Chapter 213 Let porcelain take the lead in selling well in the world
"You gentlemen and elders, I believe you have all asked about my origins. During this term of office, I will be the parent official of Rong County, and I still need your full help." Qin Hao handed over to everyone, which was enough for these places.
Rich face.
The elders and squires present also knew that as the future heir of the Qin family, Qin Hao was here to gain political achievements and would not stay in Rong County for a long time. There was no need to quarrel with him.
"You're welcome, Magistrate Qin. If you need me to wait somewhere, just give me your order." A thin, even slightly hunchbacked old man bowed slightly.
Seeing this, the other squires and elders also agreed.
Qin Hao took a deep look at the hunchbacked old man. This man was the head of the Tao family in Rong County, and the Tao family was the most populous and powerful among the families in Rong County.
"Thank you all very much." Qin Hao calmly exchanged cups with these local tycoons without directly expressing his intention to cooperate.
At the end of the banquet, when the head of the Tao family was about to get on the carriage and go home, a boy suddenly stopped the carriage at the intersection.
"Mr. Tao, our adults are here to invite you."
Mrs. Tao was still drunk. He was startled for a moment, then he woke up. The only person in Rong County who could be called an adult was Qin Hao. It was obviously not that simple for the other party to quietly leave him behind after the banquet.
Mr. Tao originally didn't pay much attention to the children of aristocratic families like Qin Hao. At least most of the children of the aristocratic families he had met were just scumbags. In addition, Qin Hao had made several meritorious deeds in suppressing rebellions before, which made Mr. Tao feel that Qin Hao was a good person.
Hao is just a warrior, he only knows how to fight, but he doesn't know how to govern the place.
However, after having real contact with him today, I discovered that this young man is not simple. He does not have the arrogance of a military commander or the arrogance of a child of a family. He only spent a banquet and gained the favor of these wealthy families in Rong County.
Returning to the county government office, Qin Hao was already waiting in the front hall: "Mr. Tao, let's have a cup of sobering tea first."
"Thank you, Mr. Qin." Mr. Tao respectfully handed over his hands.
After drinking the sobering tea, Qin Hao said seriously: "Old Tao must know the situation in Rong County better than I do. The people are short of food and clothing, and the people's livelihood is in ruins. Since Your Majesty has handed over Rong County to me, I have the responsibility to act on behalf of the emperor."
Herdsmen, I am so shameless, please ask Mrs. Tao to help me."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Tao thought Qin Hao wanted him to pay, and he hesitated: "This... I feel ashamed to say this..."
Qin Hao smiled and pressed Mrs. Tao's hand and said: "My family is quite wealthy. I plan to build a kiln in Rong County to make porcelain. It requires a large area of land and manpower. Please don't refuse, Mrs. Tao."
When he heard that he didn't have to pay for it himself, Mr. Tao immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "The Tao family does have some of this land. Since it is to make a living for the local people, the Tao family is naturally obliged to do so, but this manpower..."
The reason why Qin Hao left the task of recruiting people to the Tao family was mainly because he had just taken office and had little prestige, and was not as influential as the local powerful.
The main reason why Mrs. Tao is unwilling to help Qin Hao recruit people is because the kilns have been a place of cannibalism since ancient times. Not only is it hard and tiring, but also life-threatening. For fellow villagers, the Tao family will still live in Rong County in the future.
This kind of infamy cannot be tolerated.
Qin Hao thought about it for a moment and understood Mrs. Tao's concerns. He couldn't help but feel a little funny. Did Mr. Tao think of him as running a black kiln?
"Mr. Tao, I have misunderstood. The Qin family will never exploit the people or care about human lives. Anyone who comes to work in the kiln factory will be given five hundred yuan a month, including two meals. And I don't ask for the land in vain. It will be paid according to the market price."
Just sell the Tao family's wasteland near the Minjiang River to me."
Mr. Tao was stunned when he heard this. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the currency in circulation was five baht. According to the price at that time, corn (millet) = about 1 stone / 220 qian, one stone is about 27 jins, and 500 yuan per month is enough to buy two
Stone corn is enough to feed a family of four for a month, and there is still some leftover.
Moreover, ordinary people would not buy corn, so they would replace it with cheaper wheat. If they save a little money, they can last for two months. This was definitely a high salary in the Han Dynasty.
