If you want to achieve anything in the world, you need to study hard. The most fearful thing is to take it for granted.
Just like Gao Pragmatic, he knew nothing about porcelain before today. He only knew that Chinese porcelain was invincible, but what exactly was porcelain, such as the current porcelain exhibition, fashion trends, and even the required raw materials and technical requirements, etc. I don’t know at all.
Today, the three "master craftsmen" Zhang introduced to him gave him a lot of popular science, but they were still superficial, because he couldn't understand it if they explained it in detail.
There is no need to go into details. In short, Gao pragmatically clarified several key points. The peak period of the porcelain industry in the Ming Dynasty was the Chenghua Dynasty. After that, although the patterns changed more and more, and new technologies also appeared, compared with the Chenghua period, , the overall trend is becoming more and more shoddy.
"Roughly made" is what the three masters said. In fact, even if the three masters took out some carefully prepared porcelains from previous dynasties and showed them to Gao Jingshi, Gao Jingshi felt that there was not much difference. According to what the masters said, Before Hongzhi, attention was paid to repairing the body, and the seams were not obvious. After Zhengde, the seams of Jiajing, Longqing and the recent Wanli Dynasty porcelain were obvious, and the carcass was thicker and rougher. The ones produced by official kilns were slightly better, and those produced by private kilns were slightly better. The more serious the situation is, the more likely it will be "flint red", which is called "yellow overflow" by master craftsmen.
However, Gao Pragmatic felt that the requirements of the master craftsmen seemed to be too high, and even a bit picky. However, he is a person who believes in professionalism, so he still holds a positive attitude towards this statement.
Among the three master craftsmen, one was named Yu and the other two were named Chen. The two master craftsmen surnamed Chen came from Yuzhou and were brothers. They were considered the successors of Jun kiln technology in the Song Dynasty. But according to the two of them, since Jun kiln has been in decline for a long time, they can only master the general technology, and some unique skills may have been lost. They have only heard about the manufacturing method from the elders of the clan. Whether they can successfully imitate it is still unclear. Between the two.
However, Mrs. Zhang admired their craftsmanship very much. She was afraid that Gao Pingshi would be disappointed after hearing the words of these two honest craftsmen, so she quickly told her son that she had asked them to make two batches of trial production, although it was indeed not up to the level of Jun Kiln. It is at its peak level, but it can basically reach the common standard of Jun kilns back then. There are only a few Jun kilns in the past, and they specialize in high-quality products, so this "common standard" is actually already a very high level.
Gao Pragmatic expressed his approval but did not comment too much.
The master craftsman named Xu came from Jingdezhen. Unlike the full bloom of the porcelain industry in the Song Dynasty, the capital of porcelain in the Ming Dynasty has firmly settled in Jingdezhen. Although famous porcelain in other places also have their own strengths, no matter in terms of scale, comprehensiveness or mastery of unique skills Many countries, including Jingdezhen, are the unyielding overlords.
And this great craftsman Xu, even in Jingdezhen, is one with extremely outstanding skills. It's just that this master craftsman has two tragedies. One is that he is only good at technology but not good at management. As a result, the private kilns passed down from his family are of excellent quality, but they are being squeezed by competitors and their profits are getting thinner. Even the ancestral property is losing money. The second reason is that he only has an only son, but this only son is addicted to eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. He just doesn't do his job properly. He is set up outside and owes a lot of usury money, which bankrupts Master Xu.
Usury is usury. In theory, it is strictly prohibited by Ming law. But in fact, it was during the Wanli Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty had already entered the middle and late stages. There are still a few laws that can be taken seriously. Moreover, anyone who can usury What is the identity and where can the Xu family cope with it?
Fortunately, Gao Jingshi's mother Zhang happened to send someone to look for capable craftsmen in Jingdezhen. When she learned about this situation, she immediately took care of the matter in the name of Xinzheng Gao's family. By coincidence, the then Jiangxi Bu Li Chunpu, a disciple of Gao Gong, the political secretary and left counselor, came forward to negotiate peace. The Zhang family paid back all the principal and interest of the money owed by Xu Dajiang's family, and Xu Dajiang took several clan members and disciples from his private kiln and joined the Gao family.
