Xu Lu stared at the table with his two rough hands, and slowly lifted the strangely shaped mask on the table with his two rough hands, and there was only one candle in the dark room, so he took the mask and looked at the fire.

He is a stonemason of Chen Mu's family, as early as the Jiajing period, he was the apprentice of the Suzhou jade master, and was ordered by the imperial court to go to Xuanfu for the teacher's top craftsman, and did the drudgery of cutting mountain stones.

Catching up with Chen Mu, who was the general of Zhenshuo at the time, recruited the generals, he applied as a stonemason, thinking of making some money, after all, the generals would mainly recruit iron, wood, stone, and porcelain craftsmen, and the jewelers didn't mention it at all, but they didn't expect that since the Xuanfu Ordnance Bureau was built, General Zhenshuo has been promoted day by day, and he is an official position that people can't understand.

The status of these generals is rising, and they are reluctant to leave.

Over the years, he has traveled north and south, and the precious utensils in his hands are no less than his teacher, and he has seen the magnificent scenery of a thousand catties of gems sent by the Lion Country to the military government and Weidao?

That's a real sea.

In the corner of the dark room, the candle flame reflected Chen Mu on his chest with his arms crossed, and he asked, "Craftsman Xu, is there this kind of jade in China?" ”

"Heh, the second master laughed." Chen Mu's very serious sentence was understood as a joke by the middle-aged jeweler, Xu Lu'an's eyes were still staring at the mask, and he wrote lightly: "What is there in the national dynasty?" ”

The mask in the craftsman's hand was made of jade, and since the opening of the No. 4 store in Agang, the survival needs of the people in the port have intensified their dependence on silver, and the business of the No. 4 shop has become more and more prosperous, and a lot of jade has been collected, so that the officials of the Commerce Bureau do not know how to set the price, so they sent the stone to Chen Mu.

Chen Mu was choked by Xu Lu'an's words, but he couldn't afford to raise the bar with a well-informed craftsman in ancient times, nodded and asked: "The kind is a good species, the nose bridge is high and the lips are round, and when I see the craftsman making this armor, he has a short cutting tool in his hand, and the craftsmanship is mainly polishing, so that the appearance is rough, if it really ruins these dozen pieces of material." ”

"Yuguan polishes the texture, made into dozens or even hundreds of years of old objects, in terms of price alone, this thing is sold to Jiangnan, it is worth between twenty and twenty-three taels."

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes and said, "Then Xu Jiang, are you saying that Chen Mou missed this time, and the No. 4 shop spent two taels and seven dollars of silver to collect this thing, and the co-authoring profit is not ten times?" ”

"Second master, don't worry, and listen to our details." Speaking of his unique field, Xu Lu'an carefully put the mask back on the table, turned sideways and said to Chen Mu: "This mask, with only two and a half catties of material, the price is far more than twenty taels of silver." ”

"But first, it is not a whole piece, it is a combination of twenty-nine pieces, and each piece is not small when taken out alone, especially the nose, cheeks, and forehead, which are more than a dozen large materials, and a single piece is worth three or four taels as a coarse material; Second, the grinding marks are dense, and although they have been treated, they can still be seen, which hurts the material bones; Third, if this is a horse or a tiger, even if it is wishful, it can be sold at a high price. ”

Chen Mu felt that the third point was the most important, and he frowned and said, "Are you saying that the people of the dynasty can't appreciate it, so it's not valuable?" ”

"That's right! That's what it means. Detective Xu Lu'an pointed to the green jade mask on the table and said, "If the second master wants to sell it at a high price, the small one has two ideas - dismantle it and sell it according to the jade material, which is worth thirty taels, which is ten times the profit." ”

"But the second master has received a lot of jade this time, and there must be more in the future, as soon as the first batch of jade materials comes out, there will be businessmen in the country who will come to hear the news the next year, and the jade materials in the country are afraid that they will be cheaper by three points."

This craftsman has a good understanding of the relationship between supply and demand in the market, and before Chen Mu could speak, Xu Lu'an explained: "The second master transported millions of pearls into the south of the Yangtze River, and the price of the pearls in the south of the Yangtze River fell sharply. ”

Chen Mu chuckled when he heard this: "Craftsman Xu knows a lot. ”

He has arranged for the merchants to be very restrained in the shipment, but what can be done?

The Three Kings of Sulu lost the pearls they had accumulated for generations, and the Lion Kings lost the gems they had accumulated for decades, but they reaped the benefits of stability for decades or even centuries to come, and goods from the Ming Dynasty poured into their domestic markets on the scale of their predecessors.

The relationship between supply and demand has changed, and how can there be no short-term shocks in prices.

"The second master should not underestimate our stonemasons, the little master has also seen Mr. Wumen Shizhou's "Qingming Riverside Map".

Mr. Shizhou is talking about Qiu Ying, his "Qingming Riverside Map" is also called Qiu Ben, painting not the Northern Song Dynasty Bianliang City but the Ming Dynasty Suzhou City,

The craftsmen dare not say anything else, especially the jewelers in Suzhou City, who are well-informed and will inevitably occupy it.

"To understand the jewelry, the origin of the utensils is the soul, and the second way for the small one to refer to the object is not to dismantle it, dig deep - the small one is just like that, whether it will be successful or not, it is unknown."

Seeing Chen Mu nodding, Xu Lu'an relaxed at this time, raised his two fingers and said: "Asian jade has fallen into a hundred pieces in Xiaogang alone, all of which are decades old, and its country will be very prosperous in ancient times. ”

"Dig up the ins and outs, it's an antique, worth three hundred taels."

"If its past owner is like the king of Lanling, it will become a treasure, worth three thousand taels."

"A treasure with a market price of 3,000 taels can be sold for 30,000 taels if you put it in Yangzhou and raise it."

Eh, you're a talent!

It is not strange that Chen Mu can think of this, but it is even more amazing that a jeweler under his hand can think of this, he raised his eyebrows and smiled: "You used to be a jeweler, you have no wealth and no shortage of silver in this industry, you have this ability, why did you come to me to be a craftsman?" ”

This made him wonder if this craftsman had been kidnapped by his soldiers!

The craftsman is one of the higher ones, although the high one is not outrageous, but there is no need to worry about food and clothing, and it is enough to save some silver taels for trading.

You can't run to be a housemaker.

"What kind of ability is the small, the second master is a big skill, even if you don't say the second master, the small teacher is also a big ability, he often says that the small see the big, you can know the whole picture, just like the "Qingming Riverside Map", it will be the prosperity of the first Song Dynasty, and also the end of why the first Song Dynasty collapsed."

Chen Muyang raised his chin and motioned for him to continue, Xu Lu'an said: "On the map of the Song Dynasty, there is no value on the gate of Bianliang City, the entrance is a tax office, and foreign merchants can carry goods into the city without being checked; I know that on this map, there is an urn in Suzhou City, and there are garrisons under the city, and there are other guards in the city. ”

Xu Lu'an said: "Bianliang City, no defense. ”

"The second master said that the ability of small people is some skill in carving seals, but they can support their families, but they have no ability to make a name for themselves; The second master has it, and the little one wants to ask for a name, and this matter can be done by the second master. ”

"I died in a hundred years, so that future generations will know, and I Xu Lu'an has also come."

Chen Mu nodded.