尽管宋代一向标榜“本朝家法，远过汉唐”，但宋代的后妃与外戚群体始终没有脱离政治而独立存在，皇亲国戚与朝政息息相关。在宋仁宗朝中晚期，张氏家族位高宠厚。宋仁宗不满曹皇后，专宠张贵妃。张贵妃与贾昌朝、夏竦等人之间的关系密切，表明政局演进与宫朝交结关联甚深。张尧佐科举入仕后，本为地方小官，因外戚的身份，受到了仁宗的特别关注。但他的每一次升迁，几乎都会形成一场政治风波，皇权与台谏之间为此激烈交锋。张贵妃去世后，宋仁宗的健康状况愈益严重，“范仲淹集团”重返朝堂而带来了“嘉祐之治”，结束了庆历新政以后十余年仁宗君权在握的政治格局。仁宗去世后，经由儒学士大夫与史家的共同塑造，其形象得以提升，而罕有人提及仁宗与张贵妃的爱情故事。

Although the Song dynasty always boasted that the family laws of the dynasty were far superior to those of the Han and Tang dynasties, the imperial consorts and relatives never existed independently of politics, and the imperial relatives were closely linked to the imperial government. During the middle and late reign of Emperor Song Renzong, the Zhang family in henan was in high favour. Dissatisfied with Empress Cao, Emperor Song Renzong favoured Zhang Guifei. The close relationship between Zhang Guifei and the likes of Jia Changchao and Xia Song profoundly influenced the political evolution. After passing the imperial examinations, Zhang Yaozuo worked as a low-ranking official at the grassroots level. Because of his status as the uncle of Zhang Guifei, he received special attention from Emperor Renzong. However, almost every time he was promoted, a political storm developed and there was a fierce exchange of words between the imperial power and the taijian over this. After the death of Zhang Guifei, the health of Song Emperor Renzong worsened and the Fan Zhongyan clique returned, bringing an end to the political situation that had seen the reign of Emperor Renzong in power for over a decade after the Qingli Reformation Time. After his death, his image was enhanced by the Confucian scholars and historians, but the love story of Renzong and Zhang Guifei is rarely mentioned.