Centuries later
In a first-year history class at Qinghe High School.
Jiang Weihe, the most popular history teacher, walked into the classroom precisely on time, as always, and said with a smile:
"You're all very lively today. You must know which period of history we're going to discuss, right? Yes, today we're going to talk about the history of the Southern Zhou Dynasty."
"Now, open your textbooks to page seventy-two.
You'll then see a special dynasty and a special imperial family, distinct from any previous dynasty and any past imperial family.
If you've watched 'A Taste of Southern Zhou' from a few years ago, you should know that historians have a common nickname for the group of emperors at the beginning of the Southern Zhou Dynasty: the Emperor Family Bucket.
What does that mean? It means everyone in the family was an emperor.
It's similar to how a certain Tang Dynasty emperor is nicknamed the 'Six Flavors Emperor Pill,' both referring to a situation where emperors are clustered together.
The second emperor of the Southern Zhou Kingdom was Ji Ding.
He was a very interesting figure, occupying a central position in the history of the Southern Zhou Kingdom. His father was the founding emperor of the Southern Zhou Kingdom, and his mother had also served as regent for many years. Here's the key point, the Emperor Family Bucket, the nickname started from his generation.
He himself was an emperor, his wife was an emperor, his eldest son was an emperor, his second son was an emperor, his second daughter-in-law was an emperor, and his elder and younger daughters were all emperors.
What's most interesting is that they didn't usurp the throne.
They abdicated willingly because the previous emperor absolutely didn't want to be emperor anymore.
They abdicated.
With his generation as the center, both the generations above and below him, only his eldest daughter-in-law and his mother did not become emperors.
Everyone else became an emperor. Da Feng Novel Network
Later, several of his grandsons, great-grandsons, and so on, all became emperors. His granddaughters and grand-granddaughters also became emperors. In fact, a significant portion of them became emperors just to experience the thrill of being an emperor, reigning for only ten days, half a month, or at most a year or so before willingly abdicating.
They clamored for abdication.
This situation was unprecedented, and it never happened again. Yet, even with their chaotic behavior, that period of the Southern Zhou Kingdom was still its most prosperous era.
The reason was that they established a new system.
The emperor completely relinquished control of the government.
This was the Grand Secretariat System.
The emperor no longer handled civil affairs; all civil affairs were managed by the Grand Secretariat and the Grand Secretary. Only in times of war or major natural disasters would the emperor intervene. In other cases, the emperor was free and relaxed. Even with frequent changes of emperors, state affairs were not affected.
This was because, in most cases, the emperor did not manage affairs.
For this section in your textbook, you just need to memorize the content about the Grand Secretariat System. This is the main part that will be tested. Other irrelevant information will generally not be tested.
The content is easy to understand, so I won't elaborate."
After a brief explanation of the textbook's content, Jiang Weihe immediately pushed the book aside. The students' spirits immediately perked up because they knew the main event was coming: Teacher Jiang would now share some interesting historical anecdotes and strange tales.
He was able to gain the students' popularity and be rated as the most popular history teacher not just by sticking to the textbook. The most important reason was that he would often tell the students highly engaging historical anecdotes or strange tales in class, capturing their attention.
"According to unofficial historical records, Ji Ding was quite an interesting person. He absolutely detested attending court. As a child, he would often doze off during court sessions, just like you guys dislike classes and fall asleep in them.
When he was young, it wasn't much of an issue. But when he grew older and was supposed to take over the reins of power, problems arose.
It's understandable for a young emperor to doze off in court.
But for an adult emperor to doze off again would be a sign of a foolish ruler. Ji Ding himself knew this, so he strongly resisted taking power. He even privately wished that his mother, who was the regent empress dowager at the time, would continue to govern for decades until his son was old enough to succeed him.
He would abdicate, and the Empress Dowager would return power to his son.
