The lacquer pottery market, that is, the place where lacquerware and pottery are made and sold, is divided into two places, the lacquer market and the pottery market, by a wall.

Lacquerware is often painted with vermilion and black (xiu), graceful and elegant, very popular in the circles of nobles and big businessmen, Le Fuli also thought that Zhao Wuxian was going to the lacquer market, pick a few valuable lacquerware to bring back to the territory, who wants to go shirtless but only go to the pottery market.

In this regard, he was even more puzzled.

Pottery is a clay firing utensils, as the saying goes, "pottery must be good, fire must be obtained", pottery market is a collection of production and trading as one of the handicraft area.

The number of people in Xinjiang Tao City is smaller than that of other cities, firstly, because it is getting closer and closer to dark at this time, and many merchants are ready to close their stalls, and secondly, because most of them only do large-scale trade, and few sell them to the people and women alone.

Although Le Fuli is very familiar with Xinjiang, he doesn't come to this place of craftsmanship very often, and he doesn't know how to take Zhao Wuxian to go shopping for a while.

In the end, it was Zhao Guangde who shouted on the side of the road to stop a pedestrian who was squatting on the side of the stall and bargaining: "Jia Meng, why are you here?" ”

Na Jia Meng white face and short beard, wrapped in soap clothes, but wearing embroidery inside, he approached over, got down in front of the car and said: "I have seen the gentleman, the villain is lucky, I didn't expect to see the gentleman here, I haven't seen him for a few days, but the gentleman has been reduced a little." Then he wiped his tears, and at first glance he was a slippery man.

Jia (gu) is not a clan, but the industry he is engaged in, and the business has the same meaning. It turned out that the person called Jia Meng was a merchant from Wendi, who ate in Wendafu Zhao Luo, which was equivalent to the consignee of Wendi trade, and when Zhao Guangde came to Xinjiang a few days ago, he followed him in the convoy.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, several independent giants appeared among the princes, and they were more wealthy than small states. The small merchants and workers in Zheng Wei's area adopted the strategy of grouping together, and established a trading house and a craftsman company that shared risks and benefits, although the organization was loose, its strength should not be underestimated.

Decades ago, the merchants and workers of Puyang, the capital of the country, were instigated by the nobles to set off a riot and expel the tyrannical monarch Wei Xiangong, and they actually succeeded.

But the Jin Kingdom does not have such a relaxed and developed business atmosphere, so there are more officials and businessmen like Jia Meng who "eat in the government" and do business with the thighs of the ministers and doctors. Although the actual status is equivalent to that of a slave and is constrained in personal freedom, "the son of a merchant is always a businessman, and the son of a worker is always a worker", and most of the coins and silks earned are squeezed, but they can be linked to various relationships, and the risk is small.

The reason why Jia Meng is in Tao City is because he bought a lot of millet wine from Xinjiang to transport to Wendi, and he needs to buy a large number of clay pots to hold it.

He was also peeking at Zhao Wuxian, who was in the same car as Zhao Guangde, and Le Fuli with his chin raised on the side, looking at their clothes, they were all dressed as the son of a prince and a doctor. It seems that after his own gentleman came to Xinjiang, he quickly made friends, which is a good thing.

So, Zhao Guangde asked Jia Meng to take a few of them to Tao City, and Jia Meng intended to please the sons of the three doctors, so he naturally happily agreed.

Zhao Wuxian knew that in this Xinjiang City, there were also many merchants who ate in the Zhao family, but the bulk trade controlled by the Zhao family was mainly concentrated in the cattle and horse market, and the pottery industry was not too involved. Even the cattle and horse trade has not reached the level of monopoly, and the Bank of China has always been Zhao's biggest competitor.

Jinyang, a large northern county of the Zhao family, has a geographical advantage, and can trade with Rong Di and buy good horses, cattle and sheep from Daidi and Hetao. And the Zhongxing clan is not bad, because their territory "Dongyang Land" is close to Xianyu Zhongshan, they can extort many Baidi people's leathers, dogs and horses every year.

