After sitting in the carriage and returning to the door of the inn, Zhou Jun got out of the carriage and said goodbye to Fan Gong.
Watching the carriage go away along the neighborhood, Zhou Jun returned to the guest room and saw Hua Yue in front of the desk, reading Master Mao Shun's "The Craftsman's Classic" with gusto.
Zhou Jun wiped his face, took off his coat, walked to the desk, heated his hands on the stove nearby, and asked, "How do you like this book?"
Hua Yue kicked her feet happily and said, "I have seen many books made by craftsmen, but I have never seen such wonderful designs and genius ideas."
After saying that, Hua Yue turned over a page, pointed to the picture on it, and asked Zhou Jun: "Is this how the ceramics of the Tang Dynasty were made?"
Zhou Jun followed his words and looked around, and saw two pictures about the practice of ceramics in the book. One picture showed a kiln for firing molds, and the other picture had mortars, water mills and other things.
Zhou Jun looked at the first painting carefully. The book recorded the making and introduction of pottery and porcelain.
Among them, regarding the production of finished pottery products, Jiang Hongjing took Tang Sancai as an example and explained in detail the process of selecting materials, firing, painting, and refiring this kind of pottery. At the end of the article, it was written that pottery such as Tang Sancai is
It is fired at low temperature, so the requirements for glaze are not high and glazing is relatively simple.
However, pottery such as Tang Sancai is brittle and has poor waterproof performance. The glaze will fall off after a period of use, so its practicality is not high.
Then, Jiang Hongjing focused on introducing porcelain.
Compared with overglaze paint, which is easy to fall off and unstable, the book mainly explains how to make underglaze paint.
The so-called underglaze color refers to the type in which the glaze is applied directly to the porcelain body, then put into the kiln and fired together with the porcelain at high temperature.
Its advantages are that it is not easy to wear, never fades, is smooth and flat, and is easy to operate.
However, there are two biggest difficulties in underglaze colored porcelain, one is the colored glaze and the other is the porcelain clay.
Let’s talk about the glaze first.
The book records that the most common raw materials for colored glazes in the Tang Dynasty were Xiyu Qing (cobalt clay), underglaze red (copper oxide) and bean green (iron oxide).
Underglaze red and bean green, these two colors of glaze often have problems such as burst spots and floating rust due to impurities and ingredients, so they are rarely used.
Xiyu celadon (cobalt clay) is produced from open-pit mines near the Tianshan Mountains. It has low impurities, high purity, and good color. Therefore, the most popular porcelain produced in the Tang Dynasty was Western celadon, also known as blue and white porcelain.
Different from the blue and white porcelain of the Song and Ming dynasties, the blue and white porcelain of the Central Plains region of the Tang Dynasty often has crystal spots in the green material, which is difficult to fix the color. The texture is rough and loose, and the sintering degree is poor. This is mainly related to the impurities in the glaze.
However, the Tang Dynasty lacked the means to remove impurities from glazes, so the higher-purity Xiyu Qing (cobalt clay) became the only choice for glaze for blue and white porcelain in the Tang Dynasty.
After talking about the glaze, let’s talk about the clay.
The book says that for good blue and white porcelain, the glaze must be Western Blue, and the porcelain clay is also particular. The porcelain clay collected in Yaozhou, Yuzhou, Gongxian, Quyang, Shouzhou, Hongzhou, Yueyang, and Qionglai is of the highest quality.
Other places are basically not considered.
When Jiang Hong Jing wrote this, in the blank space next to it, there was a line of small words added by Master Mao Shun.
The general idea is that he once visited the china clay mines in these areas and found that there are two types of soil here, one is hard soil, mostly cyan, and the other is soft soil, mostly white. Mix the two soils and add water to make the mixture.
, it became top-grade porcelain clay.
Therefore, Master Mao Shun suspected that truly good porcelain clay should be produced after mixing two types of soil with different textures in a certain proportion.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun was shocked. Master Mao Shun's words could be regarded as vague hints of the "binary formula" for making porcelain clay in later generations.
"Tiangong Kaiwu·Tao Ju Chapter" says: "The earth came out of Wuyuan, and there were two mountains in Qimen: Gaoliang Mountain, where Japonica rice soil was found, which is hard in nature; and Kaihua Mountain, where glutinous rice soil was produced, which was soft in nature."
When the two soils are combined, the porcelain is ready."
