Brocade Odyssey - Companion piece

1. General information

3.  Music

5. Characters and cast by order of Appearance

 (part1 - episodes 1-5)

ep.1

Lù Qí 鹿骐  b.1998, March10 Weibo   Douban

He appeared in 8+ dramas and a movie in support roles since 2020

Yú Báishuǐ 于白水  aka Biānbiān 鞭鞭 b.1989, Nov14 Douban

Since 2014, he appeared in 16+ dramas and 7 movies. He has also worked as screenwriter for 2019 short (30 mins)  comedy movie Knight of Time 

Liú'ēnshàng 刘恩尚  b.1982, Dec04 Weibo   Douban

He appeared in 35+ dramas and 4 movies since 2018.

Episode 2

Zhào Huáwèi  赵华为  b.1998, May02 Weibo

 Zhang Hao Wei, who had to take a pause in his career mid 2024 because of a lawsuit to fight against possibly malicious accusations. The AI "facelift" helped production not having to put the drama on the shelf for indefinite time because of one actor's problems.

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

7.  Characters and cast by order of appearance

(part 3 - episodes 15-20 )

ep.15

9.   Places of interest in the drama

The Yìzhōu in the drama and book refer in fact to the name of Chéngdū 成都 during Táng dynasty , not the Yízhōu 宜州 in north Guǎngxī 广西 Zhuàng autonomous region with its karst mountains along the river Lóng Jiāng 龙江 (Dragon river : famous for its natural scenery and scenes from the 2006 film, The Painted Veil, were filmed along its course. )  But since the filming took place in  Guǎngxī  there are glimpses in the drama of a karstic appearance artist's imagination of a "Sān dào yàn" (screenshot below) :

It was also a militaristic country. An elite vanguard unit called the Luójūzǐ  羅苴子  (which means tiger sons), served as full-time soldiers. For every hundred soldiers, the strongest one was chosen for service in the Luójūzǐ. They were outfitted with red helmets, leather armour, and bronze shields, but went barefoot. Only wounds to the front were allowed and if they suffered any wounds to their back, they were executed. Their commander was called Luó jū zuǒ  羅苴佐 .

 The king's personal guards, known as the Zhūnǔ qūjū 朱弩佉苴 , were recruited from the Luójūzǐ.

Origins of Nánzhào:   In 649, the chieftain of the Méngshě 蒙舍  tribe, Xì Núluó  細奴邏 (reign 649-674 ) founded the Great Méng(大蒙) and took the title of Qíjiā wáng (奇嘉王; "Outstanding King"). He acknowledged Táng suzerainty. In 652, Xì Núluó  absorbed peacefully the "White Mywa" (白蠻 Báimán) realm of Zhang Lejinqiu, who ruled Ěrhǎi  Lake 洱海) and Cāng Mountain 苍山 ; the agreement was consecrated under an iron pillar in Dàlǐ 大理 . Thereafter the White and "Black Mywa" (烏蠻  Wūmán) acted as warriors and ministers respectively. In 655, Xìnúluó  sent his eldest son to Cháng'ān 长安  to ask for the Táng dynasty's protection. The Táng emperor appointed Xì Núluó  as prefect of Wēizhōu 威州 , sent him an embroidered official robe, and sent troops to defeat rebellious tribes in 672, thus enhancing Xìnúluó 's position. 

Xì Núluó  was succeeded by his son, Luó Shènggyan 邏盛  (r.674-712 ), who travelled to Cháng'ān to make tribute to the Táng . In 704, the Tibetan Empire made the White Mywa tribes into tributaries, whilst subjugating the Black Mywa. In 713, Luó Shènggyan was succeeded by his son, Shèng Luópí 盛邏皮   (r.712-728 ), who was also on good terms with the Táng . He was succeeded by his son, Pí Luógé, in 733. [Note that in this name that follows Yí 彝  naming conventions, the patronymic name is Pí and the given name is Luógé. ]

Pí Luógé 皮邏閣  (r.about 733-748 ) began expanding his realm in the early 730s. He first annexed the neighboring zhào of Méngsui (each tribe was known as a zhào), whose ruler, Zhàoyuan, was blind. Not long after 733, the Táng official Yan Zhenghui cooperated with Pí Luógé in a successful attack on the zhào of Shīlàng 施浪 , and rewarded the Méngshě rulers with titles.

