Film and Television World Life Record

He sighed and stopped talking about it. Then he subtly suggested that he could join Su Tan'er's plan. As one of her key generals, since he already knew about the plan, Su Tan'er naturally couldn't refuse his request to join. Besides, Xi Junyu would also be involved when the technology matured in the future.

With permission granted, Xi Junyu breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been optimistic about Su Tan'er's plan and didn't intend to participate, since he no longer planned to work for the Su family.

Today, when he went to see the eldest son of the Wu family, the Wu family told him that the technical improvement team led by Su Tan'er had made a huge breakthrough and had even developed an excellent dye to meet the high-end needs of the palace.

He was instructed not to leave the Su family for the time being, but to join them and obtain the dye formula, for which he was promised an attractive position and generous rewards.

Since he no longer wanted to stay in the Su family, it was only natural for him to take revenge and reclaim all the effort he had put in over the years before leaving. After all, without Su Tan'er's lingering affections, he had no further connection with the Su family.

Chapter 606 The Faded Cloth

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away in Bianliang, the capital of the Eastern Capital, a scene of bustling prosperity unfolded. Along the most lively Imperial Street in the city, leading all the way to Xuande Gate, the main gate of the Imperial Palace, a major event was quietly taking place.

The most powerful ministers in the court, now holding considerable influence, gathered here with solemn expressions.

These people held various official positions, and they gathered in twos and threes, drinking tea and discussing the matter with great enthusiasm.

"How should we decide on this matter? The Liao people have already sent a letter requesting further discussion on the annual tribute. If our dynasty agrees to send troops to attack the Jin, and is even willing to give up the annual tribute, should we agree or not?"

One person said, "I don't think we should agree. When two tigers fight, one will surely be injured. Helping either one will not benefit us. It would be better for our dynasty to wait in comfort and reap the benefits."

Another person said, "I think it's worth considering. I've heard that the Jurchens are very powerful. If the Liao Kingdom can't stop them, they will endanger our dynasty sooner or later."

Another person chimed in, "No, the Jin people are few and far between. The Liao Kingdom is the real threat to our dynasty. It would be best to sit back and watch the tigers fight. If we must intervene, I think we should let the Jin attack the Liao and take the opportunity to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, thus ending a century of shame."

Many people are now echoing this sentiment: "Yes, let's join forces with the Jin to attack the Liao and wipe away a century of humiliation."

Another person shook his head and said, "It is not advisable. Our dynasty has had few wars with the Liao Kingdom for a hundred years and has become a brotherly state. The Jin Kingdom, on the other hand, is a dangerous threat. Moreover, its ruler is fickle and treacherous. He has signed alliances with the Liao Kingdom many times, but he will turn against them at the first opportunity. He has no sense of shame. To unite with them is no different from asking a tiger for its skin. The Jin people must not be trusted."

Someone said, "Military strategy has always emphasized befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones. This has been the case since ancient times. We should ally with the Jin to attack the Liao. Why should we ally with the Liao to attack the Jin? What kind of logic is this? If this succeeds, the recovery of Yan and Yun will be just around the corner, and we... will be remembered in history..."

Some people questioned, "Is this just alarmist talk? We know how strong the Liao Dynasty was. The Jin Dynasty only had a small population, with less than 100,000 soldiers available throughout the country. How could they pose such a threat to the Liao Dynasty, even to the point of destroying it?"

One person chimed in, "That's really true. The Liao people are truly desperate this time. I heard that they not only sent a letter of credence but also brought a large number of gifts and visited the residences of many high-ranking officials. Such a thing... is unprecedented in the hundred-year history of our dynasty. The Liao state would not have done this unless they were truly desperate."

Another person sighed, "I never imagined that the Liao Kingdom had fallen to such a state. I think it's best not to send troops this time, but rather to wait and see. If the Jin people are truly this powerful, and we join forces with the Liao and suffer a defeat, who knows if they won't come after us?"

Another person stepped forward and said, "We must not embolden others and diminish our own morale. The Jin Kingdom only has so many people; no matter how powerful they are, what can they do? After destroying the Liao Kingdom, they won't have the energy to care about us. I believe we should join forces with the Jin to attack the Liao. The Liao Kingdom's fate is sealed; we should act in accordance with destiny and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun in one fell swoop... Our Wu Dynasty will prosper..."

A buzz of discussion filled the room as everyone began to murmur and argue amongst themselves.

However, the two viewpoints of allying with the Jin to attack the Liao, and remaining neutral and watching the two sides fight from the sidelines, clearly have the upper hand.

However, the proposal to unite with Liao to attack Jin was not supported by many people.

If Li Mu were here, given three options, he would probably choose to join forces with Liao to attack Jin.

