My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 48 Imperial Grandmother, I misunderstood

Later generations often say: Ceramics are not divided into different families. There is pottery first and then porcelain.

Liu Rong finally chose porcelain as a new way of making money for the Shaofu, which was the same reason Liu Rong first thought of 'paper'.

——In this era, there is already primitive 'paper', which is nothing more than rough kraft paper used for moisture-proof packaging.

On this basis, improving the technology and making rice paper that can be used for writing will be much simpler than inventing it by hand from scratch, both in terms of era background and process conditions, and it will also be easier for the world to accept.

The same goes for porcelain.

Although porcelain in this era did not yet appear in the luxury and decorative categories, it did have its cousins ​​with similar production techniques: pottery.

The clay is also used to make the embryo, and then it is fired and shaped. Even the shape of the vessel is roughly the same.

The only difference is that the pottery production process is rough and does not require too fine raw materials - only pottery clay, or even relatively fine clay that can be drawn into shapes.

Porcelain is different. It requires special porcelain stones to be ground into powder, and then washed and filtered to obtain extremely fine porcelain clay.

In addition, since it is a luxury product, the drawing of porcelain needs to be more meticulous, the firing process requires molds, and there is an inevitable scrap rate.

Finally, compared to the simple process of pottery being "ready to market right out of the kiln", porcelain has an additional finishing step of glaze and backfire.

I have to say: after Liu Rong proved that he was not talking big words, but actually had the ability, the Shaofu Cen Mai's support for Liu Rong's initiative to "open up a new way of making money for the Shaofu" was almost as strong as To the limit of what is possible.

Under the guidance of Zhang Yi, the metallurgical supervisor, he walked into the tile kiln seconded to him by Cen Mai. After only a brief walk around, Liu Rong's still worried heart calmed down a lot.

——The pottery craftsmanship of this era was higher than Liu Rong expected.

In other words, it was Shaofu's pottery making technology that gave Liu Rong a big surprise.

At this moment, the pottery pot Liu Rongzheng was holding carefully in his hand, although it was not as brightly colored and smooth as the surface of porcelain, it was not empty outside, but had engraved patterns!

Although they are simple patterns, such as vegetation, symbols, or even literal words, presence and absence are two different things.

Being able to carve patterns on pottery means that carving patterns on porcelain is no longer a headache for Liu Rong.

The remaining problems are obtaining the porcelain clay and glazing after firing the embryo.

After all, he was not an expert, so Liu Rong only relied on his own knowledge to give these potters a general direction and roughly described the characteristics of the porcelain stone: white or off-white, soft stone with a silky luster, which may be popular among the people. Called 'kaolin'.

With the Shaofu's huge industry and huge inventory of "everything" internal funds, Liu Rong believed that porcelain clay would not become a problem in making porcelain.

As for the glazing process, Liu Rong was not in a hurry to hand it over. He just asked Zhang Yi to go to the East and West Weaving Room to find some natural pigments for dyeing cloth.

The colors are mainly black and red, which are very characteristic of the Han Dynasty, and white, which is indispensable for porcelain.

The reason why he didn't rush to come up with the glazing process is because after today's 'inspection' of this tile kiln, or the 'pottery exhibition' specially set up by Cen Mai for himself, Liu Rong also had a lot of experience in the glazing process. Got a little surprise.

——Pottery from this era was actually glazed to a certain extent!

Although it is not common, and most of them are slight partial glazing, but still the same sentence: having it and not having it are two different things.

Creating something from nothing is an invention.

From existence to perfection is just improvement...

"That's it for now."

"Find porcelain stones as soon as possible, prepare dyes, and find some painters who can paint on the utensils."

“When everything is ready, construction will officially begin.”

After briefly describing what he wanted to do - what porcelain is, and explaining the raw materials that needed to be prepared, Liu Rong temporarily left the tile kiln and embarked on the road back to Chang'an again.

Last time, after his mother Li Ji rejected the in-laws of Guantao Princess Liu Wu and the rumor that Liang Wang Liu Wu was the "emperor's brother", Liu Rong never went to Changle Palace again.