Really good china clay is actually a mixture of two types of soil in a ratio of 70-30, with 70% being hard clay (silicate) and 30% being soft clay (kaolin).
The binary mixing method of porcelain raw materials was actually discovered during the Five Dynasties period, but it has never been taken seriously and was even lost for a time in the Song Dynasty.
It was not until the Ming Dynasty that this method of proportioning porcelain clay was officially determined and promoted.
However, it is now the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and it is really rare that Master Mao Shun can discover this secret.
Thinking of this, Zhou Jun thought of the current situation of the craftsmen and couldn't help but sigh.
After collecting his thoughts, Zhou Jun said to Hua Yue: "You watch first, I will go to the official residence of Yushitai to see Yi Kuang's injury."
After saying that, Zhou Jun put on his coat, left the inn, and went to the official residence to find Liu Zai who was lying in bed recovering from his injuries.
Entering Liu Zai's wing, Zhou Jun first smelled a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine. Then he walked into the inner room and saw Liu Zai lying on the bed with a pale face. When Zhou Jun walked in, he just smiled and Quan Zuo
It was a greeting.
Zhou Jun found a crescent moon stool, moved it to the bed, looked at Liu Zai and said, "Are you feeling better?"
Liu Zai said weakly: "It's better."
Zhou Jun discovered that while Liu Zai was speaking, his eyes were looking out the window.
Confused, Zhou Jun also looked outside and saw a figure moving outside the window.
Zhou Jun brought a small table, poured a bowl of water, put it on the small table, and then said: "It's been freezing cold these days. Please rest in peace and recuperate. Don't go out."
Liu Zai responded, put his finger in the bowl, and wrote the word "ear" on the coffee table.
Zhou Jun wrote "know" while talking about the grand occasion of Shangyuan Festival in Luoyang City.
Liu Zai dipped his hand in water and wrote the word "prisoner".
Zhou Jun said deliberately: "It's so cold outside. If people stay at home, they won't even want to say anything, let alone go out."
Liu Zai knew clearly that Zhou Jun's words meant that the thief prisoner who was caught in the dungeon did not confess anything, but the case was dragged on there.
Liu Zai then wrote two more words - "Looking for Immortals".
This chapter is not over yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "But speaking of it, you drank so much medicine and still can't go to the ground. This Luoyang is really a decent doctor. You can't even find it."
arrive."
Liu Zai sighed softly when he heard this. Liu Xiaoxian still has not been found, and he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead.
Zhou Jun glanced out the window, dipped water on the coffee table and wrote - "The chief culprit".
Liu Zai hesitated for a moment and wrote two words - "Hebei".
When Zhou Jun saw this, he couldn't help but froze, chatting some gossip, but started thinking rapidly in his mind.
According to historical records, at this time, An Lushan, the governor of Hebei Province, was annexing Xi, Khitan, Tongluo, etc., while building Xiongwu City in Fanyang.
The name of Naxiongwucheng was to protect the enemy from the outside, but it actually stored weapons and grain for future use. During the seventh year of Tianbao, there were 15,000 horses, cattle and sheep in the city, and countless soldiers.
At present, Anlu Mountain is building a city and gathering grain, grass and horses. It is time to use money. Selling the Silla Health Port will not attract the attention of the Tang Dynasty. Not only will it make a huge profit, but it can also use this trade route to win over Henan and Hedong.
Officials from Gyeonggi and Dougi Province trained and coerced these Silla women to become agents, and in the future they could provide An Lushan with intelligence from various places.
From this point of view, it is really a good plan to kill three birds with one stone.
Just as Zhou Jun was thinking of this, Liu Zai suddenly pulled out a piece of paper from under the mattress and handed it to Zhou Jun's hand.
Zhou Jun took a closer look and saw that what was written on it was all the water transportation information of the cargo ship that sold Silla women.
Among them, there was a line of words that caught Zhou Jun's attention.
"On November 25th, the Silla ship entered Luoshui."
November twenty-fifth?
Zhou Jun recalled this date carefully.
Finally, Zhou Jun remembered that that day seemed to be the day when he invited Silla blacksmith Jin Youji to have a drink.
Jin Youji had had too much wine. He was standing on the bridge and pointed at a boat on the Luoshui River, saying that he saw his daughter standing on the bow.
When the memory came to this point, Zhou Jun was stunned while holding the paper.