After sending off Wang Qi, who was full of worries, Liu Cun went to the pottery workshop in the upper reaches of the small river to check the newly installed hydraulic stone mortar, and after setting the small kiln that could be vacated the next day, he walked directly to the preparation workshop under the long shed outside.

Liu Zhen, who was practicing pottery making technology, found that his father was coming, and hurriedly stepped forward to say hello, and after listening to Liu Cun's request, he hurriedly led Liu Cun to the front of the row of vats under the big tree at the foot of the wall:

"These dozen jars of different concentrates have been stored for nearly a month, all of which are prepared according to the requirements of my father, after repeated screening with a stone mill, except for the children who take four of them and test fire two two-color clay pots, no one has touched them so far, and they don't know how to use them."

Liu Cun opened each cylinder head one by one and examined it carefully, and finally selected two cylinders of completely stale white concentrate: "Take five catties of each and send it to my blank room." ”

Liu Zhen immediately became excited, brought a wooden barrel and took out two kinds of concentrate, kneaded them thoroughly, and then sent them to the blank drawing room specially built for Liu Cun.

Liu Cun had already prepared the tools, debugged the potter's wheel, took the two barrels of concentrate and walked to the desk to start batching and rubbing: "Don't record, look at it, just ask if you don't understand, keep it in your mind." ”

Liu Zhen immediately put down the charcoal and thin wooden board, came to Liu Cun's side and opened his eyes wide, staring intently at Liu Cun's ingredient ratio and kneading technique, and when he saw that there was no one around, he asked in a low voice: "Father, are you going to make porcelain?" ”

Liu Cun shook his head: "It's not real porcelain, strictly speaking, it's low-temperature porcelain between pottery and porcelain. Later, I will draw the blank first, and when I return home after drying, I will teach you how to configure and grind the glaze, the mixing and production of the glaze is the most critical essence of ceramic skills, and when the new house in the south is built in the autumn, I will build a special area behind the yard, burn refractory bricks to build two of the best small porcelain kilns, make the best tools, and then you can use the method I taught you to slowly experiment, and constantly modulate various glazes for the firing of real porcelain, and record the ratio, steps and kiln temperature of each modulation in detail. After firing, you will be able to analyze and summarize the finished product in detail, and as long as you stick to it, you will have a lot of gains in less than three years. ”

Liu Zhen nodded heavily: "The child remembers!" Father, what does the child need to do? ”

Liu Cun shook his head: "Just look at it." ”

Two hours later, four sets of new wine and tea sets were neatly placed on the desk, Liu Zhen looked at the four sets of delicate utensils that were only blanks, only felt his heart beating faster and breathing faster, and only murmured for a long time to ask Liu Cun, who was wiping his hands: "Father, when will the child be able to make such exquisite utensils?" ”

Liu Cun replied in a low voice: "I have to keep practicing, I have been forced to draw sketches by your grandfather every day since I was seven years old, and I stay in your grandfather's workshop every six days to study, and I usually follow his old man to visit other people's masterpieces, and go to the field to find the best quartz, feldspar and porcelain clay, every summer for a month and a half, and nearly a month in winter, almost all of them sweat in the workshop, and I don't stop until I am eighteen years old, I have an elder brother above me, his skills and spirituality are ten times stronger than mine, but unfortunately now...... In my mind, his level is not far from that of a master craftsman. ”

Liu Zhen nodded thoughtfully: "Father, the child understands." ”

Liu Cun smiled with satisfaction: "It's good to understand, take your time, lay a solid foundation first, as long as the foundation is solid, it is very simple to make these things." ”

"Father, why did you suddenly make these four sets of drinking utensils?" Liu Zhen was very sensitive and looked at his father steadily.

Liu Cun smiled and said: "Five days later, I will go to Xiahe City to meet the new county commander and the head of the Xuzhou Mi family, they are probably all coming to Zhushan black pottery, if I don't send one or two fine products, not only can I not show sincerity, I'm afraid it is not easy to perfunctory past, these utensils will not be given in vain, I have an intuition, it is likely to help me open a road that I didn't dare to think of before." ”

Liu Zhen seemed to understand whether he understood or not, and he pondered for a moment and was very worried: "Father, will those people embarrass you?" ”

Liu Cun explained: "At least not in the near future, as long as these sets of wine utensils are burned and sent out, it is estimated that they will not embarrass me, if the Mi family in the business world is easy to speak, I don't mind cooperating with them, provided that they agree to the conditions I propose." ”

Liu Zhen finally understood: "Father, if the Mi family and the county magistrate ask you to keep burning for them, will you agree to them?" ”

Liu Cun puffed out his eyes: "How is it possible?" I will tell them that there is a kind of artifact called kiln change, that is to say, one or two fine products appear in a thousand kilns, which is already an eye-opener, unless they give me the money of a thousand kilns first, I will consider whether to make them or not. ”

Liu Zhen was immediately happy: "Father, the child understands that high-quality products are a gift from God, but they can't be sought!" Is that right? ”

Liu Cun laughed: "I have grown up, I am happy for you!" Let's go, come with me to your fourth uncle's house, ask him to help me make a few beautiful little wooden boxes, and then go home and I'll teach you how to make colored glazes and transparent glazes. ”

Four days later, Liu Cun retrieved four sets of crystal clear and brilliant porcelain from the small cooled kiln, inspected two of them without hesitation, and then quickly wrapped two of them in silk cloth and placed them in a delicate elm box.