Táng-Nánzhào alliance :  In the year 737 AD,  during the Kāiyuán 開元  reign period (713–741), Pí Luógé united the Six zhàos in succession, establishing a new kingdom called Nánzhào (Southern zhào) ; this did not happen without ferocity: four zhào rulers were caught in a fire during a festival.  Pí Luógé had taken a fancy to one of the widows, but she preferred to die of hunger with the people in her besieged city, cursing Pí Luógé, who repented, and went on to extoll her city as the “source of virtue”. 

In 738, the Táng granted Pí Luógé the Chinese-style name Méng Guīyì 蒙 歸義 ("return to righteousness") and the title of "Prince of Yúnnán". 

Píluógé set up a new capital at Tàihé 太和 in 739, (the site of modern-day Tàihé village, a few miles south of Dàlǐ   大理 ). Located in the heart of the Ěrhǎi valley, the site was ideal: it could be easily defended against attack and it was in the midst of rich farmland. Under the reign of Pí Luógé, the White Mywa were removed from eastern Yúnnán and resettled in the west. The Black and White Mywa were separated to create a more solidified caste system of ministers and warriors.

Tibet-Nánzhào alliance : When the Chinese prefect of Yúnnán attempted to rob Nánzhào envoys in 750, Gé Luófèng 閣羅鳳 (r.748-779)  attacked, killing the prefect and seizing nearby Táng  territory. In retaliation, the Táng  governor of Jiànnán (see above), Xianyu Zhongtong, attacked Nánzhào with an army of 80,000 soldiers in 75 but he was defeated by Duan Jianwei (段俭魏) with heavy losses (many due to disease) at Xiaguan. In 754, another Táng army of 100,000 soldiers, led by General Li Mi (李宓), approached the kingdom from the north, but never made it past Mu'ege. 

By the end of 754, Gé Luófèng had established an alliance with the Tibetans against the Táng  that would last until 794. In the same year, Nánzhào gained control of the salt marshes of Yanyuan County.

Gé Luófèng accepted a Tibetan title and acted as part of the Tibetan Empire.

Gé Luófèng's son and successor Yì Móuxún 異牟尋  (r.779-808 )continued the pro-Tibetan policy. In 779, Yì Móuxún  participated in a large Tibetan attack on the Táng  dynasty. However the burden of having to support every single Tibetan military campaign against the Táng  soon weighed on him. In 794, he severed ties with Tibet and switched sides to the Táng . 

Táng-Nánzhào alliance : In 795,  Yì Móuxún attacked a Tibetan stronghold in Kūnmíng 昆明 . The Tibetans retaliated in 799 but were repelled by a joint Táng -Nánzhào force. In 801 Nánzhào and Táng in Battle of Dulu , Chinese and Nánzhào's forces defeated a contingent of Tibetan and Abbasid slave soldiers. More than 10,000 Tibetan/Arabs soldiers were killed and some 6,000 captured. Nánzhào captured seven Tibetan cities and five military garrisons while more than a hundred fortifications were destroyed. This defeat shifted the balance of power in favor of the Táng and Nánzhào.

Expansion of Nánzhào.  During the following reigns, Nánzhào  expanded its territory. It conquered the peaceful Pyu city-states (today Myanmar) in the 820s and destroyed the city of Halin in 832, returning in 835 and taking away prisoners into slavery. Nánzhào colonized that area (which became Burma, later, the official English form until 1989 before being renamed Myanmar).

