Chapter 165: One Shot, Five Hits

…

Since that night.

Having tasted the sweetness, Zhao Yu had all five women attend his bed together for many days in a row.

Over a month later, Yuan Qingcheng counted on her fingers, "Oh no, my period seems to be seven days late!"

Unlike many women with irregular lifestyles whose periods come at unpredictable times, Yuan Qingcheng, who always kept regular hours for eating and sleeping and paid great attention to her health, had very punctual periods and had never been this late before.

Therefore, Yuan Qingcheng immediately realized that she was likely pregnant.

Yuan Qingcheng quickly had Xu Poxi go invite an imperial physician to come take her pulse.

As it turned out, Yuan Qingcheng had guessed right—she really was pregnant.

Regarding this, Yuan Qingcheng truly didn't know what to say.

Counting the number of times she had shared a bed with Zhao Yu, Yuan Qingcheng felt that she should have gotten pregnant by now; otherwise, not only would all of Zhao Yu's efforts have been for nothing, but her body might also have problems like Pei Sui and the others.

In fact, had Yuan Qingcheng not always calculated her dates before going to Zhao Yu, she might have gotten pregnant long ago.

"It's all Zhao Yu's fault for leading me astray, making me forget to use the three-days-before, four-days-after contraceptive method—otherwise I could definitely have held out a while longer."

Yuan Qingcheng wasn't opposed to getting pregnant. She just didn't want to be like Ma Ma Xiao Jiao, who hadn't fully enjoyed the pleasures of a man and woman before getting pregnant one after another, and then had to hang up the white flag.

In Yuan Qingcheng's view, that would be too much of a loss.

Although Yuan Qingcheng now felt she hadn't quite broken even yet, honestly speaking, having frequently attended the bed over the past year, she hadn't really lost out either.

"I've pretty much experienced everything I should have experienced—getting pregnant is fine, then."

Thinking this way, Yuan Qingcheng began to look forward to the arrival of this little life.

After composing herself, Yuan Qingcheng had Xu Poxi go report to Zhao Yu that she was pregnant.

Zhao Yu came to see Yuan Qingcheng immediately, gave her a large pile of rewards, and stayed that night, having Yuan Qingcheng attend his bed once more.

As for how Yuan Qingcheng attended him, that is not something to be told to outsiders.

The next day, after arranging the preparations for the spring plowing, Yuan Qingcheng went to share the good news with Zhang Chun and the other four women.

What Yuan Qingcheng hadn't expected was that the moment she arrived at Zhang Chun's palace, she saw Zhang Chun lavishly rewarding all the people in her palace, while Ma Ma Xiao Jiao was sighing there.

Arriving at the secret chamber, Yuan Qingcheng asked Zhang Chun and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao: "What's wrong with you two?"

Zhang Chun said, beaming: "Sharing some good news with you—I'm pregnant again, oh yeah!"

Then Zhang Chun went on talking to herself: "I feel that what Ye Shi Yun said back then was right—the reason I had trouble getting pregnant before was that I was too nervous at the time. This period, I've been playing more freely, and without the pressure of needing a son, I got pregnant again easily and happily."

Yuan Qingcheng chimed in to Zhang Chun: "Being relaxed really does make it easier to get pregnant."

Yuan Qingcheng then asked Ma Ma Xiao Jiao: "What about you? Why the long face?"

Ma Ma Xiao Jiao gave a wry smile: "I'm pregnant too."

Then Ma Ma Xiao Jiao couldn't help but complain: "I'm completely baffled—I've already been using the seven-day contraceptive method, and I insist on washing up after every encounter, yet I still got caught. I really don't know if it's because I have an easily-conceiving body, or because Zhao Yu's fertility is just too strong. No matter how careful I am, I can't stop him from getting me pregnant."

Seeing that Zhang Chun and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao were also pregnant, Yuan Qingcheng didn't know what to say.

Just as Yuan Qingcheng was about to share with Zhang Chun and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao that she was also pregnant, Li Lin and Ye Shi Yun suddenly pushed open the door to the secret chamber and walked in.

