Chapter 156: Should Zhang Chun Be Cast Into the Cold Palace?

……

"Mmm~ My Lord, have mercy on your humble servant and grant me a chance to show my true worth, won't you~!"

Zhang Chun used every trick in her arsenal to "persuade" Zhao Yu.

To be honest, had he not seen it with his own eyes, Zhao Yu would never have believed that Zhang Chun, who so solemnly taught history in her videos, could be this seductive.

In fact, not just Zhang Chun—Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, Yuan Qing Cheng—were also two completely different people in bed and out of it, let alone their carefully curated video personas.

Zhao Yu gazed at the coquettish, breathless Zhang Chun before him, and a strange emotion stirred within him.

The candlelight flickered, casting a rosy glow on Zhang Chun's cheeks, adding even more allure to her charm.

Zhao Yu's lips involuntarily curled into a wry smile: "Speak plainly—what exactly do you want?"

Zhang Chun rejoiced inwardly: 'What good is your talent if you can't please Zhao Yu? The only sure way to succeed and live well is to win his favor—hmph, the skills I've mastered now? You couldn't learn them even if you tried. What makes you think you can compete with me?'

It was clear Zhang Chun had begun abandoning her identity as a transmigrator, plunging headlong into the abyss of survival through Zhao Yu's favor. She parted her lips, her voice carrying a faint, almost imperceptible cunning:

"Your Majesty has reigned for nearly three years. Our Great Song has weathered an anti-corruption storm, punishing countless corrupt officials, and expanded into Longyou, dispatching large numbers of officials—leaving our court increasingly short of young talent, which hinders our realm's development. I humbly beg Your Majesty to reopen the imperial examinations. I offer twenty years of my cultivation to foretell a batch of loyal, patriotic talents for Your Majesty and our Great Song…"

Zhao Yu was thoroughly impressed by Zhang Chun.

If you called her foolish, she always found unconventional paths and did things no one else thought of—like now, noticing what many had overlooked: the Song Dynasty's shortage of outstanding young officials, and the looming risk of a generational talent gap.

But if you called her clever, she immediately gave herself away. She was barely nineteen—where did she get twenty years of cultivation?

Zhao Yu truly didn't want to catch her in a lie, forcing her to fabricate falsehoods to deceive him, so he pretended not to notice the flaw in her words.

Setting aside the flaw in her statement, Zhang Chun's proposal had some merit.

In former times, Wang Anshi's Three-Grade System—dividing the Imperial Academy into Outer, Inner, and Upper Grades—had long been accepted by the scholarly community. After all, selecting students for promotion based on academic performance was not only fairer and more transparent, but also motivated them to study harder.

Yet from the moment the Three-Grade System was introduced, the New and Old Parties had fiercely debated New Learning versus Confucianism on the court and in academia.

During his reform efforts, Wang Anshi reinterpreted Confucian classics to provide theoretical backing for his reforms, forming his own distinct intellectual system known as "New Learning," whose core emphasized "practical application," advocating the study of classics to solve real-world problems.

Moreover, Wang Anshi opposed the traditional Confucian emphasis on elaborate commentaries and empty metaphysical debates. He believed Confucian classics should be tied to practical governance. For instance, in his "New Interpretations of the Three Classics," he reannotated the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, and the Rites of Zhou, endowing them with new meanings to suit the needs of reform.

This clashed with traditional Confucianism's focus on preserving and adhering to established commentaries.

Traditional Confucianism typically grounded its theories of human nature in Mencius's view of innate goodness or Xunzi's view of innate evil.

Wang Anshi, however, proposed that "human nature cannot be described as good or evil," arguing that nature is an innate endowment, while goodness and evil are products of later conduct.

This view differed from traditional Confucian theories of human nature and sparked scholarly debate.

From the perspective of the Zhao Song Dynasty, the most important point was that New Learning provided theoretical justification for Wang Anshi's reforms, emphasizing active state intervention to achieve national prosperity.

This stood in opposition to certain traditional Confucian political ideals that favored natural harmony and moral persuasion.

Finally, New Learning prioritized cultivating talent with practical ability and a spirit of practical application. Wang Anshi reformed the education system, establishing specialized schools and disciplines, focusing on students' practical skills and innovative thinking, thereby training a cohort of officials supportive of reform.

Traditional Confucianism, while also teaching policy essays and historical studies, placed greater emphasis on classical texts, poetry, and literary composition.

In short: one was progressive, the other conservative; one radical, the other cautious; one focused on reform and strengthening, the other inclined toward restoring the old order.

What began as academic debate gradually evolved into fierce conflict.

During the Yuanyou era, even an incident occurred in the National Academy where an official named Huang Yin burned the woodblocks of Wang Anshi's "New Interpretations of the Three Classics."

