The best idlers of the Tang Dynasty

Nowadays, there are also some colored glaze products from Rome and Dashi on the market. They were also called medicinal jade in the Song Dynasty, but because of improper techniques and low craftsmanship, they can only be called glazed glazes with poor transparency. Also mixed with variegated.

But because it was shipped thousands of miles away from the west, the price is extremely high, but it is also highly sought after by the dignitaries of the Tang Dynasty and the aristocratic families. Basically, a glazed product can be sold for one or two hundred gold s price.

Now the goblet in Du Rui's hands is hundreds of times better than imported products from the West in every aspect, and the value of such a goblet is only one or two dollars.

Du Gui looked at it excitedly, and said in his heart: Young master is worthy of being the Wenqu star in the sky. Things that others don't know, can be easily solved when you come to young master. Now even this glass has been made. When I left Lai Guogong's mansion When I was at home, the woman at home still had complaints, and she didn't want to come out to endure hardships, so I beat her up, let's see what she has to say now.

Du Rui looked at Du Gui's dazed appearance, and said with a smile, "Du Gui! Tell me, what is the price of a wine glass like this?"

Hearing this, Du Gui made some calculations in his mind and said: "The glass made by the young master is hundreds of times stronger than the glass made by those red-haired and green-eyed people. Look at it, even a piece of it costs five hundred gold!"

The surrounding neighbors gasped when they heard the words, five hundred gold?What kind of concept is that? In a good year, the 20 gold can support a family of four, and there will be a surplus for [-] years.

Du Rui shook his head when he heard the words, Du Gui saw this and said, "Master, you feel low!?"

Du Rui smiled and said, "No! It's too high!"

Du Gui didn't react for a while, why do some people think that their things are too expensive?

Du Rui didn't wait for Du Gui to speak, and said, "From now on, a small vessel like this will be sold for fifty gold, and a large one will be sold for one hundred gold!"

Du Gui knew that Du Rui had his own ideas in mind, so he didn't try to persuade him anymore, but just bowed down to accept his orders.

Du Rui said again: "Du Gui! Now that the glass workshop has just been established, you still need to sit here. I think you will be the big shopkeeper in the future! It's really inconvenient for me to come forward!"

Although the status of merchants in the Tang Dynasty was improved compared to that of the Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties, they were still shameless and believed that merchants were those who were greedy for small profits and neglected righteousness. Du Rui would always be inferior to the court in the future, although he I don't think so, but I can't bear the name of a businessman.

Du Gui knew Du Rui's concerns, seeing that Du Rui trusted him so much, he had nothing to say, he just took orders.

Then Du Rui talked with Li Zheng for a while, and gathered all the young and old people in the village and some old people who could still walk, and became workers in the glass workshop. This was probably the earliest capitalism.

It's been almost a month since he left home, Du Rui left Du Gui to take care of the glass workshop, and returned to Chang'an alone. After a few days, a business named Qibaozhai appeared in Chang'an West Market.

The big proprietor is naturally Du Rui. Originally, this place was a restaurant, but it couldn't continue to operate because it was squeezed out by Zuixianlou, so it happened to be offered by Du Rui.

People wondered what this Qibaozhai was selling, but since Qibaozhai put up a plaque and closed its doors, people were even more curious.

Since Du Rui named this business name Qibaozhai, Qibao is naturally hidden in it. First of all, the first treasure is glass products, some utensils and some small objects for decoration.

The second treasure is the mirror, but it is made by painting watermarks on the back of the plate glass, painting a layer of rosin, and embellishing it with a gorgeous frame.

The third treasure is the folding fan. The bones are made of bamboo or ivory, and the surface is made of tough paper or silk. , There are also poems and paintings on the fan.For Du Rui's folding fan, just the materials used are excellent and extremely ingenious.The fan bones are made of ivory, tortoiseshell, sandalwood, agarwood, and bamboo. The crafts include mother-of-pearl, carved lacquer, gold-sprayed lacquer, and faded lacquer.There are also hollow side bones, which contain 32 extremely small tooth cards.Some are hollowed out and filled with fragrance.There are also extremely small dice hidden in the hollow round nail hinge.These folding fan bones are engraved with various patterns, which are extremely ingenious.Some fan bones imitate the shape of a dovetail, and some fan bones are hinged inside, so that no traces can be seen on the outside.As for the fans, there are white paper and alum, some are colorful, some are pasted with incense, some are hammered with gold, and some are sprinkled with gold.

