Union

Chapter 132, Section 131: Brocade Porcelain
Yunying blushed and ignored the Second Master. Seeing that he had really angered her, the Second Master hugged her slender waist tightly and tried to coax her by lowering himself to her side.

When Sui Yu and his group caught up, this was the scene they saw.

Not to mention Sui Yu couldn't help but mutter to herself, even Lei Ting looked dumbfounded.

Neither of them expected that the Second Master would have such a humble and submissive side.

Even in front of the Duke, the Second Master has never acted like this!
For a moment, Sui Yu couldn't help but glance at Yun Ying again, thinking that Yun Ying was really a vixen!

She didn't do anything, yet she seduced the Second Master to this extent. If she really unleashed her power, wouldn't the Second Master completely lose his mind?
Sui Yu clicked her tongue, "I'll have to stay away from women from now on."

Lei Ting looked at him with a complicated expression, wanting to say that he didn't even need to keep his distance from women. Any woman would find his venomous tongue unbearable. He treated women like snakes and scorpions, but who knows, women would probably run away from him at the mere sight of him.

But since this was in front of the city gate, Lei Ting saved Sui Yu's face and didn't say those words.

The group followed behind Zhui Feng, slowly making their way to the county government office.

Along the way, Yunying was once again appeased by the Second Master. After the two entered the county government office, they were all smiles and laughter again.

While waiting for their meal in the flower hall, Yunying asked the Second Master about his schedule for the day.

Now that the road has been built to Wutou Mountain, the road construction is largely complete.

Today, the Second Master mainly toured the mine, inspected the selected sites available for mining, and also discussed the specifics of the first batch of gold mining with the mining supervisor sent by Prefect Zhang.

When the Second Master spoke of the mining supervisor sent by Prefect Zhang, his tone became somewhat subtle.

Yunying was quite familiar with the Second Master, and she keenly noticed that the Second Master's tone was somewhat off when he mentioned this person.

Yunying didn't know who the mining supervisor sent by Prefect Zhang was, but considering that this person would have a certain say in the future mining of gold, and that Second Master was always domineering, the two might have some friction.

How can this be good?

The mine supervisor was, after all, one of Prefect Zhang's men. If he had a falling out with the Second Master and it affected the mining operations, or if he simply complained about the Second Master to Prefect Zhang, it would not be a good thing for the Second Master.

Yunying asked anxiously, "Is there something wrong with this person?"

The second master glanced at Yunying and said slowly, "There shouldn't be any problem."

"Then how did you..."

"He's someone I know."

Yun Ying was taken aback. "An acquaintance? Is this person from the capital?"

Second Master nodded slightly. "He was demoted to Lingnan Prefecture at the beginning of the year, but unexpectedly gained the favor of Prefect Zhang and was appointed as the mining supervisor by Prefect Zhang."

Yunying leaned closer and asked, "So, what's your relationship with this person—good or bad?"

Second Master was surprised by Yunying's keen insight. He glanced at her again before smiling and saying, "Not good. My mentor's retirement is related to his mentor."

But those were all political maneuvering. Besides, the main reason for his mentor's retirement lay with His Majesty. The attacks on his mentor were merely a matter of following the crowd, knowing His Majesty's thoughts.

Second Master didn't take this trivial matter seriously, but Yunying was extremely worried. "Won't he make things difficult for you in the mining?"

"That's not the case. Right now, it's not just me who's waiting to use this batch of gold mines; Prefect Zhang is even more anxious than I am. I only need to settle things in Yun Gui County, but Prefect Zhang has to take care of the entire Lingnan Prefecture. Prefect Zhang is more anxious about the mining than I am, and if anyone dares to cause trouble at this time, Prefect Zhang will not let them off easily."

After a pause, the Second Master added, "Besides, he's not such an unreasonable person."

Hearing what the second master said, Yunying felt a little relieved.

But considering that the other party is more or less an enemy of the Second Master, they probably can't stand to see the Second Master doing well, and might set him up at any time. If the Second Master is prepared, that's fine, but if he's not prepared, it will be too late to regret it if he gets tricked.

But seeing that the Second Master looked inscrutable, Yunying figured that he must have already made up his mind about these things without her having to remind him, so she didn't voice her concerns.

The food was served, and while eating, Yunying leisurely told the Second Master what she had done that day.

Yunying had asked Second Master about the loom a couple of days ago, but unfortunately, Second Master didn't really pay attention to this matter and naturally couldn't answer Yunying's question.

Now that Yunying had taken a different approach and approached the clothing shops and silk stores in the county town, the Second Master couldn't help but laugh. She always had ingenious ideas that made people smile.

