Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen: The World Silk War in the Era of Emperor Wu of Liang

In modern society, "economic crisis" is already a familiar term, especially the global economic crisis. For China, which is increasingly integrated into the globalization of the world economy, it can be said that it feels the same.However, in every economic crisis, when it comes to the core of the crisis, everyone will naturally think of the United States.As the country with the strongest comprehensive national strength in the world, changes in the economic situation and economic policies of the United States will have a profound impact on the direction of the entire world economy.Whether it is the world economic crisis that started in 1929, the world financial crisis in 1973, or even the subprime mortgage crisis in 2009, all of them reflect this point.This is normal because of the reality of increasingly interconnected world economies and the strong international status of the United States.

However, more than 1,000 years ago, in the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties when the world economy was not closely connected, an economic crisis broke out in the Western world at that time-the silk crisis.The root cause of this economic crisis was China, which was at odds with the Western world at that time.The reason for the modern economic crisis is also the same in the ancient world: changes in China's political situation and changes in the country's exports will also affect the economic situation in the Western world and change the political landscape of the Western world.

Speaking of this "silk crisis", to put it simply, during the Liang Dynasty in China, due to changes in China's internal political situation, it affected the Silk Road connecting China to the Western world.The Silk Road got its name because at that time China's main export was silk, and we just thought it was a trade, but for the West it was a lifeline.Because the change in China's silk export volume caused an economic turmoil throughout Europe, and even led to a long-term war between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire, this is probably something that the contemporary Chinese would not have thought of.

The policies of all dynasties in China have always been to "emphasize agriculture and suppress business". Whether it is a purely Han regime or a sinicized minority regime, they all implement the same policy.To put it simply, this policy is mainly to cultivate land, supplemented by business, and the country is like a large farm.But this farm has been in contact with the outside world very early, the most typical is the Silk Road that runs through the east and west.The Silk Road is divided into two parts: land and sea. First, the "Silk Road" opened in the Western Han Dynasty through the Hexi Corridor. Later, it started to take boats. This is the "Maritime Silk Road" that historians love to talk about later. .Although the overseas trade along the southeast coast has been very developed since the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, the ancient shipbuilding technology was limited, and the main trading partners of ancient China were countries in Central Asia and the Middle East. Therefore, before the 14th century, the land "Silk Road" was more The maritime "Silk Road" should be developed.In ancient China, the exchanges between Chinese dynasties and foreign countries in the past dynasties, unless it involved homeland security and war, ordinary trade exchanges, in the eyes of Chinese emperors, were basically trivial matters, and a few small money from foreign trade did not account for the ancient Chinese government. The bulk of "GDP".As for what happened in the world outside the farm, the Chinese of that era did not care.

However, the outside world is quietly changing. In the Middle Ages, the entire Western world was basically a feudal society. At that time, most of the countries in the world were also farms, but compared with China, it can be said that they were poor, small and backward, and they were far away from each other, so it was inconvenient to communicate with each other. Therefore, the "little things" in the eyes of Chinese emperors such as East-West trade have always been big things in the eyes of Westerners.The so-called Silk Road, China is like a "big wholesaler", and the business travelers who trade, and even the Western countries that trade indirectly, are layers of "small merchants and hawkers".Just like today, when the U.S. stock market fluctuates, the whole world may experience a "financial crisis". We don't care about foreign trade in ancient China, but it often has a "domino effect" for the world, especially the West.Chinese silk and porcelain were the most expensive "high-tech products" in the ancient world. Just throwing a piece of silk abroad is enough to make Westerners break their heads.

So from the beginning of the Silk Road in the Western Han Dynasty of China, Western countries have been breaking their heads and even breaking out many wars for China's silk.Long before the split of the Roman Empire, in order to gain direct trade rights with China, Crassus (the one who suppressed the Spartacus Uprising) who ruled the Roman Empire launched an Eastern Expedition in an attempt to destroy the land between China and Rome. The Persian Empire in the middle was defeated by Persia.After the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western Rome, Eastern Rome became stronger and established a direct connection with China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After that, although there were wars in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, but the Silk Road between China and the West The road has never been broken, and Chinese silk has been continuously imported into the West.

