Daming Yinghua

Chapter 56 The Eunuch of the Weaving Bureau

The second master Han Zhongwen was quite suspicious, not knowing whether it was a blessing or a curse.

The tolerance girl said with a smile, "Master Han, don't panic. Eunuch Liu saw velvet embroidery on the cleansing handkerchief in the posthouse yesterday. When I asked, it turned out that it was bought from Han's house. The prefect of Zhuang specially reported it to his father-in-law. , there is a self-combing girl from Fujian in the Han family, who brought the ability of Zhangrong, and our Songjiang cotton cloth. Hey, after such a mess, a good handkerchief was produced. The father-in-law asked, how did you mix it up? , Zhifu Zhuang said, then I have to ask Miss Zheng to talk about it. Master, look, Mr. Futai is determined to give Han Fu a great opportunity to show his face."

When Han Zhongwen heard the words, his heart sank immediately, and he hurriedly ordered the housekeeper, Lao Peng, to seal the tolerance with a penny.

Tolerance left, Han Zhongwen urged Lao Peng to go to the Han family's weaving workshop to clean up and prepare, and explained the rules to the weavers, while asking Han Ximeng and Zheng Haizhu to select a dozen or so female celebrity masterpieces and take them to the weaving workshop.

In Zheng Haizhu's heart, of course he understood why Master Han was so nervous and excited.

Suzhou weaving admiral eunuch, that is a senior official in charge of managing tens of thousands of looms in the south of the Yangtze River.

Not only Suzhou, but Yangzhou, Runzhou (now Zhenjiang), Songjiang, and Jiaxing, as well as prefectures and eunuchs with developed textile industries, can distribute weaving shares in the name of the emperor, and designate weaving workshops as royal suppliers to satisfy the court Clothes, bedding and court ceremonial clothes.

At the same time, the woven products of Jiapai can also be sold to foreign merchants, in exchange for a large amount of silver, which enters the emperor's inner treasury for the emperor to spend.

More importantly, because admirals and eunuchs can run around in the south of the Yangtze River, they often act as the eyes and ears of the emperor just like the tax supervisors, secretly monitoring the employment of officials in various places, investigating local finances and taxation, and even the ideological trends of literati.

Therefore, the actual status of this Eunuch Liu is no less than that of a third-rank official in the outer dynasty.

……

At noon, the weaving workshop of the Han family was in order. On the red sandalwood Eight Immortals table brought by the horse-drawn carriage from the mansion, various exquisite snacks and seasonal fruits were on display. Mountain spring water was placed on the stove beside it, ready to serve Eunuch Liu who came to visit. Make tea.

After the time passed, Lao Peng trotted in: "Here, come, Mr. Liu is here, and he will be there in a hundred steps."

Han Zhongwen was taken aback: "Ah? Why didn't I hear anything?"

Lao Peng said: "Yes, I thought that a big sedan chair should be crowded in front and back, but it turned out that there was only a small blue cloth sedan, and the mansion platform was not accompanied by it. If it weren't for the people who followed the sedan chair, Two of them were business clothes, and I didn’t even think of going up to ask about them.”

Then he glanced at Zheng Haizhu, and added: "Master, what's even more strange is that the young master of the Sichuan Army, General Ma, is also here, and greeted me kindly."

Ma Xianglin?
Han Zhongwen and Zheng Haizhu were even more surprised.

But Han Zhongwen didn't have time to say more, he hurriedly greeted the weavers to file out, and knelt down at the gate of the weaving workshop.

Although he is not an official, his understanding of the rules of the officialdom is advancing with the times.

In the past, military generals knelt down to civilian officials, but now all people knelt down to eunuchs. As for myself, a man who abandoned literature and started a business after gaining the fame of Juren, he will have to play by ear and kneel when he should.

Behind him, Zheng Haizhu knelt among the weavers, watching a dozen or so feet wearing official boots from far to near, but the top of the middle pair of boots was not a brocade robe.

……

Eunuch Liu Shimin was in his thirties, wearing a dark blue Yexie cotton straight gown, a gauze cap, and a square fair face with a peaceful expression.

Before the man approached, his right hand was raised to stop Han Zhongwen: "Our family has always been taught by the sage, and respects scholars the most. Han Gong is a descendant of a famous official in the Song Dynasty, and he is a human being. It is too late for our family to admire him. How can we accept this arbitrarily?" present."

After speaking, he raised his glottis to the black head behind Han Zhongwen, and said in a calm and friendly tone: "Everyone, get up quickly! It can be seen that your master is very strict, if our family doesn't go overboard and take over for you!" Give an order, how dare you move. Stop kneeling, go back to the front of the loom, and let our family come to see your unique skills later."

Han Zhongwen winked at Lao Peng, and Lao Peng hurriedly yelled with a smile on his face: "Elder-in-law loves you, hurry up and thank you!"

The weavers got up slowly, and several leading and experienced middle-aged male workers bowed to Liu Shimin again and again, and everyone retreated to the machine room deep in the courtyard like a flock of obedient sheep.

Liu Shimin walked up to Zheng Haizhu, with the corners of his mouth curled up and a smile flowing from the end of his eyes, but his gaze was as sharp as a torch.

"You are Miss Zheng? Come on, what do you think of our Songjiang cotton robe? General Xiao Ma urged us to buy it, ha ha." Liu Shimin pointed softly at Ma Xianglin beside him.

Ma Xianglin was also smiling, but his eyes were completely different from Liu Shimin's.

His joy was properly dissolved in his calm demeanor, and in the eyes of everyone around him, this was a kind of gentle and kind treatment of a noble person like a corporal.

Only Zheng Haizhu, who fought side by side with him on that night of bandit suppression, can capture the warmth of reunion in Ma Xianglin's eyes.

After several months of absence, it seemed that we were only doing goodbye for a few days, and there was no embarrassment in saying goodbye.

What surprised Zheng Haizhu even more was that the rhombic reed cloth Ma Xianglin was wearing was the one she gave to the brothers of the Sichuan Army as regular uniforms on behalf of the Han family.

Ma Xianglin read the woman's understanding from her eyes, but he was not so narrow-minded as to indulge in enjoying such moments.

He remembered that this loyal servant of the Han family tried his best to sell his business.

He has to help her.

So Ma Xianglin put on a lively manner of talking and laughing on the scene, and said frankly: "It is better to have fun with others than to have fun alone. The cotton cloth of Songjiang has reached such a high level in our Ming Dynasty, just like firearms shine in our Ming army. So this time I was in Runzhou to train soldiers. When I heard that Eunuch Liu was going to Songjiang, I also turned to visit the old place and told him about the beauty of Songjiang cotton cloth. The good things in the south of the Yangtze River are not only brocade and ramie, and the cotton cloth in Songjiang is not only Can you make diapers for princes and princesses? Unexpectedly, when I saw Eunuch Liu today, Eunuch Liu took the initiative to mention that the face towels in the guest house were provided by Han’s weaving workshop. Just be a guide."

Liu Shimin took over the quarrel and waved his hand: "No, at this time, the local government is extremely busy. Let Lao Zhuang keep an eye on the stall in his hand. The most important thing is to be able to handle business with the Ministry of Households. You Xianglin With our family, our family still feels more relaxed."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Minister, quickly lead the father-in-law in and let the father-in-law give pointers."

Han Zhongwen is such an old man, Ma Xianglin and Eunuch Liu seem to have a good personal relationship, and his maidservant and Ma Xianglin are definitely not born. In this case, the patriarch of this half-old man must be generous and sensible, and push Zheng Haizhu to the front to socialize.

(End of this chapter)