Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 206 Untitled
Okabe Yiyan had a very pleasant chat with Yuanye. Even though Yuanye had no knowledge of carpentry or shipbuilding, Yuanye could understand him when he talked about related techniques and was willing to listen and discuss with him, which surprised him a lot.

This was the first time he had seen a lord who could talk about construction technology these days. To put it more exaggeratedly, his family of seven generations of carpenters had probably only seen a weirdo like Yuanye.

Therefore, he couldn't be unhappy and even enjoyed the conversation. He volunteered to take on a few small jobs at the banquet. In the future, he would help Xinwanjin design some iconic buildings to prevent Xinwanjin from being filled with rigid concrete houses that looked spectacular but dull.

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening when he was sent back to the guesthouse in a drunken carriage. When he entered the small courtyard where he lived and was about to fall asleep, he found many things on the tatami, from pots and pans to household furnishings, and his eldest wife was sorting them with a happy look on her face.

He took a look and asked, "Did you just buy this today?"

Before coming here, he thought Shinwanjin was a dangerous place, and he had disciplined his family members, telling them not to go out and run around to avoid getting into trouble. But after more than a day of contact, he found that Shinwanjin didn't seem to be dangerous, so he didn't care. He felt that it was okay for his wife and children to go shopping. After all, he had just received an annual salary of 1,000 kan, which he could afford - a high-ranking samurai like Maeda Toshiie only made 450 kan a year, and he could be worth more than two Maeda Toshiies, so he could live a very comfortable life in the next few years.

"I didn't buy them." Okabe Igen's wife realized that her husband had returned and was a little drunk. She quickly dropped her things to help him up and said casually, "These are all rewards from Her Highness the Inu Princess."

Okabe Yiyan was slightly surprised: "You went to Lord Nohara's house?"

"We all went, and Her Highness the Inu Princess invited us to dinner." Okabe Yiyan's wife was afraid that he would be angry, so she explained carefully, "It's not good not to go, Her Highness the Inu Princess sent someone to pick us up."

"Well, go ahead. Try to tell me first next time."

Okabe Yiyan felt that this was probably Yuanye's attempt to win him over, and Yuanye had been with him in the afternoon and evening, so it was nothing for his wife and daughter to meet the dog princess alone - he no longer had any aversion to Yuanye, he just had to be a little bit on guard against him being a super pervert.

Of course, if Yuanye is willing to marry him in a formal way, it is not impossible to discuss marrying his daughter to him as a concubine.

He said this casually, and his attention quickly shifted to the rewards from the Dog Princess. He carefully picked them up and found that the rewards were very down-to-earth. Most of them were household items, but they were all very exquisite. Especially the pair of plum vases used as interior decorations were particularly outstanding, with unique shapes, bright colors, and warm porcelain color. They were very beautiful.

He took the plum vase in his hand and examined it for a while. He felt that this pair of vases could at least be exchanged for a good horse. He couldn't help but sighed: "This is a Ming Dynasty porcelain treasure. It looks extraordinary. It is indeed much better than Seto ware."

Japan did not produce proper porcelain at that time. In 1223 AD, Kato Kagemasa followed Dogen to Song Dynasty to seek Buddhism. After returning to Japan, he began to try to make porcelain in the Seto Castle area in the northwest of Owari, but was not successful. Instead, he produced a semi-porcelain glazed pottery that looked good, so it was named "Seto ware".

Then it was passed down from generation to generation. By the time Yuan Yechuan came here, "Seto ware" had already branched out into several schools, including Kiseto ware, Shino ware, Oribe ware, etc., but the craftsmanship remained unchanged, and the products produced could only be considered pottery.

The specific reason is unknown, probably because the kiln temperature is not high enough...

Or maybe I just like the tune.

If you really want porcelain, you have to wait until 1804, when it took Kato Kenshin, who was many generations older than Kato Tamiki, to make it. It took nearly six hundred years, which is quite inspiring.

Therefore, if you saw genuine porcelain in Owari during the Warring States Period in Japan, it was common sense that it must have been smuggled from the Ming Dynasty, just like the fine silk.

"No!" Okabe Igen's wife liked the pair of plum vases very much and asked the Inu Princess at the time. She immediately said, "This is porcelain produced in Wanjin. My husband, look at the bottom of the vase."

Okabe Yiyan turned over the bottle and found that there was indeed a seal on the bottom of the bottle, with four Chinese characters burned on it in glaze: Jumu Porcelain Workshop.

He was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help muttering, "It really is produced in Wanjin... Is it in Jumuyuan? There seems to be a pottery kiln there that fires coarse pottery jars. I didn't expect that such exquisite porcelain could be fired. The Kato family will definitely be furious."

Jumu originally belonged to the future Toyota City of Japan, the Toyota City where cars are produced, but it was located further south than the modern Toyota City - the modern Toyota City was on the riverbed of the ancient Jumu River, and people would not move there until the Jumu River was changed its course.

At present, the soil in Jumohara is very bad, it is also colloidal soil, similar to that of Koga and Iga, and is not suitable for farming. Therefore, the powerful families nearby built a pottery kiln here, and took soil from here on a large scale to make pottery and sell it outside.

