The banquet ended in a joyful atmosphere.
Zhao Jun didn't know why, but as if he had suddenly come to his senses, he kept praising the Cao family for their excellent bloodline.
Cao Miaoxin became shy instead, acting like a little girl.
After the banquet, Zhao Zhen asked Zhao Jun what he thought, and Zhao Jun thought there was nothing wrong.
First of all, Cao Miaoxin is very beautiful.
Secondly, you are old enough.
Thirdly, they are members of the Cao family, and they are a good match, so there is no sense of difference.
After Cao Cong returned, he naturally asked his niece. Cao Miaoxin was not happy before she saw Zhao Jun, but after seeing Zhao Jun, she was naturally very happy and shyly agreed.
Marriage in ancient society was actually very difficult to arrange. People would just date for a few years and then get married if they were suitable. It was more often arranged by parents and matchmakers.
Zhao Jun's request to go on a blind date first is considered a relatively advanced view of love. It is naturally impossible to fall in love at first sight after meeting someone once. The essence of love at first sight is lust at first sight, and you like someone just because they are good-looking.
Since she is good-looking, comes from a good family and is old enough, there is of course no problem.
As the daughter of the Cao family, Cao Miaoxin has no say in her own marriage. Now that she has met her sweetheart, there is of course no problem.
So, with no objections from either side, Zhao Zhen and Empress Cao acted as the head of the family and sent people to deliver the betrothal gifts to the Cao residence, accepting the six auspicious rituals to be considered engaged, and choosing an auspicious day for the wedding.
In the final analysis, as a first-generation post-00s person, Zhao Jun has traveled to the Song Dynasty for almost five years and has just turned 28. It is indeed a bit unreasonable for him not to get married.
But marriage is marriage, and the important things that need to be done should not be neglected.
During this period, he and Lao Fan placed people in various important positions such as the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Chief Censor Zheng Jian.
He believed that Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan were interfering with the operation of the Censorate by placing so many of their cronies in it, so he wrote a letter of impeachment.
This person was not bad, but he was stubborn and self-willed. Historical books commented that when he governed the local area, "he was decisive and resolute in dealing with things, but he was willful and almost chivalrous, and his laws were harsh, so most of the scholars and people were resentful of him."
Moreover, in history, Zhang Kang was not promoted because people arbitrarily believed that Zhang Kang embezzled military funds and bought people's hearts.
This shows that he does not know how to adapt and is a conservative person.
If such a person is placed in a local position and is too rigid, he may obviously bring harm to the people, but he is very suitable to be placed in the Censorate. After all, the Chief Censor needs to be impartial and fair.
Therefore, Zhao Jun and Lao Fan did not make things difficult for him. They just patiently gave him a lecture, telling him that the Censorate would be of great use in the future and would become an important public tool for the country to supervise officials, which was why it was necessary to send a large number of upright people. Only then did they calm Zheng Jian's dissatisfaction.
Just as Zhao Jun and Lao Fan were preparing the new policy in an orderly manner, good news came again.
Last year, Zhao Jun instructed Song Cai to go to Jeju Island and Tsushima Island to establish strongholds. This matter has been accomplished. With the Song Dynasty defeating the Western Xia and Liao Kingdom, it immediately caused a huge response in the international community in East Asia.
The Dali Kingdom immediately sent envoys to offer tribute and express congratulations.
Goryeo was terrified and immediately sent envoys, hoping to restore the long-standing friendship between Song and Goryeo.
To a certain extent, the international situation during the Northern Song Dynasty was very bad. Among the surrounding countries and regions, apart from the Dali Kingdom, which maintained good relations with the Northern Song Dynasty, only the Qingtang region was friendly with the Song Dynasty.
In other areas, Japan closed its doors to the outside world and did not have official exchanges with the Song Dynasty.
Since the time of Zhao Guangyi, Vietnam has had many wars with the Song Dynasty. Except for the initial attack by Zhao Guangyi which ended in his defeat, most of the other times were Vietnam's active harassment of the Song Dynasty's border.
For example, after the establishment of the Ly Dynasty in Vietnam, from the fifth year of Shuntian, that is, 1014 AD, to the fourth year of Taining, that is, 1075 AD, there are records of Vietnam actively invading the border of the Song Dynasty more than ten times, and often "plundering cattle and horses, burning houses and returning."
The most serious of these was the Battle of Yongzhou in the fourth year of Taining, when the Vietnamese army broke through the city of Yongzhou and "killed more than 50,000 officials, soldiers, locals, and residents." Together with the people from Qin and Lian states killed before, the Vietnamese army killed no less than 100,000 people.
In the end, Song Shenzong could no longer tolerate it, so he sent troops to attack Vietnam. The Song-Vietnam Xining War broke out between the two sides, forcing Vietnam to ask for peace. This ended the hostility between Song and Vietnam, and the two countries returned to peace.
This shows how bad the relationship between Song and Yue was before the Xining War.
Things were fine for Goryeo at the beginning of the Song Dynasty. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Goryeo immediately sent envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, accepted Zhao Kuangyin's enthronement, and adopted the reign title of the Song Dynasty.
In the following twenty years, the Song Dynasty and Goryeo had frequent exchanges and their relationship was very close.
However, this friendly relationship lasted until 985 AD, when Zhao Guangyi's Battle of Gaoliang River shattered the Song Dynasty's dream of regaining the north.
The Liao Kingdom sent troops to Goryeo to force it to recognize Khitan as its suzerain state. At first, Goryeo refused to agree, but it could not defeat the enemy, so it had to ask for help from the Song Dynasty, hoping to obtain the protection provided by the Song Dynasty.
However, Zhao Guangyi was so confused by the drifting of his donkey cart that he was extremely afraid of the Liao Kingdom. He quickly rejected Goryeo's request. So Goryeo had no choice but to stop paying tribute to the Song Dynasty and recognize the Liao Kingdom as its suzerain. Since then, the two countries severed diplomatic relations.
Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, the international environment of the Northern Song Dynasty was indeed very bad.
But it’s different now.
The war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia could not prove anything yet, but the Battle of Baozhou made a name for itself and recovered hundreds of square kilometers of land, forcing the Liao people to flee north in panic. The Song Dynasty suddenly became famous and powerful.
The Dali Kingdom actually did not border the Song Kingdom at that time, because there were a large number of Southwestern Yi people entrenched in the border area between Yunnan and Sichuan. Their location was probably in the areas of Zhaotong, Yunnan, Bijie, Liupanshui, and Anshun, Guizhou in later generations. They were called Shimen Fanbu, Luoshi Bu, Luodian Bu, etc.
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