Seeing the fragments of the white jade-like light in the ground, Liu Zhen, who followed, was so pained that he burst into tears, until this time, he realized how strict his father's requirements were, in order to obtain the most beautiful utensils, his father did not hesitate to break two sets of sixteen exquisite artifacts with slightly flaws made by his own hands, and it was so decisive, so resolute, Liu Zhen was deeply shocked, and he couldn't sleep for two consecutive days under the touch.

The first year of Zhongping, June 21.

The square Xiahe City is not large in scale, each city wall is only one mile long, the cross street that runs through the east and west, north and south in the city connects four city gates, the city wall is about four zhang high, about three zhang wide, there are moats on the east and west sides, the vast majority of civilians live in the west and south outside the city wall, only the gentry and wealthy businessmen have the ability to live in the city.

Most of the buildings in the city are low-slung stucco walls, whitewashed with lime and clay, and there are very few two-storey buildings, except for three two-storey wooden buildings at the intersection of Crossstreet.

The most magnificent building in the city is located in the northwest of the crossroads, the bluestone foundation is made of blue bricks, the five-level granite steps in front of the main gate are flat and wide, the overall shape is square and the lines are bright, there is no carved beam and no painting, but it shows extraordinary momentum.

In the exquisite courtyard about 100 steps away from the east gate, Liu Cun, who changed into a cyan literati robe and wore an ordinary cyan cloth hat, sat leisurely in the middle of the pavilion to make tea, and the tea set used looked very ordinary, just like the ordinary black pottery tea set that costs 1,000 yuan on the market, but in the eyes of connoisseurs, it will definitely surprise and fall in love, because the intrinsic quality of the tea set belongs to the top grade of the black pottery in Zhushan - the "King Kong pottery" that will release a buzzing metal sound with a light flick.

On Liu Cun's left hand side sat Lu Ping, the caravan manager who behaved differently than in the past, and on his right hand sat his thoughtful brother Wang Qi, who was pulled by Liu Cun, Liu Cun's excuse was very sufficient: "The younger brother was born in the mountains and wilderness, and he doesn't know etiquette, so he can't do without the advice of the eldest brother." ”

Arrived in Xiahe City yesterday evening, Liu Cun has not been called by the county commander and the Mi family, and the two sets of fine porcelain brought by him have not been sent, Liu Cun has asked Lu Ping to send a message to the county magistrate and Mi Zhu, the head of the Mi family, and waited for half a morning without seeing a response, so he went out to hang out with Wang Qi.

After walking around the city, and then seeing the ancient port of Langya built by the Qin Dynasty on the south side of the city, which is now in tatters, Liu Cun was no longer interested in visiting anything, and came back and used a bowl of porridge at will, so he and Wang Qi went to the backyard pavilion to drink tea and chat.

Liu Chu put down the small pottery cup and sighed: "Xiahe City is too small, speaking in my heart, it is far from what I imagined, I am very disappointed!" I had heard that Langya Ancient Port was one of the four major seaports of this dynasty, who knew that it would be so dilapidated, even a small fishing port is not as good, alas! ”

Lu Ping smiled and didn't speak, Wang Qi glanced at Liu Cun dissatisfiedly, in his eyes, although Xiahe City is small, but the city wall is tall and sturdy and covered with green bricks, the streets are wide and full of green shade, shops and restaurants can be seen everywhere on the street, people come and go, rich and prosperous, beautiful and elegant at the same time, let people feel precious peace and tranquility, such a famous city is rare in the entire Han Dynasty, I don't know why it is so unbearable in Liu Cun's eyes.

Lu Ping saw the little guy at home holding the lacquer plate and walking quickly, quickly stood up and walked out of the pavilion, picked up the red sandalwood thorn inlaid with gold wire on the tray and was slightly surprised, after listening to the report of the little maid, he immediately came to Liu Cun to kneel on the side, handed over the name card with both hands and whispered: "Lord, the Mi family replied, saying that Mr. Mi Da wanted to invite the Lord tomorrow, but the fast horse at home just came to report, the old lady of the Mi family got up yesterday and suddenly fell down and had a stroke. ”

Liu Cun and Wang Qi looked at each other, Liu Cun pondered for a moment and asked Lu Ping: "Mr. Mi Da has already left the city?" ”

"I haven't left the city yet, the big families pay attention to etiquette, and the servants are like clouds at every turn, even if the matter is urgent, it can't damage the prestige, the small maid reports, the Mi family is packing up and putting on the carriage at the moment, and it is estimated that they will have to say goodbye to the county magistrate who received the news and the virtuous people in the city before leaving the south of the city." Lu Ping replied in detail.