The fourth treasure is related to folding fans, and it is the paper named Gongzi paper by Du Rui. At this time, most people use yellow-dyed paper, and the finer ones are just coated with wax evenly on the paper to make the paper more delicate. It has the advantages of luster, luster and beauty, and is called hard yellow paper.

Du Rui's son's paper is indeed combined with the manufacturing process of Xuan paper. It is made by the manufacturing method of Ming and Qing dynasties. The texture is hundreds of times stronger than the hard yellow paper respected by the upper class at this time. And the elegant color paper ground, the color is mainly bright and quiet, such as the pastel wax paper of the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, and the printed and dyed flower paper, which is perfect.

The fifth treasure is the sunglasses. In fact, it was just a whim for Du Rui to make the sunglasses in advance. A craftsman in the Dujiabao glass workshop had burned his eyes while working, so Du Rui thought of the sunglasses .

Sunglasses can protect the eyes under strong light, and can block ultraviolet and infrared rays. At the same time, the color of the external environment does not change, only the light intensity changes, like a cloudy day, with a cool and comfortable feeling.

The sixth treasure is the purple clay teapot, which is a lot of trouble. To make the best purple clay teapot, you must use clay from Yixing. The aroma of duo tea does not have the smell of cooked soup, and the wall of the pot absorbs the smell of tea. After a long period of use, pouring boiling water into the empty pot will also have the aroma of tea.

The seventh treasure is sugar. Sugar has become popular in the market at present, but the finished products sold are not very good in Du Rui's opinion. One of them is caramel, which is also called raw sugar in later generations. It can be used as a raw material for refined sugar processing, and cannot be directly added to food or eaten directly.There is also snow sugar, which is soft white sugar made by the local method in later generations. It is slightly yellowish and slightly dark in color and slightly sour in taste.

The sugar made by Du Rui, in terms of craftsmanship alone, surpassed this era by a large chunk, and there are many types. One of them is white sugar, which uses sugar cane and beets as raw materials. It is obtained by concentrating and boiling crystals, removing honey, washing sugar and drying.

The second is rock sugar. Put white granulated sugar into an appropriate amount of water to heat and dissolve it. After filtering, put it into a crystallization tank to make the sugar solution supersaturated. Put in crystal seeds for crystal growth. After the crystal grains grow large, take them out for honey removal and centrifugal drying. , ventilated and dried, sieved, and graded.

The third is cube sugar, which is made by pressing rock sugar as raw material.Use rock sugar, mix with a small amount of syrup, and then use a molding machine to form a half cube, then dry it with a dryer, and make it after cooling.

The fourth is health-care sugar, which is to add ginseng, panax notoginseng and other Chinese herbal medicines during the boiling process of cube sugar, and increase the health-care effect through reasonable compatibility with syrup.

As far as Du Rui's Qibaozhai is concerned, if it is placed in later generations, it will be a convenience store at most, and it will be everywhere in the streets and alleys, but in the present Tang Dynasty, it is different. , but I have never seen such a good thing. It is so strange that things are so rare. These seven things are also worthy of the name of the seven treasures.

Chapter 84 Grand View Garden

The rare things in Qibaozhai caused a sensation in Chang'an City, especially those glass products, and the mirrors were sought after by dignitaries. The glass products in the house couldn't help exclaiming. Although the price is a bit unacceptable, there are not many other things in Chang'an, except that there are many rich people. The price of one or two hundred gold is just a drop in the bucket for them. .

The products in Qibaozhai quickly became popular in Chang'an City. Nowadays, if any big family doesn't have a few things bought in Qibaozhai, they are ashamed to entertain guests.Those arty literati who like to call friends and friends, if they don't wear Qibaozhai's sunglasses and Qibaozhai's folding fan in their hands when they go out, they will be ashamed to go out.

