Chapter 145: The Nine Dragon Succession Scheme Is Now Formed

…

Ye Shi Yun's childbirth truly left Zhao Yu in a state of intense anxiety.

Zhao Yu genuinely feared that Ye Shi Yun, who had already left her final words, might not survive.

If that happened, Zhao Yu's five great beauties would be reduced to four.

For Zhao Yu, this wasn't just losing part of his divine advantage—it would leave a massive regret in his entire life.

Zhao Yu even regretted not telling Ye Shi Yun he was also a reincarnator; he feared he might not have time to reveal this secret to the one who deserved to know it most.

Yet, reality proved Zhao Yu had overthought it.

Although Ye Shi Yun's childbirth wasn't as smooth as Ma Xiao Jiao's, she hadn't struggled much either—it was within normal limits.

It was merely Zhao Yu's excessive concern that made him feel her labor was taking too long; he nearly sent someone to interfere, risking her safety.

Fortunately, just as Zhao Yu was about to make this mistake, Ye Shi Yun gave birth, and immediately afterward, a female official came to report: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Ye Huangfei and her son are both safe!!!"

Double joy!!

Most importantly, Ye Shi Yun—the one Zhao Yu valued most—had safely passed through this gate of death, leaving Zhao Yu truly overjoyed!

Zhao Yu immediately issued an imperial decree: "Two sons born together, the state's fortune flourishes; I wish to share this celebration with all ministers—civil and military, inside and outside, shall receive silk in varying degrees… Amnesty across the realm, universal celebration…"

Subsequently, Zhao Yu awarded generously the midwives, imperial physicians, attendants, and all others involved, honoring their contributions.

At the same time, Zhao Yu promoted Ye Shi Yun's adoptive father and Li Kefei each by three ranks, granting them honor through their daughter.

Soon after, someone brought Zhao Yu's two sons to him, so he could see them; as per custom, Zhao Yu was to name them.

To avoid confusing the two sons, born just over half an hour apart, Zhao Yu's eighth son—the child of Li Qingzhao—was wrapped in a red swaddling cloth and personally watched over by Cuiyu; Zhao Yu's ninth son—the child of Ye Shi Yun—was wrapped in a yellow swaddling cloth and watched over by Zhao Yuannu.

Zhao Yu held his eighth son for a while, immediately thinking of the Eighth Virtuous Prince, and named him "Zhao Xian."

When it came to his ninth son, Zhao Yu recalled the heart-stopping moments just past—he had only wished for their mother and child to remain by his side, safe and healthy—and named him "Zhao Cun."

To be honest, Zhao Yu named his children rather carelessly.

Many emperors carefully ensured uniformity in their sons' names, using the same radical; for Zhao Yu's generation, all names contained the "亻" radical.

But when Zhao Yu named his own children, perhaps sensing he would have many heirs, he feared that enforcing uniformity might later trap him in naming difficulties, so he simply abandoned any pattern.

In the following period, Ma Xiao Jiao gave birth to Zhao Yu's third daughter, Chao Min to his fourth daughter, Han Yu to his tenth son, Zhao Mai to his fifth daughter, Cai Xuan to his eleventh son, Wei Zhi to his sixth daughter, Xu Qing to his seventh daughter, Cao Shi to his eighth daughter, Xu Shi to his ninth daughter, and Zhou Shi to his twelfth son.

Zhang Chun, seeing this pace and glancing at her own and Li Lin's swollen bellies, said: "You're thirteen, I'm fourteen—I feel the Nine Dragon Succession struggle is nearly complete."

Li Lin shot a glare at the reckless Zhang Chun and said: "Excluding you and me, there are already twelve imperial princes—all healthy. Where is this 'Nine Dragon Succession'? If such a situation ever truly arises, not only will the women who lost their sons come after you for vengeance, but even Zhao Yu, if he learns of this, won't spare you—your future will likely be the Cold Palace."

