Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 13 The sky is shattering!

It's a pity that he has to go to the palace to stand guard tomorrow. Su Ze can only temporarily give up the idea of ​​letting Su Da go to Sitong City to carry out the adventure commission. After all, he only has one riding slave, Su Da. If he is killed, his younger sister Su Yuyao will be alone and will not be able to take care of Benxiao.

Before daybreak, Fan Zhongfu, the head of Jianyangfang, began to beat the gong. Su Ze had simply eaten rice porridge for the day, so he changed his clothes and set off for the palace.

The Yulin Huben were responsible for the defense of the Luoyang Palace, but this palace was also divided into many levels.

The innermost layer of the entire Luoyang Imperial Palace is the palace where the emperor and the empress dowager live, which is the so-called Forbidden City.

Forbidden City is the most core area of ​​the palace. Only the top-level people in the Yulin Army can serve in Forbidden City. For example, Su Ze's father has served as a Yulin Lang. The Lang guards can closely protect the emperor and the empress dowager in Forbidden City, so it is easy for them to gain the emperor's appreciation. It is a popular position competed for by the children of aristocratic families in the Yulin Army.

However, Su Ze's father was promoted to Yulin Lang during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen. Nowadays, children from poor families no longer have the opportunity to hold such a position. This position has been occupied by aristocratic families, and only children from the first-class aristocratic families with the surname Jia can hold the position.

The palace wall that Su Ze was guarding refers to the palace wall outside the imperial palace.

The Luoyang Imperial Palace was a huge area. In addition to the Forbidden City where the emperor and empress lived and handled state affairs, there were also a large number of offices and ceremonial venues for handling government affairs. These places were also within the palace walls, that is, the outer court area.

For example, the Shangshu Province and Zhongshu Province of the Northern Wei Dynasty were located in the outer court area. This was where ministers worked, and because there were many ministries and commissions, it was also called the provincial center.

Ordinary Yulin guards like Su Ze are responsible for guarding these areas.

After passing through the palace gate, Su Ze first went to the armory in the corner of the outer court to get armor and weapons. After putting them on, he found his captain.

The name of Su Ze's team was Xi Ping. The other party just glanced at Su Ze briefly, and then pointed at the palace wall. The Han soldiers in the team who were familiar with Su Ze looked at Su Ze with some sympathy.

But Su Ze remained calm. He picked up the wooden sign representing the guard area and climbed up the palace wall with a spear in hand.

Xi Ping was a member of the national clan. The so-called national clan refers to the Xianbei tribe members who were personally granted Han surnames by Emperor Xiaowen after the reform.

Emperor Xiaowen's comprehensive sinicization was intended to eliminate the differences between the Han and Xianbei peoples and completely integrate them into Han culture.

Emperor Xiaowen once issued an edict prohibiting the use of "Hu people" to refer to the Xianbei people, and promoted intermarriage between Xianbei nobles and Han nobles. There were also signs of Han-Hu integration at that time.

However, Emperor Xiaowen died early, and although Emperor Xuanwu implemented Emperor Xiaowen's policy of sinicization after he ascended the throne, he paid more attention to family background. In particular, some Xianbei people who were identified as having the surnames Bing and Ding were even more dissatisfied with the Han people with the surnames Jia and Yi who were above them.

A strange phenomenon appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty: the Han noble families integrated into the upper class of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the royal family and large families of the Northern Wei Dynasty were also quickly sinicized.

However, the contradiction between the Han and Hu people at the grassroots level became more intensified. Because Emperor Xiaowen did not allow the people to be called Hu people, ordinary Xianbei people began to call themselves "Guoren" to distinguish themselves from the Han people.

Team leader Xi Ping came from the Daxi clan, a prominent Xianbei clan, and his surname was changed to Xi by Emperor Xiaowen.

