Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 281 Journey to find relatives in the Western Regions

There was a clay pot placed in front of the cover of Madai, which contained an unknown dark liquid that was slightly viscous.

Fang Chongyong put a chopstick into the clay pot with a puzzled look on his face, then dipped the ink on it and wrote on the white paper with the chopsticks.

It seems to be darker than ordinary ink, and the other advantages are not yet apparent.

"Is this ink made from petroleum as the base, with grease and water added?"

"Hui Fangjieshuai, that's true."

Ma Daifeng said with humility.

"Yes, Not Bad."

Fang Chongyong nodded noncommittally.

Can this ink alone handle Jiaozi's printing?

I'm afraid that's not the case.

He thought of the sought-after luxuries in his previous life. No matter how many people complain about this thing, it is undeniable that these so-called luxury goods are actually rags. Regardless of whether they are useful or not, at least they still look exquisite and eye-catching.

If you only use ink to print Jiaozi, it seems a bit low-quality!

"Can I use overprinting?"

Fang Chongyong took out the carved block that had been prepared long ago from the drawer of the desk and put it on the table and asked.

“What does set printing mean?”

Ma Daifeng asked doubtfully.

“First use this set of engravings to print black.

However, the plate is then divided for coloring and another engraving block is used for secondary printing.

For the second printing, red pigment containing cinnabar can be used.

This is the method of printing in batches, loading different color materials on several printing plates of the same size, and then printing on the same piece of paper in batches.

More than just being able to print twice.

In the future, you can also add cyan, red, yellow, etc. for the third or fourth printing. You can play however you want.

What does Ma Langzhong think? "

Fang Chongyong asked confidently.

In his time, set printing was already a low-maintenance technology and had long been eliminated by large-scale industrial printing. It was considered an "intangible cultural heritage."

And it seems that there is no high technical threshold, but no one uses it in this era. The main reason is that there is no necessary use occasion, so the generation of technology lacks social demand.

"Wonderful! Fang Jieshuai is really open-minded and wonderful."

Ma Daifeng was so excited that he clapped his hands and laughed. This technology alone is not worth mentioning. But if three or four colors can be printed on Jiaozi, it will undoubtedly greatly raise the threshold for anti-counterfeiting and make this kind of "money" look more high-end.

A man relies on his clothes and a horse relies on his saddle. Don't underestimate appearance. For new things like Jiaozi, whether it looks good or not and whether the printing is exquisite often determine people's first impression of it.

For the "Fei Qian" that is still relatively rough at present, the technical content of the Jiaozi planned by Fang Chongyong, Ma Daifeng and others is obviously much higher, and the appearance of it will be even different.

Just the quality of the paper used for printing is unmatched by flying money.

"You can really try it, right? This section handsome thinks this kind of gameplay is very good."

Fang Chongyong said with great interest while holding Jiaozi's wooden carving in his hands and playing with it.

The wooden engraving in his hand now is called the "first edition" and is only used to verify the printed pattern. Even if it is really used for printing, it will not produce the "imprinting" effect.

The final engraving involved in printing needs to be re-engraved and finalized using copper materials after the first edition has been revised. Copper is used as the material for engraving and can be used many times. You can also easily create partially embossed patterns.

Both the service life and the use effect are satisfactory. Once it's worn out, smelt and process the copper, and you'll be a hero again!

"There is only one million silk in the treasury of Liangzhou, but whether it is using troops or paying military salaries, at least three million silk must be issued to cope with it. In addition, in order to manage the government and the public, and by the way, honor the saints, and at the same time The circulation of coins in the five states of Hexi must also be taken into consideration.

Therefore, the first edition of Jiaozi had to be printed on at least five million pieces of silk, no more. "

Fang Chongyong sighed softly, patted Ma Daifeng's shoulder and said, "Without the issuance of Jiaozi, a certain Hexi Jiedu envoy will not be able to continue. Whether it succeeds or not depends on how well we operate this time."

Do you want to print so many Jiaozi?

Ma Daifeng was startled and asked in confusion: "Fang Jieshuai, this is four times more!"

He still doesn't understand what "monetary leverage" is, so he naturally thinks that if he deposits one piece of silk, he can only issue one piece of money.

"It's all just trivial, and it's hard to explain it to you now.

After printing a batch, Yan Zhuang was asked to take it to Chang'an to build a memorial hall and at the same time pay filial piety to the saint.

