Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 246 Joint Venture
When Zhu Yuan came to the lobby of the Second Hospital, the two brothers Tan Zao and Tan Qu were already waiting. When they saw a rumored Xiao Pingzhang appear, they would meet him immediately.

Seeing that they are both thin and tall, they can recognize the two brothers of the Tan family at a glance, but Zhu Yuan thought of Wen Zao whom he hadn't seen for a while.

After he returned to Jinling, Wen Zao, who had assisted in spreading the message for a long time, was promoted to a higher level, and was sent to the north by Lao Zhu.

This time it's for the Northeast.

Referring to the records in Zhu Yuan's "Book of Heaven", it is impossible for Lao Zhu not to pay attention to the Northeast. Obviously, Wen Zao's work, if done well, will have greater credit.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Zhu Yuan sat down first, looked at Tan Zao at the side, and asked with a smile, "This, Mr. Tan, came here from Raozhou on purpose?"

Hearing Zhu Yuan's address, Tan Zao hurriedly cupped his hands on the chair: "I dare not call you 'Mr.', adults can call the villain 'Migrant Worker'."

Migrant workers...

Zhu Yuan became interested: "Why such a word?"

Tan Zao sat up again, with his back still straight, and respectfully said: "My father wanted to take 'Heavenly Craftsmanship' as the next word, meaning 'ingenious workmanship'. I hope that the villain can carry forward the family's craftsmanship. The word "Tiangong" was too large, so the word "Tian" was changed to "Min"."

This is... well-founded.

It's just that Tan Zao is wearing an expensive indigo silk shirt, which really can't be connected with a certain word.

Not a silkworm farmer!

Zhu Yuan didn't bother with this too much, and instead said, "Since you've come all the way, it's not just for self-introduction, is it?"

"My lord, it's like this," Tan Zao said, "My brother gave your lord a few pieces of porcelain a few days ago, but it was just for the barbarians. It's really unbearable to give to your lord as a gift. After hearing about it, the villain hurried over. , I only wish to present a few fine products to my lord, and I hope my lord will forgive Minshui for his unintentional mistakes."

This is what it says...

Afterwards, Zhu Yuan asked people to inquire about those few red-glazed porcelains. It is not that there is no red-glazed porcelain in the market, but the price is basically not less than a hundred taels in terms of silver.

If you talk about high-quality goods, even top-quality goods, you may not be able to buy 2 taels of silver.

Tan Zao's words were really too modest.

In addition, 'Min Shui' is probably the name of Tan Qu, which... sounds weirder than migrant workers.

Tan Zao said that he had already got up, indicating that the three boxes had been moved here in advance: "My lord, can I let the little one show you?"

Zhu Yuan became interested, nodded and said, "Let me take a look."

Tan Zao first picked up the largest mahogany box and put it on the coffee table, while Tan Qu stood up to help.Zhu Yuan noticed that when Tan Zao took out a green and red plum vase about one and a half feet from it, the corners of Tan Qu's mouth twitched obviously, looking very reluctant.

Tan Zao bowed and stepped forward cautiously, and put the plum vase painted with red peonies on the coffee table beside Zhu Yuan, and said, "My lord, this vase is called 'Flowers Bloom Wealth', and there are six peonies in the vase reflected in the flowers. , the firing method is the method of 'blue and white underglaze red'."

The bottle is too big. Seeing that Tan Zao seemed to be holding his son carefully, Zhu Yuan didn't take it casually, but just got up, followed Tan Zao's display, looked at it carefully, thought for a while, and said: "The blue and white glaze is red, I am I seem to have heard that it is harder to burn than red glaze, right?"

Proper nouns are those that have been heard in previous lives.

In the past, Zhu Yuan was not interested in porcelain, but when he reached a certain class, he could always see more.

As for this firing method, Zhu Yuan has not learned about it in detail, but since it can reach his ears, it is obvious that one word.

expensive!
"It's even more difficult," Tan Zao showed Zhu Yuan around before putting the bottle on the tea table, and then said: "The firing of this porcelain is based on the word 'fire', blue and white have the same heat as blue and white. The red glaze has the same heat as the red glaze, and the two alternate with each other. If the heat is slightly wrong, either the blue and white glaze will turn gray, or the red glaze will turn black. To tell you the truth, the Tan family has been firing red glaze for decades. This red plum vase in blue and white glaze is only This one."

"Orphan." Zhu Yuan nodded with a smile, and then signaled: "You are so careful, you should put it away, so as not to bump into it."

But Tan Zao looked like he didn't intend to touch his hands again: "Sir, why don't you let the servants send it to the back, and the younger one will show the second one?"

"No need," Zhu Yuan walked to the chair, worried about bumping into the plum vase on the table, sat down carefully, and said with a smile, "I'll just have a look at this thing, it's too expensive, so I can't accept it."