However, Xiping was a branch of the Xi family, and his ancestors were named Ding. Originally, people with the surname Ding could also serve as officials, but in the past 20 years, the number of people with the surnames Jia and Yi has increased rapidly, and there are not enough official positions in the court for people with the surname Jia, let alone Xiping, a branch of the Ding family.

Xi Ping particularly hated those Han Chinese children of high families who were able to obtain official positions and make their fortunes, believing that they were stealing his status, so he especially suppressed the Han Chinese soldiers in his team.

The cold weather has not yet dissipated, and those who are on duty on the palace walls have to endure the cold wind. Officials traveling to and from the province can also see the soldiers on the palace walls. If they are seen in a disorganized manner by the nosy censors or superiors, they can easily be punished.

Therefore, Xi Ping always asked Su Ze to serve on the palace wall, but asked the Xianbei soldiers with the surname Guo to serve on duty under the palace wall. The Han soldiers in the team were indignant about the treatment of Su Ze.

Originally, it was because of this kind of thing that he had a quarrel with the Xianbei soldiers in the army and was finally beaten. However, now Su Ze no longer cares about this little bullying. Although Xi Ping is despicable, he only uses these small tricks to play tricks on others.

Su Ze climbed up the palace wall with a spear in hand. From the palace wall, he could see the golden bottle on the wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple. Su Ze secretly calculated, how much gold was used for this golden bottle? If he had all this gold, could he buy out the mall?
The golden bell on the wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple made a melodious banging sound, and Su Ze saw a commotion in the direction of the Forbidden City. Feather fans were scattered in groups like flowers from heaven, and the ground was covered with red silk. Su Ze had seen such a scene several times. This was the Empress Dowager Hu, who was in power at the time, going out.

Looking at the direction again, Empress Dowager Hu should be going to Yongning Temple to pray to Buddha.

Su Ze knew the situation inside the Luoyang Imperial Palace very well. He couldn't help but think about how he should attack the palace if he was given a team of cavalry, and where he should control first in order to isolate the forbidden area.

Sure enough, a melodious bell sound came from the direction of Yongning Temple. This was the bell sound from Yongning Temple to welcome Empress Dowager Hu.

Since Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, the Northern Wei royal family believed in Buddhism, and Buddhist temples were built continuously in Luoyang.

Yongning Temple was built under the personal supervision of Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi for Empress Dowager Hu, who was a devout Buddhist. It is unknown how many craftsmen's remains were buried in the construction of these Buddhist temples.

Su Ze looked again and saw that the clothing area next to the imperial palace was also starting to get lively.

Yiguanli, as the name suggests, is a neighborhood where aristocratic families live. The residence of Yuan Yi, the Prince of Qinghe, a member of the royal family who plays an important role in the current court, is located in Yiguanli.

The mansion of Qinghe King Yuan Yi is very large, with a striking tall building in the northwest corner of the mansion.

It is said that this building is on the same level as Lingyuntai, the tallest building in the imperial palace. This is a rather presumptuous act, but Prince Qinghe is favored by the late emperor and the current empress dowager, so not only did no minister in the capital impeach Prince Qinghe, but they envied Prince Qinghe for being able to build such a tall building.

There were many guests in the palace of Prince Qinghe, and every trip was as noisy as the trip of the empress dowager. The Prince of Qinghe loved literature, and when he went out, he did not lead guards to escort him. Instead, he had guests in white clothes line the streets to escort him. The people of Luoyang called them "white-clothed scholars."

Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi was in charge of the Menxia Province. A large group of scholars in white escorted him towards the imperial palace. The noise of carriages and horses in Luoyang began to rise, and the ministers began to go to the government office.

Although Empress Dowager Hu was the ruling empress dowager, she preferred to worship Buddha and basically left state affairs to important ministers to discuss and handle.

If Su Ze didn't know the history of a few years later, he would even doubt whether he had traveled to a prosperous era.

At this moment, Su Ze suddenly opened his eyes wide and saw the golden bottle on the Yongning Temple Pagoda slowly falling towards Empress Dowager Hu's carriage!
(End of this chapter)