Unfortunately, none of the three options have a good outcome, so we can only choose the one that offers the best hope.

Judging from the Jin Dynasty's past behavior, it has absolutely no credibility. Even if the Wu Dynasty allies with the Jin to attack the Liao and tries to appease them repeatedly, it's only a matter of time before they turn against the Jin once the Liao is gone. Once they have the resources, they can march south at any time. Credibility and agreements are nothing but toilet paper to the Jin. Anyone who believes them would be a complete fool.

On the contrary, when allying with Liao to attack Jin, the Wu Dynasty had no shortage of supplies, food, weapons and equipment, so it provided them to support Liao in their campaign against Jin, putting Liao at the forefront.

The Jurchen population is limited. Even if all the able-bodied soldiers of suitable age were conscripted, it would still be less than 100,000. Every one that dies is one less. As long as the Liao Kingdom can sustain itself with the material support of the Wu Kingdom, even if the Liao Kingdom eventually collapses and is destroyed, the Jurchens will be worn down to a minimum and will not be able to move south for a short period of time.

It's hard to say whether they can move south in the future. With such a small population, can they suppress other nomadic and hunting peoples? Will there be internal divisions and rebellions?

Furthermore, another, even more powerful force is rising on the grasslands. If this drags on for a while, the Jin Kingdom's most formidable adversary will not be the Wu Kingdom, but rather the nomadic peoples rising on the grasslands.

At that time, the Wu Kingdom will once again become the party being won over, allowing it to continue to eke out a living.

However, these ministers in the court clearly did not approve of the alliance with Liao to attack Jin, a result that had already been decided seven years ago by the Blackwater Alliance.

Especially four years ago, when Emperor Tianzuo of Liao personally led an army of 700,000 to attack Jin, only to be defeated by Wanyan Aguda's 20,000 troops, the fear of the Wu Dynasty against Liao was almost completely swept away. It was as if the Wu Dynasty had won the war, and the call for an alliance with Jin against Liao was rising, as if the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun was just around the corner.

It wasn't that there weren't people with foresight who wrote to the court: "Support the weak and suppress the strong. Now that Jin is strong and Liao is weak, is it better to be neighbors with the strong Jin than with the weak Liao?"

Even the King of Goryeo secretly sent a message: "Liao is a brotherly country, preserving it can secure the borders; Jin is a tiger and wolf country, we should not befriend it!"

However, this idea was too niche. Although the Liao Kingdom, realizing the crisis, sought help from the Wu Kingdom and was even willing to cancel the annual tribute, the temptation was too small compared to recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, which had been lost for more than two hundred years. This was a great achievement that no emperor or minister could refuse.

In fact, since the Liao Dynasty suffered a major defeat a few years ago, the Wu Kingdom had been secretly contacting the Jin Dynasty. The two sides exchanged envoys and their intention to form an alliance to attack the Liao Dynasty was already obvious.

The Liao Kingdom will likely return empty-handed this time.

Not only were dark clouds looming over the north, but in the south, taking advantage of the floods, Fang La also started another uprising.

Meanwhile, at the Su residence, with the city gates opening for shorter and shorter periods each day and the election for the Imperial Merchant drawing ever closer, Su Tan'er was also extremely busy. Every day, she had to gather large quantities of supplies and beverages from Jiangning and other places. Although she was tired, her spirits were not bad.

That morning, the Qinhuai River wharf was bustling with activity due to the poor land transportation, with goods and people everywhere.

At this moment, in a large warehouse of the Su family at the dock, Su Tan'er was dressed simply as a woman, in a white dress with a sky-blue collar, simple yet elegant.

While watching the workers carry things back and forth into the warehouse, he checked the warehouse supplies.

Sometimes I would open boxes or containers to look inside, and point out problems with things like cinnabar, madder, alum, and iris.

"Manager Liao, come and take a look. There seems to be something wrong with these rat-tail leaves, and the gallnuts over there are moldy too. Is it because they've been soaked in water...?"

Knowing that the city gates would be closed, a large quantity of goods were transported this time, including raw materials for dye making, as well as finished dyes. There was also silk, cloth, and even looms.

This warehouse can't hold them all, so they need to be diverted to other warehouses.

However, Su Tan'er was already quite adept at this. She inspected the warehouse and then went to check on the several Su family cargo ships that were unloading cargo.

The area around the docks has always been chaotic, a gathering place for small gangs, thugs, and all sorts of people. Fights of all sizes happen every day, and Su Tan'er is already familiar with it.

The dock was bustling with people. She hadn't gone far when a man with a hurried and sleazy look brushed past her. Su Tan'er's expression changed, and she suddenly turned around.