Yanzhuanghui bought the house next to Jinzouyuan, opened a Jiaozi shop here, and stocked silk in Jinzouyuan to cope with the exchange in Chang'an City.

It is necessary to prepare several sets of Jiaozi's engravings in case of emergency. You should also prepare some spare paper. By then, Jiaozi could also be issued in Chang'an. "

Fang Chongyong spoke of the appalling plan with an understatement.

"This, this, this...

I will definitely try my best to print Jiaozi, please rest assured Fang Jieshuai. "

Ma Daifeng said with a wry smile, knowing that he had completely boarded the pirate ship this time and could not get off.

What he said just now shows: If this Fang Jieshuai doesn’t understand the laws of the Tang Dynasty at all, it’s because his courage has reached no limit!

It seems that the latter is far more likely than the former.

In Ma Daifeng's impression, Fang Chongyong had been immersed in the official records of the Tang Dynasty for many years and was very familiar with various laws and regulations. He did not look like the kind of playboy who knew nothing about anything.

If something is illegal, Fang Jieshuai should be clear about it!

The man in front of him, Fang Jieshuai, who was said to be deeply trusted by the saint, didn't seem to be as loyal as the rumors outside said!

It's just that the little thoughts are hidden very secretly, the methods are relatively high, and the thoughts are difficult for outsiders to figure out.

Duke Zhou was afraid of the day of rumors, but Wang Mang was humble and did not usurp the time! Such a simple truth, how could Ma Daifeng, who has been working beside Brother Ji for many years, not know it?

At this moment, Ma Daifeng was thinking a lot, but he didn't say a word.

"Go ahead and deal with Jiaozi as soon as possible."

Fang Chongyong handed the engraving in his hand to Ma Daifeng and said.

"Well, don't worry, Commander-in-Chief."

Ma Daifeng bowed his hands and left.

After he left, Fang Chongyong sighed and paced in the study, thinking about people's livelihood issues in the northwest.

The Tang Dynasty essentially needed to run a settlement and colonial model in Hexi and even the Western Regions. The people were the army, and the army was the people. Such a structure can maximize the strategic buffer when the empire declines.

In order to combat the harsh natural environment of desertification, to maintain the irrigation system, and to resist the military pressure of the numerically superior grassland ethnic groups, the Han people needed to abandon the small-scale peasant economic model and enter the collective ownership model.

Use "forts" as units to carry out military colonial expansion. Everywhere they went, they killed or drove away the indigenous people and allowed the Han people from the interior to migrate here. Since the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains regime has been operating in this way when it came to the Western Regions.

A garrison is also a small-scale army, and it is also a collective farm where the same people eat and live together and help each other. Currency doesn't work well in this mode.

Before the prosperity of the Silk Road, this was often the normal organizational model of the Han people in northwest China. It's just that the parties involved and those in power are in a state of hindsight. The theory has not been summarized yet, nor can it be maintained for a long time, nor has the pros and cons been carefully studied.

What's even worse is that over-militarization of the northwest will lead to tense border relations and waste national power for no reason.

The prosperity of the Silk Road changed this operating model. The secret to the prosperity of the Silk Road lies in commodity economy and free trade. At this point, the Tang Dynasty could not just immigrate to a place and kill or drive away the aboriginal people from the Western Regions there. In fact, national strength does not allow such play.

Since the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Hexi and even the Western Regions controlled by the Tang Dynasty have been striving to develop a commodity economy and prospered as a result.

Wuwei, Dunhuang, Zhangye and other places are all like this. The prosperity of the commodity economy greatly strengthened Datang's control and centripetal force in the northwest. The tribes around the city here were several orders of magnitude more loyal to the Tang Dynasty than those in Youzhou.

Compared with simple immigration and military settlement, this border opening model is undoubtedly much cheaper.

Do you want prosperity, border security, or colonization to form a permanent base? Sometimes you can have both of these options, but often it's either/or and you can only choose one.

There are sacrifices and gains, and any policy has its pros and cons, and there is no perfect policy.

The current system of the Tang Dynasty still focuses on national unity and relies on the Silk Road to develop a commodity economy to strengthen control over the Western Regions.

