Chapter 267: Chi Chi Chi
"Your Highness, this is the tapestry that the workshop handed in."
Princess Nanyang's maid handed her a brocade. As she stroked the patterns on the brocade, Princess Nanyang smiled for the first time in a long time.
After being driven back from the front line by Xiao Baoyin, Princess Nanyang did not go to Huazhou, but stayed in Chang'an, not far from the front line.
As a princess of the royal family, Princess Nanyang was also an outlier among the fierce Northern Wei royal family members.
She had a gentle personality since childhood and especially liked women's work. Before she got married, the best embroiderers in the palace praised Princess Nanyang for her great talent in women's work. The brocade she wove was dense and neat, and the patterns were rich in colors. Princess Nanyang had elegant taste, and the brocade she wove was of high aesthetics, which always attracted the attention of the noble ladies in Luoyang.
In addition, Princess Nanyang’s talent in women’s work goes beyond this.
The patterns on the tapestry are woven.
Brocade is woven with dyed silk threads, with patterns created using warp threads and colored strips used to create color or add patterns. It is woven using a combination of geometric patterns and decorations.
To weave brocade, you need a loom.
Today, the weavers in the palace still use the jacquard looms from the Han Dynasty.
The jacquard loom has many heddles, which control the rising and falling movements of thousands of warp threads respectively, and together with the interweaving heddles, they are interwoven with the weft threads to form fabrics with various patterns and text designs.
In addition, there are tweezers for foot operation to control the heddle group. These two devices can control the pattern of weaving.
This is a bit similar to microcontroller programming, so in ancient times, brocade weaving was either a weaver who was supported by wealthy families for generations, or simply the daughter of a wealthy family. This was a job that only aristocrats could handle.
For example, the famous Empress Dowager Wenming of the Northern Wei Dynasty was very good at weaving brocade. It is said that she liked to think about problems while weaving brocade, and she would discuss matters with court officials while weaving, and the patterns of the brocade she wove were exactly the same.
In addition, the famous Empress Dowager Deng in the Eastern Han Dynasty was also very good at weaving brocade. She won the favor of the emperor with the brocade clothes she wove. After becoming the ruling empress dowager, she often personally weaved brocades and gave them to the ladies in the palace. At that time, the upper-class ladies of the Eastern Han Dynasty were proud to be rewarded with brocades woven by Empress Dowager Deng herself.
Just like a computer, the number of integrated circuits is equal to the number of chips in a single-chip microcomputer. The more integrated circuits there are, the more complicated the operation is, but the more integrated circuits there are, the more gorgeous the patterns that can be woven can be.
The jacquard looms of the Western Han Dynasty all had fifty sheddings and sixty tweezers. Only a few talented weavers were able to use the super-large looms with one hundred and twenty sheddings and one hundred and twenty tweezers, and such looms were extremely laborious to use.
Princess Nanyang loved weaving brocade, but she also felt that a loom with fifty strands and sixty tweezers was too complicated to operate, so she found a loom design drawing by Ma Jun from the Cao Wei period among the classics collected by the royal family.
Ma Jun, a genius mechanical inventor during the Cao Wei period, once made a group of movable puppet models that were extremely ingenious. Once the mechanism was activated, the musician puppets immediately beat drums and played flutes, and the singing girl puppets danced. The performances of the acrobatic puppets were even more exciting, with some stacking people, some rolling, throwing balls, and some performing thrilling movements on ropes.
This super-large puppet machine is completely powered by water power, so it is also called "Water-powered Hundred Plays Picture".
The "Water-Powered Hundred Plays" was just an invention for the emperor's entertainment. Ma Jun's most meaningful invention was the improvement of the jacquard loom.
Ma Jun used a mechanical linkage transmission device to simplify the loom with fifty harnesses and sixty tweezers into a loom with twelve harnesses and twelve tweezers. This loom is equivalent to a loom that integrates some modular programming chips. It only needs simple settings to weave common patterns.
The twelve-harness and twelve-step loom can be used by ordinary women after some training. It has higher production efficiency and can meet the pattern requirements of daily weaving.
A loom with 120 harnesses and 120 tweezers can only be used by very skilled weavers. It has low production efficiency, but it can be customized to produce complex patterns and can be used to weave high-end patterns such as dragon and phoenix patterns.
Princess Nanyang recreated a loom with twelve sheaths and twelve tweezers, and she herself could use a loom with one hundred and twenty sheaths and one hundred and twenty tweezers.
So after arriving in Chang'an, Princess Nanyang gathered craftsmen in Chang'an to make a batch of twelve-weave and twelve-sprocket looms in order to help her husband fight the war. She also personally taught the talented women in Chang'an how to weave brocade.
Princess Nanyang herself used a loom with 120 wefts and 120 tweezers to weave complex and gorgeous brocades. Every time she wove, it would cause a sensation in Chang'an and would be bought at high prices by the wealthy families nearby.
Princess Nanyang exchanged all the money for military supplies and sent them to the front line.