Zhang Chun immediately clamped her mouth shut and never mentioned the Nine Dragon Succession again.

But then again, though Zhang Chun surely wouldn't dare speak of it again, she still felt Zhao Yu's sons would never be peaceful in the future…

…

Because Zhao Yu and his ministers had utterly eradicated the stubborn old forces of Qingtang and Tubo through thunderous force and even bloodshed, the Longyou Protectorate had become a blank slate.

Seizing this rare opportunity, Zhao Yu and his ministers sent a group of outstanding talents, Yuan Qingcheng's summarized advanced farming techniques, and Ma Xiao Jiao's developed advanced technologies to Longyou Protectorate.

The one million Hebei disaster refugees relocated by the Zhao Song Dynasty worked diligently and bravely, deeply loving their hopeful new life, and labored earnestly on the land freely granted by the court.

The long-tormented commoners and slaves of the barbarians also treasured the land granted by the Zhao Song Dynasty, yearning for peaceful, stable lives, and actively cooperated with Zhao Song officials sent to govern and cultivate the region.

Heaven itself favored them, blessing Longyou Protectorate with favorable winds and timely rains this year.

As a result, barley, wheat, large barley, buckwheat, and other crops flourished everywhere in Longyou Protectorate.

The elderly who had lived there all their lives said they had never seen such a scene in their lives.

Lu Huiqing conservatively estimated that if the autumn harvest succeeded, the locals would have no problem enjoying two or three years of abundance.

On the other hand, after securing the Silk Road, the Zhao Song Dynasty actively dispatched envoys to the Thirty-Six Western Regions, establishing contact, expressing willingness to trade, and informing all nations that all trade routes to Xi Xia were now closed; to trade with Zhao Song, they must now pass through Longyou Protectorate.

Notably, besides traditional bestsellers like silk, porcelain, and tea, the Zhao Song Dynasty also sent merchants to promote glassware, soap, and other luxuries across the Western Regions.

Soon, Xining City became highly prosperous.

The vigorous development of agriculture and commerce also integrated Longyou Protectorate fully into the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Crucially, spurred by Longyou Protectorate's success and the court's series of tax reductions and vigorous promotion of industry and agriculture in Shaanxi, the economy of the Six Roads of Shaanxi rapidly recovered; those who had fled Shaanxi, upon hearing this, began returning in droves.

Seeing how useful Longyou Protectorate had become and how swiftly Shaanxi's economy and manpower had recovered, the old-party officials who had previously opposed Zhao Yu's conquest of Qingtang Tubo, urged him to abandon Longyou Protectorate, or accused him of excessive bloodshed in Qingtang as uncivilized—all fell silent. They finally realized Zhao Yu's choice was truly the best. They began to understand: outward expansion might truly resolve the Zhao Song Dynasty's problems.

Of course, a blade has no two sharp edges.

By fully incorporating Qingtang Tubo into the Zhao Song Dynasty as Longyou Protectorate, turning it into a constant source of resources, eliminating all logistical burdens on Song troops, and completely eradicating Qingtang Tubo's remaining forces, Zhao Yu and his ministers removed all rear threats—now the pressure fell squarely on Xi Xia.

Li Qianshun and his ministers knew clearly: if Xi Xia failed to break Zhao Song's strategy, it would be slowly consumed, or wait until its own economy collapsed and it crumbled internally, allowing Zhao Song to pick up the pieces—unless they acted soon, Xi Xia might be in danger.

Li Qianshun and his ministers first tried bribing Zhao Song's border officials and generals, hoping they would surrender cities without battle.

But Longyou Protectorate had developed too well, Shaanxi had regained its vitality, and Xi Xia's passive position was obvious to all—so few defectors came over.

Of course, there were still such fools.

Not long ago, under Xi Xia's inducement, a low-ranking officer named Zhang Geng in Xihé Road plotted to defect with his troops to Xi Xia.

But the matter was quickly reported by his fellow soldiers.