Because the Jun kiln has been in decline for a long time, the Chen brothers can only make ordinary porcelain in the countryside to make ends meet. They are so poor that they have long lost the dignity of a great craftsman. Not to mention Master Xu, in theory he now owes the Gao family money. It won't be over in three lifetimes.
Zhang was born into a family of wealthy businessmen, and was not very polite when it came to doing business, so he took all three of them as his servants without saying a word.
A servant is actually a servant, or even more bluntly, a slave of the master.
A little explanation is needed here. In the Ming Dynasty, slaves were also called slaves, Zang Huo, house slaves, house boys, boy servants, family members, righteous men, righteous daughters, righteous wives, etc.
In the early Ming Dynasty, real slaves mainly came from prisoners of war and family members of criminals. Their identities were recognized by law, but the number of such slaves was of course very limited. During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly issued decrees prohibiting the enslavement of good people among the people, opposing the sale of people, or the exchange of private debts, and stipulating the number of slaves for meritorious officials and officials.
But the regulations are just regulations. Honorable ministers, nobles, relatives and officials can find loopholes to avoid it. For example, if the slave deed does not say that he was sold as a slave, but only says that he was adopted as an adopted son or daughter by someone, the court can only stare at Gao Mo and Gao Jue. Why are they all named Gao? When they first started, the slave deed was in the hands of Gao Jie, Gao's pragmatic uncle. In name, they were all Gao Jie's adopted sons. Since they were adopted sons, of course they had to bear the surname of "adopted father".
The master has great power to deal with this type of servants or servants at will because they are actually the property of the master.
There is also a slightly different type of servant, which is a hired servant. However, the employment period of this hired worker is a bit long and lasts a lifetime, and there is no right to change jobs. Previously, Zhang Siwei was transferred to the highly pragmatic Sanshenyuan Third Manager, such as Shen Li'an, Wei Ximin, etc., who were all servants of this type.
The former type of slaves, who are adopted sons and daughters, can be taken over by their masters, while the latter type cannot be taken over by life or death. However, the imperial court has never had an accurate definition of this type of slaves. Generally speaking, the masters As long as you don't kill people directly, the court basically doesn't ask about other situations.
In fact, even if the master is really killed, the punishment given by the court or the government will be very light. For a powerful master, this kind of punishment can be ignored.
However, the crimes committed by slaves in the Ming Dynasty against their masters were very clear and strict in the Ming Code. For example, "Any slave who beats his parents will be beheaded, and those who are killed will be put to death. Those who are negligent will be hanged, and those who are injured will be exiled for three thousand miles with a hundred sticks." and "Every slave who scolds his parents will be hanged. If a hired worker scolds his parents, Eighty sticks, two years of apprenticeship.”
A domestic slave who was an adopted son and adopted daughter would be hanged if he even cursed his master. If he dared to hit his master or behead him even more severely and kill his master, he would be executed without any discussion.
Domestic slaves who are hired laborers are not that strong. If they curse their master, they will be punished with an eighty-point cane and two years in prison.
There is of course more than one reason why all the wars in the late Ming Dynasty depended on servants, but this one must not ignore the master's desire to kill and seize servants. If a servant does not listen to the master's words, he will be killed when others say.
Now these three master craftsmen are hired servants of the Gao family, so Gao Pragmatic's decision is equivalent to their imperial edict.
After listening to the three people's stories, Gao pragmatic glanced at his mother, frowned slightly and said, "Mother, please tell your son the truth. Are you letting your son engage in Yu kiln just to make money, or do you have greater expectations?"
Zhang's eyes flashed, then firmed up. She looked at Gao Jingjing and said, "Pragmatic, the Gao family and the Zhang family are all from the north. We can't just watch Nanci show off their power. You want money now?" If we have the power, why can’t we, the Gao family, do something to revitalize Bei Porcelain?"