Liu Cun made a decisive decision: "You take out the wooden box wrapped in brocade I brought, which contains a set of celadon wine utensils, and immediately send it to Mr. Mida, saying that I wish the old lady Elk good luck and a speedy recovery!" ”

Lu Ping was quite surprised: "The Lord doesn't go there personally?" ”

"There must be a lot of gentry and virtuous people who are seeing off at this moment, what kind of excitement do I have to make with my cloth clothes, if I don't get it, I want to humiliate myself, you go quickly." Liu Cun commanded.

Lu Ping no longer insisted, kowtowed slightly and left quickly.

Wang Qi was quite resentful in his heart: "Brother Xian, with the identity of you and me, it is as difficult to break out of a world as it is to ascend to the sky!" With just one word, the prefectural magistrate can make you respectfully come to the meeting, maybe he has forgotten what he said at the moment. ”

Liu Cun smiled bitterly: "If the county magistrate doesn't give a word tomorrow, let's go back early the day after tomorrow, didn't he say that the monarch likes our Zhushan black pottery?" Let Mr. Lu send the white porcelain wine set I brought to the county office, and then send two sets of special black pottery tea sets, and tell the county magistrate that I, Liu Cun, also sent a set to Mr. Mida. ”

"If you don't say goodbye, the county magistrate may have an idea, if he is not strong enough, it is estimated that he will hold a grudge against you in the future, and then make things difficult in every way." Although Wang Qi complained, he never wanted to offend the county order, but he didn't expect Liu Cun, who had always been easy to speak, to be so tough in his heart.

Liu Cun weighed it for a long time, and whispered his opinion: "Mr. Liu Xi, the monarch of Langya, is known as a virtuous person, and he can be called a contemporary Confucian, and he will not be able to get along with us for a few pieces of pottery, and he will not be able to live with us for a few pieces of pottery, and then Cheng Bing, the commander of Xiahe County, was a disciple of Mr. Zheng Xuan, a famous teacher of a generation, before the disaster of the party, he came to Langya thousands of miles away, followed the monarch to study the scriptures, the Yellow Turban Riot Dongwu City was burned, and the Xiahe County Commander was transferred to Dongwu City to serve, and Cheng Bingcai, who was engaged in Langya County, came here to serve as the county commander, It is estimated that he will have to return to the monarch soon to be his engagement, with his knowledge and character, he should not be so stingy, right? ”

Wang Qi felt that it made sense after listening, considering the purpose of this trip, he still solemnly suggested: "Don't be in a hurry to go, our trip is mainly to obtain the approval document of the county government to allow the admission of displaced people from Yanzhou in Qingzhou, and do not leave any hidden dangers for the sake of temporary anger. ”

Liu Cun was very helpless: "If it weren't for the approval of the document, the younger brother would not come, at present, the Qing, Yan, Hebei, and Henan states are in flames, and the red land is full of hunger, and millions of displaced people are either going south or north, I heard that the caravan said that as many as 40,000 Qingzhou displaced people gathered outside Dongwu City, and thousands of yellow scarves still occupy the northern Qianqian County, this morning we also saw a lot of displaced people in the south of the city, and it is roughly estimated that there are no less than seven or eight thousand people. In case of trouble, I'm afraid the yellow scarf will be big again! ”

Wang Qi is also helpless, there is no way except to feel sad in his heart, even if he obtains the document issued by the county government to allow the acceptance of displaced people, with the current capacity of Wangjiazhai, at most he can only accept 300 people, and if there are more, I am afraid that even the villagers in the village will not have anything to eat.

Liu Cun's thoughts are very different, from the first day he came here, he didn't have any sense of security, although he lived under the remote Iron Mountain, it seemed that he was quite peaceful across the Baili Mountains, but once the troubled times came, no matter how far away and remote he was, he would become a lamb in the mouth of the strong, so he must do everything possible to seek growth and development, only in this way can he protect himself.

But every step is extremely difficult to do, Liu Cun now slowly sees the way of the world, and also sees his own disadvantages, he is just a humble little cloth, no illustrious family background and connections, no talent recognized today, can only rely on his own efforts, cautious development and growth, one wrong step is likely to lose everything, and even lose his head.

So for several months, Liu Cun has been moving towards the goal that is still hazy in his heart, and as the lessons and lessons accumulate over time, his horizons have gradually broadened, but the sense of crisis in his heart has become heavier.

