The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde took out a shawl from his arms and put it on the coffee table. Xu Wenbi only glanced at it and then looked away.

At a glance, he recognized what Wei Guangde was holding out. Lan Rong, it’s not like he didn’t have this stuff.

It's just that in this weather, it seems that it's too early to use this thing. It was only worn in the cold winter, and the thermal insulation effect is quite good.

Although Lanjong is expensive, but for a family like Guogongfu, Lanjong is rare, but it is not uncommon.

"A robe costs up to a hundred gold, and a horse costs more than ten taels."

This is the price of blue velvet in this era, which is much more expensive than the best Songjiang cotton. Naturally, only high-ranking officials are qualified to use it.

Xu Wenbi's reaction was as expected by Wei Guangde. He pointed at the shawl happily and said with a smile: "Brother, do you know the origin of this thing?"

"The weaving made in Lanzhou is called Lan Rong."

Although Xu Wenbi didn't understand why Wei Guangde asked this, he still answered.

He didn't believe that Wei Guangde didn't recognize this thing. He had been an official in the capital for many years, so he had never seen anything strange.

Even if Wei Guangde's family was not well off before he became an official, it would be understandable that he did not recognize this thing, but his wife is from the Xu family, and even in Nanjing, the winter is not warm, so there must be something like this in the Duke of Wei's mansion. .

"Indeed, this is Lanjong."

Wei Guangde didn't pay attention to Xu Wenbi's attitude, but continued: "The piece I took out should strictly speaking be "gurong".

Of course, "Gurong" is actually a type of blue velvet, which is spun from goat hair raised locally in Lanzhou."

When Wei Guangde said that the shawl was "gu rong", Xu Wenbi wanted to speak.

Of course Wei Guangde knew that he had misunderstood what he meant, thinking that he said this thing was a gu rong instead of a blue rong, so he said immediately.

"Shandai, what do you mean? You don't have to beat around the bush here.

To tell you the truth, most of the noble military ministers will not support the peace talks between the imperial court and the Tatars, because many of our families have mortal enemies with the Tatars. "

Xu Wenbi said.

Wei Guangde raised his lips when he heard this and smiled again.

If we want to talk about the enmity between these nobles and the Tatars, there must be some. Even Xu Wenbi said that there is enmity between the Han people and the Tatars in the world, which is actually not an exaggeration.

However, this is just what they said. It is the reason why they oppose the peace talks, because it blocks their financial path. This is the fundamental reason for their opposition.

"The raw material of cotton cloth is cotton, the raw material of silk is silkworm, and the raw material of this blue velvet is all kinds of wool."

Wei Guangde just replied lightly.

"so what?"

Xu Wenbi frowned, still not understanding the meaning of what Wei Guangde told him.

"With wool from the grasslands outside Guanhai, Lanzhou's cashmere can be mass-produced, just like Songjiang cotton."

"hiss"

As soon as Wei Guangde said this, Xu Wenbi already understood what Wei Guangde meant and couldn't help but take a breath.

"You mean to use the mutual market to purchase large quantities of Tatar wool to spin into blue velvet and sell it all over the world?"

Xu Wenbi just didn't think that way at first. Wei Guangde's words were so straightforward that he almost told him to use money to invest in the Lanjong workshop. If he didn't understand it anymore, he would be really stupid.

After saying this, Xu Wenbi didn't wait for Wei Guangde to answer, and just lowered his head to think.

The price of blue velvet is extremely high, but wool is actually not expensive, especially wool from the grasslands.

The place was full of cattle and sheep, so it was really worthless. The clothes and tents worn by the Mongolians to keep out the cold were actually mostly made of wool, but the workmanship was rough. Of course, it couldn't compare with the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, in the north, cashmere products have a long history of weaving. However, because of the difficulty of weaving, the output has never been large, because most of them are produced like family workshops. It would be strange to be able to weave in large quantities.

Lanjong became the "top luxury" pursued by the powerful. In fact, it was not recognized by the gentry and wealthy families from the beginning, but it was all thanks to the move of King Su's vassal residence to Lanzhou.

After King Su Zhu Lai entered the northwest of the vassal state, he found that the winter here was long and cold, and there were no good heating tools.

At that time, Lanzhou folk had a tradition of using wool textiles to make tops, but it was not on a large scale and was not popular among the upper class.

The keen Zhu Gai noticed this phenomenon, so before winter came, he had a woolen coat woven for him. He wore it when meeting guests and traveling on official business. It was warm and comfortable, as well as noble and elegant.

The words worked, and soon, using cashmere to weave winter clothes became a fashion among Lanzhou's upper class society, and gradually became a clothing brand famous throughout the country.

