Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 86: The Secret Behind the Yulin Incident

Liu Bozhi was also recently invited to attend Zhang Zhongyu's banquet. Looking at the elixir in front of him, Liu Bozhi instinctively felt disgusted.

In this world today, everything comes in duplicate.

Buddhist sects are divided into north and south, Taoism is also divided into north and south, and the noble families are also divided into southern and northern branches. Even the place names are divided into southern and northern branches. For example, there is a distinction between South Xuzhou and North Xuzhou on both sides of the Yangtze River.

The Northern Tianshi Dao reorganized by Kou Qianzhi in the Northern Wei Dynasty was in contrast to the Southern Tianshi Dao reorganized by Lu Xiujing.

Tao Hongjing is Lu Xiujing's disciple and the current leader of the Southern Tianshi Dao.

It is said that this person was proficient in alchemy and had compiled annotations for the "Shennong Herbal Classic". His reputation in the Southern Dynasty was extremely high.

As a member of the Northern Tianshi Dao, Liu Bozhi instinctively disliked the Southern Tianshi Dao.

Unlike Kou Qianzhi who took the initiative to cut off the grassroots organizations of Tianshi Dao and chose to rely on imperial power, the Southern Tianshi Dao advocated the reaffirmation of the Three Meeting Days system.

It was stipulated that on the three meeting days all Taoists must go to the master's residence to participate in religious activities, such as reporting family registration to the master, Taoist officials preaching the precepts to the Taoists, etc. This strengthened the organizational connection between Taoist officials and believers, and also made the Southern Tianshi Dao an organization that could compete with Buddhism in the Southern Dynasties.

Zhang Zhongyu then said, "This top-grade elixir needs top-grade wine to dissolve it. Unfortunately, we can't buy Tusu wine in Luoyang, so we can only use Qinjian wine instead. After taking the elixir, everyone must drink strong wine immediately, so that the effect of the elixir can be dispersed to the five internal organs."

"If you are sweating, you must take off your clothes and release the heat in your body. This will help you strengthen your body and fully absorb the power of the elixir into your body, thus prolonging your life and replenishing your essence and yang."

Hearing the words "replenish essence and nourish yang", everyone present smiled. A few of them were so anxious that they swallowed the pills impatiently before the wine for catching traitors was handed to them.

Liu Bozhi felt that something was wrong. Even if the Southern Tianshi Dao was considered to be the authentic Taoist sect, then Tao Hongjing was also a Taoist master. How could he refine this kind of elixir?

The atmosphere in the room became weird again. Several young men from noble families who had swallowed the elixir began to take off their clothes and then walked quickly around the room.

A few of them simply rolled on the ground, letting out bursts of comfortable howls.

Some of them simply pulled the maids beside them and started making love in front of everyone.

Liu Bozhi was so scared that he hid the pill in his sleeves. Then, he followed the others and drank the wine in one gulp. He also started to take off his clothes and act crazy.

After the banquet was over, Liu Bozhi hurried back home, but after thinking about it, he didn't know who to tell. He suddenly remembered Su Ze, who had performed brilliantly in the selection of forwards. He waited until the next morning and hurried to Sitong City, and found Gao Huan who was recuperating in the hotel.

Gao Huan's injuries had actually almost healed, but he had hooked up with a Hu dancer from Sitong City at some point. She came to his house every day to bring him meals and "change his medicine", and he lived a very comfortable life.

Hearing that Liu Bozhi was looking for Su Ze, Gao Huan was also bored of staying in the hotel, so he took Liu Bozhi to Su Ze's home.

After listening to Liu Bozhi's description, Su Ze frowned. He picked up the elixir that Liu Bozhi had hidden and called the [Blind Pharmacist].

"Take a look at the ingredients of this pill."

Liu Bozhi was puzzled when he saw an old man holding a blind stick coming in. How could a blind man recognize medicine?

Gao Huan quickly pulled Liu Bozhi and said, "This pharmacist is a master under brother Aze's tutelage. He was the one who cured my injury. The medicine worked and the disease is cured. There is not even a scar left!" After saying that, Gao Huan was about to untie his belt to prove the strength of the "blind pharmacist", but Liu Bozhi quickly stopped him.

I only saw the [blind pharmacist] holding the pill in his hand, first sniffing it hard, then picking a piece off the pill and stuffing it into his mouth, smacking his lips and saying:
"My Lord, this is not some kind of elixir, but a pill made from Wushisan."

Hearing the words "Wu Shi San", Liu Bozhi finally understood what happened in Zhang Zhongyu's house last night! These guys actually gathered together to surrender!

Liu Bozhi said angrily: "Emperor Xiaowen once issued an edict that officials in the court would be dismissed immediately once they were in mourning! Zhang Zhongyu actually led the officials to gather together to mourn? No, I will report them to the Prince of Qinghe!"

Su Ze stopped Liu Bozhi and said, "Brother Bozhi, you don't think that reporting them to Fu San will really punish them, right?"

Liu Bozhi was discouraged. The custom of taking Wu Shi San started from the Wei and Jin Dynasties and was widely spread among the noble families. Although Emperor Xiaowen had banned it, there were many ministers who secretly took the powder. Even among the retainers of King Qinghe, there were some crazy people who took the powder.

It was almost impossible to use this incident to bring down a noble family member like Zhang Zhongyu, and Liu Bozhi did not have any evidence.

Su Ze had originally set his sights on Zhang Zhongyu, who was a key figure in the Yulin Rebellion. However, after staying in Yulin for a while, Su Ze had a huge question.

In fact, in recent years, the opportunities to become an official through the Yulin Selection have become increasingly rare, and in fact are close to extinction.

Even a few years ago, when this path was still available, some Yulin warriors could be selected and granted genuine official positions. However, only the children of high-ranking families and prominent families could take this path. Ordinary Yulin children had no such opportunity at all.

The kind of person like Su Ze's father, who was selected and promoted by Emperor Xiaowen based on his own abilities, never happened again after Emperor Xiaowen's death and Emperor Xuanwu ascended the throne.

As for military officers who can be transferred to regular officials, in the huge Yulin Army, military officers who have this qualification are rare. It can be said that they have nothing to do with ordinary Yulin. Even Su Ze before he traveled through time had never expected such an opportunity.

If that is the case, then why did Zhang Zhongyu's letter "excluding military men from the same class" arouse such great anger among the entire Yulin Army, and even cause the entire Luoyang Yulin to riot in the streets, risking their lives to besiege the Shangshu Terrace and burn down the Sikong Mansion?
Su Ze didn't think that the senior officers in the Yulin Army had the prestige to mobilize the entire Yulin for their future.

This short event in the history books probably hides countless secrets.

Zhang Zhongyu's memorial was only the fuse that triggered the whole incident, but the root cause of the Yulin Rebellion should have been buried long ago.

The reason why Su Ze wanted to take advantage of the chaos in recent years to obtain an official position in the court was because the legitimacy of the Northern Wei court still existed.

In the future, even though Erzhu Rong, Gao Huan, and Yuwen Tai seized real power, they did not easily abolish the Wei court. Not to mention that the entire north had not yet begun to be in turmoil and the court's authority was still very solid.

If Su Ze wanted to gain benefits from the Yulin Rebellion, he must first find out the root cause of the chaos instead of passively waiting based on a sentence in the history books.

Since the incident started with Zhang Zhongyu, the investigation should naturally start with Zhang Zhongyu.

Su Ze looked at Liu Bozhi and asked, "Brother Bozhi just said that this elixir was transported from the Southern Dynasty? And the channel for transmitting military intelligence was used?"

Today is 8k, and will continue tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)