Second Master swallowed a mouthful of food and asked with a smile, "Did you find anything?"

“I have made some progress, and I have also found out which types of looms offer the best value for money. However, these looms are very rare in Lingnan Prefecture, and most of them are located in a few prefectures in Jiangnan. Even if I wanted to buy them, I would have to go there. Moreover, the looms are not cheap, and it is also very troublesome to transport them. I am worried that they will be stolen on the way, and I am also worried that there will be no weavers who will use them after I bring them back.”

Yunying lost her appetite when she talked about her worries. She poked at the rice in her bowl, completely distracted, and sighed every now and then, looking extremely troubled.

Seeing this, the second master suggested to Yunying, "Have you ever thought that you don't need to buy the best loom on the market right now? An ordinary one will do."

"At this stage, you only need to sell coarse cloth that ordinary people can afford, or inexpensive cotton cloth. If that's the case, there's no need to buy the best looms. Ordinary looms, as long as they are simple in design, easy to operate, sturdy and durable, and labor-saving and convenient, are most suitable for you. After all... it will take several years just to spread coarse cloth all over the entire Lingnan Prefecture."

In Lingnan Prefecture, the market for coarse cloth is the largest. As long as the price of coarse cloth can be driven down, making a fortune from it is not a pipe dream.

Second Master added, "As for purchasing looms, we don't necessarily have to buy ready-made ones. We can buy the blueprints and build the looms ourselves, wouldn't that be more suitable?"

Those ordinary looms don't have blueprints worth much. If we can just buy the blueprints, surely we can find a carpenter in the entire Lingnan Prefecture who can read blueprints and build a carpentry business?

With such skilled craftsmen, mass production of looms is not a problem, which saves a lot of money.

With this money, we can buy up raw materials on a large scale and hire weavers. As long as the coarse cloth is on the market and the price is right, we can quickly see a return on our investment.

Of course, Yunying making money was one aspect; by purchasing raw materials and hiring weavers, she created new avenues for income for the people. With money in their hands, people were more likely to buy coarse cloth from the market, thus revitalizing the entire operation.
Upon hearing the second master's suggestion, Yunying nodded repeatedly. She realized she had been too attached to such things. Why buy the best looms? Having the best looms would be a waste. Right now, she only needed the most basic looms. All she needed were the blueprints. Once the blueprints were ready, how many looms she wanted would be a matter of a word from her.

Yunying was delighted and thanked the Second Master repeatedly. She even said, "He really is a scholar; his mind is so sharp."

Second Master chuckled in exasperation, "I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult."

Yunying smiled at the Second Master, her eyes crinkling, "That must be a compliment. You are the county magistrate, how could I dare to belittle you? Besides, you've helped me so much, if I were to belittle you, what would I be, an ingrate?"

The two exchanged jokes and talked about the terraced fields and this year's crops. Reduced yields or even total crop failure were possible, but if the temperature picked up in the coming days, the grain production might actually increase.

Whether God will show his displeasure and give a good laugh or not is not something ordinary people can control.

Thinking too much is useless; the only thing they can do is pray that God will open his eyes and leave a way for the people to survive.

……

Several days passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Yunying arranged for someone to make a trip to the Jiangnan area to select several affordable and easy-to-use looms and purchase their construction blueprints.

The rest of the time, she would stay in her second master's study and read.

Read a lot of books.

Yunying wanted to find a more effective way for the people of Yungui County to get rich from the book.

She thought of making sugar and exquisite ceramics.

The sugar production in the south requires a large amount of sugarcane, and growing sugarcane requires land. Nowadays, people use all their land to grow crops, and they are unwilling to let go of even the smallest crack in the ground. They even grow vegetables for their families to eat on the edge of the plot in front of their houses.

What I'm trying to say is that at this time, people were struggling to even get enough to eat, and all they wanted was to fill their own stomachs. They would have loved to seize other people's land to grow their own crops. Asking them to give up their perfectly good land to grow sugarcane at this point is unrealistic.

Furthermore, the idea of ​​making exquisite ceramics came to Yunying by chance.

Yegeyao Village, a village under the jurisdiction of Yungui County, has a large amount of kaolin clay. Kaolin clay can increase the strength and hardness of porcelain, and ensure the whiteness and luster of ceramic products.

The renowned Jingdezhen porcelain primarily uses kaolin and porcelain stone.

Yungui County has no shortage of kaolin clay, and it does indeed have workshops for firing porcelain.