Princess Nanyang climbed onto the loom again. This large loom was very strenuous to operate, and soon her forehead was covered with sweat.
The maid wiped her sweat and said distressedly:
"Your Highness, you should take a rest. Wouldn't it be more labor-saving to change to a new loom?"
Princess Nanyang forced a smile and said:
"The phoenix pattern we are weaving this time can only be produced on this loom. This is the brocade I will give to my husband to make new clothes, so I must weave it myself."
After Emperor Ming of Qi, Xiao Luan, the royal family of Southern Qi had the habit of wearing clothes with phoenix patterns.
After the marriage, all of Xiao Baoyin's clothes were woven by Princess Nanyang herself, and tailored to her measurements.
The loom with 120 harnesses and 120 tweezers was complicated to operate and very cumbersome to use. It took nearly a month to weave one piece of cloth.
The maid knew that her princess was of such a character, so she could only let her sit in the weaving room and weave brocade in the summer heat.
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At this time, Xiao Baoyin was not in a good mood.
Liu Kai had been lingering outside Yongcheng for so long that Mo Zhe Tiansheng had already dealt with the internal affairs of Qinzhou and arrived in Yongcheng with his troops.
The morale of the Yongcheng defenders was greatly boosted. Mozhe Tiansheng launched a surprise attack on Liu Kai's camp that night. Although it did not cause much damage, it frightened Liu Kai so much that he retreated and withdrew his camp far away from Yongcheng.
This time, all the results of the previous battle were revealed.
This made Xiao Baoyin very angry. He personally sent an envoy to the front line to reprimand Liu Kai, but apart from that he did not take any other action.
Ask Liu Kai to continue his advance? If Liu Kai is defeated by Mo Zhe Tiansheng again, wouldn't that be his responsibility?
Moreover, the demand of the Guanxi nobles was to defend Yongzhou and prevent the rebels from invading Qinchuan.
As for the affairs of Qizhou, what does it have to do with the masters of Yongzhou?
You can't use the blood of Yongzhou people to save Qizhou people, right?
Liu Kai simply built a city on the front line and communicated with Chen Cang to block Mo Zhetian's way down the mountain. Although he was scolded, he also completed the task assigned by Xiao Baoyin.
He is submissive to his family members but strikes hard against outsiders.
The outsiders were the army brought into Huazhou by King Yuan Hao of Beihai.
After King Yuan Hao of Beihai took over the defense of Huazhou, he soon suffered several defeats.
The armies of Hu Chen and former Jinzhou Beijia Jin Wei were quite fierce. Jingzhou had been severely harassed by Xi Kangsheng and had also suffered from a white disaster. The local nobles could not survive, so they looked around and chose to come to Huazhou to rob.
Hu Chen had been imprisoned in Gaoping by Yu Jin for more than half a year, and his heart was full of resentment. He brought his tribe into Jingzhou, determined to conquer a piece of territory of his own. This time, he brought all his trusted followers to attack Huazhou.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai underestimated the enemy and suffered a great defeat, and was invaded into Huazhou by the rebels.
After receiving the military intelligence, Xiao Baoyin immediately wrote a letter to reprimand Beihai King Yuanhao, ordering him to defend Huazhou, otherwise he would be punished. Beihai King Yuanhao was very angry, but he suffered a defeat and could not vent his anger.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai was of mediocre talent and had no special abilities. When he first took command of the troops, he was complacent and thought that the rebels in Guanzhong were just a mob. The reason why Xiao Baoyi had been unable to suppress them for such a long time was entirely because of his incompetence.
As long as I lead my troops into Guanzhong, everything will be fine.
But after the war really broke out, King Yuan Hao of Beihai discovered that the situation was not what he thought at all.
Yuan Hao was ambitious but lacked talent. He would never recover when faced with setbacks and could only drink and play dirty in the army. He did not sympathize with the soldiers, and the soldiers were unwilling to work hard for him. In the end, he hid in Huayin City, the capital of Huazhou, and refused to leave.
Now Hu Chen and Jin Wei's Jingzhou army became even more excited. They simply surrounded Huayin City and began to plunder other areas of Huazhou. Hu Chen even led his troops to attack Tongguan.
Although Hu Chen was just pretending, he scared the Tongguan defender so much that he quickly sent a messenger to ask Xiao Baoyin for help.
Xiao Baoyin was also very disappointed. If Tongguan was captured, he would not get supplies from the court. He could only send an envoy to Huayin again to persuade Yuan Hao with kind words to cheer up and guard Huazhou well.
Yuan Hao is a relative of the Wei clan, so Xiao Baoyin has no other choice but to do this. The target of his final heavy blow is Su Ze.
He ordered people to cross the Qinling Mountains and repeatedly reprimanded Su Ze for not launching an attack on the western front to tie up Mo Zhe Tiansheng's main force. He also asked Su Ze to send people to cross the Qinling Mountains to deliver supplies to Xiao Baoyin's army.
