Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 463 Shu Brocade

In the end, it was Su Cho who set the tone.

He said, "The county lord wrote to me saying that the situation in Yizhou is of great importance. We will send as much food as the general wants to Sichuan."

When Su Suan heard that Su Chao had moved out of Su Ze, he had no choice but to stop. He muttered:
"Longxi County alone is not enough. The Ministry of Revenue also needs to allocate grain from Hezhou."

Su Chao made the decision and said:

"I will give you the grain from Hezhou. I will also give the laborers from Longxi County and Liangzhou to Cao of the Ministry of Revenue to ensure that the grain is safely delivered to Yizhou."

Su Suan nodded and said:
"In fact, it's not just about corvée labor, we can also mobilize merchants to transport grain to Yizhou."

Li Cunzhen, the new governor of Liangzhou who had just returned from Liangzhou and was attending the meeting as a political observer, immediately said:

"You want to force merchants to come to Shu to deliver grain? The Duke never exploits law-abiding merchants. Doing this is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."

Because it controlled the Hexi Corridor, Liangzhou contributed most of the commercial taxes in the entire Guanxi area.

In addition, the fine horses, furs, and treasures obtained through trade with Liangzhou were all very important materials.

This is also the reason why Su Ze only warned and did not uproot the Liangzhou gentry.

Liangzhou plays an important economic role in the entire Guanxi area.

Su Ze suppressed speculation, but still supported merchants who operated normally. He even allowed merchants to participate in the state-monopolized salt transportation and used salt to guide merchants to transport grain to the border.

Nowadays, merchants from Hexi have set up commercial settlements in Wuyuan City. These caravans bring their own dry food and population, and take the initiative to contract wasteland for reclamation. In just one year, Wuyuan City can be self-sufficient in food and fodder. In the eyes of the officials in the Government Affairs Hall, this is another miraculous method of Duke Su turning stone into gold.

The Ganliang New Army led by Li Cunzhen had many connections with the countries in the Western Regions, and he was very prestigious among the merchants in the Western Regions.

So Li Cunzhen was the first to stand up and oppose Su Suan's plan to target businessmen.

Su Suan shook his head and said:

"I am not going to forcibly recruit the caravans, but to ask the merchants to take the initiative to bring food to Shuzhong."

Take the initiative to bring food?
Li Cunzhen had done caravan trade before, and he immediately said:
"Using carts to transport grain to Shu, only two out of ten carts of grain can be delivered. What merchant would do such a loss-making business?"

The cost of land transportation is already very high, and the cost of transportation across the Shu Road is even more frighteningly high.

When transporting goods by horse-drawn carriage, the wheels need to be repaired constantly, and the transportation speed is very slow.

The laborers and servants who escorted the grain also needed to eat, and they also ate the grain during transportation.

Two out of ten carts were transported into Shu. This was the result of Su Ze's efficient management of the county mansion and the unity of all the people.

If it were the Wei Dynasty, I'm afraid that out of twenty carts of grain, only one could be transported into Shu.

There is no way, this is the natural barrier of Shu, the curse of Shu that even Prime Minister Zhuge Liang could not break.

Su Suan said: "Princess Nanyang came to Shu, and I heard that she has reorganized the Shu Brocade Manufacturing Bureau in Chengdu and has restored the brocade workshop."

The Government Affairs Hall naturally knew about Princess Nanyang's entry into Shu, but Princess Nanyang was the mistress's sister, so Su Suan actually set his sights on Princess Nanyang.

Su Suan said:

"As long as we call on merchants to transport grain into Shu, we can buy Shu brocade from Your Highness. There are merchants willing to transport grain into Shu."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Government Affairs Hall's eyes lit up.

This is indeed a good idea.

Shu brocade is a rare and precious item everywhere, especially for merchants traveling along the Silk Road, who are particularly eager to get it.

There is no way. Shu brocade is the most high-end fabric in the world today. It has never been an ordinary commodity, but a precious luxury. Any luxury item is rare and precious. Even if it is industrialized in later generations, it still has to be artificially created for scarcity, not to mention that Shu brocade is really scarce.

When Zhuge Liang was in Shu, he made use of the Shu brocade trade to continuously obtain supplies from various countries.

In particular, the upper echelons of Cao Wei were particularly fond of Shu brocade. On the one hand, Cao Pi and his ministers also realized that purchasing Shu brocade was actually an act of aiding the enemy, and they once ordered a ban on the import of Shu brocade.

But on the other hand, they were hypocritical in words but honest in deeds. Cao Pi personally wrote poems praising Shu brocade, and the entire Cao Wei high-level officials were proud to wear Shu brocade.

Princess Nanyang's brocade weaving skills were unparalleled in the world. When she was in Chang'an, she was called "Goddess of Weaving". It was only a matter of time before she could resume the production of Shu brocade.

Su Chao finally stated:
"This is about Princess Nanyang, so I still have to report this to the mistress."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled.
-
In Luoyang City.

During the New Year holidays, Erzhu Rong gave his generals a rare holiday, so Gao Huan traveled to Luoyang with his relatives and friends.

After experiencing many wars, Luoyang was already deserted.

Gao Huan came to the market where he used to sell horses and said to Sima Ziru:

"Zi Ru, this is where I used to sell horses in Luoyang."

Sima Ziru looked in the direction Gao Huan pointed, only to see that the market was already overgrown with weeds. Not to mention stalls, not even a single person could be seen.

