Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 4 Letter to Gao Huan
As soon as this young man showed up, all the eyes of the merchants and passers-by in the entire Sitong City were focused on him.

Su Ze thought for a long time, and finally could only come up with one adjective - "handsome"!
The Yulin Army was the imperial guards, on duty at the palace. During the days when Su Ze was on duty on the palace walls, he had also met many important figures of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

For example, Emperor Xiaowen's fourth son, the uncle of the current emperor, Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi, was known as the most handsome man in Luoyang. This handsome man was also taken in as a lover by Empress Dowager Hu and often entered and left the palace in the middle of the night.

But there was always a sense of depression between the eyebrows of Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi, and the wrinkles on his forehead reduced his appearance.

The horse traders in Sitong City are basically Hu people. Long-term exposure to wind and rain has made these horse traders full of wrinkles.

Although the man in front of him was dressed simply, one could tell that his hair was messy from long hours of traveling.

But he did not have the tired look of other horse dealers. He was shouting casually while holding a piece of straw in his mouth, with an unruly smile on his face. But it was his unkempt appearance that made him look wild and bold.

Su Ze secretly opened the map and found that this man was the "mission" he was looking for!
But how do I trigger this "task"? Su Ze thought about it, then stepped forward and asked:

"Sir, how much do you want to sell your horse for?"

The man in Han hat and Hu clothing looked at Su Ze with a smile, stretched out his hand and said:

"My horse is sold differently from other horses."

Su Ze cupped his hands and said, "I'd like to hear more details."

The man smiled and said, "Other horses sold at high prices for the first horse and low prices for the last horse."

Everyone around nodded, and the handsome horse dealer smiled and said, "But Gao is different. My horses are cheap when they are mounted, and expensive when they are unmounted. But whether this horse is mounted or unmounted is up to you, my dear."

"My horse only takes silk, 20 pieces of silk when it's on the horse and 40 pieces of silk when it's off the horse."

The eyes of the onlookers lit up.

Horses have always been valuable commodities in any era.

Su Ze was a sergeant in the Yulin Army, but ordinary soldiers like him did not have their own warhorses.

On weekdays, the Yulin Army only conducts horse riding training during its monthly exercises. The horses used for training are all allocated by the Yulin Army’s horse stables, and these horses are all inferior horses.

This is because the Yulin Army was nominally a cavalry unit, so it had equestrian training. For example, in the Huben Army, which was mainly composed of infantry, only officers were equipped with horses.

Therefore, it was impossible to trade valuable commodities like horses with coins like Taihe Wuzhu. Basically, they were traded with precious silk fabrics such as silk and satin.

A piece of silk could be exchanged for about 800 wentai and five-zhu coins, which means that a horse would cost coins, which was an astronomical figure for Su Ze.

The onlookers gasped because the man's way of selling horses was really outrageous!
Even if everyone was not good at judging horses, they could tell that the horses this man brought were of good quality.

A top-quality horse could be easily sold for the price of forty pieces of silk. According to his selling method, as long as he bought a top-quality horse, he could easily earn twenty pieces of silk, which is sixteen thousand coins!

There were also merchants in the horse market who knew how to judge horses, and they were all tempted.

After saying this, the man in Han hat and Hu clothing stepped aside and said:

"But Gao, let me be frank. The horses you like are all priced at a fixed price. You must buy them. If you don't buy them, hehe!"

The man in the Han hat and Hu clothing smiled evilly: "Then I, He Liuhun, will follow him home and take back the money from selling the horse myself!"

The onlookers burst into laughter, and all thought the man was funny. However, several merchants who wanted to buy horses changed their expressions. They said, "Aren't you forcing me to buy and sell? You set the price, and you want to charge forty pieces of silk for a good horse?"

The man in the Han hat and Hu clothing laughed and said:
"A good horse is like a good wine or a good sword. Only heroes deserve them! You horse dealers don't deserve good horses at all! If you don't believe me, just go away and don't delay Gao's business!"

