Daming Yinghua

Chapter 57 The Eunuch of the Weaving Bureau

After watching several pairs of weavers operating the loom with great interest, Liu Shimin picked up a set of jacquard notebooks and rummaged through them for a while.

Turning around suddenly, he pretended to be angry and said to Han Zhongwen: "Han Gong, you and the housekeeper have been following. Every time this Miss Zheng answers our family's questions, she must first carefully weigh your faces. What's the matter, I am afraid that our family will steal the teacher. ?”

Han Zhongwen quickly waved his hands: "Don't you dare, don't you dare, my father-in-law condescends to come, and my family will know everything and say everything."

Ma Xianglin stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master Han, let's go, invite Ma to the front hall to have a glass of chrysanthemum wine, don't be an eyesore here."

Han Zhongwen naturally obeyed, and he and Lao Peng went out with Ma Xianglin while laughing.

Liu Shimin curled his lips, and when he turned to Zheng Haizhu, his face was much warmer, and he waved her to continue to show him the weaving workshop.

"I heard from General Ma that the girl is from Zhangzhou?"

"Returning to the public, the young woman is from Longxi County, Zhangzhou."

"Oh," Liu Shimin took out the cleansing veil that he took out from the posthouse, stroked the velvet on it, and exclaimed, "The Han family has good fortune, and you are a good general. Come on, tell me, this How are the handkerchiefs woven?"

Zheng Haizhu squatted down respectfully, and led Liu Shimin to a row of baskets. He pointed to the piles of cloth inside and said, "Please look, father-in-law, these are all woven rough cloths that are going to be dyed. We often see them in Songjiang. The medicine-spotted cloth and the purple-flowered cloth are dyed with indigo and local purple flowers respectively, showing dark blue and brown-yellow."

Liu Shimin nodded, pointing to the robe on his body: "Yes, the long gown I'm wearing today is made of Polygonum indigo that I bought at the coat and hat shop in your prefectural city. Scholars have always admired that kind of light blue, such as blue sky, blue water, green bamboo and green smoke." The green plums are green. But I love this kind of dark blue. It looks like the sky at night, so I can’t figure it out. However, Xianglin said that his rhombic cloth is the best Songjiang cotton cloth, so the old man can also make it All in one suit. Cough, he is a young man, so handsome and handsome, he looks good in anything."

Zheng Haizhu has always been focused on making a big eunuch like an internal official. At this moment, he can't understand Liu Shimin's words, and then think about Ma Xianglin's behavior of rushing to Songjiang to accompany him, and he feels a little strange.

During the Wanli period, the two notorious groups of internal officials dispatched abroad were the mining tax eunuchs and the weaving eunuchs.

It stands to reason that Ma Xianglin, whose father died at the hands of a mining tax eunuch, would be more disgusted with a similar weaving eunuch, right?I didn't expect it to be quite personal.

But Zheng Haizhu guessed deeply, and only waited for Liu Shimin to stop talking, and then continued to explain according to the other party's intention: "My father-in-law is right, and my wife also thinks that this blue is like the night sky.

The little woman's hometown is by the sea, and she got up in the middle of the night to make medicine for her mother. She saw the night sky between the night and the sea, the first dawn appeared, and the blue was mixed with orange and red, which really dazzled people.

When she came to Songjiang, she saw the medicine-spotted cloth and the purple flower cloth, which were blue and yellow, so the young woman discussed with the weavers to bury thin rods in the rough cloth as false wefts, and no cotton yarn was woven at the false wefts.First, soak the rough cloth with Polygonum indigo and purple flower dyes. After beating and drying, use silk thread that has been dyed red at the false weft to weave pile loops by winding knots. Then cut the pile loops and remove the false wefts. , it becomes. "

Liu Shimin touched the cloud-like red velvet on the handkerchief lightly with his fingertips, and squinted his eyes to listen to Zheng Haizhu's narration.

He entered the palace at the age of 16, like a shark entering the sea. He has been cruising in the huge inner court of the empire for more than ten years and has seen countless people.