The moment they met, Yuan Qingcheng could tell that Li Lin and Ye Shi Yun were also in good spirits.

Zhang Chun, getting there first, bragged to Li Lin and Ye Shi Yun: "Formal notice to you two—I, Zhang Chun, am pregnant with my second child. Sorry about that, I'm just a tiny bit ahead of you."

Who would have thought, Ye Shi Yun smiled like a fox and said: "You wish—we came here to share good news with you too."

"What good news do you have?" Zhang Chun asked.

"We're pregnant with our second child too." Li Lin said with a very happy smile.

All along, Li Lin had been the one among them who most wanted to get pregnant; her desire to bear a son even surpassed Zhang Chun's.

In Li Lin's own words, she wished she could give Zhao Yu ten sons.

Li Lin truly wanted to pass on all her military skills to her sons, so they could take her place on the battlefield, earn the honor of sealing the wolf at Ju Xu, and fulfill the dream she herself could not complete.

Yet soldiers have always been synonymous with death, and the battlefield is fraught with peril, where life and death are uncertain.

If she didn't bear several sons, how could she fulfill Li Lin's dream?

After all, not all of Li Lin's sons would be suited for the military, or willing to join it.

Precisely because she understood all this, Li Lin wanted to bear many sons—to overcome misfortune through sheer numbers.

To this end, Li Lin hardened her heart and completely abandoned the "Prisoner Fitness" she had practiced for many years.

Now, having so easily conceived her second child, how could Li Lin not be overjoyed?

Unlike Li Lin, who was over the moon, although Ye Shi Yun was also very happy, she remained, as always, saying the opposite of what she felt: "Sigh, not only do I have to suffer for ten months, I also have to brave the gates of hell again. If it weren't for living in this era, I'd have Zhao Yu sent to get snipped, just to stop him from tormenting me."

Zhang Chun said with a smile: "Go out and say that and see what happens—the women in the harem would scratch you into shredded potatoes. You're satisfied, sure, but the rest of them are still in line waiting to get pregnant."

Saying this, Zhang Chun deliberately glanced at Yuan Qingcheng: "Am I right, Qingcheng?"

Yuan Qingcheng said impassively: "Why are you asking me?"

Zhang Chun said, not without schadenfreude: "The rest of us are already two rounds ahead of you, and you still haven't shown any sign. If I don't look at you, who should I look at?"

Yuan Qingcheng smiled faintly: "I'm pregnant too. How are you two rounds ahead of me?"

Hearing Yuan Qingcheng say she was also pregnant, Zhang Chun was a bit skeptical: "For real? Don't lie to me."

Yuan Qingcheng rolled her eyes: "Would I lie to you about something like this? Besides, there's nothing wrong with my body. Getting pregnant is nothing—it's the easiest, most pleasant thing. Let me tell you the truth: I've been using contraception too. Otherwise, I'd have gotten pregnant long ago—why would I need to wait this long?"

Zhang Chun said slowly: "Why do I feel like you're scolding me?"

Li Lin also said: "Same feeling."

Yuan Qingcheng laughed: "You're overthinking it. I'm just saying that getting pregnant isn't hard."

"It isn't hard," Zhang Chun said. "Otherwise, how could all five of us be pregnant at the same time?"

Saying this, Zhang Chun looked at Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qingcheng one by one, and asked: "What do you think—didn't Zhao Yu just fire one shot and hit five targets?"

……

Early March.

The Zhao Song dynasty held its first imperial examination under Emperor Zhao Yu.

After intense competition, Li Gang became the top scholar of this examination.

To be honest, Li Gang's success as top scholar involved considerable luck.

First, before taking the exam, Li Gang had spent a long time in the Longyou Protectorate, which was the frontline for reclaiming Western Xia; Lu Huiqing was Emperor Zhao Yu's personally appointed deputy commander for reclaiming Western Xia, and Li Kui and Li Gang, father and son, were key officials under Lu Huiqing and the main force for reclaiming Western Xia—they certainly understood Western Xia well.

This examination's questions on Western Xia accounted for nearly one-third of the total.