Hu Zong, the Pacification Commissioner of Xihé Road, immediately sent men to arrest Zhang Geng, execute him with extreme punishment, behead all soldiers who had conspired to defect with him, and confiscate the property of every single one—men were all branded and exiled three thousand li, women sent to brothels, and the punishment announced to the entire army.

Li Qianshun, of course, wouldn't stop at such measures.

Meanwhile, Li Qianshun continued sending envoys to Yelu Yanxi to request a Liao princess as his empress, while emphasizing the principle of "when the lips are gone, the teeth feel cold," seeking deep alignment with the Liao state.

Crucially, Li Qianshun ordered his younger brother Li Lin to massively train troops, preparing to seize the opportunity to reclaim Hengshan and capture Longyou Protectorate.

Zhao Yu and his ministers deeply understood that Xi Xia was secretly preparing its military; granting Xi Xia too much peace would harm Zhao Song's border defense, let alone recovering Xi Xia—only by provoking war while tensions were high could they defeat Xi Xia early and prevent disaster.

Soon after, Zhang Dun sent word to Wang Hou, demanding he immediately find a way to persuade Ren Duobaozhong, the three-generation veteran commander of Zhuoluo Garrison, to defect.

Ren Duobaozhong had already intended to surrender when Song troops captured Mount Tiandou.

But Wang Hou believed that although Ren Duobaozhong himself wished to surrender, most of his subordinates were hostile to Zhao Song; persuading only a lone commander would be useless—this move was not only too risky but also not worth the cost.

Yet Zhang Dun remained unmoved and grew even more urgent in rebuking Wang Hou, pressing him to act.

Helpless, Wang Hou could only dispatch envoys to Xi Xia to persuade Ren Duobaozhong.

As a result, the envoy had only made it halfway before being captured by the tightly guarded Xia army.

The Zhao Song court's attempt to persuade Ren Duobaozhong to defect was naturally learned by Li Qianshun and his ministers.

Because of this, even if Li Qianshun did not have Ren Duobaozhong killed, it would be very difficult for him to entrust Ren Duobaozhong with important duties again.

Yet unexpectedly, Seeing Zhang Dun still had Wang Hou's people sent to urge surrender, and even had Wang Hou spare no expense in silk and coin to win over Ren Duobaozhong.

The result was obvious.

Ren Duobaozhong spent the entire time shut in his home reflecting on his faults, ignoring court affairs, and after being courted by the Zhao Song court again and again, brazenly, he had been turned into the biggest pro-Song element within the Western Xia state.

At this point, who could not see that the Zhao Song court had done this on purpose? Zhao Yu and his ministers had never even considered persuading Ren Duobaozhong to surrender; one could also say they simply did not care whether Ren Duobaozhong surrendered or not. What they wanted was nothing more than two things:

First, to enrage Li Qianshun and force Western Xia to be the first to open hostilities against the Zhao Song court;

Second, regardless of whether Ren Duobaozhong could be recruited to surrender, to first remove from Western Xia one of its capable and battle-tested veteran generals.

This was an open stratagem of Zhao Yu and his ministers, kindly asking Li Qianshun and his ministers to accept it.

It should be noted that this scheme was not proposed by Seeing Zhang Dun, nor by Ceng Bu, but by Cai Jing.

It must be said, Cai Jing's energy truly was abundant. The Zhao Song court's economic reforms were in full swing, progressing rapidly, yet under such circumstances, Cai Jing still had the energy to keep an eye on military affairs, and at the same time, Cai Jing had also been keeping a close watch on the monetary reforms carried out by Zhao Tingzhi.

It is no exaggeration to say that wherever there was a problem, Cai Jing would absolutely apply eye-medicine to those people at the first opportunity.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu truly did not know how to describe Cai Jing as a person.