The number of Han people in the Western Regions was not large, and they did not rely on iron-blooded and cruel military frontier expansion and colonial settlement to stabilize the situation. The Tang court and the Tang army relied on the "everyone makes money together" model, relying on commercial prosperity and silk exports to maintain Datang's dominant position in the Western Regions.

However, this model also has flaws. Once the Tang Dynasty is weak, the loss of the Western Regions and Hexi is inevitable. Developing the military garrison model can lead to a slightly slower collapse.

No matter what Ji Ge's starting point was, since Fang Chongyong was appointed by the imperial court as the Western Region Economic and Strategic Ambassador, he could not become a dawdling bureaucrat. How Datang stabilized the situation in Hexi and even the Western Regions was a required course for him.

Fang Chongyong felt that Ban Chao, who had joined the army, could still maintain "anyone who offends a strong man will be punished no matter how far away he is" for decades. How could he, a latecomer with thousands of years of experience and countless lessons from the trials and errors of his predecessors, remain content?

But it sounds simple to say that he should do his best in his position, but when it was his turn, he felt that the weight on his shoulders was more than ten thousand kilograms, and it was so heavy that he could not straighten his waist.

Fang Chongyong's eyes, which were red and swollen from staying up late, were staring at the huge map of the Western Regions hanging on the wall.

The "Persian Protectorate" established during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty is now the territory of the Arabs. Specifically, it is the Black Food.

This is what happens when one is powerless. Even if one once ruled indirectly, once one's power weakens even slightly, it will be lost. This is the reality that Datang is facing, and it can be reversed without human effort.

Faced with these difficulties, Fang Chongyong could only choose to "do something and not do something".

The first big climax of YSL's spread in the Western Regions is now ready to go, just waiting for the power of the Tang Dynasty to decline.

This trend is currently difficult to interrupt. The outbreak of Arab civilization was due to the internal factors of others, supplemented by the influence of the external environment. This is what Sun Tzu said in The Art of War: "The invincible lies with oneself, but the victorious lies with the enemy."

Historically, after the Tang Dynasty withdrew from the Western Regions, firewalls such as Tubo, Daliao, Xixia, and Xiliao appeared successively, preventing the then weak Central Plains from being fully religious.

The countries in the Western Regions west of Congling are the first line of defense against Arab invasion.

Regardless of whether it was in its heyday or not, the Tang Dynasty did not have much spare time to take care of this area.

In the long run, the Central Plains farming civilization will need continuous investment to maintain its existence and dominance in the Western Regions. The location of the capital determines the cost of projection. Generally speaking, the empire with the Central Plains farming civilization as its core was at a disadvantage in the process of competing for the Western Regions, and needed to make up for its geographical deficiencies with strong national power.

It's easy to win, but it's very difficult to thrive. At least Ji Ge can't do it.

Thinking of this, Fang Chongyong felt a sharp pain in his head.

Standing high and seeing far is often not a lucky thing. Only ignorant people can continue to obtain carefree happiness.

Fang Chongyong believes that the current Tang Dynasty court, from top to bottom, has underestimated the strategic significance of conquering and managing the west of Congling.

This time he will lead Hexi's elite troops to conquer the Western Regions. The first goal is to defeat Xiaobolu and lock the western gate for the Tubo people to go to the Western Regions; the second goal is to defeat the more than 20 countries in the Western Regions west of Congling, control them, and fight with them. The third goal is to distribute Jiaozi in the Western Regions and control the source of the upper reaches of the Silk Road.

These three goals must be accomplished. Of course, if you have spare energy, you can also do other things.

Fang Chongyong was thinking about all the messy things in his mind. He pushed open the door of the study room, and the dazzling sunlight made his vision blur for a while.

At this moment, his legs were shaking and he couldn't exert any strength.

Boom!

Fang Chongyong's eyes darkened and he fainted on the ground. Drowsily, a gentle and familiar voice faintly came to his ears:

"Quick, quick, find a wooden board, lift Alang up and take him to the bedroom, while I prepare for acupuncture."

……

Fang Chongyong had a strange dream.

He dreamed that Brother Ji was trapped on a desert island. Countless warships surrounded the island, ejecting crossbows and explosives. The defenders on the island suffered heavy casualties. Ji Ge was shouting in the center of the formation with his hair disheveled. It looked like he had reached the end of his rope.

In this dream, Fang Chongyong could not see his own body. He was like an immortal with "God's vision". He saw the soldiers in the warship landing on the island and brutally killing the defenders who were protecting Brother Ji one by one. .