Thinking back to last year when it was Second Master's birthday, didn't Ruizhu give him a set of three ceramic pieces?

However, the ceramics from Yungui County have no reputation in the market.

The reasons can be summarized into two points: First, the proportions were not suitable, resulting in very rough porcelain, mostly large bowls and cups and saucers, which were mainly for the daily use of poor people.

Secondly, the design and paint quality are mediocre.

These two factors have resulted in Yungui County's ceramics not even making it out of the county seat. Even worse, many locals are unaware that their area is a major ceramic-producing region.

Yunying still looked through many books, and when she came across the words "Zhijin Caici" (brocade porcelain), she suddenly remembered that in her previous life, Zhijin Caici from the Lingnan region was quite famous.

Guangcai porcelain is characterized by its full composition, intricate patterns, vibrant colors, and frequent use of gold, resembling "ten thousand strands of gold thread weaving white jade, and spring flowers flying onto the silver porcelain surface."

Guangcai (Guangzhou porcelain) is also an intangible cultural heritage. If Guangcai were produced, would there be any worry about selling it?
Of course, the imagination is wonderful, but the reality is cruel.

Firstly, with today's porcelain-making techniques, it's unlikely that Guangcai (Guangzhou porcelain) could be produced in the same way. Secondly, Guangcai relies entirely on its intricate and vibrant colors and exquisite painting skills, making it very difficult to find artisans with such superb painting abilities.

However, there are difficulties, and there are corresponding solutions.

Porcelain craftsmen are easy to find. As long as you have money, you can find not only apprentices but also master craftsmen. If you can't get Guangcai porcelain right, just try a few more times. If you can't get it right in a year, try for two years. In time, you'll eventually succeed.

As for artisans with outstanding painting skills... such artisans are hard to find, but there are quite a few demoted officials like them.

Recently, another group of exiled officials were sent to Lingnan Prefecture. In this era, the Six Arts of a Gentleman were skills that every official was required to master. Who knows, perhaps these demoted officials, or their families, might happen to be skilled in painting? Wouldn't that make them ready-made artisans?
With this in mind, Yunying turned around and went to Second Master to ask him if this matter was feasible.

Second Master had never heard of brocade porcelain.

Leaving aside the phrase "woven gold and colored porcelain" and focusing solely on ceramics, Yungui County does indeed possess the conditions for ceramic production.

As for the porcelain craftsmen and painting artists, just as Yunying thought, they could always be found if one wanted to.

This was at least one way out, so the Second Master agreed to Yunying's request and prepared to find someone for her.

But then again, "I'm short on cash, so I'm afraid you'll have to pay for this yourself."

Seeing the Second Master frowning, Yunying assumed he didn't approve of her suggestion. But to her surprise, after holding back for a while, the Second Master uttered such a sentence.

Yunying laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight.

For someone as proud and privileged as the Second Master to admit to being stingy in front of her was indeed quite a blow to his pride.

Last time, Yunying noticed that Second Master was short of money and offered to help him with her own savings, which didn't embarrass him at the time. But this time, Second Master's ears turned red.

Yunying laughed until tears streamed down her face, but her joy turned to sorrow. She choked and coughed so hard that she felt like she was going to cough up her lungs.

At first, the Second Master was somewhat embarrassed and wished he could just cover his face and leave. But seeing Yunying coughing like this, he felt sorry for her.

He hugged Yunying and patted her back repeatedly, saying, "See? You're suffering now. I told you not to laugh, but you were still laughing so happily. Take a deep breath and calm down."

Yunying took a while to recover from the cough. Her face was red from coughing, and her eyes were watery. To be honest, she looked a little funny.

Second Master indeed burst into laughter, and this time it was Yun Ying's turn to glare at him.

Yunying later brought out a box containing money from the room.

She had a limited amount of money, totaling only five or six thousand taels. Last time, the Second Master took half of it, and she asked someone to go to Jiangnan to buy some blueprints for looms. After spending money on various odds and ends, she still had about a thousand taels of silver left.

Yunying pushed the box directly in front of the Second Master, "Take it all. I still have some spare silver, enough for my expenses before the New Year. Use some of these silver notes to hire craftsmen to make brocade porcelain, and keep the rest for you in case you need it urgently."

Upon hearing this, the second master froze on the spot.

After a moment, the second master laughed, "Really giving it all to me? You're willing to part with it?"

Yunying turned her head to the side. "It's not the first time I've offered to give them to you. Last time I told you to take them all, but you refused. But the gold mine is about to be mined, so you should have some money to show for it. Do you not need these silver notes? If you don't, I won't give them to you."