In 829, King Quàn Fēngyòu  勸豐祐 ( r.823-859) of  Nánzhào attacked Yìzhōu 益州  (Chéngdū 成都), but withdrew the following year. The invasion was not to take Sìchuān 四川  but to push the territorial boundaries north and take the resources south of the city. In 830, Nánzhào renewed contact with the Táng empire. The next year, Nánzhào released more than four thousand prisoners of war, including Buddhist monks, Daoist priests, and artisans, who had been captured during the Yìzhōu incident. Frequent visits to Cháng'ān  by Nánzhào delegations followed and continued until the end of Emperor Wǔzōng  武宗 ’s reign in 846. During these sixteen years, Nánzhào progressed rapidly in state building. Through its students dispatched to Yìzhōu , Nánzhào borrowed heavily from Táng administrative practice.  

Quàn Fēngyòu also commissioned Chinese architects from the Táng dynasty to build the Three Pagodas (which remain a famous landmark). Almost simultaneously, in the 830s, Nánzhào conquered the neighboring kingdoms of Kūnlún 昆仑  to the east and Nuwang to the south. 

King Shìlóng  世隆  (r.859-877) started a tug-of-war around the southern Táng circuit of Ānnán 安南;  besieging and capturing its capital capital Sòngpíng 宋平   in mid-January 863. Next, Nánzhào laid siege to Junzhou (modern Haiphong). Ten thousand soldiers from Shāndōng and all other armies of the Táng empire were called and concentrated at Halong Bay for reconquering Ānnán. A supply fleet of 1,000 ships from Fújiàn  was organized. Táng general Gāo Pián  高駢 , who had made his reputation fighting the Türks and the Tanguts in the north, campaigned from 864 to fall 866  and retook Ānnán.

In 869, Shìlóng   attacked Chéngdū fiercely for over a month.  But Yáng Qìngfù 楊慶復 , military governor of Jiànnán East Circuit (Jiànnán dongchuan), coordinated a rescue operation, recruitinga group of soldiers known as the "Raiders" (突將 Tū jiāng) to aid in the defense of Chéngdū  ; Nánzhào suffered a crushing defeat and Shìlóng decided to abort his campaign.  

Nánzhào invaded again in 874 and reached within 70 km of Chéngdū, seizing Qióngzhōu 邛州 , however they ultimately retreated, being unable to take the capital.  In 875, Gāo Pián was appointed by the Táng to lead defenses against Nánzhào, chasing their remaining troops to the Dàdù River (大渡河 Dàdùhé) where he defeated them in a decisive battle. But his plan to continue with an invasion of Nánzhào was rejected. Nánzhào  forces were driven from the Bōzhōu  播州  region, modern Guìzhōu 贵州 , in 877 by a local military force organized by the Yang family from Shānxī 山西 . This effectively ended Nánzhào's expansionist campaigns. Shìlóng died in 877.

Shìlóng's successor, Lóngshùn 隆舜 (r.878-897 ), entered negotiations with the Táng  for a marriage alliance in 880, but despite his sincerity, he failed to bring the Princess of Ānhuà (安化長公主 Ānhuà zhǎng gōngzhǔ) to Nánzhào, and was murdered in 897. Further murders made the dynasty come to a bloody end in 902. Finally Duàn Sīpíng  段思平 seized power in 937 and established the Dàlǐ Kingdom (大理国 Dàlǐ Guó Guó ). 

11.   Money in Tang dynasty

kāiyuán tōng bǎo 開元通寶

The alloy making the most widely used KYTB was standardized as well as its size (1 inch/2.5 cm diameter) : For the first time we find regulations giving the prescribed coinage alloy: 83% copper, 15% lead, and 2% tin, and private minting was forbidden.

 (one QYZB equals 10 or 50 KYTB); issued by Emperor 肅宗 Sùzōng (756–762) to pay the army, the coins of the first issue, in 758, were the equivalent of 10 ordinary cash coins. Each coin weighed 1.6 qián. The second issue, from 759, was of larger coins, one of which was to be the equivalent of 50 cash.

13.