In the Tang Dynasty, matters related to weaving in the government were administratively under the control of the "shaofuqing". The Shaofuqing was responsible for a number of weaving and dyeing workshops directly under the royal family, which were large in scale.

There are not only textile workshops in Chang'an City, but also similar institutions in Luoyang, Yangzhou, Chengdu and other places, which provide a large amount of high-quality silk and satin to the royal family as tribute every year.

According to common sense, the Shaofu Qing should be solely responsible for imitating the new Sogdgen brocade.

But this time the Shaofu Qing did not take the job.

First of all, the risk of imitating Sogdian brocade is higher. If the Shaofu Qing did not propose it himself, he would not be able to go all out. It would be better not to take up the initiative, otherwise even if he does it, it will be thankless;

It was Zheng Shuqing who took the credit for the success, and it was him, the young minister, who held him back for the failure.

On the other hand, the current Shaofu Qing Zheng Yan is actually... a member of Zheng Shuqing's family, and was born in the Zheng family in Xingyang.

To put it simply, he is a relative of Zheng Shuqing.

Therefore, even though the Shaofu Qing did not promise anything on the surface, he secretly continued to give Zheng Shuqing all kinds of effective support, providing various manpower, material resources, and administrative conveniences for Zheng Shuqing to imitate Sogdana brocade.

Zheng Yan is the son-in-law of former prime minister Zhang Shuo. His grandfather was a Sogdian, and he was most likely from the ninth surname of Zhaowu. He merged with the Zheng family of Xingyang to avoid trouble (which can be understood as changing his surname after marrying into a wife).

Therefore, this person and Zheng Shuqing are only distant cousins ​​by blood, but culturally they are a family that advances and retreats together.

The culture of the Tang Dynasty was inclusive and inclusive, and the concept of "I am the leader" and "one family" was also reflected in the aristocratic family's absorption of outstanding talents.

What’s even weirder is that Zhang is said to be Zhang Jiuling’s mentor and was once a leading figure among officials with a Jinshi background; while Zheng Yan is an official of the “Li Zhi Sect” with Western origins, but Zheng Shuqing is now a member of Li Linfu’s circle, but he has not yet

Become a core party member.

This kind of situation where you are involved in me and I am involved in you makes the relationship network in the officialdom extremely complicated.

I have to say that politics is definitely not the black and white thing that outsiders think.

In a sense, it's more like human nature.

After inquiring about this information, Fang Chongyong seemed to understand a little bit why Lao Zheng was always confident and as a complete layman, he dared to take up the weaving job.

It's not because Lao Zheng is stupid, but because Fang Chongyong didn't see the hidden card in his hand. Information asymmetry caused both parties to have completely different judgments on the same matter.

Lao Zheng also has a lot of good cards in his hand. Although he doesn't have a king bomb, he still has piles of straights, three, and one. However, he often lacks the hard cards to break the game, so he always seems a little embarrassed to deal with it passively.

.

This time the imitation of Sogdian brocade was carried out by the Ling Jinfang of the Shaofu Supervisor of Chang'an Palace City, which was responsible for the specific design, weaving and rendering. It is also the only official textile workshop directly under the control of Chang'an City.

There are 365 weavers in Lingjinfang, which means "knitting non-stop every day".

On the way to the Shaofu Prison, Zheng Shuqing told Fang Chongyong that Lingjinfang, a workshop located in the palace city, had been abolished by Li Longji in the early years of Kaiyuan because the saint claimed to take the lead in living a frugal life.

Although Li Longji is greedy for pleasure now, he once did work hard to cure.

However, the good times did not last long. Within a few years, Li Longji was slapped in the face by reality, because the silk fabrics offered by the various states were not enough for the increasingly luxurious Li Longji's squandering and rewards.

So Li Longji, who wanted to lose face, had to quietly restore Lingjinfang, but he did not dare to expand the scale at will. He just established it in the name of the foreign court in the areas east of Chang'an City and downstream of many rivers (relative to Chang'an).

A series of official textile workshops with thousands of weavers.

In name, the workshop belongs to the outer court, but in fact the output belongs to the palace. This method of separating ownership and output rights, a management classic that Fang Chongyong was proud of in his previous life, was actually used to perfection by Li Longji.

"Is it really okay for Minister Zheng to talk about a saint like this behind his back?"

Fang Chongyong looked at Zheng Shuqing with a puzzled look on his face and asked. The two of them had already reached the door of the Young Mansion Prison.

If you say bad things about Li Longji, can you please stop saying it in front of me? Don’t I know that he is a hypocritical, greedy and arrogant old coin?

Fang Chongyong couldn't help but sigh.

"I'm just afraid that you will forget the lesson of the additional one hundred thousand guan. As a saint, it's useless if you do well. You have to do better than he expected. Please pay more attention to it.

"

Zheng Shuqing patted Fang Chongyong on the shoulder and said.

"After this is done, I will give you a pair of twin female slaves. They are only nine years old and the same age as you. They are really slim and ready to bloom, tsk tsk!

Do you know how hard it is to find these twins? I also want to find triplets and quadruplets for you, but those people are either ugly or not the right age..."

Zheng Shuqing lowered his head and leaned over to whisper in Fang Chongyong's ear.

