Xinzheng is the fundamental place of the Gao family. This "fundamental" is not necessarily the fundamental of economic foundation - it could be counted in the past, but now that Gao is pragmatic, it cannot be counted like this.
Gao pragmatically has two "industrial clusters" in Henan: Weihui and Huaiqing to the north of the river, which are dominated by cement, supplemented by coal mines and iron plants.
The annual output of cement here is more than 800,000 kilograms, which sounds very powerful, but in fact it is only equivalent to the production capacity of a large cement factory in later generations for one to two days. In addition, it also produces agricultural tools and coal, not to mention agricultural tools. Henan
It has always been a major agricultural province, and all kinds of agricultural tools can be sold. Moreover, Gao Pragmatic has no intention of militarizing his industry in Henan. After all, there is little local demand, and it is not cost-effective to transport it far away.
However, there is far more coal than iron in this area, so the large amount of remaining coal mines for iron-making are transported directly through the Yellow River, flowing into Luoyang to the west and Kaifeng to the east. According to Zhang's highly pragmatic layout, there are briquettes in Luoyang and Kaifeng
After the coal mines arrive, the briquettes are made into briquettes and sold in these two places. Although the sales are a bit lower than those in the capital, the two places combined can earn two to thirty thousand taels of silver a year, which is actually not a small amount.
, it is relatively inconspicuous just because it is under the name of Gao pragmatism.
The Xinzheng and Yuzhou areas are different. The coal mines in Xinzheng and the iron mines in Yuzhou were built by Gao Pragmatic in order to benefit the hometown and build their reputation. At the beginning, they mainly produced farm tools, and later added other daily iron tools.
, such as iron pots, iron kettles, etc., and later expanded to the production of iron sheets, which were used by the military to make armors, etc., and also provided a small amount of arrows (regardless of the arrow shafts).
The excess coal is still used to make briquettes, but profit is basically not considered and is sold to nearby areas at low prices. It is only used to build reputation among the neighbors.
Later, the Zhang family was somewhat dissatisfied with the industry here, and kept writing to Gao Pangshi, saying that Yuzhou was the origin of the famous Jun kiln porcelain in the Song Dynasty. The Gao family was now a leading family in Xinzheng and Yuzhou, and they should enter the porcelain industry.
industry, and strive to restore the status of Jun Kiln - but it cannot be called Jun Kiln now, because it is necessary to avoid the taboo of Jinshang (Zhu Yijun), so it has to be renamed Yu Kiln.
Gao Pragmatic has always felt that China's porcelain industry does not need his intervention to promote it, so he is not very enthusiastic about this matter, but Zhang is very enthusiastic about this matter - the value of Jun kiln is not a joke, there are five famous porcelains in China,
Jun, Ru, official, brother, Ding, with Jun porcelain as the leader, are called the kings of porcelain. "Gold is valuable, Jun is priceless", "Even if you have a huge family fortune, it is not as good as a piece of Jun porcelain", these are all from the Song Dynasty.
Words that are widely circulated.
Therefore, Mrs. Zhang has been looking for opportunities to persuade her son. At the same time, she does not just wait and speak pragmatically, but starts to prepare first.
Taking advantage of Gao Gong's power and her son's wealth, she has been recruiting porcelain masters in Yuzhou (the place where Jun kiln is produced) and Ruzhou (the place where Ru kiln is produced) in Henan, waiting to persuade her son to approve the investment.
In order to convince Gao Jingshi, she also deliberately replaced some of the most conspicuous furnishings in the east room of Long Wenya Garden for Gao Jingshi to live in (Gao Jingshi's father was still there, so he could not live in the north room).
porcelain.
But it's a pity that Gao Pingshi doesn't understand porcelain at all. He wandered around for a few times and didn't pay attention to the porcelain. Later, Mrs. Zhang became angry. In order to collect these jun that are placed in front of you, I
He even wrote a letter to his third brother (Zhang Sijiao, the person in charge of business in the Zhang family in Puzhou), asking him to send some of the best treasures of the Zhang family in Yangzhou, and even to escort this batch of treasures.