This time, he walked out of the mountains and came to Xiahe City with a speculative mentality, and found that Xiahe City had lost the scenery of the Qin Emperor and Han Wu period, and had become a remote and remote forgotten corner.

Half an hour passed, and Lu Ping finally returned.

Lu Ping walked quickly into the pavilion, and immediately reported to Liu Cunyu: "Lord, the little one is fortunate not to be dishonored, before Mr. Mi Da boarded the car, the small one handed the gift to the housekeeper beside him in front of him and many gentry, but before returning was pulled by the county lieutenant Dong, Lord Dong said that thousands of Qingyan refugees are rolling south from the war-torn Dongwu, Anqiu, Gaomi and other places, and the messenger saw the corpses of the fallen roadside everywhere along the way, so the county commander Cheng asked the four major families of Xiahe and our three major merchants, each to prepare 3,000 pieces of grain, In order to be ready to provide relief to the victims at any time, they promised to reduce the corresponding tax burden next year. The little one was startled when he heard it, how dare he agree? He said that he would have to ask the Lord to reply. ”

Wang Qi was taken aback: "The homeless people came so quickly? ”

Liu Cun slowly stood up: "Lu Ping, what is the relationship between the county lieutenant and the county lord and you?" ”

"The relationship is quite harmonious, the small one will give generous gifts to the county Cheng Meng, the county lieutenant Dong, the chief bookkeeper Chen and a few stewards every month, as far as the small knows, we are the only one in the entire Xiahe City who does this, so we have been taken care of by the county government, and have never been embarrassed, when we bought 3,000 acres of wasteland under the Huangdao Mountain in the north of the city to build a manor at the beginning of last month, we also received a great discount from the county government, and it also made several other big families red." Lu Ping replied truthfully.

Liu Cun was very satisfied: "Well done, don't be reluctant to spend money, we have no foundation, no external help, only money is the only advantage that can be used, so the money given to several adults in the county government can not only not be broken, but also be more hidden, from now on, every New Year's holiday and then give a generous gift." ”

"The little one remembers." Only then did Lu Ping wipe the sweat from his head.

Liu Cun motioned for him to sit down and poured him a cup of tea with his own hands: "Lu Ping, let me ask you about the county government to resettle the displaced people, what is the result?" ”

Lu Ping hurriedly replied: "The small one is about to report, the chief bookkeeper Chen agreed, but it is only limited to the resettlement of the displaced people outside Xiahe City, as long as it is determined, you have to pay this year's service money according to the capitation, this money is not small, the small one can't make up his mind for a while, I want to wait and see, now there are more and more displaced people, the county government will definitely not be able to take care of it, and can only ask us merchants to contribute money and efforts, so that we can get enough labor without spending money." ”

Liu Cun turned to Wang Qi, saw Wang Qi nodding, and immediately walked to Lu Ping's side, squatted down and whispered in his ear.

Lu Ping was stunned for a moment, then nodded frequently, and didn't care about drinking the tea.

"What did you say to Manager Lu?" Wang Qi asked curiously.

Liu Cun smiled: "Big brother, let's go back tomorrow and build as many houses as possible, within a month, at least two thousand strong laborers will drag their families to the foot of Zhushan Mountain." ”

Wang Qi was taken aback: "So many? How can so many be placed? ”

Liu Cun thought for a while: "Big brother, how many people do you think are needed in the village?" ”

"If you accept 300 people to open up the wasteland and farm the land, you can't bear it any more." Wang Qi replied truthfully.

Liu Cun asked again: "Big brother, if the younger brother is placed here with a few thousand people, will you have an opinion?" ”

Wang Qi was puzzled: "How can you have an opinion?" If the virtuous brother can really settle thousands of displaced people, it is too late for the foolish brother to be happy, how can it be said that it is a righteous act to save the suffering! ”

Liu Cun sighed softly: "Big brother, if the younger brother takes in thousands of people, then he will no longer be from Wangjiazhai, the wasteland reclaimed by the younger brother is five miles away from the village, and it won't take long to become a village, the younger brother will have to move over sooner or later to take care of his family business, big brother, you have no opinion on being broad-minded, but the villagers in the village are probably not happy!" ”

Wang Qi finally understood Liu Cun's thoughts, and after thinking about it for a long time, he slowly raised his head: "Brother Xian doesn't need to care too much, no matter how much you have ideas in the village, you can't stop your good deeds, besides, the place where we live is seventy or eighty miles long from north to south, and more than ten miles wide from east to west. ”

Liu Cun high-fived and smiled: "Okay!" The little brother is now relieved, starting from January next year, the little brother will give the villagers ten stones of salt every month to repay the villagers who understand the righteousness and generously accept the kindness of the displaced people! ”