"Let's go, I have fully felt the sincerity of Mr. Zheng."

Fang Chongyong felt as if he had been PUAed by Zheng Shuqing, but he couldn't quite tell whether this feeling was correct.

The two walked into the warehouse of Lingjinfang and saw that the finished bamboo shelves were lined with pieces of imitation Sogdian brocade that had been woven one after another.

Blue, bright red, orange, green, etc., all kinds of colors, styles and patterns are available.

Fang Chongyong took a piece of brocade to observe and caress. This kind of brocade not only felt gentle and smooth to the touch, but also had a thick feel that ordinary silk did not have.

The pattern not only possesses the rugged and majestic Sogdian brocade, but also uses rounded patterns to cover up the inherent roughness and ferociousness of the Sogdian brocade pattern.

In a word, this fabric combines almost all the advantages of conventional Shu brocade and Sogdian brocade to create a new kind of brocade.

Zheng Shuqing came to Fang Chongyong to seek countermeasures, not because he was dissatisfied with these imitation Sogdian brocades, but because he was too satisfied and worried about gains and losses, fearing that he would not be able to get into Li Longji's eyes and that his busy work would be in vain.

This is just like some people just like the casualness of breakfast on the street, but don't like the formality of food in a big restaurant.

Zheng Shuqing just had a bad liking for Li Longji.

"After the envoy from Japan to the Tang Dynasty learned about the Sogdian brocade empress, he knelt in front of the Shaofu prison gate to pray, and then went to pray to the saint. Then I cut off a piece and rewarded this person.

It is said that the envoy sent to the Tang Dynasty wanted to take it back to their chief to use as a military flag."

Zheng Shuqing said proudly.

book?

No wonder then.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said nothing.

As if his vanity was greatly satisfied, Zheng Shuqing continued to say proudly:

"We, the Tang Dynasty, were able to control the Western Regions, not just by relying on military revolution.

If you only have force and arrogance without money and silk to accompany you, it will be difficult to convince people with virtue.

The biggest reason why Tubo and the Tang Dynasty competed for supremacy and suffered losses repeatedly was not that Tubo did not know how to fight, but that the Tang Dynasty had silk but Tubo did not.

All the countries in the Western Regions on the Silk Road did not want Tubo to become strong because Tubo could not give them the silk they needed."

Zheng Shuqing patted a piece of brocade with his palm, as if this thing was a magic weapon in his hand.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said: "No need to brag about these things anymore, tell the truth.

I have seen these imitation Sogdian brocades, why not give them a nice name, let’s call them Tang brocades.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Shuqing suddenly realized: "Wonderful! Tang Brocade, Tang Brocade, our Brocade of the Tang Dynasty, the saint will definitely be delighted."

Look at your potential! The saint keeps talking all day long!

Fang Chongyong sighed and continued: "The saint is well-informed, do you think you can fool him just by changing his name? I'm afraid you have to have other things to match it."

Sure enough, Zheng Shuqing became depressed again and lamented: "Yes, it's useless just to have a nice name. In the end, it will still irritate the saint."

Even if Dong Shi changes her name to Xi Shi, others will still be scared away when they see her. Changing her name may be useful as an auxiliary method, but it is still a bit naive to use it as a life-saving straw.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly. He felt that although Lao Zheng was Li Longji's loyal henchman, his thinking mode was highly consistent with Li Longji's.

But this person may not think highly of Li Longji in his heart, right?

There is a saying: the closer a person is to God, the less they believe in God.

This may be the case for Zheng Shuqing.

The more closely I align with Li Longji's thinking mode, the more I understand that this Tang sage is not a wise and mighty master.

Fang Chongyong pulled Zheng Shuqing aside and asked in a low voice: "I'm going to the Liyuan now, are you going?"

"What are we going to do in Liyuan?"

Zheng Shuqing was stunned and couldn't help but ask.

"You will know after you go there."

Fang Chongyong said proudly, not bothering to explain why to Lao Zheng.

To a certain extent, the Liyuan is actually more heavily guarded than the palace.

Because Li Longji basically does not work in Miyagi now, let alone live here, but he often plays in Liyuan!

Leading troops to attack Liyuan to kill the king, the success rate and efficiency are countless times higher than that of attacking Chang'an Palace City.

Therefore, after Li Longji stabilized the political situation in the early Kaiyuan Dynasty, the palace restrictions in Chang'an Palace were not as strict as imagined. There were only some local key departments, and there were guards in the city, so it was difficult to enter.

Central officials only need to "punch in" at the palace gate to make a record and explain the reason for entering the palace, and they can enter and exit smoothly without disturbing the senior military officers at the gate, and no special approval is needed.

This is how Fang Chongyong and Zheng Shuqing came in.

"Of course I'm going to do this stupid thing of yours, otherwise why else would you do it? Just say whether you want to go or not?"

Fang Chongyong said impatiently. Lao Zheng is a man who only wants stability. He is too hesitant at critical moments and likes to break things when something goes wrong.

"Isn't it okay if I go?"

Zheng Shuqing complained, and the two of them left the Gwanghwamun Gate in the north of the palace city and headed to the Liyuan Garden in the northwest corner of Chang'an.
To be continued...