kingnovel Chapter 477 A Different Zhao Yupan
Chapter 477 A Different Zhao Yupan
For some emperors who are more suspicious or shrewd, many things do not require any evidence, just suspicion is enough.
However, Song Huizong, who was used to a comfortable life, was not sufficiently vigilant and cautious about his son-in-law Lu Cheng. Otherwise, some of the information previously reported by the intelligence department would have been enough to alert Song Huizong.
Of course, there was another reason why the secret was kept secret from Song Huizong for so long, and that was that many of the people around Song Huizong had been bribed by Lu Cheng with large sums of money.
For example, Yang Jian, the personal eunuch of Song Huizong, after receiving a lot of gold, silver and treasures from Lu Cheng, would slightly change some of the information in the style of the Spring and Autumn Period. Military actions could be turned into commercial activities, and recruiting soldiers could be turned into training guards. In this way, big things could be turned into small things, and small things could be turned into nothing. In addition, Song Huizong's favor for his son-in-law made the secret remain secret until now.
If the Yangwei Army had not captured Xijin Prefecture and almost came into conflict with the Song Dynasty's northern border troops, Song Huizong would probably have ignored all this and would still be busy eating, drinking, having fun and enjoying life.
The Liao Kingdom was now in decline, and the Jin Kingdom and the Yangwei Army rose in the north, moving hand in hand to divide up the land of the Liao Kingdom. The Western Army of the Song Dynasty was also ready to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the division of the Liao Kingdom, or to capture Xixia.
Originally, this was a great opportunity for the Song Dynasty to expand its territory and avenge its previous humiliation, but the civil and military officials in the court had not reached a consensus and they argued every day over whether to send troops.
There were even many ministers who believed that before the situation became clear, they should continue to pay annual tribute to the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia. If the Liao Kingdom lost, the Song Dynasty would only lose some annual tribute. If the Liao Kingdom won, it would not affect the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Of course, those who supported continuing to pay annual tribute to the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia would naturally seek to profit from it.
The Song Dynasty sent hundreds of thousands of rolls of silk to the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia every year. Such a large amount naturally had to be purchased from the private sector. So who should be chosen as the purchaser? What would be the quote? What would be the cost price? There were too many profit points in between.
The Song Dynasty had been paying tribute to the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia for more than a hundred years, and a complicated chain of interests had long been formed. Everyone in this chain hoped that the Song Dynasty would continue to pay tribute.
As for whether doing so would harm the interests of the Song Dynasty, that is not something those people should consider at all.
To put it bluntly, looking at the entire Song Dynasty court, the vast majority of civil and military officials were working for their own interests and never paid attention to whether the Song Dynasty was strong and could last long.
There were officials who truly cared about the fate of the Song Dynasty and the people of the world, but they were extremely rare.
The Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. In addition to the strength of the Jin Dynasty, there were also internal corruption, the emperor's stupidity, the officials' greed, and the people's miserable lives.
In the spring of the eighth year of Zhenghe (1118 AD), Lujiazhuang, Yuncheng County.
Today, after years of expansion, Lujiazhuang has become a castle with a vast area, elegant layout and strict defense.
In order to strengthen the defense of Lujiazhuang, Lu Cheng built arrow towers, watchtowers, etc. on all sides of the manor on the pretext of preventing bandits.
Although the entire Lujiazhuang is not as large as Yuncheng County in area, its defensive strength far exceeds that of Yuncheng.
The outer city wall is guarded by eight hundred household servants, and the inner area is guarded by a female guard team led by Hu Sanniang, Pang Qiuxia, Ji Ruxue and other women. There are also many well-trained hunting dogs, falcons and even a litter of tigers in the courtyard.
Back then, the fierce tiger Liefeng, after taking root in Lujiazhuang, had been responsible for guarding the house.
In consideration of Liefeng's hard work and great contributions, Lu Cheng specially sent people to use special anesthetics to anesthetize two adult female tigers, so that the fierce tiger Liefeng could also live a life of being surrounded by beauties on both sides and enjoy the blessing of having many wives.
In the past two years, two tigresses have given birth to cubs one after another. Now there are three adult tigers and five cubs in Lujiazhuang.
Moreover, Lu Cheng's children grew up with these ferocious beasts. They each tamed one or two beasts as pets to keep them company as they grew up. This can be considered a special gift that Lu Cheng prepared for his children.
In the backyard of Lujiazhuang, Lu Cheng was holding Zhao Yupan's arm, and the two were walking together in the back garden. Zhao Yupan was now pregnant.
"Sir, if we wait another three and a half months, our baby should be here, right?"
"Yes, I remember the date."
"Sir, Yu Pan has been married to you for so long, and finally I can give birth to a child for you. I really hope this child can be a boy."
"Boys and girls are the same. You can see that I love my daughters just as much as my sons."
"Of course I know all this, but I just want to give you a son so that our Lu family can have more descendants."
As she spoke, Zhao Yupan stroked her bulging belly and said with a face full of maternal radiance, "Son, you must have a son."
"Yu Pan, what if this is really a daughter?"
"Absolutely impossible. I've heard people say that sour boys and spicy girls are good for girls. Ever since I got pregnant, I've always liked to eat sour food. Also, I've heard from the old people in the village that if you're pregnant with a boy, your belly will be pointed, and if you're pregnant with a girl, your belly will be round. Look at mine, isn't it a little pointed?"
"You're right."
In fact, with Lu Cheng's medical expertise, he had already determined that Zhao Yupan was pregnant with a girl, but he didn't point it out, leaving her to wait for a while.
Perhaps, Song Huizong, who was far away in Bian Jing, also hoped that Zhao Yupan would give birth to a boy for Lu Cheng.
"Yu Pan, let me tell you a story. Do you know Sun Shangxiang, the sister of Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period?"
"Of course I know this. What's the matter? Why did my husband suddenly mention Sun Shangxiang?"
"Listen to my husband's story first. Sun Shangxiang was originally the sister of Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu. She married Liu Bei because of the Sun-Wu alliance. She was caught between the two countries and was in a dilemma... Yu Pan, Sun Shangxiang is a princess, and you are also a princess. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were Sun Shangxiang, would you be more inclined to your father and brother, or your husband?"
"Why do you ask such a strange question, sir?"
"I am also a little curious. I have been reading history books recently, especially the Three Kingdoms. I like to analyze each character in depth, so I asked this question."
"The jade plate also asks the lord a question. Are you willing to marry your daughter to a man she has never seen and who is 20 or 30 years older than her, just for the sake of the so-called "hegemony"?"
"Of course not. My daughters, Lu Cheng, don't need to wrong themselves for these things. They must have married a man because they liked him."
"When the lord said this, Yu Pan believed it without a doubt. The longer he got along with the lord, the more he found that he was different from the lord. But it is probably rare to find someone like the lord in the world. Yu Pan grew up in the royal family, and the family relationship was not very deep.
When my father first had a daughter like me, he doted on me for a while. But later, he had more than 30 daughters and dozens of sons, and he couldn't take care of them all. Moreover, we children have to scheme against each other...
To be honest, Yu Pan has always felt that the luckiest thing in her life is marrying my husband. Although my husband has many sisters, they are able to be impartial and live in harmony, allowing Yu Pan to enjoy the warmth of home. If Yu Pan really makes a choice, Yu Pan is willing to stay with the master forever, but I hope that the master will not be like my father, who lost his love because of his fading beauty..."