The influence of Chinese silk on the West is enormous.What we know today is that the first countries to open up new shipping routes were Portugal and Spain along the Mediterranean Sea. The development of these two countries is thanks to China.With the smooth opening of the Silk Road, the demand for Chinese silk in the Western world is increasing day by day. At that time, the level of science and technology in the West was far behind that of China. Westerners knew nothing about textiles, which Chinese rural women could do.At that time, Chinese silk was not only a luxury item, but also an expensive high-tech product.Therefore, as the Mediterranean Sea connecting Europe and Asia, the countries along its coast made their fortunes by reselling silk.And the earliest feudal industrial and commercial cities in Europe, such as the famous Italian Venice, Genoa, and Florence, the so-called industry and commerce in these cities was actually to extract the silk thread from the imported Chinese silk, then print and dye it, and resell it to Western Europeans.This kind of industry and commerce supported the low-tech labor-intensive industries along the Mediterranean coast at that time.Therefore, if they cannot get Chinese silk, it is no exaggeration to say that the entire Mediterranean Sea will be paralyzed.

To the east of the Mediterranean Sea is the famous Eastern Roman Empire. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China, it was also the era when the power of the Eastern Roman Empire reached its peak. The power of the Eastern Roman Empire was also given by the Silk Road.They imported Chinese silk from Persia at a high price, and then sold it to Western Europeans at a higher price, earning a lot of economic benefits from it.To the east of the Eastern Roman Empire is the famous Persian Empire. This empire can be regarded as an old friend of the Chinese feudal society. Since the Western Han Dynasty, it has exchanged information and friendly exchanges with successive Chinese dynasties.Our Chinese history books call it the rest of the country.This empire spanned Europe and Asia, and was once listed as one of the four great empires of the ancient world along with the Chinese Han Dynasty, the Guishuang Empire, and the Roman Empire.To the east of Persia is today the Guishuang Empire in the five Central Asian countries, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This empire was called the Great Yuezhi in Chinese history.Although in Chinese history books, this country is very weak, it was first repaired by the Huns and then by Ban Chao, but outside of China, it was very strong, defeated Persia many times, and was another great empire in the Middle East at that time.However, because of their unique geographical location and trade with China, both the Persian and Guishuang empires are close to the water. They are the first middlemen in the silk trade, and they have made enough windfall by reselling the silk trade for hundreds of years.The ancient world from China to the West also maintained a balance of mutual interests in this silk trade.

However, in the late Northern and Southern Dynasties of China, this trade balance could no longer be maintained. AD 538, in the words of the Italian historian De Loach, was "the year of terror".Since this year, the price of Chinese silk in the European market has skyrocketed. Compared with the previous year, it has increased by 15 times in one breath, and this upward trend has continued, showing a geometric base surge.By AD 545, the price of silk in the European market had risen 87 times compared to AD 537.The soaring price of silk year after year was a devastating blow to the European economy at that time. Industrialists and merchants engaged in the silk processing industry along the Mediterranean coast went bankrupt, and many cities also withered as a result.At that time, money in Europe was worthless, and everyone rushed to buy silk to preserve its value. This was an economic disaster that swept across Europe.