Qibaozhai's products are so popular, which naturally brought Du Rui a lot of money, and his life is rich. Du Rui never thought about building walls, accumulating food, and slowly becoming king. He didn't have such big ambitions. There was no gold in the treasury, so Du Rui naturally wanted to improve his family's living conditions.

Although the former Du Mansion old house was considered spacious and could accommodate people after repairs, it was in disrepair for a long time and was very humid. When the weather was hot, the house was full of musty smell. It was full of humidity, Du Rui was in good health, but Ma Shi and the others were weak after all, and couldn't bear such hardship. Ever since winter began, Ma Shi had suffered from arthritis, and the pain was unbearable all day long, and he rarely even went out of the house .

Coupled with Du Rui's ability as a traveler, it is really easy to become the richest man in the Tang Dynasty. He is also full of talents. Although he rarely shows his face in public, he has a great reputation among scholars.During the Northern Expedition, he showed extraordinary military talent and bravery. A man as perfect as he is, would be suspected by the kings in all dynasties.

No matter what the reason is, Du Rui has to think about his wealth and life at this time. He is jealous of others. He was young and energetic before, but after Li Jing's teaching, although Du Rui can't be called a black belly Male, but after all, you have to understand the way to choose between advances and retreats.

Avoiding the mountains and forests is not what Du Rui thinks in his heart. Even if he is a hermit, Du Rui hopes to become a person who hides in the city. To eliminate the monarch's suspicion of him, what he needs to do at this time is not Instead of expressing his focus, he created himself as a person who has no ambition at all.

In order to eliminate Qin Shihuang's suspicion of him, Wang Jian in Qin Dynasty asked Qin Shihuang for rewards from time to time when he led the army to go out. So Qin Shihuang thought that Wang Jian's ideal was to retire after making great achievements and become a rich man.

That's why Du Rui accepted Taizong's gift of a feudal city without thinking about it last time, and this was obviously not enough. Du Rui had to find another way to let Taizong know that he is just a person who enjoys pleasure!

Grand View Garden, Du Rui had this idea when he left Laiguo Duke's mansion and lived away. Every time he read "Dream of Red Mansions" in his previous life, Du Rui was envious of Jia Baoyu's female fate, who was born in a pile of fat and powder. I am fascinated by the magnificent Grand View Garden described.

It takes a lot of work to build a building with mountains and rivers in its arms.There are all kinds of scenery in the sky and on earth, Fangyuan should be given the name of Daguan.

A seven-character poem has exhausted the essence of the Grand View Garden. In his previous life, Du Rui often thought that if he could also be born in that era, he would build such a Grand View Garden no matter what. Free life.

Now that Du Rui was born in this flourishing and splendid early Tang Dynasty, and possessed astonishing wealth, he naturally wanted to realize this dream of his previous life.

Entrusted all Qibaozhai to a man named Ma Yuan who was introduced by Du Zhong who used to be a clerk in the military camp. After throwing away the shopkeeper, he locked himself in the study for three days and three nights, according to his description of the Grand View Garden in "Dream of Red Mansions" and some of Cao Xueqin's recounting, he finally drew a layout map of the Grand View Garden.

In his previous life, Du Rui highly admired the style of Jiangnan gardens, so Du Rui adopted Jiangnan gardens and Emperor's Gardens to create this pattern, which looks like a paradise. After thinking about it, in order to save the Grand View Garden from being built, he was criticized for overstepping.

For the garden architecture, mountain-shaped water system, plant landscaping, ornamentation, etc. in the garden, Du Rui tried to be faithful to the style and details of the original work. Du Rui made a rough estimate. After the completion of this Grand View Garden, the area alone will be It takes as much as 12 hectares, and the construction area may reach more than 8000 square meters. It will take at least two years to complete.

During the period, Du Rui also stood at attention to restore some of the other courtyards and scenic spots that Cao Xueqin added more ink and ink to the original work, and the Yihong Courtyard was naturally the most important. The magnificent courtyard is the residence of Jia Baoyu, who is also known as the flower master of Jiangdong, a wealthy idler, and Jia Baoyu, who is busy with nothing. Town of".

