Chapter 97: Fools Are Not Worth Plotting With

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The meal with Zheng Xiansu was boring.

There were only six dishes on the table, all just vegetables and tofu, and two of them were even pickled vegetables.

If it weren't for the fish and the Dongpo pork, all five women would have thought Zheng Xiansu was punishing them, not hosting them.

Without exaggeration, since the five women came to Zhao Yu's harem, every meal they'd had was far better than this one.

So as soon as they left Zheng Xiansu's presence, Ye Shi Yun couldn't help complaining: "Is this really necessary? Is this all you serve when hosting guests?"

Li Lin said: "She was raised by Empress Dowager Xiang—she must have inherited Empress Dowager Xiang's virtue of frugality, and perhaps even intends to expand it further. It's not aimed at us; she's just leading by example in frugality."

Ma Xiao Jiao said: "I really can't understand—why should becoming Empress mean living like this? If that's what being Empress entails, what's the point? We live however we want, eat whatever we crave, do whatever we please—doesn't that make us far happier than any Empress?"

Yuan Qing Cheng said: "Perhaps everyone seeks different things. Zheng Empress's idea of happiness may not lie in material abundance or sensory pleasure, but in spiritual fulfillment and the burden of duty. It might be a realm beyond material indulgence—a belief and ideal she upholds as Empress."

Ye Shi Yun interrupted Yuan Qing Cheng's reflection: "That's too deep, Qing Cheng—you're almost at a philosophical level. I was just complaining that even an Empress is too frugal; I just don't get it."

Ma Xiao Jiao agreed: "Yeah, I don't get her either. But whatever—I admire her character, but we'll just live our own simple, happy lives. That's fine."

At that moment, Li Lin turned to Zhang Chun and asked: "Why have you been silent this whole time?"

Zhang Chun finally spoke: "I'm wondering how you can still be so carefree. Don't you realize our good days are almost over?"

Ye Shi Yun, Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qing Cheng all turned to Zhang Chun. Li Lin asked bluntly: "What do you mean?"

Zhang Chun said calmly: "Have you forgotten her Nine Prohibitions?"

"What nine prohibitions?" Ma Xiao Jiao asked.

"The one about not colluding with maternal relatives—that doesn't concern us," Yuan Qing Cheng said.

Zhang Chun gave a cold smile: "Doesn't concern us?"

"Her Nine Prohibitions are refined strategies drawn from the histories of countless Empresses managing the harem—like Taiji pushing hands: outwardly gentle as water, inwardly hiding profound schemes. She embeds political maneuvering into daily details, achieving absolute control over the harem without drawing attention…"

After Zhang Chun's explanation, the four women finally realized: Zheng Xiansu had transformed her personal desires into motives for upholding imperial authority, achieving total harem control beneath a gentle facade. This "subtle, silent governance" was more terrifying than open palace intrigues, because she manipulated hearts.

For example, the "Imperial Harem Examination" policy—created by Empress Liu E of the Song Dynasty, the Empress of Emperor Zhenzong, who rivaled Wu Zetian—was a harem promotion system restructured through the imperial examination. Empress Liu E used this to make palace concubines obsess over exam preparation, eliminating vicious harem struggles for decades. She also cultivated her own intelligence network, controlling not just the entire harem but the whole Zhao Song Dynasty.

After hearing Zhang Chun's analysis, the four women were stunned. They had never imagined their "routine lecture" concealed such deep intentions.

Looking at these political idiots, Zhang Chun was speechless.

Zhang Chun cast a deliberate glance at Li Lin: 'With your level of political acumen, you dare to challenge me for leadership? Under your command, we wouldn't even survive Pei Sui.'

After a moment of reflection, Yuan Qing Cheng said: "But this doesn't seem to concern us, does it?"

Hearing this, Ye Shi Yun also realized: "Right—we're with Zhao Yu. Zheng Empress shouldn't have authority over us."

