Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 6: Local Opinions
Su Ze could only secretly think that Gao Shenwu was indeed a scheming person.

First he gave away the horses, then he asked questions. Gao Huan was not simply seeking advice from Su Ze, but wanted to dispel the doubts of those who were going to bet on horses next, and to make it clear that he was not colluding with Su Ze.

But Gao Huan still sounded very generous. If I hide it, I would feel like I am being stingy.

It is no wonder that he could become the founding monarch and be followed by many famous ministers and generals.

An answer flashed through Su Ze's mind, and he immediately said:
"My riding slave is the best at judging horses, so I trust him."

This answer obviously did not satisfy the people around him, and there was booing in the crowd.

Su Ze continued, "The key to judging horses is not the color of their coats or the height of their hair. When I, a riding slave, judge horses, I can get the essence and forget the coarseness, the inside and forget the outside, see what I see and not see what I don't see, and pay attention to what I see and ignore what I don't see."

"So he can't remember the color of a horse's coat, but he can recognize the best horses."

After Su Ze said this, everyone was stunned, even Gao Huan was frightened by Su Ze.

After saying this, the riding slave led the horse in front, and the crowd made way. Su Ze crossed his arms and said to Gao Huan, "Thank you for the gift of the horse, sir."

After saying this, he left leisurely with his slave and horse.

As soon as Su Ze left, the horse dealers who had been surrounding Gao Huan rushed forward, vying to take part in Gao Huan's horse racing game.

After leaving Sitong City, Su Ze asked the riding slave, "Among the horses just now, were there more people getting on or getting off the horses?"

"My dear, dismounting is much harder than mounting. This horse is the only one that can be considered a good horse."

Su Ze nodded. Sure enough, this was all Gao Huan's trap for selling horses. He sold lower horses at the price of upper horses, and took advantage of the horse dealers' gambling mentality of being confident and good at judging horses, and sold more inferior horses at a higher price overall.

Su Ze even estimated that even if he did not choose the superior horse, Gao Huan would collude with the old Qihu man and give the horse to Su Ze, using this method to drive the horse merchants crazy.

It turned out to be a good plan. He made more money and gained fame. No wonder Gao Shenwu was able to rise from a border resident of the Six Towns to the founding monarch of a country that divided the world into three parts.

Reputation is a very important thing in this era.

After the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Nine-Rank System was fully implemented to sinicize the country, combining the Xianbei nobles with the high-ranking Han families and modeling the nine-rank system on the Wei and Jin dynasties.

There is no such thing as a poor family in the ninth grade, and children from wealthy families occupy high positions. The final destination of children from poor families cannot compare to the starting official positions of children from wealthy families.

However, the current era is slightly different from the Wei and Jin dynasties.

After hundreds of years of turmoil, these wealthy families have gradually declined, and people from poor families have had the opportunity to rise to prominence.

For example, Liu Yu, who founded the Liu Song Dynasty, was just a low-ranking officer in the Northern Army, but he was able to replace the Eastern Jin Dynasty which was controlled by aristocratic families.

But all of this is based on reputation, which is the so-called "local opinion".

This was an era in which information dissemination was very closed, and even good wine would not be appreciated if it was not well known. No matter whether one was from a wealthy or poor family, if one wanted to step onto the stage of history, one must first have a role on the stage.

If you don't even have a reputation, let alone do great things, you will be like a blade of grass when you die, leaving no trace at all. Gao Huan traveled between Huaishuo Town and Luoyang as a letter envoy. The reason why he sold horses so high-profile was to accumulate a reputation in Luoyang.

Su Ze even thought that the reason why the story of Gao Huan and Lou Zhaojun spread so widely might be the result of Gao Huan himself's deliberate publicity.

Su Ze shook his head. Gao Huan was now just a small messenger traveling between Luoyang and Huaishuo border town, and he was just a military guard in the Yulin Army.

The authority of the Northern Wei court was still there, and even Gao Huan would not have thought that the prosperity of Luoyang would be reduced to ashes in just a few years, and these powerful ministers were slaughtered in Heyin by Erzhu Rong like chickens.

Yeah, who could have thought of this?
Oh, right, the mission!
Su Ze quickly opened the system, only to see that the big question mark in Sitong City had disappeared. Where was the reward?
Su Ze finally found a passage from the system logs:

[Mission completed, level +1, reward: a horse, Sitong City reputation +10]

No, isn’t this system too stingy?

This horse was clearly earned by myself, so how come it became a reward from the system?
And what are the uses of things like levels and reputation?
Su Ze deeply doubted whether his system was broken during the time travel. Its function was not as good as those "liver skill" systems in online novels.

After complaining about the system, Su Ze passed Sitong City and finally arrived at Jianyangli. The riding slave behind him was leading a white horse and following Su Ze closely.

It is indeed a good horse. Su Ze looked at the white horse with its shiny mane. It is much better than the military horse assigned to him in the Yulin Army.

The Yulin Huben were originally the imperial guards established during the reform of Emperor Xiaowen. In the beginning, only Xianbei people could be incorporated into the imperial guards. However, as Emperor Xiaowen's reforms deepened, Han people from good families were also allowed to join the imperial guards.

Twenty years ago, the Yulin Huben were the most powerful imperial guards in the entire Northern Wei Dynasty, but today's Yulin Huben are no longer the same army as before.

After twenty years of sinicization, the atmosphere in Luoyang has changed. Even the Xianbei nobles are ashamed of military positions and are seeking clean positions such as proofreaders. Even if they join the Yulin Huben, they only use it as a stepping stone and will be promoted to a noble civil position when the opportunity arises.

In Su Ze's view, Emperor Xiaowen's reforms enabled the Xianbei people to establish a more systematic political framework, absorbed local Han people into the court, and indeed enhanced the country's national strength.

However, the reforms that imitated the state system of the Wei and Jin Dynasties also inherited the dregs of the Wei and Jin Dynasties' aristocratic politics. The current Northern Wei Dynasty was just like the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the past. It was a shame to hold a practical official position, and the whole city of Luoyang was filled with an atmosphere of vanity.

"Is Ze brother taking a rest?" asked an old man guarding the gate of Jianyangli.

Su Ze quickly took out the wooden pass from his arms. The old man pushed his hand and said, "We are all neighbors, so there is no need to look at the wooden deed. But the person behind you?"

Su Ze quickly said, "Fan Zhongfu, this is the riding slave I just bought."

The old man looked at Su Ze, then at the riding slave, and he had no doubts. There were many military households in Jianyang Village who purchased slaves. The entire Jianyang Village was inhabited by Yulin military households and their families. He, as the head of the village who guarded the gate, also encountered many problems on a daily basis.

The Lifang system was implemented in Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The city was divided into Lifangs by horizontal and vertical streets. Jianyangli, where Su Ze lived, was where the families of the Yulin Army lived. The old man guarding the Lifang gate had watched Su Ze grow up, so Su Ze also called him Zhongfu.

"What a good horse!"

Seeing the horse led by the riding slave, the old man stroked his beard and sighed. He was also a former Yulin Guard, so he could naturally tell that this white horse was extraordinary.

Su Ze quickly said: "This was given to me by a friend."

(End of this chapter)