"Your Excellency, why did you say that?" Tan Zao said, "The Tan family fired this porcelain, just a pinch of clay and a plate of glaze. It's just a bit of luck. There is a saying in that drama, the so-called 'a sword is given to a hero' , such a wonderful thing, it is natural to give it to the adults."

Zhu Yuan leaned on the back of the chair with a smile, thought for a while, and said: "Tan Qu told me about the red glaze a few days ago, and I knew the preciousness of these porcelains, not to mention the red in the blue and white glaze. However, if you really If you want to give it away, you can wait a while. I am planning a museum. Well, this museum is probably to collect cultural treasures from past dynasties and display them to the world to show the glory of China for 5000 years. Your bottle should be qualified .”

museum?
Tan Zao seemed to understand for a while.

Zhu Yuan said in detail: "I just told Tan Qu that this museum is the best platform to help your Tan family become famous. For example, let me just talk about it casually. I hope this museum can collect bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Han Letters written by Wang Xizhi, paintings written by Wang Xizhi, paintings by Gu Kaizhi, and so on, just imagine what it would be like if your Tan family’s porcelain was included in the list.”

Tan Zao understood now.

Tan Zao trembled a little in the blink of an eye.

Along with the likes of 'Wang Xizhi' and 'Gu Kaizhi', if this is true, the Tan family... not to mention those things about money, even if it is in the history books, I am afraid they can record it.

After shaking for a moment, Tan Zao regained his composure, took two steps back, and bowed to Zhu Yuan again: "Tan family... I hope you will help me."

Seeing his elder brother like this, Tan Qu also knelt down quickly.

"Get up." After a long time, Zhu Yuan became more and more indifferent to the word "duo", and just said: "I said it all, this is for you to be willing, not for me. Good things from your family, theoretically I should have begged you to send it."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Tan Zao muttered, kowtowed again, finally got up, and stood there blankly, as if he didn't know how to continue.

Zhu Yuan had no choice but to signal to the side: "Put it up first, put it so high, don't fall."

Tan Zao nodded quickly, carefully picked up the plum vase, put it back in the wooden box, and then showed the second one.

This time it was a one foot high pure red glazed amphora vase.

Compared with the one that Zhu Yuan put on the desk in the back house, the biggest feature of this vase is, um, it is still red, but it is a rare and very bright red, not the general dark red that Zhu Yuan has seen before. red.

Without Tan Zao's introduction, Zhu Yuan understood the rareness of it.

Tan Zao continued to introduce a few words, and he got it by chance, the only one in decades.

The last is a small pen holder, which I also got by accident, and it is much more accidental than the first two.

Because the first two pieces are what the Tan family wanted to burn and what they became. This one, the original meaning of the painting on the pen holder is "red carp playing with green lotus", and it was also aimed at the red craft in blue and white glaze, but in the end, it was unexpected. "Green carp playing with red lotus" was fired in the ground, and it was only after the completion that I realized that the glaze was adjusted wrongly, and it was put into the kiln by mistake, and it was accidentally finished. Although the glaze color is not so correct, it is rare. There is a sense of ingenuity in the intriguing reflections in the room.

Zhu Yuan also liked it when he saw it. This time, he was not polite, and while playing with it, he said: "There is just one pen holder missing on my desk, and I will keep this for myself. The other two are still the same sentence just now. As long as you are willing, in the future You can donate it to the museum. Well, there will be a nameplate to record the information of the donor and other information, and you can also provide the text introduction of some items yourself, after all, you are the professionals."

Tan Zao agreed again and again.

This Xiao Pingzhang was able to accept one of their pen holders, today is not in vain.

After the display of the three precious porcelains, he motioned for the Tan brothers to sit down again. Zhu Yuan didn't wait for them to start the topic, and said, "The imperial court is preparing for the Daming Ceramics Group, you should know?"

Tan Zao's expression changed, and he cupped his hands on the chair again: "Would your lord remind me?"

Zhu Yuan was still rubbing the pen holder in his hand, and said: "In the past, the official-made porcelain in the past dynasties was either used by the court itself, or used as a reward, and only a small number were sold. In the future, relying on the Daming Ceramics Group as a platform, the imperial court will expand the official-made porcelain. I don’t know much about these things. I can only say that the imperial court still takes the high-quality line and will not affect the private low-end porcelain industry. However, for you, this is actually an opportunity, because this matter is not just I don't know much, and in the imperial court... after all, the country has just been founded, and it's a new idea I put forward, so not many people know it."

Tan Zao actually knows that the imperial court is currently recruiting people to take care of the so-called "Daming Ceramics Group", and he has inquired that various so-called "groups" and "companies" that have popped up one after another this year are exactly the young Pingzhang in front of him. propose.

Come here today, in addition to giving gifts and building relationships, it also means to check the tone.

