Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 29 Ending hastily
The turmoil in Yongning Temple ended in silence.

The palace accepted Cui Guang's memorial in its entirety. Even Empress Dowager Hu did not send anyone to Yongning Temple to continue the investigation. She hastily ended the investigation by saying that "Buddha was angry." Even the Yongning Temple supervisor who had been arrested before and the monk who was negligent in guarding the Yongning Temple pagoda were released from the Tingwei Mansion prison.

Afterwards, the Chief of Staff submitted a report stating that no golden vase from the top of the Yongning Temple wooden pagoda was found among the ashes. However, this incident did not cause any disturbance in the court.

The three important ministers in charge of investigating the Jin Ping assassination case returned home one by one, the Yongning Temple was also unblocked, and Empress Dowager Hu also ordered the Yongning Temple to hold a Dharma assembly for one month to appease the Buddha's anger.

Su Ze's group of Yulin troops who were selected also got three days of vacation.

Su Ze could be said to have expected this result.

The Northern Wei court had already gradually decayed in repeated struggles, with various forces entangled. Even Empress Dowager Hu, the current empress dowager, was pushed to the forefront when the new emperor ascended the throne in order to fight against the powerful minister Gao Zhao.

Gao Zhao was the uncle of the late Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke, and his status as a relative by marriage was one of the legal grounds for Gao Zhao to control the government.

After Emperor Xuanwu passed away, the ministers pushed Queen Mother Hu to take power, which was tantamount to abolishing Gao Zhao's status as a relative of the emperor.

Since the new emperor's mother and uncles were still alive, Gao Zhao was just the uncle of the previous emperor, so the legitimacy of his rule was greatly reduced.

It was because of this opportunity that Empress Dowager Hu was able to come to power.

Moreover, in the early days of Empress Dowager Hu's reign, the powerful minister Yu Zhong relied on his support for her to do whatever he wanted and wantonly killed ministers.

After the powerful minister Yu Zhong failed in his political struggle, Empress Dowager Hu finally took control of the government and became the true ruling empress dowager.

The court of the Northern Wei Dynasty at this time was quite similar to the Eight Kings Rebellion of the Western Jin Dynasty, with one official taking the stage after another and powerful ministers and rebellious kings emerging one after another. Under such circumstances, Empress Dowager Hu had no way to continue the investigation and simply stopped it using the excuse of "Buddha's wrath."

Since he was unable to investigate the assassination attempt on himself, it is no wonder that the Northern Wei court was helpless in facing the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons and could only allow Erzhu Rong to take power.

From this incident, Su Ze also saw the weakness and hypocrisy of these court officials.

However, the big tree of the Northern Wei Dynasty had not yet died. The great figures who would influence the entire history in the future were now hiding under the shade of the tree, waiting for the tree to completely wither.

After he calmed down, he realized that he had missed a major event that was bound to happen in the future - the Yulin Rebellion.

After Emperor Xiaowen determined the surnames in detail, he established the Nine-Rank System, which was the same as that of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and determined who could enter the officialdom based on their family background.

The position at the beginning of one's official career is particularly important and is also called the "starting official."

This system continued in the Sui and Tang dynasties. For example, the proofreader, the court attendant, the Zhongsan Dafu of the three provinces, and the censor of the Censorate were all called "Qingliu Huaxuan". Being granted such an official position meant that one could come into contact with the core layer of power as soon as he entered the officialdom, making it easy for him to rise to the top.

However, after twenty years of reforms by Emperor Xiaowen, the children of noble families had completely occupied these "selected and most talented people", and positions in the Northern Wei court became even more tense.

Under such circumstances, the powerful families who controlled the official selection system of the Northern Wei Dynasty set their sights on positions that they once looked down upon.

Some of these positions are reserved for promotion in the Yulin Army, such as the Yulin Lang where Su Ze's father once served.

Although Emperor Xiaowen was fully Sinicized, he also knew that the Northern Wei Dynasty was founded on military force. In addition to the Nine-Rank System, he also left promotion opportunities for the imperial guards called Yulin Huben. Many officials also transferred from military positions to the court.