The man also subconsciously turned around. He was holding the pink and white sachet that was originally hanging on Su Tan'er's waist with one hand, while Su Tan'er reached out and grabbed the other side of the sachet.

Seeing that she was a weak woman, the man was not afraid. He was very familiar with the dock and was an old hand. Instead of running away, he also reached out his other hand. If he couldn't steal it, he would just rob it.

Su Tan'er's face turned cold. A short sword slid from her sleeve into her palm. Without drawing it, she swung the sword out with her backhand. With a snap, the man flew more than a meter away, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with several teeth, and crashed heavily to the ground.

Several henchmen noticed the commotion, rushed over, pinned the man down, tied him up, and then beat and kicked the thief.

"Damn it! Are you blind?! How dare you steal the young lady's things!"

Su Tan'er instructed them to bring the person over, and then ignored them.

She had barely left when the neighbors started talking about it.

"That must be Miss Su! How can such a delicate and frail young lady be so powerful?"

"That's right, that's right... didn't you see? Such a big person, and she sent him flying in one go."

"How could Miss Su, who is so gentle and frail, send someone flying? Was it someone else who did it?"

"It was Miss Su, I saw it. That man tried to steal something, but Miss Su slapped him away with the hilt of her sword."

"So powerful...Does Miss Su know martial arts...?"

"He must know martial arts, otherwise how could he be so powerful..."

……

Rumors spread the fastest, and in less than half a day, even Li Mu heard that his wife had displayed great prowess at the dock, capturing a notorious bandit on the spot and sending him flying several feet away with a single palm strike.

That evening, after hearing Xiao Chan recount the story vividly again, Su Tan'er felt quite embarrassed.

"It's all thanks to my husband's excellent teaching."

Li Mu burst into laughter, making Su Tan'er blush. What she said wasn't entirely false; if Li Mu hadn't tirelessly accompanied her in dual cultivation every day, teaching her various techniques, she wouldn't have the skills she has now.

The next two days were uneventful. Since the city gates would soon be closed, those with connections were making their way into the city, and many distant relatives from various families also came. Even the Su family had many relatives from outside the city staying there.

This led to a surge in rice prices in the city, and an increase in beggars and homeless people on the streets.

That evening, Li Mu returned home and saw Su Tan'er sitting there blankly, her eyes red as if she had been crying, and her spirit seemed to have been drained.

Upon seeing Li Mu, two crystal tears rolled down her cheeks: "Husband, I... can no longer be a royal merchant."

Li Mu was stunned for a moment, then looked at the two pieces of cloth that had fallen beside Su Tan'er, one bright yellow and the other light yellow, and instantly understood what was going on.

A few days ago, Su Tan'er showed him a bright yellow piece of cloth. She was all smiles and very happy. She asked him, "Husband, do you think this color is beautiful?"

At the time, she was quite confident in becoming a royal merchant, and the newly developed bright yellow dye was her main source of confidence.

In ancient times, the market for bright yellow was quite narrow. Apart from imperial edicts and various royal items, there was almost no other market for it, but it represented something different.

The bright yellow dye developed by Su Tan'er is so vibrant and beautiful that it is even better than the yellow fabric currently used by the royal family. It is impossible for the palace to refuse it, and the Su family naturally became royal merchants.

However, now…

As Su Tan'er spoke, she buried her face in Li Mu's arms and began to cry.

She cried as she said, "Husband... I secretly prepared for three years to become a royal merchant, and finally I figured out such a beautiful color."

“We didn’t add saffron; we used a new method to prepare it: cinnabar, madder root, alum, gardenia… This is a formula that no one has ever used before. A little over a month ago, we thought that when we released it this time, it would definitely surprise everyone, but in the end… in the end, it just… it faded?”

Li Mu asked, "How long did it take for the color to start fading?"

Su Tan'er sniffed: "One month, it started to fade after one month. From the beginning, we did a lot of experiments, sun exposure, fire exposure, washing with water again and again, but nothing happened, it was still so beautiful."

"I thought there wouldn't be any problem, but after a month, it slowly faded, and nothing I did could help."

“We studied the formula again, but this color is very difficult to match. The raw materials use less yellow, and if the formula is slightly wrong, the color will be very different. We have no idea where to adjust it. This bright yellow color was also accidentally mixed by us, and there is no way to change it.”

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face as she said, "Husband, there's no way out. We can't get the imperial merchant's goods."

Li Mu comforted him, saying, "Actually, this isn't unsolvable. There are ways to prevent fading and ways to prevent fading."

Su Tan'er was taken aback: "Husband... do you mean to portray the fading as something good? No... our business partner is the royal family. The fact that the fabric is fading will be exposed sooner or later. Deceiving the royal family is a serious crime."

Li Mu patted her hand: "Don't worry, your husband wouldn't be that foolish."