Chapter 1 When Fusu opened his eyes, he refused...
Fusu transmigrates into the body of Emperor Renzong's crown prince.
Nannan Fruit / Wearing
In the fourth year of the Qingli era, at the turn of spring and summer.
The Song-Xia War had been raging for three years. With the mediation of the nominal brother state, the Liao Dynasty, the Song Dynasty finally began peace negotiations with the Western Xia.
Regarding the goal of this peace negotiation, Emperor Zhao Zhen, along with all the civil and military officials, were quite clear and unanimous—to make Li Yuanhao of Western Xia acknowledge the Song Dynasty as a vassal and bow down in respect. For this title, even if the Song Dynasty had to pay more money and goods, it would not be a problem.
It is, after all, a legitimate nation in the Central Plains. It cannot have two "elder brothers" entrenched in the north, eyeing it covetously.
It's dishonorable to use money to shut someone up, but so what? Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, several emperors had failed to conquer the Liao Dynasty, which taught the Song court what it meant to "adapt to circumstances."
Just like the annual tribute that the Treaty of Chanyuan stipulated 30 years ago, even if the Liao Kingdom takes advantage of the situation this year and increases the tribute, it will only account for 3% of the Song Dynasty's tax revenue this year.
No one in the court took pride in this, and they had to grit their teeth and admit that compared to the millions of dollars spent on a single war, exchanging money and goods for decades of peace on the border was an extremely worthwhile deal.
Fortunately, the Song Dynasty occupied the rich and prosperous Central Plains, and its greatest advantage was its substantial wealth. In a protracted war, it would certainly not be the first to succumb. The submission of Western Xia was only a matter of time.
"Li Yuanhao himself is also beset by internal and external troubles, and the Liao Kingdom is unwilling to be on equal footing with its former vassals. I think the peace talks will be settled within a month or so. Sigh, three whole years have passed in the blink of an eye... I and my ministers can finally sleep peacefully."
When Emperor Zhao Zhen spoke of this matter, a sense of relief washed over him, and he let out a long sigh of relief from the inside out. A smile bloomed on his fair and amiable face, and his well-maintained beard twitched comfortably twice.
Empress Cao sat to the right of the Emperor, her fingers twirling the tassels on her sash, her expression utterly calm: "Your Majesty is indeed wise."
"..." How perfunctory.
The Emperor felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water, utterly bewildered. The Empress's reaction was no different from simply throwing his words on the ground.
But the Emperor's visit to Kunning Palace today was not to see the Empress Dowager, with whom he had a lukewarm relationship and maintained only a superficial peace. He changed the subject: "Where is Su'er? Why doesn't he come out to pay his respects to his father?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Su'er has gone to his elder sister's place."
The expression on Emperor Renzong's face was incredibly interesting for a moment.
Anyone with eyes could see that he had come to Kunning Palace today to see his son. But the emperor couldn't just turn around and leave as soon as he heard his son wasn't there, before he'd even had a chance to sit down properly. If word got out, Empress Cao would lose face terribly.
Zhao Zhen was a kind and benevolent man, and he would not do anything to offend the Empress openly.
Empress Cao herself directed a palace maid to go to the inner palace. After a while, a stack of Xuan paper, about two fingers wide, landed in Zhao Zhen's hands.
“Su’er said he wanted to ask his elder sister to paint for him, but he forgot to bring his usual paper and brush. It just so happens that the Emperor is here, so I would like to trouble you to go to Rouyi Palace to deliver them to Su’er.”
The Empress's blunt orders to the Emperor eased Renzong's shrug. He uttered polite words like, "Empress, please remember to take care of your health," and "Do not overwork yourself," before rising to his feet. In less than a quarter of an hour, the imperial procession disappeared outside Kunning Palace.
After the Emperor's entourage left and Kunning Palace returned to quiet, a palace maid beside Empress Cao complained to her mistress in a low voice, "Oh dear, the Emperor has come all this way, why did Your Majesty have to urge him to leave? Even if it's for His Highness's sake, you should have kept him a little longer and cultivated a better relationship with him."
