The Prodigal Son

Ningzhou?

Qin Yu's pupils suddenly contracted.

He didn't know if he had been infected by Lü Si.

Upon hearing the words "Ningzhou," the first thing that came to his mind was the historian!

After a brief moment of thought, Qin Yu asked with curiosity, "Why are you so sure?"

Rarely being asked about something she was good at by Qin Yu, Jiang Ci was secretly delighted. She picked up the pottery shard and explained to Qin Yu, "Lord Qin, look, there are tiny white dots on this black pottery shard. These white dots are from the shell fragments of shellfish found in the lake mud after firing..."

In addition, the broken surface of the pottery shard has many tiny pores because the lake mud contains a lot of impurities.

For this reason, a black pottery bowl of the same size and thickness will be about 10% lighter than a red pottery bowl.

This was fired using a closed-kiln process, so it has a good feel and is smoother than red pottery even without glaze.

The downside is that the lake mud contains more impurities, resulting in a slightly higher number of substandard products with pitted surfaces after firing.

The ceramic bowl she smashed was a defective product, but it was a slightly better one among the defective ones...

When it comes to Jiang Ci's professional field, she seems to become more confident.

Jiang Ci spoke at length, and Qin Yu didn't quite understand, but he thought it made a lot of sense.

After Jiang Ci finished speaking, Qin Yu couldn't help but laugh and tease, "I didn't realize you were such an expert!"

"What is an expert?"

Jiang Ci was full of doubts.

"Experts are worthless!"

Qin Yu smiled and said, "I'll explain that to you later! I'm curious, there are lakes of all sizes in various places, how did you determine that this was made from lake mud from Ningzhou?"

"This is very simple!"

Jiang Ci smiled and explained, "Ningzhou has a lot of red sandstone. When this red sandstone weathers and is washed away by floods, the fine red sand particles flow into the lake, resulting in a small amount of red sand mixed in with the black clay. You can see these fine red dots on the fracture surface, sir—that's the red sand!"

"Furthermore, when Emperor Gao raised his army, he mined large quantities of iron ore in Wanbao, Shifo, and Yunhuai in Ningzhou to forge weapons. Since then, the black pottery from these three places has contained fine black magnetite particles!"

"Look at these tiny particles; they're fine magnet particles!"

"Based on these two points, it can be definitively concluded that this was made from Ningzhou lake mud!"

Yunhuai!

Qin Yu was startled, but he tried his best not to show any surprise. He picked up the pottery shard again and examined it closely, nodding and saying, "You know what, it really is!"

Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise!

Well-reasoned and clearly organized!

Therefore, those people in the Baojing Division still have a lot to learn!

"Is it possible that this is made of mud from the Ningzhou River?"

Nan Que'er also started asking questions.

"impossible!"

Jiang Ci stated confidently, "River mud has fewer impurities due to long-term erosion, but it contains more sand! Pottery bowls made from river mud will have fewer pores, and you can often see shiny substances like mica on the cross-section..."

Jiang Ci is full of confidence in her professional field.

She could tell that the pottery bowl must have come from one of the three prefectures of Wanbao, Shifu, or Yunhuai!

Qin Yu thought for a moment, then asked, "Will these pottery bowls be sold in Taozhou?"

"Highly unlikely!"

Jiang Ci shook her head and smiled, "Ceramic bowls aren't worth much. Even if they were transported by water, the cost would increase significantly! Besides, these are substandard pieces, so it's impossible for them to be transported too far to sell..."

For ordinary people, a bowl is simply something to eat.

Local earthenware bowls cost three or four coins each for the less desirable ones, and even the better ones wouldn't cost more than eight coins.

The cost of ceramic bowls transported from Ningzhou is much higher than that of local ceramic bowls, and their prices are naturally higher as well.

The money spent on two Ningzhou black pottery bowls is enough to buy two or three local pottery bowls. Who would want to waste their money on that?

For those high-ranking officials and nobles, they would use porcelain bowls if they were going to use them. Using this kind of black pottery bowl was already beneath them, not to mention that it was a substandard black pottery bowl!

Let alone inferior ceramic bowls, even the better ones can basically only be sold locally.

Selling to places that are too far away is definitely a losing proposition!

"That makes sense!"

Qin Yu nodded in deep agreement, then picked up a complete earthenware pot and smashed it under Jiang Ci's questioning gaze. He then picked up a fragment and handed it to Jiang Ci, saying, "See if you can use this pot to narrow down the production area a little more!"

Jiang Ci was puzzled.

What's wrong with Qin Yu?

Why am I suddenly so interested in where these things are from?

Are these things related to something big?

Filled with doubt, Jiang Ci took the fragments of the pottery pot and examined them carefully.

After examining it for a while, Jiang Ci put down the shards of the earthenware pot. "I can't narrow down the scope any further, but I can guarantee with my life that these earthenware pots and bowls definitely came from one of those three prefectures!"

Three counties?

This area is already extremely small!

In fact, some of the suspects have already been identified!

Historians!

Historians are absolutely questionable!

If it really is the Shi family, then it makes perfect sense. The Shi family readily confessed their problems and accepted punishment, and fully cooperated with the court to rectify the salt administration. It wasn't because they were afraid of me, but because they were afraid that I would accidentally uncover the case of the Crown Prince's assassination!

Shi Yi orchestrated the assassination himself, perhaps because he feared that he would "take too much care" of the Shi family!

With the Shi family's wealth, buying a large amount of horse beans from Taozhou to feed the horses would be no problem at all!

However, Qin Yu was somewhat puzzled.

Wasn't the eldest son of the Shi family also assassinated?

If it really was Shi Jiaqian, why would they turn on their own family?

Or perhaps, it's an internal family feud?

Could a historian alone truly have the ability to assassinate the crown prince?

Or did the historian have accomplices?

"Lord Qin, why are you suddenly so interested in these things?"

Jiang Ci finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her.

Qin Yu came to his senses and smiled, "These ceramic bowls and pots are related to the case of my assassination attempt in Jiankou. I went to Haizhou and then came back here to investigate this case."

Jiang Ci's eyelids twitched. "Could it be the Shi family?"

Without a doubt, historians wanted Qin Yu dead!

Considering the origin of these pottery pots and bowls, it's hard not to suspect the historians.

"It shouldn't be."

Qin Yu shook his head slightly, "If the Shi family wanted to assassinate me, they wouldn't send those small fry! You must not reveal what we've been talking about today to anyone, lest we alert them."

"Yes, I understand!"

Jiang Ci smiled and said, "I don't remember anything after I left this door."

Qin Yu nodded and smiled. "By the way, what brings you here?"

Jiang Ci winked and smiled at Qin Yu, "There was something going on, but it should be fine now."

"What do you mean by that?"

Qin Yu asked with great curiosity.

Jiang Ci pursed her thin lips and said with a smile, "Sister Xuan and I were sorting out matters related to salt transport here when we heard that you had come to Bailu County. Sister Xuan is too busy to leave, so she asked me to come to Bailu County to invite you to the prefectural capital so that she could show you proper hospitality and thank you! But you have something to do now, so I'm afraid this won't be possible."

Ok?

Is that so?

Qin Yu lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said with a chuckle, "I must say, I really do want to go to Jiuyi Prefecture for a visit!"

Since the destination is Ningzhou, he must be going there.

On the way to Ningzhou, one would have to pass through Jiuyi Prefecture.

"real?"

Jiang Ci looked pleasantly surprised.

"Of course it's true!"

Qin Yu nodded and smiled...