Chapter 152 Three Orange and Three Purple (5K)
Su Ze opened the system on time, and when he saw the orange and purple colors, a smile finally appeared on his lips.
It was worth it to set up such a big plan to kill the Rurun King!
After completing the task of assassinating the King of the Ruin, the system's store locations became eight, and this time Su Ze got three oranges, three purples and two blues!
Harvest!
Look at orange first.
[The White Egret Lady Cao who is good at assassination]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: None;
Comment: "She also hides the deadliest toxin there, ready to perish together with her final enemy."
Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required every month.
It’s Messenger Cao Bailu again. This is an orange follower from the same series as Su Bai, and it has a positive affix like [Good at Assassination].
This is a good one and can be left to Princess Shouyang.
[Armored cavalry that excels in close combat]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: Steady and reliable armored cavalry. This follower can enhance the armored cavalry's melee power when charging into battle.
Comment: "Where is the iron armor now? The iron armor is still there!"
Price: 800 Wen Tai and 100 Baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of Wen Tai and Baht coins is required. The unit must be provided with meat for three meals, and the warhorse also needs professional riding slaves to take care of it.
[The pioneer who can lift the tripod]
Grade: Orange;
Effect: None
Comments: "First up! First up!"
Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required. This unit must provide meat for three meals.
Next are three purple ones. This time I was lucky enough to get two followers and one commodity. They are:
[The Taoist who is good at coin minting]
Grade: Purple;
Effect: None;
Comment: "A Taoist who has learned the art of making golden elixir from alchemy and is good at minting coins."
Price: 500 wen tai and 50 baht coins, and a maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required every month.
[The eunuch who changes his attitude according to the situation]
Grade: Purple;
Effect: None;
Comment: "Going with the flow is the rule of survival in the palace."
Price: 500 wen tai and 50 baht coins, and a maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required every month.
[Design drawing of the attack vehicle]
Grade: Purple;
Effect: None;
Comment: "Design drawing."
Price: One piece of silk.
Finally, there are two blue minions:
[The Timid Western Merchant], blue.
【The lazy and gluttonous winemaker】, blue.
Su Ze, who had a great harvest, touched Princess Shouyang's soft belly and looked at the followers in his hands. Su Ze decided to leave some followers for Princess Shouyang.
The newly acquired [White Egret Cao Female Envoy who is good at assassination] can be left to her. The White Egret Cao Envoy is capable of eavesdropping and assassination, which is very useful for her to rule the grassland.
Su Ze also selected a hundred cavalrymen from the imperial guards and assigned them to the command of Su Lin, a [feathered knight who was good at archery]. Princess Shouyang promised that if they stayed in the grassland for two years, she would give each of them ten pieces of silk and let them go. Only then did she keep these cavalrymen.
These cavalrymen were certainly not fighting to the death for Princess Shouyang, but to wait until the situation changed. With this elite Han cavalry, they could escort Princess Shouyang and her son back to the Northern Wei Dynasty.
After all, the grassland was too far away. Su Ze touched Princess Shouyang's lips and said, "If there is any change in the grassland, you should return to Wei immediately. Anyway, the Rourou King is dead, so it's okay for you to come back."
Princess Shouyang leaned against Su Ze and said, "Why come back? To continue to be looked down upon by those people in the court? And then be married to someone the emperor's sister-in-law doesn't like? It's better to be free in the grassland."
"Don't worry, if the situation gets out of control, I will have someone send the child back, and then I will commit suicide with your knife."
Su Ze sighed and said, "Don't say such things in the future. For at least three years, the tribes on the grassland will not rebel against you, but you only have three years. If you cannot control the Rouran in three years, you must return immediately. I will send someone to pick you up then."
Princess Shouyang asked in confusion: "Why three years?"
Su Ze couldn't answer either. He couldn't say that the Six Towns would rebel in three years, right? As long as the Six Towns rebelled, the support of the Great Wei would disappear, and the power structure of the grassland would change, right?
Seeing Su Ze was silent, Princess Shouyang said, "I understand. I only have three years with the child. If I still can't control the situation after three years, I have to come back immediately, right?"
Su Ze nodded and said, "Three years, I will climb up in these three years. As long as you and the child come back, there will be a chance to regain the Khanship in the future."
Princess Shouyang smiled and said, "In that case, let's agree on a three-year period. If I can control Rouran within three years, then it will be your turn to serve me."
Su Ze kissed her forehead and said, "After three years, I will serve you well!"