"Master Qin, are you serious about what you said?" Mr. Tao asked in surprise.
Qin Hao said with a smile: "I don't have time to keep Mr. Tao here in the middle of the night to tell jokes."
"That's right, that's right." Mrs. Tao agreed, thinking in his mind that after returning home, he would mobilize the Tao family's farm men to work in the kiln factory. They could earn five hundred yuan a month, and each one of them would not be able to pay him.
Serving as a god?
"Master Qin, how many people are needed in this kiln?" Mr. Tao asked again.
Qin Hao knocked on the table: "In the early stage of building a kiln, three to five hundred people will be enough. After the kiln starts construction, we will recruit more."
Mr. Tao was so shocked that his jaw dropped. He originally thought that one hundred and eighty people would be enough when building a kiln, but Qin Hao said it was three to five hundred people. How big of a kiln would this be?
"Are there too many people here?" Mr. Tao thought Qin Hao didn't understand engineering.
Qin Hao waved his hand and said: "No more, no more. One kiln factory is far from enough. In the future, we will build a second and third factory. I am afraid that even if all the people in the county come to work in the kiln factory, it will not be enough."
Mr. Tao subconsciously felt that Qin Hao was bragging. If all the people in the county went to the kiln factory, who would be left to farm? What's more, although Rong County is not a big county, it has a population of 8,000 households. So many people are going to the kiln factory.
If you want to work in a factory, how big should the kiln factory be?
But regardless of whether Qin Hao was bragging or not, after Mr. Tao returned, he still gathered the backbone of the family and notified them to recruit people.
Similar to Mrs. Tao's initial suspicion, everyone in the Tao family doubted whether Qin Hao's five hundred yuan salary was an exaggeration.
Mrs. Tao's crutch struck the ground: "Since you don't believe it, then give your place to outsiders. But when the time comes, you must not regret it."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The Tao family finally decided to give up half of the quota, and half of the quota to those in need in the family. Anyway, they have no better way out, so they might as well try it.
Try your luck.
The newly opened kiln factory, five hundred yuan wages, two key words, quickly spread throughout Rong County. At first, everyone thought it was a joke. After all, farming may not bring much profit after a year of hard work.
The kiln factory has always been famous for being shady. How can they offer such high wages?
However, as the Tao family began to recruit people, and after seeing that many people from the Tao family signed up, some poor people who were really too poor to survive also began to sign up.
However, most people are still waiting and watching, and there are also many local powerful people who are waiting to see the jokes of Qin Hao, the new county magistrate.
Qin Hao was not idle during this period. He took the Qin family's stewards, craftsmen, and Cheng Shaoshang to measure and plan the kiln's construction site.
Cheng Shaoshang seemed very excited. Her biggest hobby was making these buildings. Unfortunately, she could only make small gadgets such as tables, chairs, benches, and swings before.
Now having the opportunity to participate in the design of such a large-scale building is something I never thought of before.
In fact, the stewards and craftsmen were very surprised when they first saw Cheng Shaoshang at the construction site. They originally thought that Qin Hao just brought Cheng Shaoshang to relax, but the drawings drawn by Cheng Shaoshang impressed many old craftsmen.
After a while, I realized that this young lady has real qualities.
"Husband, why do you want to build this kind of arched structural support on top? Isn't it more convenient to have a flat surface?" Cheng Shaoshang asked curiously.
Qin Hao explained with a smile: "Although the arch structure is a bit troublesome to build, it is durable enough and relatively simple to maintain. It is also conducive to heat conduction. We are firing porcelain, not pottery, and the temperature requirements are higher.
High, this arched design can reduce part of the fuel consumption."
Although Cheng Shaoshang didn't understand the principle of heat conduction very well, he could probably understand what it meant and carefully recorded what Qin Hao said.
After putting down the brush, Cheng Shaoshang asked Qin Hao worriedly: "Nowadays, lacquerware is used throughout the court. Can this porcelain really sell well?"
Before the Han Dynasty, most bronze ware was used. However, due to the difficulty and high cost of refining bronze ware, it has only been popular among nobles.