Why is this, because there is less silk; why there is less silk, because there is less import; why there is less import, you have to ask the big wholesaler of the Silk Road-China. The reason for the silk crisis can be understood by looking at the history of China during this period. During the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, we said that the Silk Road was not affected by the wars in the Central Plains. On the contrary, it has continued to prosper. The reason for this is that the main trading areas connected to the Silk Road, Not affected by the Chinese war.This year, things have changed.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, the main suppliers of Chinese silk came from the Guanzhong Plain and Shandong area of ​​China.After the war broke out in the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, although China fell into a civil war, because a large number of Han people fled the Central Plains, settled in the Hexi Corridor, and successively established the Han Chinese regime in the local area, the main road connecting the Silk Road has not been used for a long time. Paralyzed by war.On the contrary, the silk trade became an important source of income for the Han regime in Xiliang. Even after several brief reunifications in the North, the silk trade in the Northwest has been very prosperous.Later, the Northern Wei Dynasty unified the north, and as the state power in the north, they directly inherited the Silk Road.The Northern Wei Dynasty attached great importance to the silk trade. Starting from Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao, the Northern Wei Dynasty even issued a trade ban, only allowing the export of finished silk products, but not the export of silk. The purpose is to prevent foreigners from learning to raise silkworms and weave cloth, thus affecting us of silk income.At the same time, during the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the center of China's economy gradually shifted to the south, and the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River developed rapidly.In the Liu Song Dynasty, the founding emperor Liu Yuping settled Sichuan and restored the rule of the Han regime in Sichuan. Therefore, the trade channel between the Hexi Corridor and Sichuan was also opened at that time, and silk from the Jiangnan area could also be imported to the West.At this time, it was also a period when China's Maritime Silk Road was flourishing. At that time, Persia often traded with China by sea. The famous Faxian went west and returned to China by sea.Therefore, although China was in war for a long time during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, China's supply of silk to the world silk market has always been stable. But around 538 AD, things changed. The reason for the change was the decline of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the division of northern China. In the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were six town uprisings in the north, followed by the Ge Rong uprising, and then the Northern Wei court was emptied, and finally split into two regimes, the Eastern and Western Wei. The political turmoil changed China's foreign trade.In the north, Yuwentai's Western Wei regime ruled the north and west. Due to years of war, the Guanzhong Plain and the Hexi Corridor area under the jurisdiction of the Western Wei Dynasty have long fallen into poverty, especially Rouran's intrusion on the Hexi Corridor. The traditional business path is no longer feasible.And it’s useless even if it goes through. At that time, the Western Wei Dynasty had economic difficulties, the population dropped sharply, and agriculture could not be guaranteed. The blow to industry and commerce was even heavier. At that time, the Western Wei Dynasty even merged many counties in order to resume production.Because the population of prefectures and counties in the Western Wei Dynasty decreased too much at that time. For example, Qizhou, an important town in the Western Wei Dynasty, originally had more than 100,000 people, but in the early days of Yuwentai's establishment of the regime, it dropped sharply to more than 5,000 people. Yuwentai also praised this. The prosperous city shows the deep economic difficulties of the Western Wei Dynasty at that time.As a country directly connected to the Silk Road, the situation of the Western Wei regime had a great impact on the trade of the entire Silk Road. The Eastern Wei, which is adjacent to the Western Wei, was relatively lightly damaged by the war in the early days. The problem is that the Eastern Wei and the Western Wei have been fighting for a long time, and the borders of the two countries have been isolated all the year round. It is difficult to transport the handicrafts of the Eastern Wei to the Western Wei and export them through the Western Wei. .As a result, northern China, the main supplier of the original Silk Road, basically stopped eating. At that time, the Liang Dynasty regime in southern China was still prosperous, but the Liang Dynasty also had problems with the Liang Dynasty.The connection between the Liang Dynasty and the Silk Road was mainly through the Hexi Corridor. At this time, the Hexi Corridor was controlled by the newly-emerged Tuyuhun, and the Tuyuhun in this period was the hardcore of the Western Wei regime. Said it was an "enemy country".Therefore, the silk of the Liang Dynasty was generally difficult to export through the Hexi Corridor.The foreign trade of the Liang Dynasty had another route at that time, which was the famous Maritime Silk Road.As early as the period of Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, the sea trade between Jiangnan area and Western countries opened up. During the Three Kingdoms period, Persian merchants lived in Jiankang. In the Liang Dynasty, the sea trade between China and the Middle East countries also reached a very prosperous era. .It can be said that around 537 AD, this was also the "most reliable" route for Chinese silk to be exported to the West, that is, from China to Persia by sea, and then transshipped from Persia to the West.From the above facts, we can see that due to these changes in China's political situation, China's silk exports to the West during this period have dropped by more than one-third compared with normal years.In addition, at that time, shipbuilding technology was limited. Even the Persian merchants who had traded with China for a long time were not capable of building ships. They mainly leased Chinese sea-going ships.It is well known that under the situation of the confrontation between the Liang Dynasty and the northern regime at that time, better ships had long been incorporated into the army and used to fight against the northern regime. Civilian ships were incorporated into the army to expand its military strength and prepare for the Northern Expedition ambitiously.This was not only a plunder of the coastal people, but also a heavy blow to China's maritime trade. As a result, the number of ships that could be used for commerce was greatly reduced. It is not surprising that the price of Chinese silk in the western market skyrocketed due to the above factors. Under the political situation in China at that time, the reduction of silk exports was still a small matter for China. Anyway, we are mainly