Princess Shouyang said again: "I want something."
"what?"
"Caravan."
Princess Shouyang looked at Su Ze and said, "I have summoned some Rouran nobles these days. Rouran is in great need of goods from the Central Plains. As a princess married to a foreign king, I can organize a caravan to go to Pingcheng and Luoyang for trade."
Su Ze immediately understood what she meant, and he said, "Do you want to control the grassland through trade?"
Princess Shouyang nodded and said, "My status as a princess married to a foreign king is my biggest bargaining chip, so I must use it well. My caravan can trade directly with Wei, and these goods can win over some of the Rouran nobles."
Su Ze said in surprise: "Did Madam Feng teach you all this?"
Princess Shouyang shook her head and said, "No, this is my own idea. Didn't you say that politics is the art of 'dividing the spoils'? I must have some spoils to divide."
Su Ze sat up and realized that he had forgotten about trade, a factor that was extremely important to nomadic peoples.
In many cases, mutual trade is the biggest demand of border nomads. When Altan Khan invaded the border during the Ming Dynasty, his main demand was to open a tribute market.
The grassland needs the goods from the Central Plains more, and the power to distribute goods may really help Princess Shouyang gain a foothold in Rouran.
Su Ze said: "I have two Western merchants under my command. One of them is cunning. You must always be careful not to let him take advantage of you. The other one is timid. It is difficult to make a lot of money if you are too timid as a businessman."
"When you use them, you should let them travel together. Let the timid merchants keep an eye on the cunning merchants, but give the power to buy and sell goods to the cunning merchants, so that the caravan can make money."
Su Ze planned to hand over the two blue followers, [Corrupted Western Merchant] and [Cowardly Western Merchant], to Princess Shouyang and let them engage in trade with the Wei Dynasty.
Su Ze thought for a moment and said, "Also, I have another retainer who is good at brewing wine, but he is lazy and likes to eat. If you let him have a good rest, he can brew good wine. This wine can also be given to the various tribes to win their hearts."
"Don't use grain to make wine, just use horse milk."
Princess Shouyang's eyes sparkled, and she wished she could pounce on Su Ze again to reward him, but her pregnant body could not handle it any longer. In the end, she could only fall asleep in Su Ze's arms. Su Ze covered her with a fur quilt and continued to check the store.
[The female messenger Bai Lu Cao who is good at assassination] can also be left to Princess Shouyang.
[Armored cavalry good at close combat] This is good!
From the Gaoche people's war horses, Su Ze selected another thirty high-quality war horses that could serve as mounts for armored cavalry.
The armored cavalry can be expanded into three squads, and this orange follower can serve as the captain of the new squad.
The prestige of officers also needs to be accumulated continuously. Su Ze plans to fix these organized teams in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the teams.
Although the war horses on the Mongolian grasslands were considered quite good, they still did not meet the requirements of armored cavalry.
The best war horses in East Asia are still in the Western Regions, but the price of Western Regions horses in the Luoyang market is too high. The Western Regions are west of Gaoche. Can Princess Shouyang's caravan go to the Western Regions to trade horses?
This was a good idea. Su Ze quickly wrote it down and prepared to tell Princess Shouyang about it after she woke up.
The last orange follower is [A pioneer who is strong enough to lift a tripod]. Su Ze’s eyes light up when he sees this orange follower!
He has a large number of cavalry under his command, but without infantry he has no ability to attack the city!
The so-called first to climb the city wall refers to the soldiers who can be the first to climb the city wall. These are the most elite soldiers among the infantry, and this soldier also has the positive affix [Strong enough to carry a tripod]!
Worthy of being an orange follower!
Cavalry confrontations during the Northern and Southern Dynasties were certainly important, but infantry that attacked cities and broke through enemy lines were also very important. Later, Su Ze also had the idea of forming a vanguard battalion, and this orange follower could be said to be the seed of the vanguard.
Orange followers are like this. Each one is an extremely useful elite soldier seed and can play a huge role as long as used properly.
Among the two purple followers, the cartoon figure that looks like a Taoist priest is the [Taoist priest who is good at coin minting].
coin?
Is it counterfeit money?
Well, actually, there was no such thing as counterfeiting in this era. Basically, both the north and the south were privately minting coins.
It is not difficult to privately mint currency, but the difficulty lies in the cost. If the privately minted currency is more valuable than the currency on the market, then there is no point in private minting.
Cost control is the art of private currency minting.
