Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 1: Divine Capital Yulin
The moon was bright in the sky, and the bells were ringing in unison. The clanging sound could be heard over ten miles away.

Su Ze dragged his tired body out of the palace gate from the imperial road of the Qianghe Gate. He looked up and saw the wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple brightly lit in the moonlight. He listened to the golden bell hanging on the high tower fluttering in the night wind, and its clanging sound echoed throughout the inner city of Luoyang.

Looking up at this miraculous wooden tower, there is a golden vase on the top of the nine-story tower. It is said that this golden vase can hold 25 stone of rice.

There are thirty layers of golden plates under the vase to collect the nectar, and golden bells are hung around it. There are four iron chains to fix the top of the tower. There are also golden bells on the four corner locks, which are about the same size as the stone jar.

When Su Ze was bored while on duty at the palace gate, he once counted the number of golden bells on the wooden pagoda of Yongning Temple. The pagoda had nine floors, with a golden bell hanging on each corner. Together with the golden bells locked on the four corners of the top of the pagoda, there were a total of one hundred and twenty golden bells.

Su Ze always sighed, who could have imagined that Luoyang City in the sixth century AD could build such an architectural wonder, and who could have imagined that the Yongning Temple, which cost countless manpower and material resources, would be burned down along with the prosperity of Luoyang City in just a few years.

Ever since he traveled to this world, he could hear the sound of the golden bell on the top of the Yongning Temple Tower every time he finished his shift. Today, Su Ze secretly made up his mind to visit the Yongning Temple on his day off tomorrow.

It is now the third year of Xiping in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the seventeenth year of Tianjian in the Southern Liang Dynasty. This place is Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Su Ze is a lucky yet unlucky time traveler.

What was unlucky was the time and place of this travel. Su Ze was a so-called soul traveler. The unlucky guy he traveled through was an ordinary soldier of the Yulin Army, the imperial guards of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The third year of Xiping was the reign of Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxu, the ninth monarch of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Northern Wei emperor was only nine years old, and the one in charge of government was Emperor Xiaoming's biological mother, Empress Dowager Hu.

Su Ze felt suffocated when he thought of Empress Dowager Hu.

As a history graduate student, Su Ze certainly knew that Empress Dowager Hu, who was given the unkind posthumous name "Ling", was evaluated by later generations as "the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix Chick" compared with Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The Northern Wei Dynasty was a dynasty established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he carried out resolute Sinicization reforms. Even the royal family took the lead in changing their surname to "Yuan". He also gave Han surnames to the Xianbei nobles, specified surnames and clans, and implemented a policy of ethnic integration.

However, this top-down reform still caused dissatisfaction among a large number of Xianbei people. The contradiction between the Hu and Han people in the entire Northern Wei Dynasty was not eliminated by Emperor Xiaowen's reforms, but has become more acute in recent years.

Su Ze was a Han Chinese, and he was often bullied by his Xianbei colleagues in the Yulin Army. Every time he was on guard duty, his shift lasted until late at night, and the Han soldiers were often bullied by the Xianbei soldiers.

Fortunately, Su Ze traveled to Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. His family had been military households for generations and they received military pay every month, so at least they would not starve to death.

If we travel to the six towns in the north, we might not even have enough food to eat.

Another lucky thing is the welfare of time travelers.

"system."

Su Ze called softly, and a translucent screen appeared in front of him. Of course, only Su Ze himself could see this screen.

The system is very simple, with only three options on the screen - "Warehouse", "Map" and "Mall".

The function of "warehouse" is very simple. Su Ze has a portable warehouse with 10 storage locations. He can store items in the warehouse, occupying one grid.

However, both storage and retrieval must be done when no one is watching, which makes Su Ze a little regretful. In this era of flourishing Buddhism, he can't rely on this golden finger to play tricks. However, the "warehouse" function is still very practical. Food can be kept fresh in the warehouse. Su Ze has tried it and no matter how long it has been in the warehouse, the food taken out is the same as when it was first put in.

As long as it can be identified as an item, no matter how heavy the item is, it can be put into the warehouse. This function is also very practical.

It’s a pity that living things cannot be put in, and items that do not belong to you cannot be put into the warehouse, which makes it impossible for Su Ze to steal through the "warehouse" function.

This damn system really blocked all the bugs.

The "map" function is just as the name suggests. Wherever Su Ze has been, a map will be displayed. However, just like those real-time strategy games, the areas that Su Ze has not explored are covered with black fog.

The area of ​​the map that Su Ze opened now, that is, the palace where he was on duty, and Jianyangli where he lived. The rest of the area, except the area he passed by when he went to the yamen, was shrouded in fog.

It’s not that Su Ze doesn’t want to “open the map”, but the rules in Luoyang, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, are strict. As a sergeant of the Imperial Guards, he has to stay in his residence even when he is not on duty, ready to receive military orders at any time.

Only in the middle of every month could his guards have three days off, but they were not allowed to move around at will during the rest time. They could only move around in a few special areas of the city. Those neighborhoods where dignitaries lived, if they did not have special wooden passes, they would be arrested by patrolling soldiers and thrown into Luoyang prison.

The "map" can be enlarged or reduced at will, and Su Ze's location is also displayed on the map. In addition to this positioning function, the map also has several types of symbols.

For example, the palace guarded by Su Ze is a red area with "Challenge Level:??" written next to it.

Of course Su Ze knew why the palace was a red zone. The palace was the residence of the emperor and the empress dowager, and the palace rules were strict. Su Ze had personally witnessed a soldier on duty who accidentally entered the forbidden palace due to negligence, was discovered and reported by the eunuchs in the palace, and was finally executed in public by the captain.

In addition, leaving one's post without permission or falling asleep while on duty will be severely punished.

Night duty became the toughest job in the Yulin Army. Not only did they have to stay awake at all times, but they also had to stop eating and drinking in advance. Su Ze had seen colleagues who were negligent in urinating and were whipped in public, and were almost beaten to death by the captain.

Su Ze quickly walked out of Xuanyang Gate along the path beside Tongluo Street, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Outside the Xuanyang Gate is the outer city. There are no patrolling soldiers on the streets, and the rules are not so strict.

Jianyangli, where Su Ze lives, is a green area, marked on the map as "Challenge Level: 10". According to Su Ze's guess, this is a "safe zone" for him.

As the sun climbed out from the horizon, the morning bell rang out from Longhua Temple in Jianyang. Buddhist temples throughout Luoyang city also rang bells as if to tell the time on time. The endless bell sounds rose and fell, making people feel as if they were in a Buddhist kingdom on earth.

Of course Su Ze knew where the Buddhist kingdom on earth was. As the morning approached, he opened the last page of the system.

The Store has been refreshed.

(End of this chapter)