiang greatly favored Li Gu, the adopted son of Li Xian, and wished to promote him; but Li Gu was a complete waste, and all the chancellors opposed it. Empress Dowager Xiang then went straight to Zhao Yu and ordered him, in an unchallengeable tone, to grant Li Gu a higher rank and noble title.

Zhao Yu said nothing and promoted Li Gu seven ranks at once.

Afterwards, Zhao Yu advised Empress Dowager Xiang not to quarrel with the chancellors.

Notably, shortly after his ascension, Zhao Yu disregarded Empress Dowager Xiang's "objections" and promoted her younger brother Xiang Zonghui and Xiang Zongliang to military commissioners; for all her brothers' sons who held no office, Zhao Yu granted them all official posts.

It was clear that during this period, whatever Empress Dowager Xiang wished to do, Zhao Yu fully supported, even proactively securing benefits for her—acting the perfect filial son.

At that time, Zhao Yu remained fully aware: though he had inherited the throne with Empress Dowager Xiang's support, his political foundation was too shallow; he was less an emperor than a puppet—Empress Dowager Xiang's puppet.

To be honest, this was not Empress Dowager Xiang's intention—at no point did she ever indicate or even hint at such a thing; all concessions were Zhao Yu's own initiative.

Zhao Yu acted this way because:

First, Empress Dowager Xiang's influence among the old faction had always been immense; Zhao Yu had to adopt the image of a filial son to win their favor and thereby protect himself.

Second, Zhao Yu had rivals, and he could indeed be replaced.

For instance, Zhao Si, who had once competed with Zhao Yu for the throne, had never accepted Zhao Yu's ascension.

Zhao Yu, having seized control of the Imperial City Office immediately upon ascension, long knew that people in Zhao Si's princely mansion were constantly stirring up trouble—such as Zhao Si's official Deng Duo, who brazenly plotted for his lord's usurpation and personally wrote in large characters: "Followers of the Dragon, Third-Class Provisional Officer Deng Duo," as if utterly unconcerned that evidence might surface.

During that period, Consort Zhu and Zhao Si indeed posed a threat. When Zhao Xu first ascended, Consort Zhu had dispatched the eunuch Lan Congxi to contact Zhang Dun, greatly aiding Zhang Dun's rise to chancellorship—making it possible for Zhang Dun to be swayed by the mother-son pair; most critically, the chief eunuch commanding the imperial palace guard, Liang Congzheng, had long defected to them.

And what did Zhao Yu have? Empress Dowager Xiang was not his biological mother; none of the chancellors were his trusted men; and he had no military power whatsoever.

Zhao Ji, who remained inactive, was also a latent threat.

Who could guarantee that the isolated Zhao Yu would not be replaced?

Thus, during that period, Zhao Yu clung tightly to Empress Dowager Xiang and, following her wishes, recalled all the old faction members and censors who had been expelled by the new faction.

After the old faction and censors were recalled, Zhao Yu practiced self-restraint, upheld ritual propriety, humbly accepted advice, and displayed benevolence and openness, giving them the illusion that he might become Emperor Renzong.

Simultaneously, Zhao Yu leveraged the institutional advantages of being emperor to court Zhang Dun, Ceng Bu, and Cai Bian, who held him in high regard, and hinted that he would continue Zhao Xu's reform policies.

In this way, Zhao Yu swiftly secured the three major pillars—Empress Dowager Xiang, the new faction, and the old faction—and used their strength to take control of the Imperial City Office, replaced his personal guards with Accompanying Tong Guan, Wang Bin, He Guan, and promoted his father-in-law, the general Guo Cheng, to Grand Commandant to command the imperial guards and counter Liang Congzheng.

Later, Zhao Yu exploited the factional strife between the new and old factions, gradually reclaiming his imperial authority and gaining the upper hand.