As for the outcome, they naturally couldn't reach an agreement, because the regent Empress Dowager at the time was also unwilling to govern. After returning power to Ji Ding, the Empress Dowager rarely returned to the capital, except for major festivals, and was constantly touring the country, which is evidence of this.
Because his mother refused him, Ji Ding racked his brains to think of other solutions. Then, the Grand Secretariat System, which became most famous in later generations, was born.
Some say the Empress Dowager inspired Ji Ding, while others say Ji Ding had the idea first, and the Empress Dowager helped him refine the relevant system. But regardless of how it happened, the Grand Secretariat System was indeed born and perfected through their mother-son efforts.
A few years later, with the complete establishment of the Grand Secretariat System, Southern Zhou stopped holding morning court sessions unless there were major matters. Everyone would go to the newly established Grand Secretariat to handle state affairs. Ji Ding thus achieved his goal.
He no longer had to wake up before dawn to attend morning court.
But, as you know, ambition grows step by step. If you all could stop attending morning self-study classes from now on, wouldn't you all start thinking about how great it would be if there were no evening self-study classes, and how even better it would be if you could just have holidays!
Ji Ding thought the same way.
Especially when his mother returned power to him, toured the country extensively, and even constantly sent him various local specialties and interesting items, his heart became even more restless, and he wanted to travel like his mother.
But he was the emperor.
Even though he had handed over civil administrative power to the Grand Secretary, he couldn't just leave the capital. Let alone leave the capital, it was very difficult even to leave the imperial palace.
So his clever little brain
quickly got to work again.
That was, he wanted to quickly find a capable wife, have a son, and then abdicate to his son, letting his wife act as regent. This way, wouldn't he be free?
So, not long after.
A unique imperial selection began.
The candidates were not assessed on their looks or status, nor on their embroidery skills, but on their essays on governance and military strategy.
The top scholar was appointed Empress.
The second and third scholars were appointed Consort and the head of the Four Consorts, respectively. It was truly a palace full of talent!
Within a few years, he had several children. He originally intended to abdicate to his eldest son and have his Empress act as regent, but all the civil and military officials objected, arguing that the country needed an adult ruler. If the emperor was not dead or seriously injured, how could the throne be passed to a child of just one year old?
Finally, the officials pushed Ji Ding to a corner.
At that moment, he probably thought, 'You want an older person to be emperor, then let an older person be emperor.' So, he resolutely abdicated the throne to his wife, and instead of letting his wife be regent, he had her ascend the throne directly.
The officials then realized the impropriety and tried to persuade him, but it was too late. When they sent letters to summon the Empress Dowager back, she also indicated that she didn't mind and that he could do as he pleased. And then this matter...
Somehow, it just became reality!
And immediately after, Ji Ding happily ran off!
"Think about it, if the father is like this, how can the children who follow not learn from him? Moreover, due to the Grand Secretariat System, the emperor's power became increasingly diminished. No longer was he the absolute authority as before, even above the law. The imperial family also had to be subject to the law. With reduced power and less freedom, they could only live in the imperial palace from then on.
It's understandable that the subsequent dozen or so emperors wanted to abdicate quickly after reigning for a short period.
Finally, it wasn't until the reign of Emperor Mingke, his great-grandson Ji Ding, that there was an emperor who was not so lazy, could withstand loneliness, and was willing to work diligently for the country and its people – a traditional good emperor. But whether due to historical inertia or some other reason,
after he, who was a good emperor, inherited the throne, the national strength of the Southern Zhou Dynasty began to decline.
There were even signs of a transition from prosperity to decline..."
After concluding this section, which could almost be considered a mini-biography of Ji Ding, Jiang Weihe quickly moved on to another interesting topic and continued to recount other historical anecdotes:
"After talking about the emperors, let's talk about folk legends. Legend has it that the regent Empress Dowager of the Southern Zhou Dynasty was a martial arts master, and it was through her martial arts skills that she was able to stabilize the court.
..."