After visiting the production process, Zhou Ji invited His Highness to go to Zhengya to rest, drink tea, and view the finished products.
Because it was a royal utensil, the members of the inspection team were not qualified to see it. So, under the arrangement of Zhou Ji's eunuch, they went to a side hall to have tea.
Looking at the various and exquisite official kiln porcelains on the ancient shelves, Zhu Zhen couldn't help but sigh to himself. If these things could be preserved intact until later generations, just pick up one of them and it would cost tens of millions.
In fact, it is already very valuable now. Zhou Ji told Zhu Zhen that despite Cheng Qian's boast yesterday, the porcelains from private kilns and official kilns are simply incomparable, and that shelf cannot replace the one here.
"Is it so exaggerated?" Zhu Zhen was a little surprised.
"The craftsmanship styles of his private kilns are all imitated by our official kilns, but at best they can only be regarded as imitations of others." Zhou Ji covered his mouth and said with a smile:
"And our imperial kiln factory has extremely high standards. From one kiln, at most two or three pieces will be left, and the rest will be smashed. How could they be willing to do this?"
"Isn't that too wasteful?" Zhu Zhen looked at the paper-thin yellow glaze bowl in his hand: "Isn't it just a bowl for eating? It's almost enough."
"Oh, my lord, this is a bowl that can only be used by the Xie family." Zhou Ji said at a loss of whether to laugh or cry: "Don't let any of the royal objects leak to the people. If one leaks out, even the slaves and maids can't afford it."
"This is a bit too much. My old man will definitely go crazy if he finds out." Lao Liu didn't expect that a piece of porcelain in his home would be so valuable.
He was playing with the yellow-glazed bowl, suddenly glanced at Zhou Ji, and asked quietly: "Are all the junk you mentioned really broken?"
"This..." Zhou Ji's heart thumped when he heard this, and he subconsciously wanted to shake his head. But what happened to Cheng Qian yesterday was still vivid in his mind. Little did he know that His Highness had dug another hole, waiting for him to jump into it?
Luo Guanzhong on the side said no need to ask? He was already familiar with Lao Liu's operations.
This sixth child, ever since he was injured by a big dog at the Laba Banquet at Jinshan Temple, has never had a good talk with anyone if anything happened.
Now he will first throw you into the abyss when he comes up, and then extend an olive branch to lift you up when you are at your most desperate.
At this time, you can only regard His Highness's olive branch as a life-saving straw and hold on to it tightly. You will no longer have the courage to bargain. You can only take whatever he says.
Therefore, it is not easy for this person to learn well, but it only takes a while to learn bad...
~~
Under the gaze of His Highness King Chu, who seemed to see everything, Eunuch Zhou was speechless for a long time, but his back was wet to the core.
During this period, he had already imagined the entire process of being interrogated by the King of Chu, as well as various tragic endings...
Unlike Cheng Qian, he is a servant of the royal family. His Highness the King of Chu can do with him how he wants without worrying about negative consequences.
Finally, Zhou Ji's knees weakened, he knelt down on the ground, kowtowed vigorously and said:
"I don't dare to deceive Your Highness. The expenses of the royal kiln factory are too high. I can't make ends meet just by relying on the little money given by the court. Therefore, I will intercept some waste products from time to time and let Cheng Qian and the others sell them to the maritime merchants. However, I
I have repeatedly told them that all waste products must be sold overseas, and no single piece can be left in the country, otherwise they will be left with nothing to eat."
After a pause, he added: "Of course, there are also up and down management. The slave's own pension money also comes from here. I have said everything I need to say, please handle it with Your Highness."
After saying this, Zhou Ji lay on the ground motionless, as if he was letting himself be slaughtered.
"Look, he came from the palace after all." Zhu Zhen smiled with satisfaction: "He is just more sensible than the local businessmen."
"Indeed." Luo Guanzhong said calmly: "They are all full of shit. Some people actually think they smell good."
"Mr. Luo's words are getting more and more vulgar now." Zhu Zhen said with a smile.
"Haha, it's normal." Luo Guanzhong smiled and said nothing.
After joking with Teacher Luo for a few moments, Zhu Zhen turned to look at Zhou Ji and said calmly:
"I am not the kind of person who can't get rid of the grain in his eyes. He still understands the principle of relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to eat water. Besides, Jingdezhen's eunuch supervisor is also a lot of fat vacancies in the palace. Old Wu and our old Wang and the others are still waiting.
I want you to be filial to me. If you don’t think of ways to make extra money, you’ll be criticized within two days.”
"Oh, Your Highness is so right." Zhou Ji was moved to tears and said, "I can't help myself."
"Okay, let's say you're fat and you're out of breath." Zhu Zhen said in a pretentious manner: "How can any of you eunuchs not be greedy for money? Even if you don't need to take care of yourself, you can still make money."
"Yes." Zhou Ji said sarcastically: "But this slave has never been greedy for a penny elsewhere. He always makes money by selling scraps."
"It's very pitiful to say that. Are those of yours junk? You can't sell one piece for more than ten taels?" Zhu Zhen laughed and scolded.
"Yes, yes." Zhou Ji nodded hurriedly, thinking that twenty taels is still about the same.
"But don't think that you did it flawlessly," Zhu Zhen changed the topic again: "How many people handled the whole process? Maybe one day the spoils are unevenly divided, someone will sell you out."
"Yes, this slave also has this worry." Zhou Ji said sarcastically: "When His Highness asked the question just now, he thought someone had reported on this slave."
"So, although this money is easy to make, it is also deadly." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "You are now a wealthy and powerful person, so you should make some money that will make you visible."
"You are stupid, please give me some advice from your highness." Zhou Jike was not stupid at all, and he immediately understood what his highness meant.
"Have you ever heard of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau?" Zhu Zhen asked.
"Of course I know, it's similar to our imperial kiln factory." Zhou Ji nodded quickly and said: "We make porcelain for the palace, and they make clothes for the palace."
"Do you know how they make money?" Zhu Zhen asked.
"I heard it from the inspection team yesterday," Zhou Ji continued to nod: "All silk sold overseas must be certified by them."
"Yeah." Zhu Zhen nodded and said: "Porcelain and silk have always been the two major export products. Therefore, I plan to establish a similar porcelain certification agency to control the quality of export porcelain and guide their production and sales.
"
"Yeah, this is a great thing." Zhou Ji quickly agreed.
"The future Ming Porcelain Industry Association must have sufficient professionalism and authority. Therefore, the Royal Kiln Factory and the Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry Guild must join in." King Chu added:
"Of course, we need to ensure the breadth of representation and attract some famous kilns such as Longquan Kiln and Cizhou Kiln to join. In the future, only qualified products certified by the Porcelain Industry Federation can be exported. However, the Ming Dynasty was too big, and the entrances of each kiln were far away from each other.
It's so far away that it's impossible to completely manage it in a unified way, so it has to be divided into branches.
"For example, here in Jingdezhen, there is the Blue and White Porcelain Branch. As for the certification standards, you can discuss them with Cheng Qian and the others. Whatever you certify will matter. It is similar elsewhere, but the number of certifications every year is determined by the federation."
"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely keep an eye on this stall in Jingdezhen for Your Highness!" Zhou Ji said politely. "I guarantee that they will all follow Your Highness's lead."
"Okay!" Zhu Zhen nodded approvingly, finally he didn't express his feelings wrongly.
