After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 54 Glassmaker

At night, everyone in the Hai family rested, but the lights in the main room were still on.

The granddaughter moved to the west wing, and Hai Xiya acted much more freely than before. He no longer needed to avoid the child, so he sat cross-legged on the Kang in the inner bedroom and talked to his wife Ma.

He is currently busy working for Suzhou Wei Kaiyuan. The nursery is just the beginning, and the vineyards, wineries, etc. will follow.However, this is still the first year of planting grapes, and smooth production cannot be guaranteed at the moment. The real trial of wine making will be next year.Nowadays, he focuses more on cultivating fertile farmland, hoping to ensure a certain amount of food supply in Suzhou, so as not to have to rely on food transportation from other places.

He said to his wife: "In addition to the wheat and sorghum that are commonly grown today, there is also a kind of grain called corn. Some people planted it in the previous dynasty. I heard that it can also resist drought and the yield is not low. But there are few people planting it. It’s not that common. I asked people to collect a batch of seeds and set aside a piece of land for trial planting this year. If the seeds are planted well, more will be planted next year, which will also provide more food for the health center.”

Ma silently listened to him talk about work matters, but he always kept them in mind and rarely mentioned them to others.She knew that her husband was using this method to re-examine his work to avoid any omissions. He could also relax and relax, so as not to be overwhelmed by the heavy work.

After listening to her husband's words, she also told him some trivial matters at home, and asked with concern about her grandson Hai Jiao's situation in the guardhouse: "Baoshun has been unhappy these days. He thinks they have detained him. Today he is still Is that so?"

Haixi Ya said: "It's much better today. I think he has figured it out and knows that we are doing it for his own good, and he doesn't want us to worry too much. When he was young, he was playful and refused to study hard, but now he is much more sensible. , and I can calm down. Now he is doing well in studying accounting, and will be able to take charge of his own business soon. He is also quite diligent in practicing riding and shooting at the guard station every day. The generals also said that it is a pity for him to be a civilian. "

Ma suddenly became vigilant: "Master, you can't just change your mind after hearing a few words!"

"Don't worry." Hai Xiya smiled, "That's my grandson, how can I harm him?"

Ma thought of her son, pursed her lips, and without saying anything else, she mentioned the rest of the family instead.

When her granddaughter went out to practice horse riding with her second son today, she remembered another thing: "I asked Jin Guo to go to the nursery today. When I came back, Jin Guo probably told Tangtang that Tangtang also wanted to plant it at home." Grapes, she's been teasing others. This child has been smart since she was a child. She actually guessed that the master wanted to grow grapes and make wine, and even told her about ways to make wine. I guarantee that the master would never have thought that she would actually run into someone else's winery when she was a child. Playing around, I secretly saw how people make wine!"

Hai Xiya also looked surprised: "Really or not? Why haven't I heard her mention it before?"

"Who knows? She probably knows that this is not a good thing, and she will be scolded if she says it." Ma said with a smile, "Well, I feel that Tangtang is really worthy of the master's direct blood. The master watched the winery brewing wine. , after two or three years, he guessed how others make wine; Tangtang hid in someone else's winery for a while, and also guessed how others made wine..."

Hai Xiya heard it funny: "Really? What did she guess?"

Mrs. Ma repeated her granddaughter's words and said, "Look, even though she didn't guess completely, she heard and saw all the things that were easy to make mistakes. She's not smart. It's just the glassware. That's right. A glass bowl in Chang'an City costs dozens of taels of silver. Can a small winery in Guazhou afford to use glassware to make wine? How much does it cost?! It's not such a waste to have money." Hai Xiya did not agree with his wife's words, but instead thought deeply: "I just looked at what the two wineries bought from outside, but I had never seen them in their wine cellars. I didn't know what they were. They don't make wine in glassware. But Tangtang is a child and has no reason to lie. He must have really seen something."