The strange thing is that no matter how bloody and indescribable these scenes are, the surroundings are as quiet as if there is no life.

Fang Chongyong slowly opened his eyes. Just as he was about to move, he discovered that there seemed to be silver needles stuck in his head. In the corner of his eye, those silver needles were shining dimly under the candlelight.

Beside the bed, Anaye was taking a nap with her chin on her little hand. When she closed her eyes, the high bridge of her nose looked particularly charming, as delicate as a work of art.

"Ah, pull out the needle, pull out the needle!"

Anaye suddenly woke up and saw Fang Chongyong looking at her intently. Although her movements were a little panicky, her hand that pulled out the needles was very steady, and she pulled out all the silver needles on Fang Chongyong's body in the proper order.

"Did you come to Liangzhou alone?"

Fang Chongyong asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, our Xiu'er's belly is swollen. She said she was afraid that the bumps on the long journey might inflate her fetus. We discussed it and decided that she might as well just raise her baby in Chang'an instead of coming to Hexi.

I am a native of Liangzhou and familiar with the situation here. "

Anaye teased angrily.

Wang Yunxiu is pregnant?

Fang Chongyong was stunned and recalled. During that time, it seemed that whenever he had free time, he would repair cars with Wang Yunxiu, almost without rest for the whole day, and sometimes he would not even be in bed when he was having fun.

"What are you thinking? Even if outsiders come to our house to steal women, they are stealing from me! Who would find trouble to steal her!

He is definitely your child! I am with Xiuer every day! "

When Anaye saw Fang Zhongyong stunned, she knew that this man was thinking about something strange, and couldn't help but laugh and curse.

Fang Chongyong just wanted to say that he had made Pei Xiu's belly bigger, and now that both Xiu'er were pregnant, he didn't suspect that Wang Yunxiu was out to steal men.

But after thinking about it, it would be better not to talk about this incident.

"You are quite tough too."

Fang Chongyong smiled bitterly.

"That's right!

Alang's body is too weak now and he needs to replenish his health.

Otherwise, I want you to look good tonight. "

Anaye smiled softly, her eyes moved, and she came over and kissed Fang Chongyong on the face.

"I'm about to go on an expedition to the Western Regions. Come with me."

Fang Chongyong held Anaye's hand and said.

"I don't want to go. I just want to accompany my grandpa in Wuwei City. You can go and do your work yourself."

Anaye broke free from Fang Chongyong's big hand, smiled slyly, and then whispered in Fang Chongyong's ear with a naughty tone:

"There are so many people in the military camp, and in the dead of night, you, a black bear, are on top of me and doing nothing.

The whole camp can hear my crying and screaming begging for mercy. How can I see anyone in the future?

I won’t go with you. There are many beauties in the Western Regions. You can find them wherever you want!

I'm not Xiu'er, so I don't mind this at all. "

"Actually, when I was in Chang'an, I heard something.

Your mother is not unknown, she is most likely a Parthian princess. This time you accompany me to the Western Regions and see if I can find anyone from your mother's family. "

Fang Zhongyong said solemnly, and the ambiguous smile on Anaye's face suddenly became extremely stiff, her muscles tightened, her hands twisted her sleeves, and her eyes became gloomy.

"Princess from the Kingdom of Anthia? After all, I didn't pop out of a rock."

Anaye let out a long sigh of relief, her eyes filled with disappointment.

"Your biological father is Li Yi, King of Xin'an. Medical Officer Li is a staff member in his palace. Because of his injury, he stayed in Liangzhou to take care of you as you grew up."

Fang Chongyong continued to drop a bombshell.

"When I left Chang'an for the inn this time, I noticed that there was a bad old man in a brocade robe following me. He looked powerful, but he just looked at me from a distance with leering eyes and refused to take action. Move your feet.

At that time, I was still thinking, could it be that the old man was too old to play anymore and just wanted to satisfy his eyesight?

Now that I think about it, could it be that he is my grandfather? "

Anaye asked with a wry smile on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why are you so stupid? The powerful people in Chang'an will never stand by and watch if they can take action. That man is obviously your biological father."

Fang Chongyong couldn't help but hold Anaye in his arms and pat her back gently. And this girl with blood from the Western Regions hugged him and cried loudly.

(End of this chapter)