The national treasure-level Jun porcelain was escorted by five hundred people from Xinzheng and Yuzhou - you brat, you are so blind that you didn't see it?
Zhang explained the situation with anger, and Gao Pragmatic was a little confused. After Zhang's heartbreaking introduction, he took a closer look and finally discovered the magic in it, such as "earthworms walking on mud patterns" and "like jade but not like jade".
"The jade sky is like jade", "Green is like spring water at the beginning of the day, and red is like the morning glow. The sky is full of stars with smoke and light, and the purple green suddenly turns into mist at sunset" and so on.
Then he said with a sudden look on his face: "I have seen these Junci many times in the palace!"
Mrs. Zhang was furious: "Of course there are many in the palace, because in the former Song Dynasty and the former Yuan Dynasty, they were only in the palace. How can you see a few of them among the people? This is what makes them so precious!" She said with an angry look on her face.
Said: "In the Ming Dynasty, the Jun kiln in Yuzhou declined, but part of the manufacturing method of Jun kiln was scattered in Yixing (later Jiangsu), Shiwan (later Guangdong) and other places, and some Jun porcelain branches appeared...
...Pragmatically, this is our famous porcelain in Zhongzhou, we should revive it!"
"Oh... that's it." Gao pragmatic thought for a while and thought to himself: The decline of Yuzhou Jun kiln is probably related to the loss of the Central Plains in the Northern Song Dynasty. Later, after the Ming Dynasty expelled the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, most of the porcelain masters lived in the south, and the Ming Dynasty had no control over Henan.
They don’t pay much attention to it, so Jun kiln has never been revived. If this is the case... it’s not impossible for me to invest one or two.
But then he thought about it: Investment is okay, but it cannot be like the previous Jun kiln that only takes the upper-level route, or simply only takes the cutting-edge route. In the past, there was a saying in Jun kiln, which was called "nine out of ten kilns will fail." I can't stand this.
No, we have to greatly improve the finished product rate and yield rate.
Another thing is, since you want to invest in the porcelain industry, you can’t just think about it in the domestic market. I can’t control how porcelain is viewed by others, but in my eyes, the biggest function is to earn foreign exchange through export! Chinese porcelain
That is a high-tech product that is a global monopoly. It would be unreasonable for me not to use it to shear sheep!
After thinking about this, Gao Pragmatic has no resistance to entering the porcelain industry, and he plans to wait for the restoration work of Jun kiln to be somewhat effective, and then take out the bone china craft as the new Jun kiln or the alternative to Yu kiln.
A skill.
Anyway, the idea is ready. Traditional Jun kiln can continue to focus on high-end, while bone china focuses on mid-range. As for low-end... low-end is not made.
Of course, the name bone china must be changed, otherwise it will be too easy for people to discover the secret. For example, it would be better to call it Yuyao Light Porcelain. The real advantages of bone china are actually three: lightness, strength, and few defects.
As for transparency, delicacy, extra whiteness, etc., China's inherent porcelain can actually achieve it. The reason why it is often not made too transparent is actually because of China's cultural tradition - love for jade.
Gao Pragmatic has read research before. Judging from the glazing technology demonstrated by Chinese porcelain, China can definitely produce glass. But why hasn’t China developed crystal clear glass for so many years? Because jade is not transparent.
, and all kinds of Chinese techniques like to imitate the nature of jade, so there is no consideration at all to make it as pure and transparent as glass.
However, the lightness and strength of bone china is indeed an advantage, especially for export. The strength can ensure that losses during transportation are minimized, and the lightness can reduce the difficulty of transportation. It is wonderful.
As soon as Mrs. Zhang heard that Gao Pingshi had agreed, she immediately turned from anger to joy and said, "In this case, my mother will call a few master craftsmen over to see you right away!"