There was a poem in "Dream of Red Mansions" that said: "The court is long and the day is quiet, and two or two come out beautiful."The green wax spring is still rolling, and the red makeup stays awake at night.Leaning on the railing to hang the sleeves, leaning on the stone to protect the green smoke.Against the east wind, the master should show mercy.

This courtyard will naturally be Du Rui's residence in the future, so Du Rui put extra effort into describing the Yihong Courtyard, striving for perfection, even striving to make every structure perfect.

There is also the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, which was explained in "A Dream of Red Mansions" as the "Guan", which is the residence of Lin Daiyu. .The poem reads: "Xiuyu has just become a reality, and it is suitable to be treated by Phoenix."The poles are green and green, and all of them are green and cool.Building blocks hinders the step water, and wearing curtains hinders the fragrance of the tripod.Don't shake the broken shadows, the good dreams are long at the beginning of the day.

In addition, there are Hengwuyuan, Daoxiang Village, Qiushuangzhai, Liaofengxuan, Zhuijinlou, Quicui Temple, etc., to name a few.

The scenic spots in the meantime are also made with a lot of thought, Lu Xueguang, a group of buildings with idyllic scenery in the Grand View Garden, built near the water, is a farmhouse by the water, and you can go fishing by pushing the window.

Dicui Pavilion, a pavilion in the water, is surrounded by corridors and bridges.

Lotus Lotus Pavilion, a viewing complex composed of waterside pavilions, water pavilions, curved corridors and zigzag bamboo bridges, surrounded by lotus flowers in full bloom.

Jiameng Hall, Tubi Mountain Villa, and Aujingxi Hall are a group of buildings for enjoying the moon and worshiping the moon. Among them, Jiameng Hall is located under the corner of the mountain and is a place for "worshiping the moon".Tubi Mountain Villa is located on the ridge and is used for climbing to enjoy the moon, while Aojingxi Pavilion is the retreat of Tubi Mountain Villa, a place for enjoying the moon by the water.

There are also three small open halls in Hongxiang Garden, Peony Pavilion, Yumeng Hall, Qiangwei Courtyard, and Banana Pier. These are all western landscape buildings. Open hall, Yumeng Hall is a hall in the Western Garden Scenic Area, which is relatively cool. The Peony Pavilion is based on the artistic conception of the classical and legendary love story "The Peony Pavilion".

It is obviously inappropriate to place such a large garden at the foot of the Emperor of Chang'an, so Du Rui thought about building this grand view garden in Duling's Dujiabao, where the mountains and rivers are beautiful and the scenery is pleasant, it is the best choice.

Just do what you say, after Du Rui finished drawing the layout and the scenery of the pavilions, he found Du Zhong. When Du Zhong saw those pictures, he was naturally surprised. If it was really built according to Du Rui's drawing, Wouldn't that compare to the royal family? He tried his best to find something that violated the rules of etiquette in Du Rui's design, so that Du Rui could cancel this expensive plan, but how could he think of Du Rui's plan? Rui is actually so thoughtful, he has studied etiquette so thoroughly at a young age, and he can't find any faults, so he finally had to give up, and with Du Rui's explanation, he went to Duling with the picture I went to find Du Gui.

When Du Zhong arrived in Duling, he was busy with Du Gui, surveying the land, looking for construction masters to choose the site, and he was very busy.

It is impossible for Taizong to be unaware of Du Rui making such a big commotion. In fact, Taizong already knew about Du Rui's wine sale before the Northern Expedition. I didn't bother to pay attention to it, and Du Rui was almost forced out of the house, so it's not wrong to sell alcohol for a living.

But now Qibaozhai is different. Those glass products, mirrors, purple sand pots, even sugar, folding fans that flowed from Qibaozhai, which one of them won great profits, made Taizong a little restless, and recently there was news However, Du Rui's family had already started enclosing land in Duling. These news made Taizong fall into deep contradictions and worries.