Chapter 42: Five Ruses Sixty-One: Eastern Dai

On the way back, Fang Chongyong remained silent, his mind still filled with the grand scenes of the Hexi Corridor. Niu Xianke's account made him feel that what he had to do was not simply to fob off Zheng Shuqing and fob off the court and be done with it.

This perhaps concerned the survival and development of the Han people of Hexi.

"Do you feel the matter is difficult to handle? I too find it extremely thorny. The military system of Hexi is in ruins; I fear that if things continue like this, great trouble will erupt."

Seeing Fang Chongyong not speaking, Zheng Shuqing could not help but sigh.

"This... never mind."

After some thought, Fang Chongyong felt that Zheng Shuqing had always seemed 'not too bright'; telling him many of his ideas would be like talking to a brick wall.

The military system of Hexi was still called broken? That was almost the place where the entire Tang dynasty's military system was best maintained!

If even this place had problems, then the Tang was doomed!

Fang Chongyong did not know how to describe a talent like Zheng Shuqing. This man knew how to be an official, but his ability to get things done was quite ordinary.

Because of extensive military farming in the Hexi Corridor, and the rotation militia being unable to return to their original home registers, they could only settle in Hexi, take wives, and have children, passing down from generation to generation.

Therefore, although their descendants today were no longer militia but rather participated in 'recruitment' and 'local corps' type 'irregular forces,' due to the nature of military farming and Hexi's attribute of 'vast land with sparse population,' its essence was still the same system as the original militia.

Of course, it was a version with weakened benefits — rewards and the like were out of the question.

Basic equipment was self-purchased and then handed over to the military farms for safekeeping; the vast majority of people had their own fields, their families also lived nearby, and rotation duty could offset part of their corvée labor.

If one person fled, the whole family suffered; self-sufficient and self-contained as a system, combined with the fact that land consolidation in Hexi was suppressed by high-intensity warfare and a high proportion of military families — all this made every soldier in Hexi unite as one to fight for survival!

If Hexi could not produce a strong army, that would truly be a strange thing.

Old Zheng's dog brain had always been metaphysical; one could not expect too much of him.

"If you have difficulties, it is not impossible to think of some solutions. With Hexi's situation, I too feel helpless..."

Zheng Shuqing said with deep sympathy.

By now the two had passed through the Chunming Gate and entered Chang'an. The drums announcing curfew were already sounding; the city gates were about to close.

"I merely marvel at how our forebears blazed trails through brambles and thorns, risking their lives to open up the Hexi Corridor and forge the road connecting to the Western Regions. Now that Hexi has matters to attend to, naturally I must do my part.

Vice Minister Zheng, please do not worry."

Fang Chongyong bowed to Zheng Shuqing and said.

"Easy to say, easy to say. Once the matter is done, there will certainly be generous thanks. You still have no servants attending you, right? I have quadruplet maidservants in my household; in a couple of days I will send them over."

Zheng Shuqing said with a pained expression.

"Uh, even if you send them over, I would have no use for them."

Fang Chongyong looked at Zheng Shuqing with a helpless expression, not knowing how to judge him.

Quadruplet maidservants — Lord Zheng really knew how to have fun! Enough for a full mahjong table!

"Hmm, I did forget about that. But no matter; once you are a bit older, I will look around for you again.

So many things — you don't know the pleasures until you've tried them. Don't be so resistant; these social engagements, you will encounter them all once you become an official. Getting used to them in advance is not a bad idea."

Zheng Shuqing patted Fang Chongyong's shoulder meaningfully and walked off on his own. Ahead was Xingqing Palace; one still had to maintain propriety.

Exhausted, he returned home, and Fang Chongyong saw Fang Dafu and the others all looking worried.

"Why do you all have such expressions?"

Fang Chongyong looked at Xu Yuan, who usually talked the most, and asked.

"Young Master, today someone from the palace came to inform us that you need not go to the National Academy."

Huh?

"Just like that, I don't go anymore?"

Fang Chongyong was stunned; he never expected Li Longji to handle things so casually!

"Uh, that is not quite it. That eunuch had an explanation: the National Academy requires one to be at least fourteen years of age to enroll, so you do not qualify. Although the Sage spoke on your behalf, he was still refused by the Chancellor of the National Academy."

Xu Yuan said with an awkward expression. In truth, they all knew of this rule, but thinking that Fang Chongyong's background was rather unusual, perhaps there might be an exception? They had not expected it to be of no use.

But come to think of it, it made sense. The National Academy was the private preserve of traditional literati like Zhang Jiuling; defying Li Longji head-on was not unusual. Fang Chongyong understood this very well.

"If I'm not going, then I'm not going. I'm happy to be free of it."

Fang Chongyong sighed. Anyone toyed with like this would feel quite displeased.

"Oh right, that eunuch also said that a teacher would be assigned to come give you instruction. Whatever you wish to learn, he will teach."

Xu Yuan leaned in and said in a low voice.

"Understood."

Fang Chongyong nodded, told Fang Dafu to prepare a dedicated study room. He himself dragged his weary body back to his bedroom, spread out a large sheet of paper on the desk, lit a candle, and thought hard.