Zhang Chun nodded: "You're right. With Zhao Yu protecting us, Zheng Empress won't touch us. But have you considered this? They live like ascetics, while we feast freely, live carefree, and enjoy ourselves. Don't you think they'll resent us? Then we become their enemies."

Zhang Chun added silently to herself: 'How am I supposed to lead them like this?'

Ma Xiao Jiao blinked her beautiful big eyes and asked: "So they resent us? So we're enemies? What difference does it make? Can they even hit us? If things get bad, once Qing Cheng's agricultural research base is built, we can just move there—no big deal, just build a few more houses."

Ye Shi Yun agreed: "Exactly. I don't want to play with those primitives anyway. All they talk about is needlework or poetry—there's zero common ground."

Yuan Qing Cheng added enthusiastically: "My place is huge—I could build a separate villa for each of you."

Zhang Chun was utterly defeated. She thought: 'If we move out, it's exactly what Zheng Empress wants—she'd be thrilled to see these troublemakers leave. How could I let her win? More importantly, if I can't get along with the palace concubines, how can I overthrow Zheng Empress and become Empress myself? If I don't become Empress, how can I become Wu Zetian?'

Zhang Chun said plainly: "You can go if you want—I'm not leaving."

Ma Xiao Jiao frowned: "Why not?"

Zhang Chun rolled her eyes: "Will Zhao Yu go with you?"

At these words, Ye Shi Yun and Ma Xiao Jiao fell silent.

How could Zhao Yu stay away from the palace long? He had to work there—and return to his concubines.

And if Zhao Yu stayed, and they left, within no time, Zhao Yu—surrounded by countless women—would forget them entirely. Then it would be them who suffered.

Only now did Ye Shi Yun and Ma Xiao Jiao realize: unlike Yuan Qing Cheng, who fled Zhao Yu at every opportunity and could easily relocate to her agricultural base, they could no longer live without Zhao Yu.

At that moment, Li Lin spoke: "I'm not leaving either. Where Zhao Yu is, I am."

Ye Shi Yun immediately backtracked: "I was just joking—Zhao Yu is my lifeline. How could I leave him?"

Ma Xiao Jiao added: "I'll visit Qing Cheng often, but I won't live there—otherwise, the Emperor won't be able to find me."

Seeing this, Yuan Qing Cheng wisely fell silent.

Seeing the women had finally understood, Zhang Chun continued: "Since we can't leave, we must learn to coexist with them. My suggestion: let's first memorize Zheng Empress's 'Women's Precepts'—it's only a thousand characters. With our intelligence, far beyond this era, we can memorize it easily. Even the 'Women's Rules' is just tens of thousands of characters. As for her examination system, we can just study a bit and pass. Poetry? We can copy a few poems and crush them all. If you don't know how, I'll teach you. The only things we really need to follow are her frugality and rules… Hey, don't leave!"

Upon hearing Zhang Chun's plan—to coexist peacefully with the other concubines by doing all this—the four women thought: 'Peaceful coexistence? Screw that.'

Ye Shi Yun said bluntly: "Fine, you do it yourself. Don't drag me in. If you think I'll suffer for this, forget it."

Zhang Chun watched the backs of Li Lin and the other four women walking away, furious: "Fools are not worth plotting with!"

She thought: 'I'm not particularly fond of luxury myself, and I'm naturally inclined to follow rules. As for the rest—it's all easy for me.' She gritted her teeth: 'Fine, I'll do it myself!'

But the thought of living like an ascetic made her scalp tingle.

'In Emperor Zhenzong's later years, Empress Liu E showed signs of sidelining him. If Zheng Empress is imitating Liu E, Zhao Yu might resent it. If that's true, isn't that my chance?'

Thinking this, Zhang Chun immediately went to Funing Palace to find Zhao Yu.

Coincidentally, Zhao Yu also wanted Zhang Chun's advice on his idea: 'After the crisis passes, gradually convert part of the army into a police system and delegate public security duties to local authorities—would this work?'