But he is a prince after all, especially the eldest son of the prince. In this Han Dynasty where the East and West palaces jointly ruled the world and the two yuan system was the core of operation, Liu Rong had to report to his grandmother, Queen Mother Dou, when he went out to do business.

Liu Rong thought it would just be a simple meeting.

——Liu Rong went to Changle and reported that he wanted to make porcelain. Empress Dowager Dou gave a brief greeting and a few words of encouragement, and that was about it.

But by coincidence, when Liu Rong came to Changle Palace, he discovered that someone had already arrived at the Changxin Palace of his grandmother, Queen Mother Dou.

It’s no one else but Liu Rong’s emperor father: Today the emperor will...

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"In the eyes of the eldest son of the emperor, there is still a blind old woman like me?"

As soon as they stepped over the high threshold and before they even had time to reach the center of the hall, Empress Dowager Dou's sullen voice reached her ears.

Hearing this, Liu Rong's smile suddenly stopped, but he didn't dare to stop. He only stepped forward quickly, kneeling down and kowtowing.

"My grandson Liu Rong, please see the imperial grandmother."

"I wish the Queen Mother eternal happiness and everlasting happiness..."

Liu Rong was polite and polite, and as expected, he didn't wait for his grandmother's greeting. Liu Rong was not too humble. He only waited for three or five symbolic breaths, then gently straightened up, changed from kneeling to kneeling, and looked up. Head up to the imperial couch.

When he stepped into the palace, he had already seen the figure of Emperor Qi. Only now could he clearly see the Emperor Qi on the royal couch. Emperor Qi was smiling and wrapping Empress Dowager Dou's hand between his hands, as if holding her hand.

"See Father."

Another greeting finally made Empress Dou's face become less angry, but the coldness in her tone could not be weakened at all.

"It's said that the eldest son of the emperor went to the Shaofu to create a way for the Shaofu to make money?"

"In the past, I didn't know that the majestic eldest son actually knew some craftsmanship and businessmanship?"

He didn't intend to talk back to his grandmother, so he just kept going. After hearing Queen Mother Dou's seemingly random slander, Liu Rong could no longer remain calm and even raised his hand again.

"Royal Grandma, I misunderstood."

"It's just using some weird skills to make a few extravagant things."

"But it has nothing to do with merchants and low-income families..."

What a joke!
A prince, especially the eldest son of the prince, manages the business of a merchant?
Let alone Empress Dowager Dou, any official, Er Qianshi, impeached Liu Rong on this charge. Even if he did nothing, Liu Rong would have to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to think about his fault!

If you do it, let alone mention it - there is no need to think about the reserve position, and whether you can still be crowned king or vassal depends on whether you are sincere in admitting your mistake.

In this era of extreme contempt and disdain for merchants, not only the princes, but also the nobles and nobles did not dare to manage the business of merchants in an open and honest manner.

To go up to the sky is to support a merchant to become big, to provide protection and to receive filial piety.

Under this background, Empress Dowager Dou was labeled as "taking care of her business". Obviously, she was not entirely angry at Liu Rong for not reporting on time.

Glancing at the emperor's father beside Empress Dowager Dou, Liu Rong understood after just a moment's thought: Grandmother the Empress Dowager, her thoughts with the emperor's brother were getting stronger and stronger. ', regarded as a thorn in the side, a thorn in the flesh...

"Emperor Taizong Xiaowen has been in power for twenty-three years, and not even a single brick or tile has been touched in the Weiyang Palace."

"——Back then, Emperor Taizong wanted to build a pavilion. He heard that it would cost a hundred gold, so he immediately stopped building it."

"Even I, a blind old woman, am still raising silkworms and weaving cloth in the palace. I don't dare to wear rich clothes. I also discipline the harem ladies not to let their skirts touch the floor and not to apply makeup."

"With such a frugal family tradition, the eldest son of the emperor went to the Shaofu to do something extravagant..."

"Emperor, is this how you teach your heirs?"

Regarding Liu Rong's defense, Queen Mother Dou did not choose to let it go. Instead, she took advantage of Liu Rong's words of "extravagant things" and turned to challenge the emperor.

Is this how the emperor teaches his son?
Is this the eldest son of the Pope and the future crown prince?
(End of this chapter)