Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 9: Finalizing the Surname
"Open the map" and "wait for the store to refresh", Su Ze set two goals for himself, but the next thing that gave Su Ze a headache was the selection of strikers for the Qinghe Palace.

If he had not known this history, Su Ze would have immediately entered the palace of Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi. This prince of the Northern Wei Dynasty was the most powerful figure in the current court. Not only was he the uncle of the current emperor, he was also the lover of the reigning Empress Dowager Hu, and was deeply trusted by the royal family.

Moreover, the Prince of Qinghe also has a good reputation in the court. He is quick-witted, knowledgeable, good at government affairs, and wise in making decisions. He is also a rare upright minister among the loyal ministers of the entire Northern Wei Dynasty. Not only does he dare to advise the extravagant Empress Dowager Hu, he also never shows mercy to illegal officials in the court.

It is a pity that this Prince Qinghe, who was quite talented in government affairs and literature, was very naive in political struggles. If history had not changed, two years later Yuan Yi would have been ambushed and killed by his political enemy Yuan Yi when he entered the palace to meet the Queen Mother, and the guests and staff that Prince Qinghe made friends with would also have been hunted down and persecuted by Yuan Yi.

Moreover, even if Su Ze managed to help Prince Qinghe escape the disaster two years later, the intensity of the political struggle in the Northern Wei court was rapidly escalating, and the struggle became more cruel and bloody.

Now that Su Ze has the system, he just wants to stay alive and upgrade slowly. He doesn't want to get involved in such high-level struggles.

Once you become the staff member or guest of Prince Qinghe, you will be branded as a member of Prince Qinghe's faction and naturally be involved in the most brutal struggle in the Northern Wei court.

But his father-in-law was stubborn, and Su Ze found many excuses and still asked him to participate in the selection of soldiers for the Qinghe Palace. Whenever Su Ze had a day off, he would drag him to train in martial arts and riding.

Su Ze was on guard all night yesterday, and in the morning he battled wits and courage with Gao Huan. When the excitement of discovering the new functions of the system faded away, Su Ze finally fell into a deep sleep.

In his sleep, he vaguely heard Su Yuyao talking to someone, and the house soon became quiet. By the time Su Ze stretched and sat up, it was almost dark.

It's so late? Su Ze got up and called Su Yuyao, "Is your father back yet? Yuyao, why didn't you wake me up?"

Su Yuyao brought clean well water into the house and said quickly, "Father Ya is waiting for you in the stable."

"Ah?!" Su Ze quickly washed up and rushed to his stable, only to see the riding slave Su Da putting grass into the trough, while a middle-aged man with gray hair and a straight back was watching Su Da feeding the horse.

Su Ze rushed over and saluted with his hands crossed, saying, "Father!"

The middle-aged man’s surname was not Su. His surname was Li and his name was Tong. He was the sworn brother of Su Ze’s deceased father.

Li Tong also watched Su Ze and his sister grow up, and Su Ze called him "Uncle" since they were young.

"A horse cannot grow fat without night grass. You know to feed the horse with ground bean powder and hay before going to bed. You are a good riding slave."

All he saw was Li Tong's hair combed meticulously and his eyes shining brightly. Su Ze had never heard this father-in-law praise others since he traveled through time. The first praise he gave was actually to Su Da, the riding slave.

"Aze has indeed inherited your grandfather's vision of people. In this respect alone, you are much better than me."

Su Ze said quickly: "Buying Su Da was just a coincidence, so don't brag about it, father."

"Your grandfather once said, 'The most important task for a commander is to identify and employ people.' I will never learn this in my lifetime, and can only rely on my martial arts to become a captain. Your grandfather was selected by Emperor Wen to become a Yulin Lang. This is the difference between being a soldier and being a general."

Su Ze had heard these words from his uncle many times. Su Ze's father was promoted to Yu Lin Lang by Emperor Xiaowen as an exception. This was also to remind Su Ze of his father's achievements and urge Su Ze to "restore the family" as soon as possible.

