Understanding His Highness's intention in saying this, Cheng Qian probed: "Quanzhou and Guangzhou have been engaged in maritime trade for hundreds of years. Almost everyone in the area has been doing this. The imperial court suddenly closed the shipping department and prohibited overseas trade."
, their life is quite difficult. If I hear that there is an opportunity to reopen the shipping company, I will be extremely grateful to His Highness for your kindness."
"You can tell them what I said." Zhu Zhen nodded, that's exactly what he meant. At present, he has not set foot in Fujian and Guangdong, so smuggling is very rampant there. Even after Chen Shanghai and Fang Datong were destroyed, there was no
What changes.
Han Yike and Liao Dingguo had asked him for instructions several times. They wanted to crack down on smuggling and not allow ships other than those from the shipping company to go overseas.
But Zhu Zhen has never agreed, because there is no municipal shipping department in the local area, and there is no local government to cooperate with the anti-smuggling operation. Just relying on the municipal shipping fleet to casually attack Fujian and Guangdong is of no use. It will also affect the fleet's energy.
Delay normal business.
However, smuggling along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong must be prohibited.
In this era, there are countless pirates on the ocean, and overseas countries are even more cruel and cunning.
Maritime trade must be escorted by a strong navy, otherwise even if it is not robbed by pirates at sea, it will be robbed by the local government and local tyrants when it arrives at a foreign port.
Those overseas barbarians don't understand what "win-win cooperation and sustainable development" means. Why should they spend money to buy what they can rob, and sell it so expensively?
The cost of raising a powerful navy is too high. This requires ensuring high trade profits.
To ensure high trade profits, it is necessary to monopolize trade as much as possible and drive any competitors out of the sea, let alone the worst competitors - smugglers.
Therefore, it is imperative to establish a municipal shipping department in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. Although Zhu Zhen has no means to spare for the time being, it is always right to lay the groundwork first and let those Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants know that he is coming.
Let’s see if there are any smart little guys who come to offer their names.
~~
On the same day, His Highness the King of Chu stopped at the last minute.
It’s just our first meeting, so it’s not good to talk too concretely with them, as that would seem too utilitarian. Our Highness is a decent person, and he wants to be proud.
The next day, His Royal Highness the King of Chu and his entourage visited the Zhushan Imperial Kiln Factory in the north of the town.
Zhushan is actually a small hill facing the town, surrounded by the walls of the imperial kiln factory, and the top of the mountain cannot be seen from the outside.
His Royal Highness the King of Chu's car stopped in front of the tall "Xianfeng Imperial Kiln Factory Head Gate" banner outside the mountain gate of the Royal Kiln Factory.
As soon as he got out of the car, Lao Liu was shocked by the scale of the imperial kiln factory: "Is it this big?"
"Your Highness, our imperial kiln factory is surrounded by ten miles of walls." Zhou Ji, the supervising eunuch, replied, "It's bigger than Fuliang County."
"Does it need such a big place?" Lao Liu said in confusion.
"Your Highness will know when you come in." Zhou Ji said with a smile, "It's really useful."
After saying that, he bowed and wanted to say: "Your Highness, please come in and listen to the slave's explanation while visiting."
"Okay, you lead the way." Zhu Zhen nodded.
Zhou Ji then led His Highness and his entourage into the grand gate with a plaque inscribed on the imperial kiln factory.
There is a long corridor inside the gate that leads directly to Yimen. There are two archways at the east and west side of the street, namely the East Gate and the West Gate.
Since His Highness mainly came to visit the kilns, Zhou Ji first introduced the two factory areas behind the East and West Gates.
"The east factory area has 21 pottery workshops, mainly Qing kiln, dragon vat kiln, Fenghuo kiln, color kiln and other kiln buildings, which are mainly the place where kilns are fired; the west factory area has 23 pottery workshops, including large-scale pottery workshops.
, small utensil making, antique making, engraving, printing, painting, etc., is the place where blanks are made, sharpened, glazed, and painted."
Zhou Ji was talking about his treasures there, but Zhu Zhen was confused. Although he nodded frequently, his eyes were a little distracted.
How else could it be said that eunuchs are the best at serving people? Zhou Ji observed his words and immediately asked His Highness to visit the production process according to the procedures.
As expected, His Highness became energetic. He likes to watch handicraft production the most, which is a great way to relieve stress. It's a pity that he can't make noodles and watch them while eating.
A group of people surrounded His Royal Highness and came to the work shed. The busy workers quickly knelt down and kowtowed.
"Tell them, there is no need to kowtow, and they can do whatever they have to do. Just pretend that this king does not exist." Zhu Zhen ordered.
"Yes." Zhou Ji asked the workers to get up quickly and work as usual.
Then he introduced: "This is Taolian making. The porcelain clay needed to make porcelain needs to be washed and refined to make it pure."
"Where does the porcelain clay come from?" Zhu Zhen asked with interest.
"The porcelain stones used in the imperial kiln are produced in the mountains of Qimen, Pingli and Gukou two hundred miles away." Zhou Ji replied hurriedly: "The workers pounded the porcelain stones into mud with water trucks and then transported them here for further polishing.
, can be used.”
Zhu Zhen nodded and stepped forward, and saw a worker soaking the porcelain clay in a water tank and stirring it to make the impurities sink.
Another worker then filters the settled mud through a fine horsetail sieve.
The third worker pours the filtered mud into the mud sagger and settles it, making the mud thick and formed.
The fourth worker puts the formed fine porcelain stones into the box and presses the bricks to drain.
Finally, the fifth worker plowed the washed soil evenly and placed it under the work shed for later use.
This is only the first step of the process, and the labor has been divided among five workers, with each worker doing only one task. This shows how refined the division of labor in Jingdezhen has become.
~~
Then the prepared porcelain clay was sent to the second workshop, where it was mixed with ash to make a slurry. Zhou Ji told Lao Liu that the ash used in the imperial kiln factory came from Leping County, a hundred and forty miles away. It was made of blue and white stone and phoenix.
It is made of stacked tail grass and fired.
This is why His Royal Highness the King of Chu came to visit, and it was his own kiln. Otherwise, this secret recipe would never be revealed to anyone.
Next, it’s sagger making.
"The porcelain blank needs to be clean when entering the kiln, and cannot be stained with any sand or dust, so it needs to be placed in a sagger for firing." Zhou Ji introduced: "The soil used to make the sagger is also very particular. It is taken from Lichun Township and Hebei Province in the northeast of the town.
Neither Baoshishan nor anywhere else is suitable."
It's not secretive at all.
Then there is the workshop where round tools are drawn and cut into blanks. Round tools can be pulled directly out of the blanks using a wheel cart, which is very fast.
Square bottles, statues and other angular vessels can only be made by hand. This is why such vessels are expensive.
After the clay is made, the mold needs to be trimmed and dried in the shade before being sent to be painted with blue and white flowers.
The division of labor in this step is even more detailed. Drawing lines, rendering, making green hoops, flowers, birds, fish, characters, and writing all have their own specialties, and the operations are grouped into rooms.
Then it goes through chiseling, painting, dipping in glaze, blowing glaze, spinning the blank, and digging out the base. After more than a dozen processes and hundreds of divisions of labor, the blank can be put into the kiln and fired.
It requires the division of labor and cooperation of more than a hundred workers. Compared with other handicraft industries, the craftsmen have a beard and eyebrows, and one person works from beginning to end. They are two extremes.
Perhaps this is the secret why Jingdezhen can stand out and dominate the country.