To ensure the Western Xia people could truly be thoroughly enraged, Cai Jing offered Zhao Yu yet another underhanded scheme — to let the Western Xia people coerce Li Qianshun, whose prestige was still not high enough, into opening hostilities against the Zhao Song court.

At this time, the official serving as the senior administrator of Yan'an Prefecture was the border official Tao Jiefu.

Tao Jiefu had been a staff officer under Zhang Jie. In his early years serving as a minor official in Guangdong, he had, relying solely on personal charisma, won over the local bandit Yang Yuan, so much so that after Yang Yuan walked into the trap himself, he was still willing to be executed.

Later, thanks to these outstanding qualities as both a civil and military talent, Tao Jiefu earned the favor of Zhang Jie, who was then the Department Magistrate of Guangzhou, and thus followed Zhang Jie to Shaanxi.

Now, the Zhao Song court wished to provoke conflict between Song and Xia, to let the Western Xia people coerce Li Qianshun, whose prestige was still not high enough, into opening hostilities against the Zhao Song court. Naturally, Tao Jiefu was more than willing. As the military and political senior official on the Song-Xia border, he not only refused the Western Xia people who came for friendly trade, but even some herders approaching the border area would be arrested and killed for no reason at all.

Such conduct by the Zhao Song court naturally stirred up fury within the Western Xia state.

Li Qianshun first sent envoys to Dongjing Bianliang to negotiate.

But the one Zhao Yu sent to negotiate was the hardline minister Lin Xu.

At the negotiating table, Lin Xu pointed out that Western Xia had repeatedly sent large armies to attack the Zhao Song court's Longyou Protectorate, breaking the peace treaty first, and had often sent spies afterward to gather intelligence in the Zhao Song court; what Great Song had executed were Western Xia's spies, not civilians.

Western Xia had indeed done these things; the Zhao Song court seized upon these facts to argue its case — what could the Western Xia envoys do about it?

In fact, anyone could see that the conflict between Song and Xia could no longer be reconciled; only a war could resolve it.

Seeing this, Li Qianshun and his ministers finally could not hold back any longer, and the Xia army began to raid the Zhao Song court's borderlands once more.

The Xia army first appeared around Linzong Stockade near Huangzhou, but was promptly repelled by the Song general Mayong Sect.

In the very same month, the Xia army invaded Fuyan Route and Jingyuan Route, successively burning down five fortified stockades.

Shortly after, Li Qianshun dispatched a large army once more to invade Jingyuan Route, and for a time surrounded Pingxiacheng and the fortified stockades around Meyan Gorge; the remaining Xia forces marched south along the Hulu River, attacking all the way to the vicinity of Zhenrong Army and Weizhou, and abducted tens of thousands of people.

As he departed, Li Qianshun left behind a message for Zhao Yu: "Please dismiss Seeing Zhang Dun and Cai Jing for abusing power and acting on their whims; therefore I have raised troops to chastise them."

Li Qianshun had intended to put on a show of force and then leave.

Who would have thought that the Commander-in-Chief of the Six Routes of Shaanxi, Zhang Jie, had deliberately allowed the Xia army to push deep in.

When the Xia army thought they were returning in triumph, they were instead caught in a jar by the Song army.

The Song general Liu Fa routed the main Xia force in a single battle, pursuing and slaughtering the Xia army for over thirty li.

Had Li Qianshun not fled quickly, he would have been left behind in Shaanxi.

In this battle, not only were all the abducted people rescued by the Song army, but the Song army also captured large quantities of warhorses, cattle and sheep, tents, and other supplies.

With this perfect pretext, Zhao Yu formally issued an edict: establish the Pacification Commission, appoint Zhang Jie as the Pacification Commissioner for Shaanxi and Western Xia, Lu Huiqing as the Director of Planning for Shaanxi and Western Xia; all parts of Shaanxi were to strengthen their defenses against Western Xia incursions, and at the same time watch for an opportunity to recover Western Xia.

The Zhao Song court's war to recover Western Xia officially began…

……

(End of this chapter)