At this point, she bit her tongue, realizing she couldn't continue.
This was not for any other reason than that the Emperor's favor towards Prince Cheng was blatant and common knowledge, and did not even need the filter of "a son's status depends on his mother's" to enhance it.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, all princes of the Song Dynasty were granted the title of Duke starting at the age of six. As they grew older, they could be promoted to Prince of the Commandery or Prince of the Blood. There were precedents where unfavored princes remained Dukes for their entire lives.
Even the emperor, as the only surviving son of Emperor Zhenzong and with Empress Dowager Liu's influence behind the scenes, was only granted the title of Duke of Qing at the age of six and promoted to the position of Crown Prince at the age of eleven.
However, Prince Cheng was not even four years old when he was granted the prestigious title of a first-rank prince. Sima Guang, a former official who had served as an advisor, even submitted a memorial entitled "On the Emperor's Argument that a Prince Should Not Be Granted a Prince's Title," which garnered considerable attention.
However, the emperor, who was usually seen as mild-mannered and easy to talk to by the scholar-officials, went against the grain and, despite the strong resistance, insisted on bestowing the title of first-rank prince upon his youngest son.
Empress Cao smiled knowingly: "You see, you've come to understand as you've talked about it. His Majesty knows what Prince Cheng's future holds."
"Your Majesty's teachings are correct; I was short-sighted."
But Empress Cao, upon hearing this, turned her face away from where the palace maids couldn't see her. The sunlight streaming through the window easily illuminated a faint trace of worry in her eyes.
She was right about one thing.
Su'er's future is no longer something she, as her mother, needs to plan for; the Emperor will take care of it himself.
But the question is, is the future that the Emperor truly wants for Su'er?
As the saying goes, no one knows a child better than their mother. Fusu was unaware that his lifelong ambition, hidden deep in his heart and never told to anyone, had already been guessed by his own mother.
To be honest, when Fusu first opened his eyes, he was reluctant to accept it.
A slightly dull iron scissors, a torrent of blood and the stench of blood, a wet nurse with a hurried expression.
Such a primitive method of pregnancy could only have existed in ancient times.
A brand new silk swaddling cloth covered the baby, and the crimson beams and coffered ceiling were blurred in the distance.
—His life was marked by wealth and high social standing.
Time travel is something you get used to after a few tries. Fusu wasn't too surprised. But as he lay sprawled in his swaddling clothes, he still let out a long sigh that was completely out of character for his age.
Being born into a wealthy family in ancient times is like having a safety net in a pool—a stroke of luck amidst misfortune in the world of online gaming. On the bright side, at least you're guaranteed food and clothing and don't have to toil to fill your stomach.
On the other hand, even the son of a landlord who liked to eat thin noodles would be criticized as a "spendthrift," which shows how low the standard of living was in feudal times.
But then, a terrifying scene unfolded. After a sudden uproar and shoving among the surrounding crowd, Fusu felt his small body fall into a man's arms.
He forced open his blurry eyelids and vaguely saw the man holding him smiling. Everyone around him was kneeling down, and congratulatory voices rose and fell.
"...Good, very good. Truly worthy of being my first son."
Fusu's vision went black immediately.
The imperial "朕" (the imperial "I") has even appeared; so this is how the wealthy are made.
Ancient times.
His identity is that of a prince.
And he was the eldest son.
So it turns out it was a replica of his first life.
That's right, you can tell from his name. Fusu was the eldest son of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China. He angered his father because of political differences and was sent to guard the border against the southward invasion of the Xiongnu. Unbeknownst to him, he was plotted against by Hu Hai, who usurped the throne, and was forced to commit suicide by a fake imperial edict, leaving behind only the eternal regret and ridicule of Prince Fusu.