The matter Zheng Shuqing had entrusted to him could not be left undone; otherwise, he would offend Niu Xianke as well. Besides, having transmigrated to this world, he could not live like a maggot, merely waiting to eat and die.

Using Hexi's Liangzhou as a center to wage war against the Tubo would inevitably be a long-term and comprehensive war. From the information he had learned from Niu Xianke, the material preparations for a short-term war against the Tubo and a long-term war were completely different.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is oxygen-deprived!

This thought kept spinning and leaping in Fang Chongyong's mind.

Because oxygen deprivation could not be overcome, the Tang army facing the Tubo had a clear 'geographic contour line.' Once the altitude rose, the Tang army could not defeat the Tubo soldiers — this was insurmountable.

This alone meant that the Tang facing the Tubo could only wait for chaos within the enemy's country; otherwise, even with occasional great victories, the Tubo would still come back again.

If Zheng Shuqing wanted to rise in position, he could not get his priorities wrong. Making money was the means; securing the logistics for the Hexi war effort was the goal.

Fang Chongyong picked up his brush and wrote a line on the paper:

Military equipment cannot be self-produced.

This was the greatest flaw and soft underbelly in the Hexi Corridor situation.

The timber, metallurgy, and forging materials needed to manufacture military equipment could not be supplied there. The reason was simple: the ecological environment could not sustain it. In fact, the economy of the Hexi Corridor had made many concessions due to the constraints of the ecological environment.

This problem was also Chang'an's problem.

Because of ecological constraints, during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty, there was no large-scale weapons production base within Chang'an; it mainly relied on transport from elsewhere. Weapons and equipment were initially stored in the armory beneath the eastern wall of the Taiji Palace.

Military equipment could not be eaten or worn; under conditions of national stability, there was no need to place it near the capital to occupy natural resources. The central agency 'Armory Directorate' was responsible for managing the production and allocation of military equipment.

Niu Xianke had done well in Hexi, but many people, including Zhang Jiuling, thought he was nothing more than an outstanding "warehouse manager."

This view, while partly discriminatory, could not be said to be entirely without reason. At the very least, the inability to produce military equipment locally made his worth as a regional official diminish considerably.

Fang Chongyong continued writing on the paper: The government's transport capacity should be fully dedicated to ensuring a continuous supply of military consumables such as crossbow bolts and arrows into Liangzhou, while all other shipments can be deferred.

This point had little to do with Zheng Shuqing's authority, but it would certainly earn him points toward becoming Vice Minister of Revenue.

Fang Chongyong continued writing on the paper:

The silks of Hexi lacked advanced dyeing and blending techniques; only plain white silk could be traded with the Western Region merchants, but its market price was low, far inferior to Sogdian brocade.

Sogdian brocade was made from Chinese silk woven in Persia; it commanded a high price and sold briskly in Chang'an.

In the future, Gaochang cotton, commonly grown in the Anxi Protectorate region, could be promoted in places like Liangzhou and Ganzhou in Hexi, with cotton cloth replacing white silk.

When the people prosper, the state grows strong; the people of Hexi will surely fight to the death in service.

Writing to this point, Fang Chongyong felt a surge of emotion in his heart.

The Zu-Yong-Diao system hindered the development of the commodity economy, and this was especially pronounced in Hexi — which was also one reason why the silk industry of the Hexi Corridor, once destroyed by war, never recovered.

Because it was a product distorted by the Tang dynasty's irrational economic system; once that external force ceased to exist, the market competition of survival of the fittest would naturally snuff it out.

The Zu-Yong-Diao system, as the Tang commodity economy deepened and developed, had become increasingly overburdened.

The Zu-Yong-Diao required farming households to weave cloth, and silk products, as "hard currency," could be used as money. So the local people of Hexi, regardless of whether their silk goods had any market competitiveness, had no choice but to follow this rule.

If they didn't spin yarn, what would they use to pay their taxes? Clearly, raising silkworms and spinning yarn offered the best return on investment!

As for social labor productivity and market competition — the policymakers who devised this system at the time had never considered such things.

Yet the cruel reality now was that the Hexi Corridor, due to its limited scale and harsh external environment, had a silk industry of limited size as well. Limited scale meant that its ceiling and growth potential were also limited.

In the Han dynasty this had not been so apparent; Liangzhou silk still enjoyed some renown. But by the Tang dynasty, with the upgrading of textile technology, the silk produced in the Hexi Corridor, having fallen behind in the industrial upgrade, no longer had any competitiveness in the domestic market of the Tang state!

Either this silk was handed over to the government as part of the Zu-Yong-Diao, or it was sold cheaply to the Western Region merchants, predominantly Sogdians, who would transport the raw silk goods produced in the Hexi Corridor to Persia or even Dashi for secondary processing, turning them into "Sogdian brocade."

This Sogdian brocade was then sold back to the Great Tang, where it was enthusiastically sought after by the Chang'an nobility.