After the Han Dynasty, because bronze ware was too heavy and easy to rust, many nobles began to abandon bronze ware and switched to more gorgeous and lightweight lacquer ware.
The so-called lacquerware is actually made of wood. The pillars are first carved and shaped, and then painted with various colors of paint. Not only the color is beautiful, but also more gorgeous.
However, the cost of making lacquerware is also very high. Ancient lacquer is different from the industrial supplies used by later generations. It is made from natural resin collected and then added with pigments. Likewise, only nobles can afford it.
Qin Hao is not worried at all about this. Ceramics have many advantages over lacquerware, that is, they can be fired in large batches. A lacquerer may not be able to make several sets of lacquerware in a month, but ceramics can be fired continuously.
After firing, thousands of finished products come out of the furnace.
In fact, there was porcelain in the Han Dynasty, but the production technology was relatively backward, and the fired porcelain was more like pottery. On the one hand, the temperature was not high enough, and on the other hand, the technology of using glaze coloring was not mastered.
Qin Hao believes that low-cost, exquisite porcelain produced by a perfect industrial system will surely replace pottery and lacquerware and quickly occupy the mainstream market.
It was even exported to some countries such as the Western Regions and overseas in advance, and the demand was so huge that Rong County simply couldn't supply it.
Of course, all this is still on paper. The next thing Qin Hao has to do is to build the kiln and at the same time use the waterway advantages near Rong County to sell these porcelain to every corner of the Eastern Han Empire.
In the early stage, Mrs. Tao recruited more than 300 villagers to work in the kiln factory. At first, everyone was doubtful about the wages, but by the time lunch was served, everyone was dumbfounded.
Huge steamed buns with wild vegetables and egg soup were lying there quietly. The Qin family's cook knocked on the wooden barrel and shouted arrogantly: "Everyone queue up, one by one, two big buns for each person."
Steamed buns and a bowl of egg soup, everyone has a share. What about you, please wait in line and don’t be crowded!”
Tian Laowei stood in the middle of the queue with his back hunched over. There were already more than thirty people in front of him. He licked his dry lips and watched the tall pile of steamed buns disappear. He was anxious, for fear that he would be gone when he arrived.
.
He began to try to count, but he had never studied and could not even write his own name, let alone count. He could only hold back the expectation in his heart and watch the team move forward little by little.
However, something that made him despair still happened. When the pile of steamed buns arrived in front of him, it was still gone, and the large wooden barrel of wild vegetable and egg soup had also bottomed out.
Just when Tian Laowei felt disappointed that he had missed the only big meal in his life, he saw that the cook had another large pile of steamed buns brought up, and even a large bucket of wild vegetable and egg soup.
Tian Laolan was so excited that he didn't know where to put his hands. The cook saw that he was standing there in a daze and didn't come forward, so he said angrily.
"What are you doing? If you don't hurry up, we'll be waiting later. If you don't eat, there will be nothing left."
The people behind him also said impatiently: "That's right, if you don't eat, we will still eat."
Tian Laowei then nodded and stepped forward with a smile. The fragrant and glutinous steamed bun was bigger than his fist. It was the first time he had seen such a big steamed bun. He took a bowl of wild vegetable and egg soup. The fragrance made him laugh.
He narrowed his eyes in intoxication.
No one laughed at Tian Laowei, because most people were like him. It was probably the first time in their lives to eat such big steamed buns and drink egg soup. Although there was almost no trace of eggs in the soup, for local people like them,
For ordinary people who live in rural areas, eggs are an important commodity. They are left for the wife's confinement, or they are taken to the market to be exchanged for coarse cloth. How can they be willing to eat them themselves?
Tasting egg soup already feels like celebrating the New Year.
Tian Laowei found a hard clod of soil and didn't care whether it was clean or not. He just sat down and then carefully took out a wild vegetable steamed bun from his arms and took a careful bite.
He bit carefully, only breaking a little bit of the skin. He had to savor such precious food carefully, for fear that after a few bites, he would never be able to eat it again in his life. Eat slowly now, remember this taste,
Maybe he can brag to his children in the future, if he can still find a wife in this life.
At this moment, Tian Laowen suddenly saw a commotion in front of him, and his nature to join in the fun made him follow. When he saw it, he found that there was a fight over wild vegetables and steamed buns.