During the Shaosheng era, the New Party, seeking to monopolize New Learning, committed numerous acts of destroying classics.

In the historical reign of Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji and Cai Jing not only burned vast quantities of Yuanyou scholarly works, but also banned poetry and prose by Su Shi, Qin Guan, Huang Tingjian, and others—even destroying most of the writings by New Party figures like Zhang Dun.

At the start of Zhao Yu's reign, both New and Old Parties attempted to physically eliminate each other's scholarship.

But Zhao Yu rejected it.

Zhao Yu's approach (actually his adoption of Zhang Chun's suggestion) was to establish a debate hall for both parties, sending representatives to debate there, while simultaneously promoting both New Learning and Confucianism in education.

This greatly advanced the development of education.

Even during Zhao Xu's reign, Zhang Dun had extended the Three-Grade System to local prefectural schools, linking them to the Imperial Academy in Jingcheng: the top students from prefectural Upper Grades could gain entry to the capital's examinations, and upon passing, enter the Inner Grade of the Imperial Academy—this was known as the Promotion-by-Recommendation System.

Under Zhao Yu's reign, Han Zhongyan, entrusted with expanding education, further implemented the Three-Grade System and Promotion-by-Recommendation System nationwide: all prefectural schools adopted the Three-Grade System; in some cases, even county schools taught official curriculum under this system. The most outstanding students from all prefectural schools could now enter the Imperial Academy in Jingcheng via the Promotion-by-Recommendation System.

Notably, unlike in history, where Cai Jing oversaw education and mandated that all prefectural schools teach only New Learning, Han Zhongyan, under Zhao Yu's strict orders, gave equal weight to New Learning and Confucianism. Zhao Yu, adopting Zhang Chun's suggestion, "took an unconventional path" and introduced a credit system: New Learning and Confucianism each accounted for fifty percent, both serving as standards for selecting talent in the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Today, the total number of official students nationwide had surged to two hundred and ten thousand.

This ensured the Zhao Song Dynasty would never lack talent at the mid- and lower-levels.

Against this backdrop, a group led by Cai Jing believed the scale of education was now sufficient to fulfill the state's function of selecting officials, and urged the court to abolish the imperial examinations, relying solely on the Three-Grade System and Promotion-by-Recommendation System to recruit talent.

But Zhao Yu, familiar with history, knew their proposal was unworkable (historically, they themselves had abolished this foolish policy in 1120), so he rejected it, following Zhang Chun's advice.

Zhang Chun's claim—that the Zhao Song Dynasty, after its anti-corruption purge and expansion into Longyou, now lacked outstanding young officials, hindering its development—though somewhat exaggerated, was not without merit.

In fact, Zhao Yu had already planned to hold an imperial examination soon, to inject fresh blood into the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Zhang Chun's proposal hit Zhao Yu's target perfectly.

Coincidentally, next year was an examination year, ideal for holding one.

Yet from Zhang Chun's tone, it seemed she wanted to personally screen the candidates for Zhao Yu.

Given Zhang Chun's deep knowledge of history, if she were to select talent, she might indeed help Zhao Yu and the Zhao Song Dynasty identify worthy candidates.

But the problem was, Zhao Yu couldn't fathom what her true motive was in aggressively pursuing this task.

After thinking and thinking without clarity, Zhao Yu simply gave up trying to understand.

After all, Zhang Chun had no chance to contact ministers outside the palace—whatever she intended to do, she could only act through Zhao Yu.

Moreover, while Zhang Chun knew history well, Zhao Yu himself was equally familiar with this period of Song history; Zhang Chun could never escape his control.

So Zhao Yu agreed to her proposal: "Your words are sound. Then, next year's imperial examination shall be under your supervision. But remember—under no circumstances must this leak. Otherwise…"

Zhang Chun nodded knowingly: "Otherwise, it would harm me and benefit no one. If those ministers learned a mere woman dares to interfere in state talent selection, they might force Your Majesty to order my death."

Seeing Zhang Chun understood everything, Zhao Yu felt reassured.

……

The next day, Zhang Chun arrived with renewed vigor to assist Zhao Yu in reviewing memorials.

At the same time, in her spare moments, Zhang Chun retrieved the list of Zhao Song officials and wrote individual evaluations for each one.

When she had time, Zhang Chun would dig up the lists of candidates who had taken the imperial examinations in past years, to see if any had slipped through the cracks.

In short, Zhang Chun kept her busy, as if she had endless work every single day.

Zhang Chun often complained to Li Shishi and others, saying Zhao Yu not only forced her to review massive piles of memorials every day, but also made her oversee the imperial examinations to select talent for the Zhao Song dynasty—she had nonstop tasks, and was nearly worn to death.

