Chapter 12: Zhang Chun Wants to Be Empress Dowager

…

Night.

After seeing Zhang Chun, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qing Cheng, Li Lin told them: “I met Zhao Ji.”

“How was he? Is there still hope for him?” Ye Shi Yun asked.

“Lived in luxury, frivolous and dissolute, weak when faced with pressure—when the Empress Dowager said she wouldn’t see him, he immediately slinked away, not a shred of backbone. He’s nowhere near Zhao Yu, no wonder he brought about the Jingkang Humiliation,” Li Lin said without mercy, even a bit harshly.

“Let me reiterate—I absolutely refuse to let Zhao Ji become emperor!” Li Lin added.

Feeling this still didn’t convey her firm stance, Li Lin cut it off completely: “I feel one of my missions here is to prevent Zhao Ji from becoming emperor and to stop the Jingkang Humiliation. If, by misfortune, Zhao Ji still becomes emperor, I’ll flee south and join Fang La—help him defeat Zhao Ji, then help him defeat the Jin.”

“Fang La’s rebellion started in 1120—still over twenty years away. Are you sure you can wait that long?” Zhang Chun reminded her.

Learning Fang La’s rebellion was still so far off, Li Lin looked disappointed. She asked: “What about Song Jiang? Did his rebellion happen around this time?”

“Song Jiang’s rebellion was in 1119—just one year before Fang La’s. Still twenty years to wait,” Zhang Chun said.

“What about others? Hasn’t there been any rebellion in recent years?” Li Lin pressed, unwilling to give up.

“During the Northern and Southern Song, there were 433 peasant uprisings—averaging 1.5 per year. There must have been some recently, but their scale and impact were so negligible the historians didn’t even bother to record them. Clearly, they amounted to nothing,” Zhang Chun said.

Hearing this, Li Lin gave up the idea of joining any rebel force: “Then I’ll support Zhao Yu. If he can replace Zhao Ji as emperor, that’s best. If he can’t, I’ll help him rebel.”

“Song princes have no military power and can’t participate in governance—they have zero possibility of rebellion. Besides, even if we wanted to help Zhao Yu rebel, he’d have to have rebelled intentions first,” Zhang Chun said.

“If Zhao Yu won’t do it, I’ll find my own way to start a rebellion or uprising—I absolutely won’t let Zhao Ji become emperor,” Li Lin said.

Ma Xiao Jiao chimed in: “Exactly! We’d rather overthrow the Northern Song than let Zhao Ji become emperor—the Jingkang Humiliation would be too shameful; if it happens, didn’t we waste our time traveling through time?”

Ye Shi Yun and Yuan Qing Cheng also declared they wouldn’t let Zhao Ji become emperor.

Originally, Zhang Chun had been considering whether to go with the flow, accept Zhao Ji, help him change the course of the Jingkang Humiliation, even assist him in seizing that rare historical opportunity to achieve true unification.

Li Lin and the other three didn’t know: Zhang Chun, who knew history intimately, knew perfectly well that although Zhao Ji had flaws—extravagance, favoring corrupt officials, obstinacy, and grandiosity—he wasn’t nearly as terrible as ordinary people imagined. At least, the Jingkang Humiliation couldn’t be blamed entirely on him.

In Zhang Chun’s view, the primary culprit behind the Jingkang Humiliation was Emperor Qinzong Zhao Huan. Had he not been stubborn, foolish, cowardly, skilled at internal strife but helpless against outsiders, vacillating between war and peace as the Jin advanced, then selfishly forbidding imperial clan members from fleeing, the Jingkang Humiliation would never have happened.

And Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou—when the Jingkang Humiliation occurred, he commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, yet watched helplessly as his father, mother, concubines, five daughters, and entire imperial clan were captured by the Jin and tortured. He only thought of fleeing, obsessed with his own survival and pleasure, never considering rescue or revenge.

Precisely speaking, it was Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, and Zhao Gou—the father-son trio—who together engineered the Jingkang Humiliation.

But politics is a process of compromise and unity.

Since Li Lin and the other three all hated Zhao Ji and insisted on replacing him, and Zhao Ji was truly not worth saving, Zhang Chun made up her mind: “Yes! To prevent the Jingkang Humiliation, we must replace Zhao Ji—the original instigator.”

After a pause, Zhang Chun added: “As for how to replace him, I’ll decide after I meet Zhao Yu.”

Then the five women began discussing how to meet Zhao Yu.

Li Lin said: “Just sweep the gate. That’s where I got approached by Zhao Ji…”

…

In the following days, whenever any of Li Lin’s three companions was assigned to sweep the gate of Cide Palace, they swapped with Zhang Chun.

Diligence rewards the earnest.

Only four days passed before Zhang Chun, patiently waiting, finally spotted Zhao Yu.

When Zhao Yu was still some distance from Cide Palace, Zhang Chun heard a palace maid beside her say: “Look, Prince Shen is coming!”

Hearing this, Zhang Chun immediately turned to look at Zhao Yu.

He stood tall and straight, like a pine, yet carried an air of ease. His facial features were sharply defined, his eyebrows slanted sharply upward, his eyes deep as a abyss, dark and inscrutable, as if holding endless stories and wisdom. Beneath his high nose, his thin lips were slightly pressed, occasionally curling into a faint, reassuring smile. His black hair was neatly tied, secured only by a single smooth white jade hairpin—simple, yet exuding elegance.

Zhao Yu’s appearance made Zhang Chun exhale in relief.

Li Lin and the other three didn’t understand: in this feudal society, for a woman to achieve anything, she must rely on a powerful man—especially in the beginning.

Throughout history, powerful women like Fu Hao, Lu Zhi, Wu Zetian, Empress Dowager Dou, Deng Sui, Empress Dowager Qin, Empress Feng, Liu E, Gao Taotao, Xiao Chuo, the Two Liang Empress Dowagers, Empress Zhang Xiaoxiao, and Cixi—all of them gained power only by marrying emperors. None of them ever seized control of the empire until after their husbands died and their sons or grandsons became emperors, allowing them to rule as Empress Dowager.

So while Li Lin and the other three wandered aimlessly, Zhang Chun had long had a crystal-clear goal.

That goal: she would marry the emperor.

Whether that emperor was Zhao Xu, Zhao Ji, or Zhao Yu—borrowing Liu Jia Ling’s famous line from Let’s Make a Deal: “Frankly, I only want to be the county magistrate’s wife—who the magistrate is, I don’t care.”

Of course, because Zhao Ji was obstinate, and because Zhang Chun needed Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qing Cheng’s help to make her mark here, and since they hated Zhao Ji, Zhang Chun had no choice but to abandon Zhao Ji as a shortcut.

And Zhao Xu was about to die.

Thus, Zhao Yu was now the only viable option.

Zhang Chun naturally had to see for herself whether Zhao Yu was worth it.

Moreover, if Zhao Yu truly was worthy, Zhang Chun must seize this chance—make him see her value, ideally make him fall hopelessly in love with her.

Then, when Zhao Yu ascended the throne, she would become his empress, bear him a crown prince, outlive him, and become the Empress Dowager she had always dreamed of—ruling with supreme power, then gradually realizing her grand ambitions.

Now that she had seen Zhao Yu’s appearance, Zhang Chun thought: “He’s my type.”

Only one small problem remained.

In her past life, Zhang Chun had spent her school days buried in the library reading historical texts. After graduation, unable to find a suitable job, she spent her days at home recording history videos and livestreaming historical answers, and in her spare time read historical novels—a true homebody who had never dated a single person. So for a moment, she didn’t know how to approach Zhao Yu…

…

(End of Chapter)