To be honest, this was largely due to the fact that, unlike Gao Taotao, Empress Dowager Xiang, though wishing to revive the old faction and disliking the new faction, clearly understood that the Song dynasty could not survive without reform—and that the old faction was incapable of reform; to enact reform, she had to rely on the new faction. Thus, when Zhao Yu chose to protect Zhang Dun and other new faction members, Empress Dowager Xiang chose to retreat, refrained from purging the new faction, and instead sought to mediate the conflict between the two factions.

During that period, Empress Dowager Xiang personally issued an edict stating: "Whatever was enacted during Xining, Yuanfeng, Yuanyou, or Shaosheng—use it if it is right, discard it if it is wrong; there is no need to distinguish between this time or that."

Regarding Emperor Shenzong's reforms, Empress Dowager Xiang emphasized: "How could one wish solely to destroy and abolish them?" "Emperor Shenzong was wise—how could he be compared to recent monarchs? He merely erred in his later years by appointing the wrong men, leading to public criticism."

Empress Dowager Xiang offered both praise and criticism, always calm and never extreme.

Seen this way, Empress Dowager Xiang was infinitely wiser than the fool Gao Taotao.

Now, after half a year of maneuvering, as Zhao Yu demonstrated his capability as emperor, as Zhang Dun fully aligned with Zhao Yu, as all chancellors formed marital alliances with Zhao Yu, and as Zhao Yu fathered a son, his throne was essentially secure.

Some ministers, seeing Zhao Yu's power consolidated, began impeaching people around Empress Dowager Xiang, even targeting Empress Dowager Xiang herself.

The Vice Censor-in-Chief Feng Ji and Palace Censor Chen Shixi, among others, directly accused Empress Dowager Xiang of continuing to interfere in state affairs behind the scenes, despite her public return of power to Zhao Yu.

Empress Dowager Xiang understood the current situation and judged that Zhao Yu might become a good emperor; she thus fully returned imperial power to Zhao Yu.

From then on, Zhao Yu occasionally visited Empress Dowager Xiang; Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu frequently went to Cide Palace, but all of them silently avoided discussing politics.

Thus, Zhao Yu reclaimed all imperial authority.

Immediately afterward, Zhao Yu turned his attention to Consort Zhu and Zhao Si.

Zhao Yu first sent Accompanying Tong Guan to surround the palace guard with the Divine Mechanism Left and Right Armies, arrested the eunuch Liang Congzheng—who controlled the palace guard and was loyal to Consort Zhu—and executed him on the spot, confiscating his property and exterminating his clan.

The palace guard was then dismantled into six divisions and dispatched to the six northwest circuits, euphemistically called "rotational training at the front lines."

Soon after, Deng Duo, who had previously plotted rebellion, was denounced, sentenced to death, and his entire clan exterminated.

Censors Jiang Gongwang and Zhongshu Lang Zhu Fu, fearing the affair would escalate into fratricidal bloodshed and a massive purge, submitted memorials pleading for mercy for Consort Zhu and Zhao Si, urging Zhao Yu to stop and not pursue the matter further; Zhao Yu exiled them.

The censor Liu Zhengfu followed with a similar plea for clemency, and Zhao Yu exiled him too.

Once those handling the case understood Zhao Yu's intentions, how could they not know what to do?

Very quickly, all of Zhao Si's faction were uncovered, their properties seized, clans exterminated, and the most heinous executed.

Just as everyone expected Zhao Yu to completely eliminate Consort Zhu and Zhao Si, he unexpectedly pardoned them both from death, stripping Zhao Si of his princely title and demoting him to Duke of Run, confining him to his residence for life; he also stripped Consort Zhu of her title as Imperial Consort, demoting her to Imperial Concubine, and imprisoning her in a side palace.

After this case, Zhao Ji voluntarily expelled nearly all his subordinates—including his ball-playing companion Li Bangyan—keeping only a handful of companions like Gao Qiu, spending his days in debauchery and decay, and frequently being punished by the Imperial Clan Court for visiting brothels, extorting wealth by any means, and allowing his servants to provoke public resentment…

…

(End of Chapter)