After Yuanye packed up and drove the local wealthy families out of the Chita Peninsula, the pottery kiln naturally became his. Chita happened to be hit by a storm, flood and drought, and he was using work-for-relief as a means of relief. He took the opportunity to convert many nearby villagers into kiln workers and began to produce porcelain - making porcelain does not even require charcoal, but can directly burn wood. Glaze is closely related to chemistry, which is exactly what he did. He worked hard for more than a month and finally came up with the glaze, still producing it in his "Old Man's Workshop".

In short, Wanjin has a new pillar product. At least Yuanye has found jobs for the labor force in the Jumuyuan area. In the future, the people in this area will mainly produce porcelain and farm. Of course, firing porcelain is not that simple. Yuanye has been holding back for almost two years and repeated trial firings before he succeeded. At present, the scrap rate is still very high, and there are only two colors that are acceptable. The overall situation still needs to be improved.

Okabe Yiyan didn't understand all this. He held the plum vase in amazement for a moment, then looked at other things and found that some daily-use porcelain bowls and plates, although not as exquisite as the plum vase, were also quite good. There were even iron pots and iron shovels. Upon closer inspection, the quality of the iron was also quite high. It was enough to make swords and was quite a luxury to use it to make kitchen utensils.

This was also caused by natural disasters in the past two years. Droughts and floods came one after another, and the land could not be cultivated. The wilderness needed to find work for the refugees, so many people were pulled into the iron fields. As a result, the production of wrought iron in Wanjin increased significantly in the past two years, but so much could not be consumed in making weapons. In order to make a profit and avoid waste, he had to start selling iron tools and kitchen utensils at low prices.

This has inexplicably changed the eating habits of the people in Wanjin. After all, common people in that era used clay pots to cook, and basically boiled them. Now that iron pans have become popular, frying, deep-frying and stir-frying are something that some people with quick minds can do naturally. There are many small vendors in Wanjin Night Market who make money by relying on their own cooking skills and making all kinds of new snacks, and many of them are making a lot of money.

This is in line with the old saying that as long as the conditions are met and restrictions are relaxed, the market will find a way out and create miracles.

Okabe Yiyan didn't know all this, but as a senior carpenter and a senior craftsman, he felt that these were all the foundation of Wanjin and the proof of Wanjin's strength. He also truly felt that Wanjin was very powerful and rich.

He thought about it and lay down on the side, pulling a soft thin quilt over him. He suddenly remembered something while he was drowsy, and turned to his wife and said, "Um, find the strange clothes that His Highness Saburo sent me. I need to wear them tomorrow."

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now that he has arrived in Wanjin, maybe he should try to integrate into the local community and wear the two-piece, buttoned tops and narrow pants worn here. Even if those clothes look weird and not very comfortable, Wanjin is so great, maybe the clothes have another mystery, and he wants to give it a try.

Okabe Issuke's wife responded, but immediately asked, "Shall we change too?"

She wanted to change a little bit. Today, she saw the dog princess wearing a skirt with a big and beautiful skirt. She also wanted to try it. Okabe Yiyan hesitated for a moment and said casually: "You guys can do whatever you want!"

He also saw it when he went out today. He felt that many of the clothes worn by women in Wanjin were quite strange, but they were just strange in style. They were still wrapped very tightly. If his wife and daughter were just wearing them in Wanjin, it didn't seem to matter.

Okabe Yiyan's wife was delighted and became a little bolder. She continued to ask, "Her Highness the Inu Princess also said that she would invite us to the Grand Theater to watch a play when she has time. So we..."

"go Go!"

Okabe Yiyan's wife was even happier, and she pushed further, "Today, Her Highness the Inu Princess said that there is a school in Wanjin, and all children should go to school. She also suggested that we send Heianmaru and Aju to study there as well. You see..."

"School?" Okabe Yiyan was stunned for a moment, then sat up and asked with concern, "Is it a temple school? The Nohara family's ancestral temple? Are there schools willing to accept Heianmaru to study? How much does it cost?"

With his status and position, he was not qualified to send his children to study under a proper teacher. He always wanted to obtain the identity of a samurai, and a big part of the reason was for the consideration of his children. In this respect, he was similar to many parents in later generations - they tried their best to get a household registration in Beijing, Shangjin, just to make it easier for their children to enter university.

"It doesn't look like a temple school." Okabe Ishin's wife wasn't sure either. The Inu Princess just mentioned it casually at the time, and after a moment of hesitation, she said, "It doesn't seem to cost money. I heard that children under twelve years old can go there for free, and His Highness Nohara will provide a meal."

Okabe Yiyan was shocked: "Is there such a thing?"

"Her Highness the Inu Princess wouldn't lie. Maybe Her Highness Nohara is a good person..."

"It's impossible to lie. That place might be where the children of Wanjin samurai study." Okabe took the words to heart and lay down to ponder, "I'll find a chance to ask her later. If you can see Princess Inu again, you can also ask her about her opinion. If you can let Heianmaru go to study, it will be worth spending some money."

"And Aju."

"Aju, let's talk about it later. It's enough for you to teach her."

Okabe Igen's wife remained silent, and Okabe Igen became drunk and slowly fell asleep, with his dreams filled with Yuanye's "Oantaka Iron Ship".

Now, he felt that he deserved to be chopped to pieces by Yuanye if he couldn't satisfy him.

(End of this chapter)