It is said that none of his successors, who were later framed for treason, escaped being forced to make their own accusations true and desperately fight for a chance to survive. They are said to have learned their lesson from him.
As for why he knew about the future, the reason is quite simple. After he committed suicide in grief and indignation, when he opened his eyes again, he didn't rush to the underworld, but instead traveled more than two thousand years into the future, and lived to the age where he could receive compulsory education.
So, if you do the math, this is actually his third incarnation.
Living an extra life should be a good thing, in theory. But having lived through the 21st century, Fusu deeply understood what it meant to "go from frugality to extravagance, but go from extravagance to frugality."
Once you've breathed the air of the new era, returning to the ancient times, where both material and spiritual resources are scarce, is enough to make it difficult to adjust for a long time. But fate played a cruel trick on him, and he was reborn as the eldest son of an emperor.
Fusu deeply felt the malice that Heaven was against him.
It was as if it were mocking his tragic first life, or forcing him to relive that miserable fate.
Even a clay figure has some temper. When faced with such a situation, even the most good-tempered person would curse the injustice of heaven and the cruel tricks of fate. Fusu pouted, about to curse, when he heard a loud, ear-piercing cry of a newborn baby.
His own.
"Waaah—"
"Oh dear, why is the little prince crying..."
"That's not right, she should have started crying a long time ago, why is she only starting to wail now?"
The crowd surrounding Fusu was like water thrown into a pot of boiling oil, causing another great commotion.
A moment later, a gentle and clear male voice rang out, instantly silencing everyone except Fusu, who was instinctively controlled by the baby's wailing.
"Don't rush, let me give it a try."
Through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, Fusu saw a hint of confusion and panic in the eyes of the man holding him, a far cry from the calm and collected demeanor he himself had displayed when he volunteered.
Then, the man used his fingertips to cover the purplish-brown face of the newborn baby in the center of the brocade quilt in his arms, patting the edge of the silk swaddling clothes with both pity and love, and gently coaxing the baby.
-
Three months after his birth, Fusu's formal name was decided. It is said that the man who held and comforted him personally gave him the name, which consisted of only the single character "Su".
Fusu was actually quite satisfied with his name, even though it wasn't his original name. You see, his name on his second incarnation's household registration was also Fusu, which brought him endless trouble.
"Huh? Such a nice-sounding name is actually my real name?"
"Is it that 'Fusu'?"
Do your parents like history?
"Teacher, that sounds so beautiful!"
Fusu felt both relieved and somewhat wistful. Barring unforeseen circumstances, he probably wouldn't encounter a similar problem again in his life. Aside from the Ministry of Rites officials whose job was to write advertorials for the emperor, few people cared about any profound meanings related to the *Shangshu* or *Liji* in the prince's name.
No, that's not right either. The name was personally chosen by the man who was holding her. Doesn't that mean he values her a lot?
No, it's also possible that he just naturally likes children. I'm just one of his many sons, nothing special, and not worthy of a king's attention.
However, as Fusu grew to the age of three, the realities he learned shattered his illusions one by one.
For example, he was the eldest son born to the Empress.
For example, all of the emperor's sons had died young before he was born. He was the only prince who lived to the age of three.
For example, on the third day after his birth, the Song army, which had suffered repeated defeats on the front lines of the Song-Xia War, surprisingly won a great victory after a long time.
More and more "examples" made Fusu's fantasies gradually fade away. Until recently, at Fusu's third birthday banquet, he was exceptionally granted the highest rank of Prince Cheng, a first-rank title. It is said that only when the emperor was the designated crown prince did he receive such a privilege.
Oh no, just what I feared most has come to pass.
...His son, Fusu, was about to become the so-called "crown prince" for the second time in his life.
A note from the author:
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I've started a new story, please give it your support!
*Sima Guang did indeed write it in history, but it was written after Emperor Yingzong received his title; this is a direct translation from over ten years ago.
I referenced the story of Emperor Shunzhi and Prince Rong.
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