After hundreds of years of war, the currency on the market had become chaotic and complicated, and the quality of coins varied. An important achievement of Emperor Xiaowen's reform was the minting of a large number of Taihe Wuzhu coins that were popular in the market.
But in fact, a large number of Taihe Wuzhu coins on the market are privately minted. In fact, as long as the quality of privately minted coins is up to standard, the government does not care.
In fact, from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and then to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the most popular coin on the market was not the Taihe Wuzhu, but the Wuzhu coin minted by Emperor Wu of Han!
Compared with the monetary system of the Northern Dynasties, the monetary system of the Southern Dynasties was even more magical. If history did not change, five years later, in 523 AD, the Southern Dynasty Emperor Xiao Yan would order the abolition of all paper coins of all dynasties, and then forcibly issue iron coins to completely replace copper coins.
The complete failure of the issuance of iron coins in the history of the Southern Dynasties meant that no one would think of issuing iron coins again in the next thousand years.
The Taoist should keep this money so that when he has his own base in the future, he can mint his own coins.
If we think even further, we can issue a new type of copper coin after the unification of the north and the south in the future, which would be a feat comparable to that of Emperor Wu of Han.
Su Ze looked at another purple follower.
[The eunuch who changes his attitude according to the situation]
Eunuch?
Oh, now he is called a eunuch. The system actually gave me a eunuch?
This is a purple follower, and judging from the evaluation, [Adaptable] is a neutral affix for the eunuch, so the eunuch should be a purple follower.
But how to use this follower?
According to Su Bai's experience, all the followers with status that were summoned had knowledge and skills related to their profession. So what knowledge and skills did the eunuchs have? The skills to serve people?
Should he be sent into the palace?
This is one usage.
However, the eunuchs in the palace have all been there since childhood, and the eunuchs have a strict hierarchy, so even if they are sent into the palace, it is difficult to climb to a key position.
However, it is not bad to be able to send him into the palace to gather intelligence, but as a purple follower, Su Ze feels that he is at a disadvantage.
The last purple item is [Design drawing of attack vehicle].
An attack vehicle is naturally a siege vehicle. Due to the long-term confrontation between the North and the South, the siege technology in the Southern and Northern Dynasties developed rapidly. For example, the Battle of Yubi in history was a duel between siege equipment and defense equipment.
With this design, Su Ze will be able to manufacture attack vehicles in the future as long as there are enough craftsmen, which can be considered a good product.
Su Ze was satisfied with the bumper harvest this time, but he was a little disappointed because he had to leave the grassland tomorrow.
In a word, his strength was still not enough. He was able to create such a special situation of balance by risking his life. Giving Princess Shouyang three years to perform his duties was already the limit of his ability to influence the grassland.
When the Six Garrisons rebelled and the Northern Wei Dynasty was in danger, how far it could go depended on Princess Shouyang's own abilities.
Su Ze sighed. Who in this era can say that they can fully control their own destiny?
How many heroes were shining brightly in the previous second, standing in the spotlight of history, and died and their families were wiped out in the next second, completely ending up in the dustbin of history.
Holding Princess Shouyang in his arms, Su Ze now has more and more constraints and can only move forward more cautiously.
-
On the day of separation, Su Ze handed over the [female messenger Bai Lu Cao who was good at assassination] to Princess Shouyang, and asked the [Yu Lin scout who was proficient in the Hu language] to stay in the grassland, and told Princess Shouyang that if she needed anything, she could give the message to the [Yu Lin scout who was proficient in the Hu language] to pass it to him.
He then entrusted Princess Shouyang's safety to Su Lin, the [knight of the imperial guards who is good at archery], and reminded Princess Shouyang again that if there was any change in the northern border, she should immediately have these hundred knights escort her back to Luoyang.
[Corrupted Western Merchant], [Cowardly Western Merchant] and [Lazy Brewer] were also handed over to Princess Shouyang by Su Ze. After repeated instructions, Su Ze finally mounted his horse, caught up with Li Chong's army and set out on the journey back to Luoyang.
Li Chong returned to Wuchuan this time with the spoils seized from the grassland and the population and food that Su Ze ordered the Rouran tribe that invaded the Six Garrisons to return, and was warmly welcomed by the upper echelons of the Six Garrisons.
However, Li Chong became serious, refused the invitation to dinner from these heroes, took out his own envoy's seal and began to inspect the six towns.
Su Ze could only say goodbye to Gao Huan and Sima Ziru. Li Chong had promoted the two to be the commanders of Huaishuo Army in the name of Pingcheng Liutai. Gao Huan was naturally grateful to Su Ze, the noble man. If the gap between their identities was not too big, Gao Huan would have almost asked Su Ze to become his sworn brother.