Su Ze is now a Yulin sergeant. Although Yulin sergeants and Yulin Lang are both called Yulin, their statuses are very different.

Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, reformed the Northern Wei military system, and established two armies in the capital, the Yulin and Huben, which were the imperial guards. The classics say that Emperor Xiaowen summoned 150,000 elite soldiers to gather in Luoyang as the Yulin and Huben, but according to Su Ze's estimate, there were only about 30,000 to 40,000 people. If 150,000 elite soldiers were kept in Luoyang, they would eat up all the food in Luoyang in one month.

The Yulin soldiers sound like imperial guards, but they are actually just ordinary soldiers.

But it was different for the Yulin Lang. They stayed on duty in the Forbidden City, where the emperor slept and worked. This was the place where they spent every day with the emperor. The Yulin Lang was not only responsible for guarding the emperor, but sometimes they would also be asked about military affairs by the emperor.

Therefore, Yulinlang was a regular official of the sixth rank, and also a relatively noble official in the imperial court.

Su Ze also felt that if the father of this body had not been involved in that case, he would definitely be a second-generation official.

"I won't say any more. I can't help but think of your grandfather when I see you. When I came this afternoon, I saw you sleeping soundly, so I didn't ask Yuyao to wake you up. Now it's dark, I'll take you to practice night hunting techniques."

"You now have your own horse and riding slaves. The Qinghe King's spring hunting vanguard can bring their own horses. I think this horse is a top-quality horse, better than my horse. You can take them out of the city."

Su Ze thought he had escaped today, but he didn't expect that his father-in-law would go out of the city at night to practice riding and archery.

Seeing that Su Ze hadn't made any move, Li Tong said, "Last time I told you that the Qinghe King's spring hunt would take a day and a night. Many prey only come out at night, so night hunting is equally important."

Su Ze nodded repeatedly, and Li Tong looked at Su Yuyao and said:
"Did you give your brother the deer liver I sent you?"

Su Yuyao said quickly, "Father, I've steamed them and mixed them with bean rice for you, brother."

Li Tong nodded and said, "Our Han soldiers often suffer from night blindness. Eating deer liver can improve eyesight. This is a recipe passed down from my ancestors. Our ancestors said that it is best to eat it raw, but it is indeed difficult to swallow raw. Steaming it will also work."

Li Tong then said, "It is inconvenient for us to carry weapons when we leave the city at night. I have already asked people to place the wooden spears and bows near the hunting grounds."

Su Ze was also very grateful for the dedicated teaching of this father-in-law. Although this father-in-law was only a captain in the Yulin Army, he was actually quite capable.

Su Ze was an expert in spearmanship, archery and horsemanship, and was the best in the Yulin Army. Li Tong's family seemed to have inherited some military tactics, and he often taught Su Ze how to train soldiers.

You have to know that these days knowledge is monopolized by aristocratic families, and the "dragon-slaying art" of military strategy is only accessible to those at the top of the family.

Twenty years ago, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang. Among the most important steps in the Sinicization reform was to "detailedly determine surnames and clans."

Emperor Xiaowen bestowed Han surnames on the eight tribes with the greatest contributions within the Xianbei people, and classified them together with the Han noble families who remained in the north into four classes: A, B, C and D. In addition, the royal Tuoba clan changed its surname to "Yuan" and established the Nine-Rank System modeled after the Wei and Jin dynasties.

The Shaanxi Li family and the Zhaojun Li family were both designated as the Jia surname by Emperor Xiaowen himself, but if Li Tong really came from these two clans, with his talents it would be impossible for him to still be a low-ranking captain.

Nowadays, if one has a great figure in his ancestors, he will spread it around the world, just like Gao Huan whom Su Ze met today. He was clearly a poor man who didn't even know his grandfather's name, but he insisted that he was a descendant of the Gao family of Bohai.

However, my father-in-law is very secretive about his family. Where did his martial arts and military tactics come from?
Please read it later, thank you everyone
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(End of this chapter)