Ma was a little dissatisfied: "I don't believe that those two small wine shops can still use glassware to make wine tanks! Even if their owners are Hu people, it is easier to buy glassware than merchants in the Central Plains, and they don't spend so much money. Use it. A clay vat would be great, sir, you don’t have to listen to Tangtang Huyi. We are in Suzhou, where can we find a glass wine vat?"

"That's not necessarily the case." Hai Xiya remembered that when the guard station was investigating the Shazhou immigrants entering the city today, they found a family of craftsmen who looked different from the Hu people. After careful questioning, they found out that they were cannibals and were trying to escape. He left his hometown due to the war. He originally wanted to go to Dunhuang, where his ancestors had visited when they were doing business. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by a barbarian prince on the way, so he stayed with the barbarians to work as a glassmaker.

Nowadays, the civil strife in the Hu Khan is gradually breaking out. The newly appointed Queen Mother of the Khan has become the King of Khan with the help of her son, and her men are strong and powerful. She wants to take revenge on the princes and nobles who have hindered her son's succession to the throne.Uncle Wang was naturally the first to bear the brunt, but other nobles did not escape.The princes who were attached to the cannibals had old grudges with the Queen Mother Khan's mother's family, so they suffered a lot. Their property, soldiers and horses were all damaged, and they had no time to take care of themselves, let alone protect the few craftsmen in their names.

Several big cannibals felt that they were in an unsafe situation and simply looked for opportunities to escape.One of them married a Hu man whose sister was married to a wealthy businessman in Shazhou. They fled to Shazhou incognito to visit relatives. They happened to meet relatives who wanted to immigrate to Jiayuguan with them, so they simply came with them.

They were in the name of a wealthy businessman from Shazhou, pretending to be craftsmen hired by him, and even disguised themselves as barbarians.If the guards hadn't checked them carefully and recognized that they looked different from ordinary barbarians, they might have gotten away with it.

However, these big food craftsmen had long been frightened by the war, and now they knew that they had violated a taboo. In order to survive, they no longer cared about keeping secrets, so they offered to make glassware for Suzhou Wei. He only has doubts about teaching skills, probably because he is worried that the guard will kill the donkey.

They just think too much.They were just a few craftsmen, and they had never joined the army in the Hu Khanate and killed the soldiers and civilians of Chu. Who would have trouble with them?As long as they behave obediently and work honestly in Da Chu, no matter how many craftsmen they teach, they will still be indispensable for their few bowls of rice.

Hai Xiya originally thought that if the skills of these craftsmen were outstanding enough, Suzhou Guard would not be able to keep them for a long time and would have to send them out sooner or later.Even Ganzhou City, where the Dusi is located, may not be able to retain people, at least it must be a wealthy and big city like Chang'an Prefecture.But now after listening to his wife's words, he felt that even if he had to send someone away sooner or later, he could still use it appropriately.

He could use the excuse to let these big food craftsmen try making glassware to test whether their craftsmanship was good, and let them make a batch of glass wine jars and wine vessels for Suzhou.It doesn’t need to be elaborate, it just needs to be practical.It would be even better if they could teach a few apprentices and ensure that Suzhou City's glass wine vessels can be self-sufficient in the future.Even if these big food craftsmen are really sent to Chang'an or even the capital in the future, it will be enough for Suzhou Wei to retain a few craftsmen with crude skills and only know how to make simple glassware.

It’s not that Hai Xiya blindly believed in his granddaughter Haitang. When he heard her talk about glassware, he must use glassware to brew wine. He just felt that everything was prepared. If the winemaking in the ceramic jar did not go well, it was also an attempt to use a glass jar to brew wine.

Besides, glassware is rare these days and the price is high. It is rare to meet a highly skilled glassmaker in Dashi. If there are no people left, why not try to train a few glassmakers?Even if you can only do some menial work, it can add another way of making money to Suzhou, which is better than nothing...

(End of this chapter)