Chapter 816: Celadon Fragments Skipping Across the Water

The Soldiers were arranged to take the goods out bit by bit, and the Soldiers were completely indifferent, placing those Porcelain, Wine, Glass, and such things casually on the blankets, not in the least bit afraid of them getting bumped, broken, or anything else.

Seeing items that were cushioned with Wild Rice straw but still broken, they would take them out directly and, feeling somewhat annoyed, would simply skip them across the surface of the lake and throw them away.

If one were to speak of a few years ago, Porcelain and Glassware were still considered relatively precious in Huaxia; after all, the technology and craftsmanship were still being explored, production was low, and costs were high, so many people did not have them in their homes, only knowing that such good things existed.

But now it is different; the craftsmanship has improved, there are more skilled Artisans, and the Pottery items are basically all large objects, like jars, vats, and the like, while small items like bowls and dishes are basically all Porcelain.

Only Slaves and tenant farmers still use Pottery, because the Pottery items are all those that were phased out previously; it would be a pity to just throw them away, and if one were to talk about recycling, there is no place to put them, so they simply set up a place to pile up Pottery on a beach of loose stones at the edge of the city.

Everything collected as a whole is placed there; previously they were kept in warehouses, but now land in Huaxia City is in short supply, truly worth an inch of gold for an inch of land, so many unimportant warehouses are trying to be moved to the outskirts of the city.

Those phased-out Pottery items are provided for the Slaves and tenant farmers to choose for themselves, let them pick and choose as they please, without charging a single fee; whoever takes them, they are theirs, and the only requirement is to keep the place clean and tidy, and if one accidentally breaks something, they must take it away and dispose of it, and after finishing the selection, they must arrange them well according to the shape and size of the vessels, as others will come to pick later.

Only large-scale vessels are still being fired, and if the tenant farmers want them, they must use grain to buy them; this cannot be free, as the cost of production is indeed a bit high, and it requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

The glaze for Porcelain can be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds, especially after discovering that using glaze water made from a mixture of plant ash and Lime, after firing, could present an extremely beautiful, faint blue color like that of a shallow pond, and Huaxia fell in love with this kind of Porcelain uncontrollably.

Baifeng calls this kind of Porcelain Celadon, and through the control of different temperatures and ratios, it can even present subtle changes in different shades, and even the weather will affect the final effect.

Added to the fact that the cost is very low, Celadon spread throughout all of Huaxia in an instant, and Celadon almost completely replaced the Pottery on the dining tables of the Huaxia people, and even because of Baifeng's personal reasons, a lot of Porcelain without practical use was fired, purely for decoration.

Mineral glazes are rare and costly for the current Huaxia, so production is very low and it is difficult to spread them; although Celadon truly grew on Baifeng's aesthetic and its practicality is strong, Baifeng still requested those Artisans to continue researching and continue trying, as there will be more possibilities for Porcelain.

Of course, due to geographical limitations, it may be difficult for Huaxia to find more glazes; Baifeng knows of a series of famous kilns like Ge, Ru, Jun, and Ding, and those places might have special porcelain clay and better, unique glazes, but Baifeng cannot determine where those places are in the present, and all he can do is continue to encourage the Artisans, for the road is still long and the future of Porcelain is still very far away.

Porcelain has more possibilities than Pottery; even Pottery can have various patterns, so Porcelain will only be better; now that it might be a bit impossible for them to find glazes, then try painting patterns on the surface of the Porcelain before firing them.

In order to prevent them from painting too ugly or too strange, Baifeng even drew many traditional Chanzhi Patterns and Xiangyun Patterns for them, and told them they could try to paint Peony, those beautiful cranes, and pine trees, and not to paint stick figures.

The Porcelain brought over by Huaxia were just defective products that had been fired, with uneven glaze color, incomplete glaze surfaces, pits, and holes; anyway, they were not perfect, and in Huaxia, they would be sold cheaply to relatively poor people.

But bringing them here, they are no longer defective products, but something extremely high-end, a kind of Pottery never seen before, with bright colors and smooth surfaces; one look at this and the price is obviously extraordinary.

But the Soldiers do not think so; to them, the whole ones are fine, but the broken ones are of no use at all, just right for skipping across the water; the few people from the Chishe tribe did not want to let go of even the fragments, and all had the urge to rush into the lake to fish them out.

The Soldiers saw the embarrassed appearance of those few people and knew they were thinking of picking them up, so they said without ceremony: "This stuff is very precious here, no one has seen it, but in Huaxia it counts for nothing, let alone the ones that are already broken, which are of no use at all."

They even handed over the light blue dish that could reflect light: "Come, take a close look at it; only by looking at it now can you have that kind of excited feeling; once you get to Huaxia and see too many good things, you will instead lose this kind of special experience."

Fu and the others were flattered and could not believe it: "Really? Can we really touch it? What if we accidentally drop and break it?"

The Soldier said nonchalantly: "It's fine, feel free to look; if it breaks, it breaks; there isn't a single tribe here that can afford to trade for these things; we just brought them out to let them take a look and let them witness the wealth and power of Huaxia; maybe when we go back, we'll find them too heavy and just throw them into this lake."

Hearing the Soldier say this, Fu and the others instantly lost their psychological pressure, and Fu was the first to rush up: "I'll look first, I'll look first."

Just about to take it, he felt his hands were a bit dirty; although he had just washed them, the environment here was just like that, and he would accidentally get mud and water on them again.

"I'll wash my hands first, I'm afraid of making it dirty and it won't look good." Fu hurriedly ran away to the lake to wash his hands, and the others also hurriedly followed to wash.

That Soldier smiled and said: "Fine, I'll leave the plate here; you can take it and look at it yourselves if you want."

Afterward, he left and went to the Tent where the goods were piled to continue searching for things to prepare for display.

Xiong, with his hands behind his back and a sheathed Changdao hanging at his waist, began to inspect the stalls of each tribe with great momentum, wanting to find the goods he wanted.

Following behind were a few Soldiers, and among them, two Soldiers, one carrying a bag of salt and one carrying a bag of Salted Fish, were used as currency for trading; although there is no concept of currency in this era, salt can be said to be a perfect equivalent for trade, and although Bronze is more valuable, it is precisely because it is too valuable that it is not easy to use.

Looking through history, no one would really take a large bag of silver to buy small things like grain; one or two pieces of broken silver is the income of an ordinary farming household for several months, and things like copper coins and Cloth are the best currency.