Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 94 Jingdezhen

The general direction of the business deal has been agreed upon, but there are still details to consider.

With the help of a professional, Manager Mo, representing both companies, Shao Shuyi felt much more relaxed. He even had time to go to the dock to check if the cargo had been unloaded. By the afternoon of the 13th, the cargo on all three ships had been basically unloaded, and the ships felt much lighter.

That evening, Shao Shuyi, Yu Yuan, and Tie Niu returned to the Shen residence in Jiangzhou City to prepare to pick up Zheng Fan and take him back to the ship.

While waiting, Shao Shuyi curiously went to the Jingxing Academy next door and wandered around.

The academy's main street-facing area is a large courtyard with several stone tablets erected there.

Shao Shuyi glanced at it briefly and then recounted the origins of the academy.

The gist is that it was built during the Song Dynasty, and the name of the temple is taken from Han Yu's analogy of "auspicious star and phoenix" to Li Bo (who served as the governor of Jiangzhou during the reign of Emperor Muzong of Tang).

The Song people converted Li Bo's former residence into an academy, naming it after Jingxing (a star in Chinese mythology).

After the Yuan dynasty came to power, local governments raised funds to expand and rebuild the school, making it even larger, and allocated land to support Confucian households.

To the very end, Shao Shuyi discovered a stone tablet praising Kublai Khan, the Yuan Dynasty emperor. The gist of it was that the academy's original farmland was insufficient to support students' full-time studies, so the court exempted them from taxes—

"The school is located in Jiangnan. What about it? The land belonging to the school belongs to the government. Now, the teachers and students who study literature cultivate the land. What about the land they cultivate? There is a memorial to the throne. The imperial edict has been issued. So be it. It is proposed to exempt it according to the imperial decree. The provincial government approves."

Shao Shuyi was utterly astonished by the original text of Kublai Khan's imperial edict.

It is quite colloquial and dialectal.

"Is it funny?" A voice asked from not far away.

Shao Shuyi looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young scholar standing there, asking calmly.

"I don't understand," Shao Shuyi said, shaking his head without giving a direct answer.

Yu Yuan glanced at Shao Shuyi, then at the scholar, and lowered his head to suppress a laugh.

Tie Niu glanced at the scholar, but his eyes widened slightly. This was because the man didn't look like a scholar; he looked more like a manual laborer, or perhaps a military household or a post station householder.

"I've seen you before," the young scholar said, stepping closer.

Shao Shuyi was startled and asked, "When?"

"Yesterday, Lord Shen summoned familiar bamboo, wood, and porcelain merchants in Jiangzhou City for a meeting. I was there and saw you rushing over to report something to that distinguished guest surnamed Zheng," the scholar said.

"Are you a merchant apprentice?" Shao Shuyi asked, somewhat surprised.

The scholar shook his head and said, "I am a student of Jingxing Academy."

"Confucian households?"

"Born into a military household."

"Can military households also enter the academy?" Shao Shuyi asked, puzzled.

"Brother Shao, he might be like Liang Tai, a son of a military household, not a military household," Yu Yuan explained quietly from the side.

Shao Shuyi said "Oh," indicating that he understood.

Military households are limited in number. The number of soldiers a thousand-household commander has is clearly defined and cannot be increased or decreased arbitrarily. Basically, one soldier leaves and another arrives.

Military households could not participate in the imperial examinations, nor could they become Confucian households to attend school. However, a military household might have more than one son. He only needed to decide on one of them to replace him as a military household member. The others would not be considered military households, but at most they would be called "sons of military households" or "born of military households." Strictly speaking, they would be civilian households or other types of households.

"This young man is right." The scholar bowed to Shao Shuyi and said, "Greetings, Liu Huipeng of Xingguo."

"Taicang Di—uh, Shao Shuyi from Taicang, greetings."

"Greetings from Yu Yuan of Taicang."

Tie Niu stroked the hilt of the knife, remaining completely still.

"Taicang? Is it Taicang next to Liujiagang?" Liu Huipeng asked.