Second, Li Gang was deeply familiar with the successful model of the Longyou Protectorate; thus, when discussing how to govern Western Xia after its recovery, he boldly proposed eliminating all Western Xia nobles and tribal chiefs who did not surrender voluntarily, fully replicating the Longyou Protectorate's successful experience.

These were ideas that candidates deeply influenced by Confucian benevolence dared not write—or even think of; they proposed either emphasizing Western Xia nobility, winning them over with virtue, and attempting cultural assimilation to win their loyalty, or advocating a tributary policy to co-opt Western Xia's elite and maintain superficial peace.

These superficial solutions naturally failed to satisfy Emperor Zhao Yu.

Emperor Zhao Yu, having already tasted how effective the Longyou Protectorate model was, certainly wished to resolve the Western Xia problem once and for all.

Thus, Li Gang's proposal was naturally the one most to Emperor Zhao Yu's taste.

Emperor Zhao Yu could also use appointing Li Gang as top scholar to signal his stance.

Li Gang's third stroke of luck was that Emperor Zhao Yu favored Li Gang, this anti-Jin chancellor, and naturally wanted to give him a higher starting point.

In fact, purely on literary merit, Huo Duanyou of Wujin, Changzhou, surpassed Li Gang considerably.

Moreover, Zhang Chun had told Zhao Yu about Huo Duanyou: though far less famous than Li Gang, he governed not by harsh punishments to establish authority, but by benevolence and leniency, earning great popularity among the people. Chenzhou's terrain was low-lying; prolonged rain caused flooding, so he ordered the digging of eight hundred li of new canals. Since these were too far from the Huaihe River, water still did not drain easily, so he petitioned the court to dig another two hundred li, completely eliminating Chenzhou's flooding. He was upright: when the eunuch Shi Tao delivered an imperial edict demanding rare fragrant flowers, he refused, was impeached, and dismissed—yet he was still an excellent talent.

Yet even so, Emperor Zhao Yu still appointed Li Gang as top scholar, claiming Li Gang's policy essay better suited his own intentions.

Emperor Zhao Yu was so stingy he did not even award Huo Duanyou the second-place position; instead, he gave it to Zhao Ding, another chancellor-caliber talent who in history had served as chancellor twice, advocated nurturing the people's strength and stabilizing the foundation, governed with strategic planning, turned the tide in crisis, and made great contributions to consolidating the Southern Song's foundations.

Huo Duanyou received only the third-place title.

Notably, under Zhang Chun's careful selection, Emperor Zhao Yu recruited many promising ministers and historical luminaries—Chen Gou, Yuwen Huangzhong, Li Guang, Qiu Yu, and others—from this examination.

Emperor Zhao Yu appointed Li Gang as Xuan Yi Lang; within a month, he promoted him to Secretary of the Secretariat, then to Assistant Compiler, then to Imperial Chronicler, then to Mid-Book Secretary, and granted him the privilege of wearing gold-and-purple robes.

Previously, Jishi and Sheren could only wear black horn belts; the change in dress code began with Li Gang.

Addressing the court's bias toward internal over external posts, Li Gang proposed alternating appointments between court and provincial officials, and personally requested an external posting.

Emperor Zhao Yu approved, appointing Li Gang as Administrator of Shanzhou under the title of Shimo Pavilion Attendant.

Not only Li Gang.

Nearly half the talents selected in this examination were sent by Emperor Zhao Yu to the northwest, assigned to Zhang Jie and Lu Huiqing to assist them in reclaiming Western Xia.

In the northwest region, the climate is relatively arid, and spring temperatures rise relatively slowly.

Agricultural production at this time relied primarily on seasonal markers and long-accumulated experience: after the "Rain Water" solar term, the soil gradually thawed, temperatures rose slightly, and soil moisture became suitable; around the "Awakening of Insects" and "Spring Equinox," people began spring planting, primarily cultivating drought-resistant crops such as wheat, millet, and broomcorn millet.

When Zhao Yu's dispatched talents—including Li Gang—arrived in the northwest, they assumed they would immediately be thrust into battle.