On this day, Li Shishi, Zhao Yuannu, Cui Nianyue, Xiduo, and Xu Poxi gathered at Li Lin's home.

Zhao Yuannu asked Li Shishi what she had been busy with lately, why she never came to their gatherings anymore—just because their masters had fallen out didn't mean they had to, and they still needed to maintain their usual contact.

Li Shishi complained that Zhang Chun was now extremely busy: every day she had to review countless memorials, report on them to Zhao Yu, and select talent for the Zhao Song dynasty—she left for work before dawn and didn't return until nightfall, and Li Shishi had to accompany her constantly. Today, Zhao Yu had finally noticed how exhausted Zhang Chun was and granted her an entire day off—otherwise, Li Shishi wouldn't have had time to meet Zhao Yuannu and the others today.

After Li Shishi and the others left, Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qing Cheng stepped out from the inner chamber.

Ye Shi Yun spoke sarcastically: "Who would've thought that after Foolish left us, she's living such a full life?"

"As long as Zhao Yu backs her, even if she truly leaves us, her life won't be affected at all," Yuan Qing Cheng said.

"It's only because Zhao Yu doesn't know her evil side that he's been deceived by her. If I went to tell Zhao Yu her goal is to become Empress Dowager, just see whether he'd still pay attention to her—then she'd surely become the first concubine in our dynasty to be cast into the Forbidden Palace's Cold Palace."

"Then go tell Zhao Yu," Li Lin said.

Ye Shi Yun fell silent immediately.

Talking was one thing; doing was another. They'd been friends for so many years, and had all been transported here together. Though they'd quarreled, Ye Shi Yun simply couldn't bring herself to expose Zhang Chun. After all, in this strange world, the four of them were each other's only support—they were each other's closest people. If they turned against one another, they'd lose someone who could truly understand them.

Seeing that Ye Shi Yun still had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, Li Lin and the others no longer blamed her for that day's quarrel with Zhang Chun—after all, that day's incident wasn't Ye Shi Yun's fault.

"What do we do now? Keep cold-war with Sister Chun indefinitely?" Ma Xiao Jiao asked.

"This time, we must make Zhang Chun face reality—she can't keep dreaming of becoming Empress Dowager."

"To become Empress Dowager, she must first become Empress."

"Who among us doesn't know the Empress Zheng's methods? With her wooden-headed, impulsive nature, if Zhao Yu hadn't stood firmly behind her, she'd have been crushed long before Empress Zheng even became Empress."

"Now, Empress Zheng is the true Empress—if one day she angers Empress Zheng, Empress Zheng could execute her first and report later, and Zhang Chun would die to no avail."

"Most crucially, she wants to be Empress Dowager—if that day ever comes, won't we all become widows? Then who will protect us? Who will help us realize our dreams? Who will solve… cough…"

Here, Li Lin deliberately coughed.

Without Li Lin needing to say it aloud, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qing Cheng all understood what she meant.

They were all experienced women, and all shared the same man—there was no need to hide such matters.

The key issue was real and tangible: if Zhao Yu ever died before them, they'd either be sent to live in "retirement homes" like Meng Xiang and Liu Qingjing, or be exiled to guard tombs by the new emperor, or be ordered to commit suicide to accompany Zhao Yu in death—remarrying, like widows in her past life, was absolutely impossible. In this feudal society, they would live as Zhao Yu's, die as Zhao Yu's ghosts—throughout their lives, and even through countless reincarnations, they must remain utterly loyal to Zhao Yu.

Seeing it this way, they absolutely could not let Zhang Chun achieve her dream. If no one else stopped her, they themselves had to stop her.

Yuan Qing Cheng was the first to agree with Li Lin: "Yes, we absolutely cannot let Zhang Chun act recklessly anymore. If necessary, we might consider sending her to the Cold Palace first, to let her cool down."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shi Yun and Ma Xiao Jiao stared at Yuan Qing Cheng in shock—they hadn't expected Yuan Qing Cheng to actually entertain the idea of locking Zhang Chun in the Cold Palace.

Ye Shi Yun hesitated, then said: "Foolish only likes to talk big—I suspect she's long since abandoned the idea of becoming Empress, let alone Empress Dowager. Even if she hasn't, with Empress Zheng standing in front of her, she'd never dare harm Zhao Yu. Otherwise, even if the Empress position ever became vacant, who would help her become Empress without Zhao Yu?"

Ma Xiao Jiao added: "Yes, yes, we don't need to send Sister Chun to the Cold Palace—women sent there suffer terribly."

Li Lin glanced at Yuan Qing Cheng, then at Ye Shi Yun and Ma Xiao Jiao, and concluded: "Let's just wait and see…"

…

(End of Chapter)