"Exactly."

Upon hearing this, Liu Huipeng exclaimed, "I've long heard of the fame of the Six Kingdoms Wharf; I must visit it sooner or later."

"Is Brother Liu sitting here studying?" Shao Shuyi asked, pointing to the back of the main hall.

"No," Liu Huipeng explained. "My father is a centurion in the Xingguo Huangzhou Prefecture, and my second uncle runs a porcelain trading shop in Jiangzhou. He knows the headmaster of Jingxing Academy, which is why he was able to study here."

"I see." Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "I'll be dealing with your uncle quite often from now on."

"Maybe it's me?" Liu Huipeng smiled and said, "I'm a diligent student; it's common for me to forget to eat and sleep. But the more I study, the more confused and helpless I become, so I don't want to study anymore. I want to go out and see the world, to experience the lives of ordinary people."

After saying that, Liu Huipeng added, "According to my second uncle, I will be going to Jingdezhen with the shopkeeper tomorrow. To be honest, Raozhou Road, where Jingdezhen is located, has been under the jurisdiction of Jiangxi and Jiangsu-Zhejiang during this dynasty, changing its jurisdiction over time, and now it belongs to Jiangsu-Zhejiang."

Huh? Shao Shuyi looked at Yu Yuan. He had always thought Jingdezhen was in Jiangxi.

Yu Yuan nodded and said, "Raozhou was under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan West Circuit during the Tang Dynasty and Jiangnan East Circuit during the Song Dynasty. It has indeed changed frequently in this dynasty. However, the people and goods entering and leaving the city mostly pass through Poyang Lake, and the local customs are similar to those of Jiangxi."

Shao Shuyi understood; it turned out that the Jiangzhe Province had always regarded them as people from Jiangxi.

But that's not important. What's important is—

"Brother Liu, do you know any kiln owners in Jingdezhen?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"I have relatives who run a kiln in Jingdezhen."

"What do you do?"

"Burn everything."

"For example?"

Bowls, plates, dishes, bowls, vases, cups —

"Is it possible to take a boat to Jingdezhen?"

“Riverboats are possible,” Liu Huipeng replied. “Jingdezhen belongs to Raozhou Circuit and Fuliang Prefecture. The name Fuliang originated during the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty, when the river was frequently flooded, and the people felled trees to build bridges. In the late Tang Dynasty, the government collected taxes on tea in Fuliang, and tea merchants from all directions gathered here, so naturally, boats can travel there.”

Shao Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, it was obvious to anyone with a brain that it was impossible for a place with inconvenient transportation to develop large industries like the Fuliang tea market or the Jingdezhen porcelain industry. At that time, the cost of land transportation was more than thirty times that of water transportation, so there was no comparison.

Yu Yuan couldn't help but take a few more glances at Liu Huipeng, thinking to himself that this man had indeed read a lot of books.

He felt a sense of crisis.

"Little Tiger, so you're here." Zheng Fan appeared at the academy gate and said with a smile, "Hurry up and pack your things. We'll stay on the boat tonight and set off early tomorrow morning. Leave the wind-powered boat behind and take only one canal boat. Head south past Xingzi Bay, then into the Changjiang River, and head straight for Jingdezhen."

"Okay." Shao Shuyi immediately nodded in agreement.

******

On the fourteenth day of the intercalary second month, just before dawn, the Taijia boat untied its mooring ropes and quietly headed south, deep into Poyang Lake.

The ship had a manager, Liang Tai, a flag bearer and helmsman, Zeng Yi, plus four seafarers and two butchers, for a total of eight crew members.

Shao Shuyi, Yu Yuan, Tie Niu, Zheng Fan, Mo Bei, Shen Xie, and a few attendants, plus Liu Huipeng, a total of eleven or twelve people, sat comfortably in the cabin.

This was all the crew members on the Taijia ship. It was fortunate that no cargo was being loaded at the moment, otherwise there probably wouldn't have been enough room for everyone.