Instead, whether Zhang Jie, Lu Huiqing, or other commanding generals, the first task they were given was to encourage farming.

This puzzled many newly minted jinshi, for they had studied that the best time to attack Western Xia was spring—why waste this prime season, instead of waiting until autumn, as Emperor Shenzong had, to let Western Xia gain the advantage of timing?

Some even wondered whether Zhang Jie and Lu Huiqing intended to feign obedience while secretly avoiding the mission of reclaiming Western Xia.

What further confused the new jinshi was that Emperor Zhao Yu and Zhang Dun did not pressure Zhang Jie or Lu Huiqing.

With no choice, the new jinshi had to go down to the fields and encourage farming.

Because the northwest bordered the Longyou Protectorate, and the Longyou Protectorate had enjoyed two consecutive bountiful harvests, its people had lived in considerable prosperity over the past two years; people from the Six Roads of Shaanxi had heard of this, and the new jinshi encouraging farming used this to motivate the people of the Six Roads of Shaanxi, further convincing them to accept the Qincheng Agricultural Manual and Ma Xiao Jiao's series of agricultural and industrial tools—acceptance in the Six Roads of the northwest was thus relatively high.

As a result, agriculture in the Six Roads of Shaanxi was almost instantly restored to pre-Western Xia independence levels.

This made Li Qianshun and his ministers furious enough to spit blood.

For before this, Zhang Jie and Lu Huiqing, those two old schemers, had been feeding Western Xia false rumors that Emperor Zhao Yu had ordered them to reclaim Western Xia this year.

Li Qianshun and his ministers had assumed that, having suffered heavily from the Five-Route Campaign against Western Xia, the Zhao Song dynasty would again choose spring to launch its attack.

Based on this, Li Qianshun and his ministers had been on high alert, mobilizing 700,000 troops to await the Song army's assault on Western Xia.

During this period, both Zhe Keshi and Wang Hou had mobilized their armies and launched attacks.

Yet both sides followed the pattern: enemy retreats, we advance; enemy advances, we retreat; enemy tires, we strike—purely harassment, never engaging the Xia army in actual battle.

Lu Huiqing, that old schemer, even shamelessly sent troops several times to simulate crossing the Yellow River, forcing the Xia army to rush from the north to the south for defense.

When the Xia army arrived, Lu Huiqing ordered Wang Hou to withdraw and defend the fortresses.

Meanwhile, Tao Jiefu of Fuyan Road dispatched a large army to build fortresses toward Xiazhou.

Seeing this, the Western Xia side could only redirect troops from Mount Tiandou to stop Tao Jiefu's advance on Xiazhou.

The Fuyan Road Song army and the Xia army fought for over two months.

This gave Zhang Jie his opportunity.

Zhang Jie ordered Zhe Keshi to construct five fortresses: Zhulong, Moyi Pass, and Sanpen.

Meanwhile, the Zhao Song dynasty's spring planting was fully completed.

At this point, Li Qianshun and his ministers finally understood: Zhang Jie's strategy for reclaiming Western Xia followed the shallow-advance-and-build approach—he had no intention of launching a massive, direct confrontation with Western Xia as Emperor Shenzong had.

Indeed!

After the Zhao Song dynasty completed its spring planting, the Song army split into three routes and began advancing toward Western Xia.

Emperor Zhao Yu's Divine Mechanism Army and the four auxiliary new armies of the Zhao Song dynasty were also rotated to Western Xia to train troops through actual combat and assist the Shaanxi Six Routes' western armies in advancing westward.

The Xia army could only be exhausted from running back and forth, steadily worn down by Song forces using defensive counterattacks.

Seeing Western Xia being slowly consumed by the Zhao Song dynasty, Li Qianshun despairingly said: "The Song army intends to build fortresses right up to my Lingzhou city walls!"

Feeling death drawing nearer, Li Qianshun once again sent envoys to Liao, seeking to marry a Liao princess, hoping to form an alliance and secure Liao military reinforcements to achieve a two-on-one advantage, destroy the Zhao Song dynasty, or at least recover the territory seized by the Zhao Song dynasty and preserve Western Xia…

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(End of Chapter)