Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 32: County
The circle of these aristocratic families is not big, but not small either. During the Han, Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms periods, the aristocratic families that were able to survive the chicken-eating competition in the north all knew each other. This was the circle of the noble families.

Unlike the five powerful families with deep roots and flourishing branches, Liu Gui's Xiurong Liu family is a lower-class family in the family system.

A poor family is still a family. Liu Gui received a complete aristocratic education since childhood, one of the important contents of which was to identify one's family background.

This is similar to the heraldry in medieval Europe. By tracing the history of the other family, one can understand the current situation of the other family. This also allows the children of the aristocratic families to quickly identify the other family's status and rank.

The reason why Gao Huan's Bohai Gao family is fake is because he completely fails to understand the rules that all the children of aristocratic families understand. If Liu Gui hadn't introduced himself, he would have no idea about Liu Gui's family history. He is a typical low-level military man.

At this time, Liu Gui was also thinking frantically that those noble families were surnamed Su, and some of their children served as Yulin in Luoyang.

Liu Gui was looking at Su Ze, and Su Ze was also looking at Liu Gui.

I have to say that handsome guys are attracted to each other.

Although Liu Gui is not as handsome as Gao Huan, he also has the noble air of a child of a wealthy family and has an extraordinary bearing.

The upper class of the Northern Wei Dynasty was permeated with the extravagant spirit of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and attached great importance to "bearingness". Even Emperor Xiaowen, who hated the "Niu Jin" the most, highly respected Xie An, the number one king of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In this world, being handsome and having good temperament can really make a living, and judging people by their appearance is also a criterion for scholars to interact with each other, and it is not even a derogatory term.

Su Ze knew history. In the early days of Gao Huan's rise to power, the two people who helped him the most were Lou Zhaojun, who married him at all costs, and Liu Gui in front of him.

Liu Gui and Gao Huan became friends. Later, it was Liu Gui who strongly recommended Gao Huan to Erzhu Rong, who was also a fellow villager of Xiurong. This enabled Gao Huan to enter Erzhu Rong's core circle. After Erzhu Rong's sudden death, Gao Huan inherited part of Erzhu Rong's legacy and established the Northern Qi Dynasty. Liu Gui also became a founding hero of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The so-called noble person is someone who helps you at the critical moment.

Liu Gui looked at Su Ze and asked:

"Su, is the young master from the Wugong Su family?"

Su Ze was stunned. Before he could even open his mouth, Liu Gui actually made up a story about his family background?

However, the ancestral home of the Wugong Su family cannot be recognized randomly. The Bohai Gao family has no descendants in Luoyang, but Wugong County is a county on the outskirts of Luoyang, right on the edge of Luoyang.

The Wugong Su family also has some famous people. Su Cho, the prime minister of the Western Wei Dynasty, which was in direct confrontation with Gao Huan's Northern Qi Dynasty and assisted Yuwen Tai in implementing reforms, was from the Wugong Su family.

Judging from his age, Su Chao should not be an adult yet. He should be studying at home now, right?

However, Su Ze neither admitted nor denied it. This noncommittal attitude made Liu Gui feel that he had guessed correctly.

The families of the children of aristocratic families can be both a help and a burden. For example, since Gao Zhao of Bohai fell from power, the children of the Gao family have been cleared out of the court. Sometimes it is normal to hide one's identity.

After a while, the waiter in the store brought the catching traitor wine. After the wine was opened, it really had a wonderful aroma. Gao Huan pulled Su Ze to the table, and the three of them began to drink.

After drinking the wine, the distance between the three men became closer. When men gather together to drink, they naturally talk about current affairs and future careers.

Liu Gui’s ancestral home is Xiurong, but in fact, his father and his family moved to Luoyang, so he knows the most about all aspects of Luoyang.

After a few drinks, Liu Gui said indignantly, "Yesterday I heard that the sons of noble families who were waiting to be appointed to the Ministry of Personnel have been queued up until next year. I'm afraid I won't be appointed this year." Gao Huan also had some understanding of the official appointment system of the Northern Wei court. He trafficked Huaishuo horses to Luoyang and sold them just to use the money to bribe people and seek official positions.

Liu Gui was the friend he made. Liu Gui's father had been a provincial governor and the Liu family was a clan of A, B, C, and D. Logically speaking, with his background, he should have been given an official position after he came of age.

Liu Gui drank another glass of wine and said:

"Emperor Xiaowen established that people's social status was based on their family rank. If they were to be granted patronage, the sons of ministers and servants, and the families of Jia, Yi, C, and Ding, would be given the title of Sanqi Mizhu, and the lower ones would be the chief censors. All the rules were clear and there was no omission in the text."

"I was supposed to have tied my hair and appointed an official the year before last, but the court ordered that it be postponed for two years. I tied my hair this year, but now the Ministry of Personnel says that there are no positions in the court, and I have to wait until a vacancy is found before I can be appointed."

Liu Gui continued to drink, and Su Ze also understood the situation in the court.

The number of aristocratic families during Emperor Xiaowen's time had expanded several times compared to today, and most of the officials who were appointed at that time were still around, so the Northern Wei court could not afford to support so many officials.

Nowadays, only members of the Yuan clan and high-ranking Jia families have the possibility of being appointed to official posts immediately after reaching adulthood, and only those from strong branches of the clan and direct descendants of the Jia clan can be granted the posts of Secretary and Writer.

Two years ago, in order to delay the problem of official shortages in the Northern Wei court, Cui Guang, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, wrote a letter to the emperor, verifying the etiquette requirement of "tying up hair and wearing a cap at the age of twenty-one" in Confucian classics, and forcibly postponed the adult age of men from nineteen to twenty-one.

This is just like the expansion of graduate student enrollment in later generations. Forcibly postponing the entry age will not alleviate the dilemma of too many people and too few places.

Liu Gui drank the wine in his glass again. The children of the noble families with the surname Jia began to scramble for the positions that they had previously looked down upon, leaving the children of the lower-class families with no official positions to choose from.

Hearing this, Gao Huan's smile froze. He was sponsored by the Huaishuo Army Lord and his father-in-law, and came to Luoyang with a fine horse to build relationships, but he found that even a noble family like Liu Gui could not make it into the team. It would be very difficult for him to make a name for himself in Luoyang.

Liu Gui picked up the wine glass, looked at Su Ze and asked:

"Brother Su Ze is serving in the Yulin Army, but would you like to seek a military position?"

Su Ze shook his head and said, "My elders hope that I will participate in the selection of the Qinghe Palace."

Qinghe Palace?

Liu Gui looked at Su Ze and confirmed his guess. Some children of wealthy families, unable to obtain official titles from the imperial court, chose to join the shogunate of the powerful as officials, and then obtain imperial titles through meritorious service and recommendation. This was also a roundabout way to obtain official titles.

Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi is now the most popular minister in the court. Officials recommended by him enter the court in large numbers, and many children of powerful families are scrambling to join Prince Qinghe's court.

Liu Gui raised his glass and said, "The selection of the Qinghe King will be held in a month. I would like to congratulate Brother Su on his success in advance!"

Gao Huan also raised his wine glass and looked at Su Ze with envy. He had also heard about Prince Qinghe joining the selection of the vanguard, but he was not in the Yulin Army and did not even have the qualifications to participate.

Su Ze clinked his glasses and drank them all. He moved closer to Liu Gui and said:

"This is just the wish of the elders in my family. In fact, Su wants to be like Brother Gao and get a military post in a garrison outside the city, and fight for our Great Wei on the battlefield!"

(End of this chapter)