Even the Imperial Palace Weaving and Dyeing Bureau began to specifically purchase Lanzhou cashmere to make warm clothing for the nobles in the palace. With this demonstration, it gradually became popular among the nobles.

From being out of the market to being chased by powerful officials, the price of blue velvet has naturally skyrocketed.

The northwest region has developed animal husbandry, with cattle and sheep everywhere, and Lanzhou, as the distribution center for northwest wool, provides high-quality and low-cost wool for the wool textile industry.

It stands to reason that the output of blue velvet should also be very high.

Unfortunately, the long-term war between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols has kept the wool supply in Lanzhou low. Even if the locals have high weaving skills, they cannot weave in large quantities because it is difficult to get enough wool.

Of course, it is also because of scarcity that further boosts the price of blue velvet.

Think about it, weaving a piece of clothing actually costs twenty taels of silver. This is twenty taels of silver and the price of dozens of shi of grain.

Wei Guangde is a minister in the cabinet. If his monthly salary is not compromised, it will be enough to buy two pieces of clothes.

When Wei Guangde thought of this in the cabinet in the afternoon, he asked someone to check the classics and found that Lanzhou's velvet weaving technology seemed to be related to the Western Regions and was spread to Lanzhou around the Tang Dynasty.

According to ancient records, there are two kinds of sheep's wool: one is fur sheep, whose hair is cut into blankets and velvet pieces, and hats and socks are everywhere in the world.

In ancient times, when sheep from the Western Regions were not brought into China, they were dressed in brown color and were made of their wool.

The brown ones are rough but without finesse. Today, the rough brown ones also appear like sheep's bodies...

A descendant of Shaoyang (Fan language) came from the Western Regions in the late Tang Dynasty. The outer hair is not very long, and the inner hair is fine and soft, with woven velvet brown. People in Qin called it goat to distinguish it from sheep.

This kind was first introduced to Lintiao from the Western Regions, and now it is the only one in Lanzhou. Therefore, the fine brown ones all come out of Lanzhou. They are called 'Lanrong', and some people call it 'Gugurong', which is from its original name...

Gu Gurong was also mistakenly called Gugu Rong in later generations.

The main material of the blue velvet that is now popular in the Ming Dynasty is actually this kind of peony sheep, or Lanzhou goat hair.

However, due to the war, the number of goats raised was not large. After all, these goats could only be raised in the wild, and the yield was not high.

On the other hand, there is a large amount of wool in Mongolia, which can be used to make carpets, hats and socks, and clothes. It is just a little rough, but has good thermal insulation effect, so it can be popularized.

However, the Mongolian wool can only be used to make rough clothing, hats and other items. This is because the Mongolian skills are not high. The wool textile industry in the West has developed in this era. As long as the cost is increased, fine wool textiles can actually be weaved. .

In fact, when he first saw Lanjong, Wei Guangde was determined to invest in the cashmere industry, but he was worried about the outbreak of "sheep cannibalism" in the Ming Dynasty, so he suppressed the idea.

Capital pursues profits, and capitalists have no limits, and neither do these powerful people.

However, if the Ming Dynasty negotiates peace with the Mongols, it means that there will be sufficient wool raw materials on the prairie, and naturally there will be no need to worry about the inland fields being occupied and used to raise sheep. It seems that the wool textile industry can be developed in the Ming Dynasty. stand up.

With the skills of the skilled craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, the improvement of textile machines was not a problem. I believe that the woolen textiles of the Ming Dynasty should also be able to reach the level of the West or even surpass it.

In Wei Guangde's few school memories, it seems that there are several important things in the development of Western economy. In addition to steam engines and steelmaking technology, the improvement of textile machines is also a very important driving factor. It allows Westerners to appreciate for the first time what technological innovation brings. results.

Why did Lanrong lose its reputation in later generations? Wei Guangde guessed that it might have something to do with the West.

After all, the textile industry in European countries is the earliest industry in their economic development. In terms of technology, due to the long time, the products must be very exquisite. It is a few blocks ahead of Chinese wool textiles. In the end, the decline of blue velvet is probably caused by others taking away the market.

Of course, Lanrong actually died in the Qing Dynasty.

Before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the trading volume of blue cashmere was still very large, because during the Qing Dynasty, the barriers that restricted the development of cashmere in the Ming Dynasty had been solved, and the huge wool output in the northwest was supported.

It is said that during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the annual transaction volume of Lan Rong was as high as 10,000 taels of gold.

The disappearance of the traditional skill of Lan Rong was due to the rise of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. Based on the Lan Rong production technology of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Lanzhou opened the Lanzhou Weaving Bureau, using the abundant wool raw materials in the northwest to produce Wool cloth.