The leader, Tian Laowen, knew them as the three Tao brothers who were bullies in his village. Although they were just a branch of the Tao family, they had many brothers in the family and often bullied the people in the same village, so he was bullied a lot.
The three Tao brothers went into battle together and beat the other two men until they were unable to fight back. The two men could only hold their heads and huddle up, allowing them to punch and kick them.
"Hurry up and hand over the steamed buns, you bastards. If I don't beat you, you won't know how powerful the three Tao brothers are!" Mr. Tao laughed loudly and even stepped on a man's head.
At this moment, I suddenly heard a shout: "Stop!"
On the dusty construction site, a group of guards came in full body armor. The leader was very young, but he was majestic and powerful. He was accompanied by a charming young lady. Tian Laowang unconsciously
Lowering his head, it was the first time in his life that he saw such a beautiful little lady. He could not look directly at such a noble person.
"Master Qin."
"County Magistrate Qin!"
Tian Laowang couldn't help but be slightly surprised when he heard someone calling the young man County Magistrate. Is this the new Magistrate of Rong County?
Although the three Tao brothers were arrogant, they still knelt down knowingly when they saw the county master.
Qin Hao glanced at the three of them and asked in a deep voice: "Who are you?"
"Reporting to your lord, the three younger ones are from Taojia Village." Tao Boss said flatteringly.
Qin Hao said: "So, you are from the Tao family?"
"Sir, the younger one is a branch of the Tao family. Now Mr. Tao and his ancestor are cousins." Mr. Tao is still a little proud. Look, the new county magistrate also wants to sell the Tao family's face.
However, Qin Hao directly shouted: "Take it!"
Three knives were placed on the three Tao brothers like this, and the onlookers were so frightened that they fell to their knees.
Qin Hao shouted loudly: "Since I have become the head of this county, if there is any illegal activity within the jurisdiction of Rong County, this county will severely punish him in accordance with the laws of the Han Dynasty, no matter how deep his background is or the connections of the people behind him."
How tough it is. Before I took office, I was a general on horseback and used my military merits to seal the title of marquis in the pass. If you don't believe it, I can try it with your necks to see if your neck is stronger or the sword of this county is stronger!"
The two kiln workers who had been surrounded just now got up, knelt down to Qin Hao, and shouted: "Master Qingtian!"
"Thank you, Mr. Qingtian, for taking the decision!"
Cheng Shaoshang watched them being beaten with bruises and swollen faces, and kept kowtowing in thanks. He couldn't help but feel a little sour in his heart, and said to the lotus beside him: "Go and get some medicine to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis."
Qin Hao noticed that they were always keeping the two wild vegetable steamed buns tightly in their arms, so he asked: "Why don't you eat these steamed buns?"
Only then did the two of them raise their heads and answered in a straight-forward manner: "Replying to your lord, we still have my mother, wife and children at home. We want to take them back to feed them, but we don't want to be seen by the three rogues of the Tao family..."
"
Before Qin Hao could say anything, Cheng Shaoshang stepped forward angrily and kicked the three Tao brothers down.
"You guys are worse than beasts, and living in this world is just a waste of food!"
Mr. Tao rolled his eyes and cried miserably: "Sir, I have an old mother, wife and children to support at home!"
However, their lie was exposed in the next second, and a timid voice shouted: "The parents of the three Tao brothers were so angry with them that they never got married. They and I are from the same village."
"Tian Laowei, if you dare to betray us, I will kill you!" Tao Laosan was so angry that he rushed towards Tian Laowei.
However, the next second, Qin Hao kicked him down the slope, causing his nose to be bruised and his face to be swollen.
"If you dare to commit murder in front of this county, someone will come and beat these three people with thirty boards, tie them at the gate of the construction site, and show them to the public for three days to serve as a warning to others!"
"promise."
Qin Hao couldn't help but feel sad when he looked at these ordinary people who looked disheveled and regarded the two wild vegetable steamed buns as treasures.
In the world, it is hard for the people to prosper and it is hard for the people to die. This light sentence in a book is so heavy when it falls in reality.
Qin Hao promised Emperor Wen that he would give Rong County a new look within three years. Before, it was for political achievements, but now, Qin Hao really wants to do something practical for the people here!