Cutting off people's money is like killing the whole family, so the current relationship between the two families is not only as simple as a political conflict, but also an extremely complex dispute of interests.

Under the leadership of Jia Meng, the group turned around Tao City. There are black pottery in the east of Taihang, painted pottery in Hexi, white pottery in Nanyang, and even Jomon pottery in the land of Haidai. But he had seen eggshell pottery as thin as silk in the lower palace, and it was also made locally in Chengyi, but the rough clay pottery was nowhere to be found.

Jia Meng solved the confusion one by one, it turned out that there was something particular about this: "All the things that are pottery and the bun will not enter the market." In other words, pottery that is too thin or of poor quality is not allowed to enter the Xinjiang market.

It can be seen that the pottery here is mainly used by the middle class, that is, scholars and Chinese people, as well as merchants to hold liquid goods such as wine, oil, vinegar, sauce, and honey. Pottery was a large trade, and almost all of the main utensils of people's life in the Spring and Autumn Period were made of pottery, and everyone had needs, but it was not very popular among the upper nobility.

Princes and princes valued bronze ware, while wealthy merchants could not openly own too many bronze ware due to the constraints of etiquette, so they replaced it with lacquerware. In fact, its value is not lower than that of bronzes, and in Zhao Wuxian's aesthetic view, it is more exquisite and gorgeous.

Therefore, pottery has not entered the high-end luxury industry, and it is still a simple civilian object. This upper-class market is almost blank, and after Zhao Wuxian's field trip, he knows in his heart that his plan is becoming more and more sure to make a lot of money.

The workshop area at the back is guarded by a soldier with a sword, and it is impossible to enter, perhaps because of the secrecy of the craft? Although Zhao Wuxian's identity as a son can be forcibly entered, there is no need for this.

Jia Meng said that the "work of fighting", that is, the craftsman who kneades the pottery embryo with clay, is roughly divided into two types of work: one is the potter, making pottery such as yan, pots, retorts, mustaches, and yu; The second is the 瓬 (fang) people, making utensils such as gui and beans.

After reading it all the way, Zhao Wuxian had a score in his heart, and he asked, "Jia Meng, do you know where to find craftsmen who are good at pottery?" It is best to have a single family and not be attached to the government or a large family. ”

In the unguarded plan, the craft of the future industry also needs to be kept secret, at least in the short term, so he needs a potter with no complicated background.

Le Fuli and Zhao Guangde glanced at each other when they heard this, wondering why Zhao Wuxian wanted to find a potter, was it to make some utensils to play? I can't see that this prince still has such interest.

Jia Meng also had this doubt, and he cautiously asked, "How many people does a gentleman need?" ”

Zhao Wuxian weighed the few silk silks left in his treasury, as well as the few gold pieces hidden in the house, thinking that it was only enough to recruit seven or eight high-level potters, but it was enough.

"No more than ten."

Jia Meng smiled bitterly: "Don't hide it from the gentleman, let alone ten people, even if it is two or three people, I'm afraid I won't be able to find it now!" ”

"It's such an exaggeration? If you can't find a few skilled potters? ”

"There are potters, but there are not many skilled ones, and the free ones are even more extinct."

After Jia Mengyi's explanation, Wuxian learned that ordinary artisan households lacking background could hardly survive in the fierce competition, and most of them could only rely on the government or the big clans. And this potter is especially good, and those who are better at it are forced or willing to eat in the industry of a large family. And those potters in the countryside, Zhao Wuxian is not eye-catching, I am afraid that they will not be able to bear the complex process of making new products.

Jia Meng looked around, lowered his voice and said, "Do you know that this lacquer pottery city is owned by whom?" ”

The single-plank bridge across the river also means arbitrary monopoly.

Zhao Wuxian recalled what he had learned from Ji Qiao before he came, and he said in a deep voice: "Could it be the Fan family? ”

……

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