It’s a pity that the soft persimmon that Xiao Baoyi thought was a soft persimmon was not soft at all.
Su Ze didn't even read these letters, and handed them over to Su Liang to deal with. He wrote a polite reply, saying that the war on the western front was going well and that the mountain roads in the Qinling Mountains were cut off and it was impossible to transport supplies.
Su Ze's attitude towards Xiao Baoyin can be summed up in one word: drag.
Anyway, Liangzhou and Yongzhou are separated by the Qinling Mountains. Even if you ask for money or food, you can't cross the Qinling Mountains.
Xiao Baoyin had no way to intervene in the war on the western front. Now Su Ze's territory and Guanzhong had been completely separated by the rebels. If Su Ze had not captured Liangzhou last year, he would not even be able to maintain communications. Now he was in a situation where the emperor was far away.
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Su Ze led two thousand of his most elite cavalrymen from Wuxing County, Hanzhong, and went north along the West Han River into Longxi. Then from Longxi he went northwest and finally entered the territory of Gaoping County.
Gaoping, originally Gaoping Town, was the last military town to be converted into a county during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen.
Gaoping County and Longxi County have similar geographical locations and are considered to be divided areas of the Guanzhong plate.
To the west of Gaoping County is Hezhou and Liangzhou, which is considered the Hexi section of Longyou.
To the north of Gaoping County is Lingzhou and Xiazhou, which was the frontline area in the fight against the grassland in the Han Dynasty.
Gaoping County is a poor, semi-nomadic, semi-agricultural area. It was once the region where Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty settled the migrated Southern Xiongnu. The local Han people and Xiongnu people lived together, and the Hu customs were even more severe.
After entering Gaoping, Su Ze felt a temperament similar to that of Hengzhou and Liuzhen. There were not many Han fortresses here, but more nomadic tribal carts and tents.
However, these nomadic tribes did not dare to provoke Su Ze's elite cavalry, but instead stayed away from them. Not long after entering Gaoping, Yu Jin in Gaoping City received the news and personally led the cavalry out of the city to welcome Su Ze.
"Si Jing!"
When he saw Yu Jin, Su Ze knew that Gaoping County had been settled.
If not for this, Yu Jin would never leave Gaoping City.
"My subordinates pay their respects to the general!"
Yu Jin decisively dismounted and saluted Su Ze.
Actually, Yu Jin is not one of Su Ze's old subordinates.
When they marched to the northern border, Yu Jin and Su Ze were both Li Chong's subordinates.
Yu Jin became the prefect of Gaoping County and married Li Chong's granddaughter.
Strictly speaking, there was no host-guest relationship between the two.
But now Yu Jin went out of the city to greet him and dismounted to salute, which was tantamount to clearly expressing his loyalty to Su Ze.
Su Ze smiled and helped Yu Jin up, but did not say any polite words. This established the host-guest relationship between him and Yu Jin. From now on, he was Yu Jin's master.
People see themselves more clearly as they grow up.
Su Ze and Yu Jin took up their posts together, Su Ze went to Hezhou to serve as General Protector of the Qiang, and Yu Jin served as County Magistrate in Gaoping.
Su Ze’s official position was slightly higher, but the actual treatment of the Gaoping County Magistrate was more valuable.
The General Hu Qiang was just a general of miscellaneous title and was not in charge of both military and political affairs. Above him was his father-in-law, the Governor of Hezhou.
However, Su Ze first defeated the Tuyuhun people, recovered the three cities of Huangshui, and then opened up the Xihai County.
Su Ze crossed the Qilian Mountains again, attacked the Gaoche army in the north, rescued Dunhuang, and quickly solved the border problems that had plagued Hexi for many years.
After the rebellion in Guanzhong, Su Ze attacked Longxi County again and stopped the Qinzhou rebels. Then he went south to Liangzhou, defeated Mozhe Dadi's troops, and completely controlled Liangzhou.
And what about Yu Jin himself?
If it weren't for Su Ze's old subordinates who told him to keep an eye on Hu Chen, Gaoping County would have changed hands long ago.
Later, it was with the help of Su Ze to stabilize the situation and support Gaoping that Yu Jin was able to drive away Hu Chen and control most of Gaoping County.
Compared with Su Ze, Yu Jin accomplished nothing after taking office as the prefect of Gaoping County.
Such a huge gap convinced Yu Jin. Guanzhong was in chaos now, and Gaoping would not be able to remain unscathed without Su Ze's support.
Therefore, Yu Jin did not think about the psychological burden, frankly acknowledged the host-guest relationship with Su Ze, and officially joined Su Ze's team.
The two have known each other for a long time, and now Su Ze is also the General of Pingxi, so Yu Jin does not have any psychological pressure to do this.
After clarifying the subordinate relationship, Yu Jin wanted to introduce the entourage around him to Su Ze.
"This is Li Xian, the descendant of Li Ling in the early Han Dynasty. His grandfather once served as governor of Gaoping. It is thanks to his contribution that we were able to pacify Gaoping this time."
(End of this chapter)