So when he learned Zhang Chun had come, Zhao Yu set aside other matters and ordered Liang Shicheng to bring her in.

Upon meeting, Zhao Yu smiled: "What wind blew my beloved to me?"

The moment Zhao Yu called her "beloved," Zhang Chun knew—he needed her for something. Otherwise, he wouldn't use that term.

Zhang Chun thought: 'Good. I'll solve your problem first, then present mine—see how you respond.'

"Your humble concubine had nothing to do, so I came to visit Your Majesty," she said, then added with strategic retreat: "If Your Majesty is busy, I can come another day."

Zhao Yu immediately pulled Zhang Chun over, seated her on his lap, and said: "You've come at the perfect time. I have a matter I can't decide—help me analyze it."

They'd done far more intimate things before—Zhang Chun wasn't afraid to sit on his lap. She gracefully wrapped her arms around his neck and cooed: "I'm all ears."

Then Zhao Yu laid out his idea.

Of course, Zhao Yu could not say the words "police," but instead proposed extracting the county commandant to form a separate bureau, selecting out the troops responsible for public order and placing them under this new bureau to exclusively handle public security, household registration, and other areas…

After hearing this, Zhang Chun's eyes lit up; she thought, 'Isn't this exactly establishing a police system? I didn't expect you to be so clever.'

"This matter has some feasibility, but if implemented, it will face numerous risks…"

Zhang Chun analyzed:

The current Zhao Song dynasty maintains a massive military (especially the Imperial Guards and Garrison Armies), yet its combat effectiveness is low, with severe phantom troop quotas; military expenditures have become a fiscal burden. Converting redundant military personnel into police would help ease fiscal pressure. It would also allow resources to be concentrated on training and equipping elite units, thereby enhancing the military's overall combat capability.

Moreover, local public security in the Zhao Song dynasty relies primarily on patrol inspectorates, county commandants, and the baojia system, but these institutions are too weak to handle increasingly complex security issues. Establishing a dedicated police system could compensate for the inadequacies of local security forces.

But such reforms still carry problems and risks.

For instance, the military and police have different duties, organizational structures, and management methods; local treasuries may be unable to sustain the police system's operations; this move could provoke resistance or even rebellion from vested interests; delegating security responsibilities to local authorities might weaken central control and trigger power struggles between center and region; disbanding redundant troops could leave many soldiers unemployed, and if mishandled, might spark social unrest.

In response to these issues, Zhang Chun, drawing on historical precedents and future police systems, proposed five feasible recommendations:

First, pilot the system in several controllable regions within the capital prefecture;

Re-train and reorganize soldiers entering the police system so they acquire skills in resolving civilian disputes, apprehending thieves, and establish local police organizational structures with clearly defined duties and authority;

The court should provide limited fiscal support to help localities establish and maintain police systems, while encouraging them to raise funds through taxation or other means to reduce the central treasury's burden;

Properly relocate disbanded soldiers—provide severance pay, allocate land, or offer employment opportunities—to avoid social problems;

While delegating security responsibilities to localities, the central government must retain oversight authority and personnel appointment powers to prevent police abuse or corruption—meaning police funding primarily comes from local sources, but the court establishes a separate department to manage the police system, with local authorities having no right to interfere…

One must admit that although Zhang Chun was merely a second-rate advisor, she possessed over a thousand years of knowledge and insight beyond her contemporaries, enabling her to offer many unconventional suggestions—crucially, she could keep pace with Zhao Yu's thinking and fill in his gaps, something even chancellors and ministers sometimes failed to do.

As for whether Zhao Yu and Zhang Chun's proposals would prove viable in practice, they could simply be discussed and refined with the chancellors and ministers.

Zhao Yu kissed Zhang Chun's lips firmly and praised her lavishly: "My beloved concubine is truly my female Zhuge Liang." Then his tone shifted: "Then, my dear, shall you stay tonight to attend me?"

…

(End of Chapter)