Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 494 Revitalize the North Porcelain
Anything in the world, if you want to achieve something, you need to study hard, and the most fearful thing is to take it for granted.

Just like Gao Pragmatism, before today, he knew nothing about porcelain. He only knew that Chinese porcelain was invincible in the world, but what exactly is porcelain, such as the current development of porcelain, popular trends, raw materials, and technical requirements, etc. I don't know anything about it.

Today, the three "master craftsmen" that Mrs. Zhang introduced to him gave him a lot of popular science-in fact, they were superficial, because he couldn't understand them if they were a little more detailed.

There is no need to repeat the details. In short, Gao Pragmatism has figured out a few key points: The peak period of the porcelain industry in Ming Dynasty was the Chenghua Dynasty. In other words, the overall trend is becoming more and more shoddy.

"Shoddy manufacturing" is what the three master craftsmen said. In fact, even if the three master craftsmen took out some porcelains from past dynasties that had been carefully prepared to show Gao Yushi, Gao Yushi felt that there was not much difference—indeed, according to the master craftsmen It is said that Hongzhi paid attention to tire repair before, and the joint marks were not very obvious; after Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and the recent Wanli Dynasty porcelain, the joint marks were obvious, the carcass was thicker and rougher, and the products produced by official kilns were slightly better. The situation is getting worse for those produced by folk kilns, and most of them have the phenomenon of "flint red", which is called "yellow overflow" by master craftsmen.

However, Gao Yushi felt that the requirements of the master craftsmen seemed to be too high, and even suspected of being picky.However, he is a person who believes in professionalism, so he still holds a positive attitude towards this statement.

Three master craftsmen, one surnamed Yu and two surnamed Chen.The two master craftsmen surnamed Chen are from Yuzhou. They are a pair of brothers, and they are considered to be the successors of Jun kiln technology in Song Dynasty.However, according to the two of them, due to the long-term decline of Jun kiln, they can only master the general technology, and some unique skills may have been lost. In between.

However, Mrs. Zhang admired the craftsmanship of the two of them very much. I was afraid that Gao Yushi would be disappointed after listening to the words of these two honest master craftsmen. The peak level, but it can basically reach the general level of Jun kiln in those days - there were few Jun kilns in the first place, and they specialized in high-quality products, so this "general level" is actually a very high level.

Gao Yushi expressed his approval, but did not comment too much.

The master craftsman surnamed Xu is from Jingdezhen.Different from the full blooming of the porcelain industry in the Song Dynasty, the porcelain capital of the Ming Dynasty has been firmly established in Jingdezhen. Although the famous porcelains in other places also have their own strengths, no matter in terms of scale, comprehensiveness or mastery of unique skills Many, Jingdezhen is the overlord doing my part.

And this Master Xu, even in Jingdezhen, is one of the most outstanding skills.It's just that this master craftsman has two tragedies: one is that he is only good at technology, not good at management, which leads to the fact that the private kiln handed down by his family is obviously of excellent quality, but it is squeezed out by competitors and the profits are dwindling. The second is that he only has one only son, but this only son eats, drinks, prostitutes, and gambles with all kinds of poisons. He just doesn't do his job properly.

Usury is usury. Theoretically speaking, the law of the Ming Dynasty is strictly prohibited, but in fact... this is the Wanli Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has already entered the middle and late stages. How many laws can be taken seriously?Besides, what are the identities of the people who can lend usury? How can their Xu family handle it?
Fortunately, Gao Yushi's mother, Mrs. Zhang, happened to send someone to find a capable master in Jingdezhen. When she learned of this situation, she immediately covered the matter under the name of Xinzheng Gao's family. Li Chunpu, the Chief Secretary of Jiangxi Province, was a student of Gao Gong's disciple. He came forward to make peace. Mr. Zhang paid off all the money owed by Xu Dajiang's family, and Xu Dajiang took several clansmen and disciples from his private kiln to join Gao's family. .

Because the Jun kiln has been in decline for a long time, the Chen family brothers can only burn some ordinary porcelain for a living in the village. They are so poor that they can no longer talk about the dignity of master craftsmen; let alone master Xu, theoretically he owes money to the Gao family now His three lives are not finished yet.

Mrs. Zhang was born in a family of great merchants, and he didn't know much about human relations in business, so he took all three of them as servants without saying a word.

A servant is actually a servant, or even more bluntly, a slave of the master's family.

A little explanation is needed here. In the Ming Dynasty, slaves were also called slaves, Zang Huo, house slaves, house boys, boy servants, family members, righteous men, righteous women, righteous women, etc.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the real slaves mainly came from the families of prisoners of war and criminals. Their identities were recognized by law, but the number of such slaves was of course very limited.During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly promulgated decrees prohibiting the spontaneous enslavement of good people among the people, opposing personal transactions, or extorting private debts to make good people cheap;

But the regulations are just regulations, and officials and ministers can find loopholes to avoid: For example, if the slave contract does not say selling oneself as a slave, but only mentions being adopted by someone as a adopted son or daughter, the court can only stare blankly ——Gao Mo , Gao Yu, why are they all surnamed Gao?When they first started, the bond was in the hands of Gao Jie, the pragmatic uncle. In name, they were Gao Jie's adopted sons. Since they were adopted sons, of course they had to take the surname of "adopted father".

The master's family has the power to dispose of this kind of servants or servants at will-because they are actually the property of the master's family.

There is another kind of servant that is slightly different. It is a servant of the nature of a hired worker, but the employment period of this hired worker is a bit long-hired for a lifetime, and has no right to change jobs.Previously, Zhang Siwei transferred to the highly pragmatic Sanshenyuan Sanguan, such as Shen Li'an, Wei Ximin, etc., were all servants of this type.

The masters of the former type of adopted sons and daughters can take their life and death; while those of the latter type cannot reach the level of life and death. However, the imperial court has never had an accurate statement on the identification of this type of servant. Generally speaking, the master As long as the family does not directly kill people, the court basically does not ask about other situations.

In fact, even if the master is really killed, the court or the government will impose a very slight punishment. For the powerful master, this kind of punishment can be ignored.

However, the crimes committed by domestic slaves against their masters in the Ming Dynasty were clearly and strictly regulated in the Daming Law.For example, "All slaves who beat their parents will be beheaded, those who kill them will be executed Ling Chi, those who kill by mistake will be hanged, and the wounded will be flown three thousand miles with a hundred sticks." and "All slaves who insult their parents will be hanged. Eighty rods, two years of apprenticeship."

If a house slave who is a adopted son and a righteous daughter scolds his master, he will be hanged; if he dares to beat his master, he will be beheaded;

The hired servants are not too strong. If they scold their masters, they will be punished with a cane of eighty and two years in prison...

Why did the wars in the late Ming Dynasty depend on servants?Of course, there are more than one reason, but this one must not be ignored: the master is taking the life and death of the servant!If you, a servant, don't listen to your master, you will kill him if he says so!

Now these three master craftsmen are the members of the Gao family in the nature of hired workers, so Gao's pragmatic decision is equivalent to their imperial decree.

After listening to the three people's narration, Gao Wushi glanced at his mother, frowned slightly and said: "Mother, tell your son the truth, do you let your son engage in Yuyao just to make money, or... have greater expectations? "

Mrs. Zhang's eyes flickered, and she became firm again. Looking at Gao Yushi, she said, "Be pragmatic, whether it is Gao's family or Zhang's family, they are all from the north. We can't just watch Nanci show off its power! You want money now." Money is important, so why can't our Gao family do something to revitalize Beici?"

　Thank you for the monthly ticket support of the book friend "A Knife in the Mountain City", thank you!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)