Hou Jing happily became a brigade commander under Su Ze, but his position as brigade commander still needed to be confirmed by the Taiwei Mansion in Luoyang. He was just temporarily serving in the army. Su Ze handed over a group of surrendered Rouran Gaoche prisoners and the refugee troops from the Six Garrisons to him for management, and set up a special camp called "Bianying". He also took out the handwritten military strategy given to Yuwen Tai and gave it to Hou Jing to study.
Then the army started moving, and Su Ze followed Li Chong to inspect the six towns. Naturally, some unpleasant things happened during this period.
For example, the newly appointed commander of Woye Town, Yu Zhen, was actually Yu Zhen, the former brigade commander of the Yueqi Battalion, whom Su Ze knew in the Yulin Army. When the Yulin Rebellion occurred, Yu Zhen did not dare to offend the Yulin soldiers, let alone the high-ranking officials of the court, and he stayed at home and did not go out.
Yu Zhen and Yu Jin were both from the Yu family, to which Yu Zhong belonged, but Yu Zhen was the most direct descendant of the family. After he could not make it in the Yulin Army, his family helped him to be sent to Woye Town to serve as the town commander.
Yu Zhen and Wuchuan Town General Lou Poqiang had similar attitudes. After taking office, they spent their time in debauchery and then sent gifts to Luoyang, wanting to return to Luoyang as soon as possible. They didn't care about the affairs of Woye Town at all.
However, after Li Chong ordered the six towns to drive out the Rouran cavalry from the territory, General Yu Zhen made a bold move.
He actually opened the town granary, bribed the Rouran cavalry leader who invaded Woye Town, gave them food and allowed them to return to the grassland.
It would have been fine if this matter had been kept secret, but the key point was that Yu Zhen was really unpopular in Woye Town. The news was told by the military commander of Woye Town to the townspeople waiting for relief outside the town, and serious civil unrest almost broke out.
It was thanks to Li Chong's arrival in Woye Town that Su Ze used food to appease the townspeople, which put an end to the civil unrest.
Yu Jin also hated this cousin very much, but that was how the officialdom in Luoyang was. Those who could hold high positions were often the direct descendants of large families. These people could easily obtain important positions that people from poor families could never dream of. After obtaining these official positions, they did not care at all and only regarded them as a stepping stone to be promoted to a higher position.
Li Chong also looked down on Yu Zhen. He took a walk around Woye City and returned directly south to Pingcheng without even entering the town.
Su Ze looked at the townspeople outside Woye Town, and didn't know if there was a guy named Po Liu Han Baling among them. However, seeing the situation in Liuzhen, if there was no Po Liu Han Baling, there would be Po Qi Han Baling, and the fire of Liuzhen would burn sooner or later.
Li Chong returned to Pingcheng without looking back. Su Ze met Murong Shaozong, who was escorting his family to Xiurongchuan and then returning to Pingcheng. In addition to Murong Shaozong, there were ten half-grown children from his tribe. These were all members of the Murong family who followed Murong Shaozong to join the army.
Su Ze was overjoyed to have captured Murong Shaozong again. He arranged for Murong Shaozong to be Hou Jing's deputy, to assist Hou Jing in training troops, and to return to Luoyang together.
During the army's march, Su Ze refreshed the store several times but only got some blue and green goods.
Most of them were followers of the [Six Towns Soldiers] series with negative affixes. Su Ze kept them in the Six Towns along the way and established a small-scale intelligence network.
Li Chong did not stop at Pingcheng, Xiurong and Jinyang. Su Ze quietly scattered the blue-green followers he had brushed out in these places. Thanks to Su Ze's identity as the captain of Yulin, he kept these followers in some of the three long villages in the name of settling meritorious soldiers.
Most of the soldiers were from Luoyang, so they were naturally eager to return home. The army that set out in late spring had already seen the palace of Luoyang before the snow fell in Luoyang.
When they were about to arrive in Luoyang, Li Shizhe, the Junior Minister of Rites, suddenly came to Su Ze's tent and said to him:
"Captain Su, my father wants to see you."
Start paying off debts, 5k at night too!
Debt has 9 chapters, totaling 18000 words.
I paid off 4k yesterday and still owe 7 chapters.
We will try to update 10,000 times every day this week!
If I can write more, I will update more!
Thank you for your support!
(End of this chapter)