Not long after, a minister in the court made a suggestion, demanding that "military men be suppressed and not allowed to be in the imperial ranks", which meant to cut off the opportunity for the imperial guards to be selected and become officials.

Naturally, this incident caused great dissatisfaction among the Yulin Army, so they burned down the official residence of the minister who proposed to ban military personnel from holding official positions, besieged the Tai Province, and cursed incessantly at the gate of the imperial palace. This was tantamount to rebellion in all dynasties.

But this incident, like the Yongning Temple incident, was also appeased by the Northern Wei court, and some people benefited from this incident and obtained official positions in the court. Su Ze had an idea that if he could get a position through this path, and then find a way to be transferred to another place, he would have the capital to protect himself in this chaotic world.

However, Su Ze still planned to participate in the selection of the Qinghe Palace's entry.

This was not only to agree to his father-in-law's request, but also to make a name for himself in the Yulin Army.

At this time, whether in the Southern or Northern Dynasties, the era when the upper-class wealthy families in the Jin Dynasty completely controlled the government had passed.

Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Xiao Yan of the Southern Liang Dynasty both re-edited the aristocratic families and wanted to restore the Nine-Rank System and use the aristocratic families to maintain their rule. However, the wars during the Southern and Northern Dynasties brought military men onto the historical stage one after another.

The most prominent example of a military general from a humble family defeating a powerful family is Liu Yu.

The same example is Emperor Shenwu Gao Huan, who founded the Northern Qi Dynasty.

If you want to do this, you still need to accumulate fame. As a nobody, who would bet on you and participate in such a big event as a coup?
Su Ze made up his mind and heard the noise outside the door again.

When he went out, he saw that it was Lu Zhu who had brought silk with her maid and was distributing it to the soldiers who had been guarding the monks' quarters in the past few days.

After seeing Su Ze, Lu Zhu said loudly:
"Your Highness wanted to give the silk to Captain Su, but Captain Su said to the princess, 'It is the soldiers' credit that the princess was guarded, and I don't want to take all the credit.' Please share the silk you gave him with everyone."

"The princess appreciated Captain Su's friendship with the soldiers and gave each of them four pieces of silk instead."

The soldiers expressed their gratitude one after another: "Thank you, Princess, for the reward!"

"Thank you, Captain Su!"

Su Ze was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that Princess Chenliu would help him to show kindness to his comrades. He already had great prestige among these low-level Han Yulin soldiers, and now he had an additional reputation of "caring for his subordinates and being generous and righteous".

Behind Lu Zhu, a black-robed maid with a veil on her face winked at Su Ze and returned to the monastery. Soon, the guards from the princess's mansion came to Yongning Temple to welcome Princess Chenliu as she left Yongning Temple.

But Su Ze still had one thing to do, so he returned to his monastery and called Su Bai and Su Tong.

Yesterday, Su Ze asked Su Tong to bring the golden statue. Today, he saw that there was indeed an extra record in the system.

"[Monk Su Tong, who is good at casting statues], used the workshop in Yongning Temple to cast an [exquisite gilded Buddha statue]."

When Su Tong arrived, Su Ze unveiled the curtain of the Buddha statue in his arms and saw a statue of Guanyin with a lifelike expression.

As expected of a follower with purple attributes, this statue is superior to most of the statues Su Ze has seen and will surely sell for a considerable price.

Su Ze said encouragingly: "The Buddha statue is well cast!"

But Su Tong said: "If you want to continue making statues, you must have a workshop to cast statues. I want to stay in Yongning Temple."

"Stay in Yongning Temple, what is your identity?"

Su Bai said, "My Lord, I will use my identity as Bai Lu Cao to guarantee Su Tong. The temple's legal objects supervisor is also willing to invite Master Su Tong to stay and cast the statue."

"Then you will stay in Yongning Temple to cast the statue. Su Bai, you change into ordinary clothes. We will be going home soon."

(End of this chapter)