Zhu Yuan took the initiative to open the mouth, but Tan Zao couldn't ask for it, so he got up again, bowed and said: "A certain talent is blunt, but there may be one or two merits in porcelain firing, please recommend it for me?"

"Actually, I don't really want to get involved in this," Zhu Yuan muttered, and said, "However, seeing your red glaze, I also had some ideas. In this way, the Tan family and the imperial court, let's set up a joint venture company, and other Don't talk about it, just study the firing of this red glaze. Well, shares, let me think about it, how about [-]%? Thirty percent is very little, think about cooperating with the imperial court, you can take advantage of it."

Tan Zao didn't expect Zhu Yuan to come up with a proposal in a blink of an eye.

What three or seven points, he has no objection.

Of course, he also understands that if he can do business with the imperial court in partnership, he still cares about the shares.

only……

After a little hesitation, Tan Zao said: "My lord, this red glaze... I'm afraid it won't work if I want to make a large number of them. I dare not lie to my lord. Although the Tan family has this craft, they don't dare to make it often. They just treat it as a family." If you have spare time, you may only open one furnace every three or two years. Besides, it is rare to produce one or two pieces of porcelain out of hundreds of pieces in this furnace.”

"The success rate is so low?" Zhu Yuan asked and sighed, and understood, but he was not discouraged, and said: "That's why we need to study the method more carefully. Sit down, I use my understanding, Let's talk about it."

Tan Zao sat down obediently.

Zhu Yuan pondered for a while and said, "The 'heat' you mentioned is actually 'temperature'. I happened to invent a thermometer. Have you ever seen it?"

Tan Zao didn't know why.

It was Tan Qu, who was at the bottom, who took the initiative to say: "My lord, I met the younger one in Mingzhou, but...the thermometer said that it can only measure the temperature under boiling water, but the furnace temperature is too high, but it won't work."

"Actually, if you understand the truth, there is a way," Zhu Yuan said: "To test the furnace temperature of hundreds of degrees to thousands of degrees, um... you can borrow the melting points of different metals, for example, the melting point of silver, copper, and iron. The melting point, or even the melting point of different alloys such as copper and iron, imagine that you take the corresponding metal into the furnace, if one melts and the other does not, it means that the temperature has reached the melting point of the metal, and indirectly Know the temperature. Although it is not accurate, but, as I said just now, I understand the truth, and we will think about it bit by bit, and it will always become more and more accurate."

Tan Zao listened carefully to Zhu Yuan's words, showing a thoughtful look.

Zhu Yuan thought about it again, and then continued: "Also, about the furnace temperature. I know one, the traditional fuel, the furnace temperature is up to about 1500 degrees, which is exactly the melting point of iron. Now I have a new fuel that can reduce the furnace temperature to 2000 degrees. When the temperature is raised to 500 degrees, don’t underestimate the increase of 2000 degrees. When the temperature reaches [-] degrees, metals within our current understanding can basically melt. Similarly, can higher temperatures be fired to produce more Special porcelain. These are what you are going to try."

Tan Zao began to feel a little dazed, as well as looking forward to it.

Zhu Yuan didn't stop, and said: "Furthermore, this joint venture company I planned originally didn't intend to mass-produce as you mentioned, and every year, you can give me dozens of pieces of high-quality porcelain, which is enough. This... By the way, someone should have tried to buy your plum vase, tell me the price?"

Tan Zao heard that Zhu Yuan suddenly changed the subject, paused, and finally said: "A few years ago, a local official... please forgive me for not mentioning the name, once wanted to buy it with ten thousand taels of silver, The villain declined."

"That's right," Zhu Yuan said, "1 taels of silver, this is the goal our joint venture company is pursuing."

Tan Zao thought that if he said something, Xiao Pingzhang in front of him would regret something, but he didn't expect this kind of reaction.

But Zhu Yuan continued: "We... oh, it's you and the company of the imperial court. The goal is to make rare porcelain that ordinary people can't afford. To control the output, it can’t exceed 100 pieces a year, and for these 100 pieces, we don’t expect each piece to be worth ten thousand taels of silver, so let’s make a compromise, with an average of 5000 taels, do the math, how much business can it be in total?”

Tan Zao figured it out.

Tan Qu followed suit.

Then, the brothers swallowed together.

This……

A big deal of 50 taels of silver per year.

is it possible?
However, seeing a certain Xiao Pingzhang's confident appearance, and thinking about the other party's dazzling deeds in the past year, Tan Zao felt... Maybe, probably, maybe... It should be no problem.

At least, Tan Zao suddenly understood why Xiao Pingzhang was so uninspired when faced with porcelain worth tens of thousands of taels?

If I can easily outline a big business of 50 taels a year, of course it can be so mediocre!
(End of this chapter)