The man in the Han hat and Hu clothing rolled his eyes, looked at Su Ze and said:

"My dear, since you are the first one to ask for the price, I, He Liuhun, will sell it to you at a lower price!"

"As long as you can pick out the best horse among these ten, I will give it to you for free. How about that?"

Su Ze did not look down on this man in Han hat and Hu clothing because of his rough and unrestrained behavior, nor did he treat him as an arrogant Hu child.

Su Ze sneered in his heart. From the self-introduction of the man in Han hat and Hu clothing, he had already guessed the other party's identity.

Gao Huan, whose courtesy name was He Liuhun, was a native of Huaishuo Town, one of the Six Towns. He was also the founding monarch of the Northern Qi Dynasty in later generations - Emperor Shenwu of Northern Qi!

Su Ze thought about the history he knew. This year was 518 AD, the year of Wuxu, the third year of Xiping in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Although the whole Luoyang is now prosperous and bustling, Su Ze is very clear that the seemingly powerful Northern Wei Dynasty is now deeply troubled by internal and external troubles.

In the fourth year of Zhengguang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, in 523 AD, just five years ago, the six northern towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty revolted, which quickly swept across the entire northern region, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was immediately engulfed in war.

In the second year of Datong (528), Erzhu Rong, the leader of the Qihu tribe in Beixiurongchuan, led his troops to quell the Six Garrisons Rebellion.

The fight between Emperor Xiaoming and Empress Dowager Hu in the court became more intense. Emperor Xiaoming used a secret decree to order Erzhu Rong to go to Luoyang to defend the country, and Empress Dowager Hu killed Emperor Xiaoming.

Afterwards, Erzhu Rong, the "Dong Zhuo of the Northern Wei Dynasty", led his troops into Luoyang, and drowned Empress Dowager Hu and two thousand court officials in Heyin, causing the famous Heyin Incident in history textbooks to break out.

After this, the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty became even more chaotic. Erzhu Rong replaced Yuan Ziyou as the emperor, who was called Emperor Xiaozhuang, and married his daughter to him as the empress.

In the third year of Yong'an (530), Emperor Xiaozhuang personally assassinated Erzhu Rong in Luoyang, but was soon killed by Erzhu Rong's subordinates.

In this series of catastrophes, Luoyang suffered many military disasters and its prosperity was completely gone, leaving only empty Buddhist temples and burned-down houses.

In the end, when the Northern Wei royal family and the Erzhu family fought, the one who benefited was not either side, nor was it Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan in the south, but Gao Huan, who was born into a military household in the Six Garrisons!
Emperor Shenwu of Northern Qi was originally just an ordinary military household in Huaishuo Town, one of the six towns in the northern border. He succeeded in seizing the opportunities of the times and taking sides time and time again. In the end, he obtained the most prosperous Hedong area and established the powerful Northern Qi regime in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties.

However, the current Emperor Shenwu Gao Huan is still just a small messenger serving under the commander of Huaishuo Town.

A messenger was a messenger who delivered letters between the border towns and Luoyang. He had a low status and was not even a grassroots military officer.

It was precisely because of this identity that Gao Huan traveled between Luoyang and Huaishuo for a long time. He took advantage of his position to bring these horses from Huaishuo to Luoyang for sale.

Su Ze looked at Gao Huan's handsome face. During Gao Huan's rise, many people were confused by his handsome face and unruly Hu manners, thinking that he was a reckless man or a useless person.

But in fact, how could an ordinary person be able to rise from a lowly military household to become a founding monarch?

After a simple thought, Su Ze understood Gao Huan's idea. He wanted to use himself to establish his credibility.

However, this matter is also beneficial to him, but Su Ze still needs to confirm it again to make sure that the future Emperor Shenwu will not play any tricks.

The update time is the same as before, 9 am and 7 pm. Thank you for your support.

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(End of this chapter)