Gao Huan now felt uninterested. The prosperous scene of Luoyang City in the past that had been left in Gao Huan's mind was gone forever.

Now everyone had no interest in traveling together, so Sima Ziru suggested going back to Gao Huan's house to have a drink, so everyone rode back to Gao Huan's newly granted house. The Xuanyifang mansion, which was once hard to find, was now mostly vacant, and the rest was given by Erzhu Rong to the new nobles under his command.

However, the things in the mansion had been emptied long ago, and Gao Huan's family were all in Jinyang, so no one was decorating the mansion at this time.

After returning to their homes, everyone relaxed a lot, and Sima Ziru talked about the recent news in Luoyang.

"I heard that Lord Xi gathered court musicians from the common people and arranged a banquet for General Tianzhu. The music played during the banquet was very popular with General Tianzhu, who also rewarded Lord Xi with a lot of gold, silver and jewelry. Did the general also listen to the dance music?"

Gao Huan nodded and said:

"That was the dance music played in the Tianzhu General's mansion on New Year's Eve. This dance music was a military dance. I heard that it was composed by the musician named Wu Guinian himself. It was named "Tianzhu General's Breaking Formation Music". The tune was vast and powerful, and the general liked it very much."

When Gao Huan recalled this dance music, he also felt his blood boiling. This time, Xi Yi's flattery could be said to have touched Erzhu Rong's heart.

He was just a musician named Wu Guinian. Why had I never heard of him when I was in Luoyang before?

Maybe it's the talented people who are drowned in the palace.

Erzhu Rong liked this dance music very much and often summoned musicians to play it at banquets in his mansion. Gao Huan heard this music several times when he attended banquets.

Sima Ziru said again:
"With this song, Lord Xi once again gained the trust of General Tianzhu."

Dou Tai said:

"Lord Xi is kind and benevolent, and he is popular in Luoyang, which is not surprising, but how did those guys get promoted?"

After Dou Tai finished speaking, Sima Ziru immediately said:
"Be careful!"

The "those people" that Dou Tai mentioned were Erzhu Rong's relatives, Erzhu Shilon, Erzhu Zhao, and Erzhu Tianguang.

Years ago, the emperor issued an edict to promote these Erzhus to higher positions. Basically, they were all granted titles of duke, envoy with special powers, commander-in-chief of the military forces of one state or even several states, and acting commander-in-chief.

Although Erzhu Rong had appointed relatives in the past, at that time several Erzhus had fought under Erzhu Rong and had made military achievements, some of which were even greater than those of outsiders such as Gao Huan, so there was no objection to their promotion.

However, in the past year, the performance of these "Erzhus" can be said to be unsatisfactory, and some can even be said to be very poor.

Erzhu Zhao defended Yanmen Pass without any achievements or faults.

Erzhu Tianguang followed Erzhu Rong to attack Qi and Lu. After defeating Xing Gao, he led his troops to burn, kill and loot, almost triggering another civil uprising.

But the most important one was Erzhu Shillong. He was defeated by Chen Qianzhi at Hulao Pass, and then suffered a series of defeats. Such crimes were pardoned by Erzhu Rong, but now he has been promoted to a higher position, which makes people dissatisfied.

Gao Huan did not comment. This time's reward was a summary of last year. Erzhu Rong, who had always been clear about rewards and punishments in the army, had lost a lot of points in politics.

Erzhu Rong was not stingy with rewards for the children of the Erzhu family. Even Erzhu Zhongyuan, who died in Youzhou, was generously rewarded by Erzhu Rong, and the title was directly passed on to Erzhu Zhongyuan's youngest son.

But Erzhu Rong was a bit stingy towards outsiders.

The three Heba brothers were not promoted, and Gao Huan's merits and demerits offset each other and he was almost punished.

Gao Huan also understood the reason. Now the main force of the Erzhu family is still the elite troops trained by Erzhu Rong himself.

Therefore, the only ones who could be promoted were the Erzhus.

Although we understand the principle, it is always discouraging to work hard for a year without any reward.

Gao Huan said:

"Don't mention this matter anymore. There are more opportunities to make meritorious deeds this year. As long as you fight well, there is no need to worry about not being awarded a title of nobility."

Gao Huan was obviously lacking in confidence. He sighed secretly, thinking that Erzhu Rong was too arrogant.

He will only give rewards to those whom he is willing to give to. If it is someone he looks down upon, then he really does not treat the other person as a human being.

The Heyin Incident, the killing of the surrendered Gao Yi, and the killing of Yuwen Luosheng were all caused by Erzhu Rong's character. He was not unaware that killing these people would have chain consequences, but he still had to kill them.

As long as the Erzhu Group can still control everything, Erzhu Rong does not need to, nor is he willing to, look at anyone's face.

The philosophy that Erzhu Rong believed in -

As long as you can defeat your opponent on the battlefield, all problems will be solved.

Those present were all confidants, and the next thing to discuss was the future plans for the small group.

Gao Huan said:

"We still have to solve the Henan problem next year, but we may also have to send people to the north. I want to go to the north."

Going to the north meant that Erzhu Rong was contacting the Khitans and preparing to create trouble for Su Ze's rear.

This is a tough job and most people are unwilling to do it, but they cannot send another reckless man like Erzhu Zhongyuan, so the candidate must not have been decided.

Gao Huan volunteered, so there is a high probability that this position will fall on him.

Fighting for Youyan is a tough job. Dou Tai said first:
"General, what injustice have you suffered? Are you going to the barren north again?"

(End of this chapter)