Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 10 The Essentials of Riding
"Let Yuyao pack some dry food for you, and go to the South Suburbs Hunting Ground now."

Su Ze had no choice but to change his clothes, and Su Da quickly put on the saddle and bridle, and stood in front of the house leading the horse.

Li Tong untied the horse tied at the door. His mount was a retired military horse. Although it was already an old horse, its fur was still quite shiny because of Li Tong's careful care. It was even better than the active military horse that Su Ze rode in the Yulin Army.

Li Tong enjoyed great prestige in Jianyangli, and had already greeted the head of the neighborhood who was guarding the gate of the neighborhood.

After leaving Jianyangli, Li Tong held up a lantern with a wooden pass token and said to Su Ze, "Have your cavalry follow closely. If we meet the city gate inspectors, tell them to kill us and say we are leaving the city under military orders."

Su Ze immediately gave an order to Su Da, and then followed Li Tong closely.

Before the development of commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, cities had to have curfews, including those in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, when the North and the South were in confrontation, if you wandered around the street at night without a token, you would be transferred to the prison of the city gate captain.

Although Li Tong was only a captain, he was an expert in riding and shooting, and had great martial arts skills, and was very prestigious among the grassroots soldiers of the Yulin Guard.

Most of the sons of prominent families came to serve in the Yulin Guard to gain experience, and they would often try to win over grassroots officers like Li Tong, leaving the "mundane affairs" such as daily training to Li Tong, while they themselves were busy making friends with the powerful and seeking pleasure.

Therefore, Li Tong had connections not only in the Yulin Guard, but also at the grassroots level of various government offices in Luoyang.

Li Tong's pass token was real. Along the way, Su Ze met several patrolling teams of city gate officers. After seeing Li Tong's face, they all smiled, greeted him and let him pass. He did not encounter any proper inspection at all.

However, even without the pass token, Su Ze found that the night watch in Luoyang had become increasingly lax.

He saw with his own eyes a Hu merchant stuffing money directly into the arms of a patrolling city gate officer, and then he was allowed to pass smoothly.

"Don't look!"

Li Tong scolded, and Su Ze withdrew his gaze from the team of city gate officers and Hu merchants.

When they left the outer city, Li Tong sighed and said:
"When the late emperor was alive, the city gate captains enforced the law strictly. I still remember that when the deposed crown prince wanted to go out of the city for a night hunt, his retainers rode out of the city on horseback, but were stopped by the city gate captain and put in jail. The late emperor also rewarded the then city gate captain and executed all the guests of the Eastern Palace who left the city without reason."

"In just twenty years, the city gate officer has fallen to such a state."

Su Ze knew that the late emperor Li Tong was referring to was not Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke, the father of the current emperor, but Emperor Xuanwu's father, Emperor Xiaowen.

In the words of later generations, his father-in-law was a "blower of Emperor Xiaowen."

Li Tong often talked about what happened during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, and often lamented that if Emperor Xiaowen had not died young, the Wei Dynasty would not have fallen into such a state.

Not only Li Tong, many old military households in Jianyang would often gather together to reminisce about the old days during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen. At that time, Luoyang was a vibrant city full of opportunities and everything was waiting to be rebuilt. These Han military households joined the Yulin Army with their dreams in mind.

Su Ze could understand the thoughts of his father-in-law and these old military households. The period of Emperor Xiaowen was indeed the golden age of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and it was also the time of their youth.

Yafu and the old military households also did not understand the "lack of ambition" of Su Ze's generation. They still set strict requirements for their children, but now many Yulin soldiers can no longer have enough food, and the paths for promotion have been squeezed out by the wealthy and powerful families. They just muddle through in the army or rely on their status as military households to make some small profits, and even their daily military preparations have been relaxed a lot.

There was no way around it. When Emperor Xiaowen formed the Imperial Guards, his original intention was to select the best troops in the world and support them in the capital, and then lead this army to fight in the south and the north to establish his achievements.

However, when Emperor Xiaowen died early and Emperor Xuanwu came to power, the upper echelons of the Northern Wei Dynasty quickly fell into depravity. Several wars had failed to achieve any results, and without any military merits, there was no hope of promotion. As the court became more and more sinicized, its need for civil governance exceeded its need for military merits, and civil officials gradually suppressed military generals. Naturally, the Yulin Army gradually fell into depravity.

In Su Ze's view, his father-in-law was like the parents who had experienced the golden age before he traveled through time, always encouraging their children to strive, but completely ignoring the fact that the whole world was already stratified and that it was impossible to get ahead even if they worked hard. After leaving the city, they could ride horses. Su Ze took the reins from Su Da and climbed onto the horse. When he clamped the horse's belly, the white horse given by Gao Huan rushed out at once.

Su Ze still inherited the original body's riding and archery skills, and he flexibly controlled the horse to gallop.

“It’s a good horse indeed!”

Li Tong also jumped on the horse. He suddenly squeezed the horse's belly, and the old horse rushed out quickly. Then he shouted to Su Ze: "Let's race! Let's see who reaches the hunting ground first!"

Su Ze also felt the urge to win, so he immediately whipped the reins and urged the white horse to sprint forward. In the past, he always rode the horse brought by Li Tong, so naturally he could not beat Li Tong. But the horse he rode today was the Huaishuo horse brought by Gao Huan, so Su Ze naturally had the confidence that he could beat Li Tong's old horse.

But the result was beyond Su Ze's expectation. In the darkness, he saw Li Tong riding the old horse and gradually overtaking him.

Su Ze pulled the reins again and even wanted to whip the horse with a whip, but the Huaishuo horse under his crotch gradually fell behind Li Tong's old horse. In the end, it was left several lengths behind and was completely left behind by Li Tong.

By the time Su Ze arrived at the hunting ground, Li Tong was already wiping the horse's body.

If Su Ze had not seen the loose teeth of Li Tong's old horse, he would have suspected that Li Tong had replaced a good horse in the army to compete with him.

"Are you not convinced? In the past, when you lost to me in horse racing, I always said it was because the horse was not good enough. Now you know why we need to practice riding skills, right?"

Su Ze said respectfully: "Please teach me, Father."

After Li Tong wiped the horse's body, he put a food bag on it and said to Su Ze:

"Haven't you learned to raise horses in the army? In the early spring, you have to wipe the sweat off the horse after a night gallop to prevent the spring cold from penetrating into its bones. Wipe the sweat first!"

Su Ze hurriedly wiped the sweat off his white horse. At this time, Su Da had already caught up with Su Ze. He saw the riding slave immediately took out his food bag and put it on the white horse, and then took the sweat towel from Su Ze's hand.

"Your riding slave knows how to take care of horses much better than you do. Tell me, why did the Night Rider lose to me today?"

Su Ze thought for a moment and said, "Because I was not familiar with the horse, I urged the horse to mess up its pace several times, so I was overtaken by my father-in-law."

Li Tong shook his head and said, "I really don't know what you were taught in the army. Now the Yulin Army has even slacked off in riding skills."

"Today I will teach you the essence of horsemanship."

Su Ze hurriedly listened seriously, he was well aware of his father-in-law's ability. Although Su Ze did not want to enter the Qinghe Palace, troubled times were approaching and learning riding and martial arts would be very useful.

The things that Yafu could single out and talk about were all unique skills that would not be taught in the army, which are equivalent to the "martial arts secrets" in martial arts novels.

“People always say that southerners are good at sailing, while northerners are good at riding horses. In fact, there is a commonality between riding horses and sailing.”

"what?"

(End of this chapter)