With professional boatmen at the helm, the canal boats sailed smoothly with the wind and waves, reaching the mouth of the Changjiang River in less than two days. They then traveled upstream, sometimes rowing themselves and sometimes hiring boatmen to pull them, finally arriving in Jingdezhen at noon on the 21st after six days.

"Actually, the north bank is called Jingdezhen, and the south bank is called Hutian." After finding a dock to moor, Shen Xie stood on the shore and introduced, "However, Hutian also has porcelain kilns, mainly producing yellow and black porcelain, which is loved by many people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Those with a preference for bluish-white porcelain come from the kilns in the town."

The group disembarked one after another.

Zheng Fanxian stretched his back and legs and complained, "The canal boats are really not for humans to ride."

Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "Sir, business is more important."

Zheng Fan hummed in agreement, then looked at Liu Huipeng and asked, "Liu She, where is your family's porcelain kiln?"

"My uncle's family," Liu Huipeng corrected.

Having said that, he led the way, and the crowd followed closely behind, looking around as they went.

Jingdezhen is practically a city born from kilns.

The banks of the Changjiang River are shrouded in mist, resembling a fairyland.

Porcelain kilns were built one after another, reportedly numbering over three hundred.

When passing by a porcelain kiln, the fire had just died down when a broker led a group of merchants out of the teahouse, ready to "select kilns"—the so-called "selecting kilns" simply means choosing the best ones.

The government clerk and the kiln owner sat together, holding a thin book called a "shop register," preparing to tally how much porcelain had been sold as a basis for taxation.

The porters, who had been sitting on the ground, slowly got up, ready to get to work.

Their task was to carry the porcelain to the banks of the Changjiang River, obtain a voucher from a regular boatman, and then return to the kiln owner to collect their payment.

Along the winding road, porters were already carrying porcelain from elsewhere.

The utensils were of all kinds, dazzling the eyes.

Fish-shaped high-footed bowls and dishes with a hazy sea-eye snowflake pattern are popular among merchants from Sichuan, Guangdong, Jingzhou, and Huzhou.

Horseshoe-shaped betel nut platter and lotus-shaped horn-shaped plate—these are favorites of merchants from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

There are countless other porcelain pieces with different patterns and shapes, making it dazzling to the eye.

"Jingdezhen is doing really big business," Zheng Fan remarked.

Shao Shuyi and Mo Bei shared the same sentiment.

This wasn't Shen Xie's first visit; he was already used to it. This time, he smiled and remained silent, appearing quite composed.

Liu Huipeng, who was leading the way, was completely oblivious to the sights and didn't take it seriously. After walking for about half an hour, he finally led everyone to a porcelain kiln.

After obtaining the pattern sample from Zheng Fan's attendants, he handed it to a middle-aged man who had come looking for it upon hearing the sound.

The middle-aged man was pleasantly surprised to see Liu Huipeng, but after hearing Liu Huipeng's whispered instructions, he didn't have time to catch up. He casually flipped through the drawings and then weighed each sample in his hand.

"How is it?" Zheng Fan stepped forward and asked.

The middle-aged man glanced at him and asked with a smile, "Is it some kind of ware from the Ghost Kingdom?"

Zheng Fan nodded and asked, "Can you do it?"

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "The wares from the Ghost Kingdom that you bought in Jiangzhou, apart from those transported from Quanzhou and Guangzhou, were either fired by us or made by potters from Yunnan."

Zheng Fan was dumbfounded.

Shao Shuyi was also taken aback. Counterfeit goods? High-quality imitations of imported goods?

However—this isn't a bad thing!

The fact that they could produce high-quality replicas of these imported ceramic wares shows that they had considerable knowledge of these foreign wares, were familiar with their styles, and possessed exquisite craftsmanship, enabling them to create replicas that were indistinguishable from the real thing.

That's it!

Shao Shuyi and Zheng Fan exchanged glances, both overjoyed, as they saw a glimmer of hope for the completion of the custom-made celadon porcelain task.

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