Well, at this time, blue velvet had been replaced by Western textile techniques, and products were produced using Western techniques.

Naturally, Lan Rong is no longer mentioned.

"Shaloan, I probably understand what you mean.

The losses there were replaced with wool from the grasslands. We asked them to trade the wool for salt and iron tea, and then sell the wool textiles. "

Xu Wenbi still seemed a little hesitant, but Wei Guangde knew what he was worried about, so he smiled and said: "If you make a profit from the mutual market and another profit from the textile workshop, the profit is not small.

As far as I know, the wool on the grassland is really worthless, almost the same as picking it up for free. "

"How much can you make from doing business? It doesn't seem to be as profitable as it is now."

Xu Wenbi frowned and said.

"Brother, is it true that the Duke's mansion really lacks that little money?"

Wei Guangde looked at Xu Wenbi and said leisurely: "You are the Duke of the country who has retired from the country. It is impossible for you not to know the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial government's finances are on the verge of desperation due to military spending in the north.

What will happen if this situation continues? Have you ever thought about it?

If the imperial court ceased to exist, that would be the biggest blow to the Xu family. "

When Wei Guangde said the last part, his voice was so low that only two people could hear it, because there was something taboo in his words.

“Although this business may not be as easy to make money as it is now, it can be done steadily, with stable income every year, and there are no risks involved.

Those methods of making money from it are not on the table no matter what, and the children of the family have to be sent to the border towns to suffer, so why bother. "

Wei Guangde said again.

"But without the confrontation between the two sides, it will be slower for the children of the clan to accumulate merit."

Xu Wenbi added, "After all, I still suffered a bit."

"When the time comes, let them participate in the grand parade in Beijing and show their faces in front of His Majesty.

Accumulation of merit is slow, so there must be comparison. No one has any merit, so who has an advantage over whom?

At the Military Examination Department of the Ministry of War, you still can’t handle those people, hehe."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Yes, I and the people on my side can support you on this matter. When the court gets into trouble, we will not speak out against it.

I will also convey the meaning of your words to other people, but I have no control over whether they will take the overall situation into consideration. "

Xu Wenbi finally nodded and agreed.

"If you object, brother will give me the list and I will visit their homes."

Wei Guangde drove Xu Wenbi and said: "To be honest, the cabinet and His Majesty have actually reached an agreement on this matter. It can even be said that no one objects. What this means, brother should be able to understand."

Xu Wenbi nodded slightly, of course he understood what it meant.

If the emperor and the cabinet agree, it means that it can be implemented forcefully and ignore the noise in the court.

It's even possible that someone dances so hard that they can directly pick off the black yarn.

After coming out of Duke Ding's mansion, Wei Guangde went directly back to his own mansion. The main task tonight had been completed.

Wei Guangde believed that even if Xu Wenbi was not as powerful as before when he first took charge of the Dingguo Palace, those nobles who followed the Dingguo Palace would be affected to some extent.

Because Wei Guangde has made it clear to him that he can support silently, but he can only remain silent.

Yes, whether he is opposed or neutral, no matter what he thinks, as long as he remains silent, as long as he does not stand up and join the opposition camp.

Because no matter how many people oppose it, it will eventually be pushed forward by force. Unless Anda Khan has no intention of negotiating peace, then naturally there will be no more words.

Early the next morning, after Wei Guangde arrived at the cabinet, he was quickly invited over by Li Chunfang's people.

After all the cabinet ministers arrived, everyone briefly talked about what happened last night.

"Xungui, please keep a close eye on Shandai. Even if you don't support it, you can't openly oppose it. In addition, those people below you should also say hello early."

Gao Gong once again stole Li Chunfang's role and began to preach to Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde and others.

"It's best to agree. Even if you are neutral or opposed in your heart, you can't jump out at this time and just stay silent.

Last night, I heard that Zhang Fuduan and Zhang Guoyan convened the Sixth Section to discuss the matter with Song Yingchang, Zhang Sizhong, Ji Outline and others. The result was a fierce quarrel. Only a few of them agreed with us, and most of them agreed with us. Still opposed to peace talks.

The situation is not optimistic. "

Li Chunfang said, "So everyone has been in contact with me more in the past few days. One is to win over people who think the same as us, and the other is to let those who oppose it know how powerful it is and let them protect themselves wisely."

"What the Chief Assistant said is right. We should also pay attention to those officials who react violently. If it doesn't work, I will ask the staff to make arrangements immediately to release them."

Gao Gong also said domineeringly at this time.

Now that he is in charge of the civil service, he can really look down upon those low-level officials.