From the maids serving the emperor's concubines to the female craftsmen of the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, their eyes, if not dim, were shrouded in fear and humbleness.

It was completely different from the woman in front of her, with a calm and dignified expression, but warm and vivid sparks flashed in her eyes from time to time.

For a brief moment, Liu Shimin thought of that noble woman in the Forbidden City who also had such distinctive eyes.

Although, his comrades in arms had already found out that there must be no relationship between Miss Zheng and that Concubine Zheng.

But this kind of look is indeed more liked by those who are proud in their bones.For example, the Holy Majesty is to Concubine Zheng, and General Xiao Ma is to Miss Zheng.

And the senior who was hiding in the south of the Yangtze River, when he talked about this woman with him, his admiration was also very clear.

"Shi Min, give me palm eyes, is that girl a talent for making?"

The words of the elders are still in my ears.

With a "snap", the weaver beside him accidentally let go of the shuttle and dropped it at Liu Shimin's feet.

Liu Shimin came back to his senses, attached himself to pick up the shuttle for the weaver.

The weaver was so frightened that he bowed down again and again, stuttering for a long time and unable to utter a word.

Liu Shimin patted him on the shoulder, smiled gently, motioned him to relax, and continued to sit back and weave.

In the huge machine room, many experienced weavers couldn't help but mutter in their hearts, the eunuch received by the host today looks very kind.It is said that eunuchs are as fierce as tigers, and weaving eunuchs are the biggest evil tigers. There have been major incidents in Suzhou before. The eunuch Sun Long squeezed local fabrics and collected tribute and taxes too much. The people of Suzhou rioted and almost beat Sun Long to death in Gusu City. .

I just hope that this Eunuch Liu will not be a smiling tiger.

Liu Shimin's eyes fell back on the veil, and asked Zheng Haizhu: "The red color of Yunxia is very positive. Most of the vermilion dyes we see in our house are big-leaf banyan or cinnabar, but they can't dye this red. What do you use to dye it?" of?"

Zheng Haizhu replied: "My father-in-law, it is a unique grass in the hills of Longxi County. Our local people call it Xiapu grass. It is crushed and retting into pulp, soaked in raw silk, and dried for ten days. It is so red. Washed with water, or exposed to fragrant soap, it will not fade."

"Oh?" Liu Shiyu asked curiously, "Don't you need to add lime?"

Zheng Haizhu shook his head: "Just the slurry of grass leaves will do."

She is sure that after traveling to Zhangzhou, she has seen Fujian people dyeing cloth and silk countless times, and the natural plant dyes are so amazing.

Wait, she was stunned suddenly, something flashed in her mind.

"Elder-in-law, the young lady is stupid. Lime should be added to the dye? After the young lady came to Songjiang, she only saw that alum was added to the indigo."

Liu Shimin smiled: "It seems that you Hokkien people are given food by God, so I don't know. Lime must be added to the dye of the big-leaf banyan here in the south of the Yangtze River, otherwise, the dyed silk and satin will be ocher color, which is too dark. Nobles in the world won't wear it."

Zheng Haizhu tried to be calm, and put on a very teachable look of comprehension.

How sophisticated Liu Shimin is, he immediately caught the flash of hesitation in the young woman's eyes.

However, he misunderstood the reason why the other party was thinking, and thought that this loyal little servant was worried that the owner's workshop would be favored by the imperial court.

Liu Shimin teased bluntly: "Hehe, Miss Zheng is hiding her clumsiness, isn't she? I'm afraid I will drag your master directly into the imperial merchant team. Look at these weavers, all of them are worried, they must be afraid of their own A craftsman who was incorporated into my weaving bureau. Don't worry, girl, the cloth in your house is indeed very well woven, but the women in the palace only wear silk and satin clothes. However, the velvet and cotton cleansing handkerchief you figured out Son, but the imperial court can sell it to Fan Shang."

(End of this chapter)