Although the Silk Road is named after the valuable silk it helped transport many other goods were transported on these routes (language, religion, technology), which were both terrestrial and maritime. This means that although it might have effected the Silk Road and its trade, it really was quite minimal, as far as I can gather. The Byzantine monks who smuggled out the silk worm eggs and larvae (adult silkworms are quite fragile and require very specific environments) DID establish a monopoly in the west for silk (this monopoly helped fund the empire until its end in 1204)but it didn't entirely destroy the monopoly China had. China still supplied silk to most of east Asia. They really only helped spread the luxury of silk and create a new monopoly in the west, arguably independent of the one China had in the east. It should be noted that Persia also had a large hold on the lucrative silk trade. At this point China was busy reuniting, conquering and attempting to centralize- as they had been for the past 500 years and would continue to up until the 20th century. So as far as retaliatory action it may have only been seen in the way of regulations on who could trade what and where. Without a strong centralized power it would have been difficult to keep track, especially since they would have been using the northern route which was largely occupied by independent/nomadic tribes/"kings" (different than emperors) thay were not privy to centralization. They most likely would have been easy to pay off to look the other way during the short 2 year expedition that these monks took on, if they cared at all.

Hope this helps!