This was also why Dunhuang, at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, became the first turnaround point for the Western Region merchants, because they needed to bring the raw materials and roughly processed goods from the Tang state back to the Western Region for "secondary deep processing."

This was the origin of the saying that "the Silk Road produces silk." The local people of Hexi reaped no benefits whatsoever from the silk trade.

Switching from silk to Gaochang cotton — Gaochang cotton cloth was competitive in Chang'an; Hexi's switch from silk to cotton cloth was the call of the times, and relaxing the Zu-Yong-Diao and adjusting its contents was imperative.

"It's all nonsense anyway; as long as the Sage is happy reading it, that's fine. If Old Zheng can get promoted, then I've done my job."

Fang Chongyong gave a scoff. His purpose in writing all this was naturally not entirely to let the people of Hexi live better lives; the most fundamental reason was still to get Zheng Shuqing promoted.

Purpose determines means. Offering suggestions is no problem — if you want a solution, I'll give you one.

As for execution, what could a half-grown child like him have to say about that?

Thinking of this, Fang Chongyong continued writing on the paper:

Though Liangzhou and Ganzhou have granaries full of provisions, powerful enemies surround them on all sides. At the slightest disturbance, farming cannot be sustained, conscript laborers become recruited soldiers, and provisions are wasted beyond reckoning — victory is by no means guaranteed.

A "permit" system could be established at the West Market of Chang'an: Western Region merchants wishing to transport goods out of the city must first transport provisions to Liangzhou and Ganzhou to obtain a permit.

Those who transport grain may hold a permit to trade outside Chang'an, and after trading their provisions with the government in Liangzhou, they may carry other goods through the pass toward the Western Region. Those who do not transport grain will not be granted a permit and may only trade within Chang'an.

In this way, the provisions of Liangzhou will flow without interruption, and military supplies will face no shortage.

The Western Region merchants had plenty of idle time — let them haul some goods, and while they're at it, have them give Tubo some trouble, play around with an economic blockade or something of the sort.

Fang Chongyong thought with no small amount of malice.

The Sogdian merchants were also Tubo's suppliers, and among them were plenty of two-faced scoundrels who played both sides. If the Great Tang tightened its grip, those Sogdian merchants would have no choice but to stand with the Great Tang, hoping for the war to end quickly.

Because the Great Tang played the dual role of absolute supplier and policeman on the Silk Road. Tubo played only the roles of consumer and bandit.

If the Great Tang lost, the Silk Road would die, and everyone would die along with it.

If Tubo lost, the Silk Road would continue, everyone would act as though nothing had happened, and someone else would come along to play the roles of bandit and consumer.

At this time, most people could hardly see this clearly, but Fang Chongyong, drawing on the broad trends of known history, could easily understand it thoroughly.

In the history of his previous life, after the Great Tang declined, Tubo suddenly realized there was no more profit to be had, and only then thought to establish its own textile centers.

But this belated endeavor, with the help of the Sogdians, had barely begun when the serf uprisings sweeping the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shattered Tubo to pieces, and it never rose again.

The state of Tubo, right up to its demise, probably never figured out what it had been busy doing all those centuries.

"Now there's still one thing missing: where will the funds to reward the three armies come from?"

Thinking as he wrote, Fang Chongyong put on paper: "The Weaving and Dyeing Directorate could be ordered to develop imitation Sogdian cloth in Chang'an, and produce and sell it in Yangzhou, Luoyang, and other places. The proceeds could be used to supply military needs."

This was a genuinely good idea, but whether Li Longji would listen was hard to say. With the attitude of doing his best and leaving the rest to fate, Fang Chongyong wrote it down on paper.

He looked over the completed memorial; in short, it contained just a few suggestions.

Summarized in sixteen characters: dedicate supplies to the military, switch silk to cotton; permit grain transport, imitate cloth to raise funds.

"Why am I worrying about this? Isn't this something Li Longji should be thinking about? Sleep, sleep — staying up late stunts your growth."

Fang Chongyong hastily washed up and burrowed into his silk quilt.

……

The next day, Fang Chongyong did not get Zheng Shuqing coming to "demand his draft"; instead, he received a young man wearing a Daoist robe, looking no more than fifteen or sixteen, with the air of an immortal, seemingly untouched by the mundane world.

"I am Li Mi, by order of the Sage, here to serve as your tutor."

"Oh, oh, oh…"

Fang Chongyong hastily ushered Li Mi into the study.

After they took their seats, Li Mi said with a calm smile: "You may ask whatever you wish, young master, and learn whatever you wish. What I know, I will tell you; what I do not know, I will simply say nothing."

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly, suddenly thinking of Hexi, and could not help asking: "How fares the situation in Hexi?"

"Hexi has no troubles of its own; only Tubo."

Li Mi was sparing with words, uttering these ten characters.

"Then what of Tubo?"

Fang Chongyong pressed further.

Five like sixty-one East Tai.

Li Mi spoke concisely and completely.

Fang Chongyong was nearly choked to death by him, and he didn't dare ask what the statement actually meant, not wanting to reveal his empty head.

The atmosphere immediately came to a standstill.