agricultural, and the money from the silk trade is not the focus of the government's tax revenue. pocket money.But for the West, the reduction in silk exports is a devastating blow to them, just as if Japan does not import oil for a day today, it is likely to paralyze the entire national economy. The reason is the same.Therefore, Europeans have to find a way. According to the consistent nature of Westerners, their main method is to fight, and the protagonist is Justinian, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire at this time. This Justinian is very strange to the Chinese, but in the entire Western world, he is a very famous emperor.Before Charlemagne was born, he was the most powerful emperor in the West. One was that the Eastern Roman Empire was powerful during this period, and the other was that he had great martial arts. During his 40-year reign, he conquered Italy to the west and occupied the The North African Empire defeated the Germanic Empire to the north, and finally defeated the Persian Empire to the east. It can be said that the territory of the Roman Empire at its peak was almost completely restored in his hands.The Eastern Roman Empire is also an important middleman in the silk trade. They have been importing Chinese silk from Persia all year round, and reselling it to the West after processing, making a lot of profits. The increase in the price of silk and the decrease in the amount of imports have affected the Eastern Roman Empire the most. .More importantly, Justinian at this time was ambitiously planning to expand his territory. To expand his territory, he had to form a powerful army. To have a strong army, he needed money. If he wanted money, he had to start the silk trade , want silk...no! Why there was no silk? Westerners at that time had limited understanding. At that time, Westerners believed that the decrease in silk imports was mainly due to the Persians who traded with them all the year round.They believed that this was due to the Persians asking for prices and exploiting Westerners, so Justinian thought: Why must the silk trade pass through Persia? Can’t I conquer Persia and directly obtain a monopoly on the silk trade?Justinian, who was desperate and crazy, made the decision to launch a war against Persia. In fact, before launching the war against Persia, Justinian also tried to bypass Persia and take the initiative to establish contact with China. He first formed a caravan in an attempt to smuggle from Persia to China, but was caught by the Persians and chopped down. .In a rage, Justinian immediately decided to use troops against Persia.Some people say that Justinian not only wanted to conquer Persia, but also wanted to conquer China. This statement is widely recorded in some unofficial histories in the West. As a madman, it is not surprising that he has such thoughts.But judging from the comparison of power at the time, if he really had such an idea, it can be said that he was overestimating his capabilities.If he really defeated Persia and moved eastward all the way, even if he put aside the taboos of military strategists such as laboring and attacking far away, purely based on the comparison of military strength, the Persia he fought against had already perished the Guishuang Empire in the east. White Huns, who is this White Huns?It is the "sliding country" in the history of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States in China.After being destroyed by the state of Qin, the rest fled to the Western Regions. They were once princes under the rule of the "Guardian of the Western Regions" in the Han Dynasty. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, they were still vassals of the Rouran nation. The Northern Wei Dynasty was hit hard.Then they moved westward to Central Asia, and this move came and went, just like the previous Da Yuezhi. They were not ranked in China before, and they beat the powerful Guishuang Empire and the Persian Empire.Looking at the horizontal comparison, Justinian, who can't even handle the Persians, is not a little bit worse than China, which has the highest level of combat at this time. But it is impossible for Justinian to know these things. The fact is that he really can't even handle Persia.In 540 A.D., Justinian invaded Persia on a large scale. As a result, he and Persia fought each other, and neither side could completely defeat the other.The war situation turned into a stalemate, and because of the continuous rise in the price of silk in China and the intensification of the economic crisis in the West, Justinian finally couldn't insist on fighting.In particular, cities such as Tyre and Perut in the west of the Eastern Roman Empire relied on silk processing for a living. Once the war broke out, the silk trade was completely paralyzed, and the common people had no food to eat and rebelled one after another.Justinian could no longer support it. Under the persuasion of the ministers, he had to accept Persia's harsh truce conditions and import silk at the price set by the Persians. Prices have dealt a heavy blow to the entire Western economy. Although Justinian was a crazy person, as a famous king in European history, he was still very intelligent. At least he understood the principle of self-reliance. Isn’t it just that he can’t buy silk? I can’t make it myself.But at that time, no one in Europe knew how to make silk. Justinian thought that "there must be a brave man under a great reward". He began to offer rewards to the entire Eastern Roman Empire and surrounding countries to recruit talents who could make silk. It lasted until 543 AD. In 2010, two monks from India asked to see them. They were two monks who had been to China. They promised that as long as Justinian was willing to pay, they would go to China to secretly learn how to make silk.Then, they came to the Liang Dynasty with the support of Justinian. At this time, Emperor Wu of Liang worshiped Buddha and respected monks very much. Two Indian monks preached while learning weaving, and hid silkworms with bamboo poles. kind brought out of China.The time when they returned to Eastern Rome was 552 AD, which is a very commemorative year for Westerners.Since then, silk is no longer a patent of China, and Westerners have learned to raise silkworms.Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Rome, has since become the textile center of Europe.Later, during the Crusades, some textile craftsmen from Constantinople were brought to Italy, and Italy became the textile center of Western Europe. The westward spread of Chinese silk textiles is a major event that promotes the entire Western civilization. However, China's monopoly on the world's silk industry has not been affected by this, because although Europeans have learned how to weave, they are still far behind in terms of textile technology and silk quality. It cannot be compared with the Chinese.In fact, the silk made in Europe can only satisfy the middle-class people, and the silk of the aristocrats still only recognizes Chinese products.However, Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan might not have imagined that one of his hobbies would change the entire economic history of the West, contributing to the rise of the Eastern Roman Empire and the prosperity of the Western textile industry. This can only be called the "butterfly effect".