Later, I became the prince of the group

It took Liu Qi a few days to draw all the dolls that he will make in the future, and each drawing has the front, side and back.

Quite satisfied, Chu Yan turned around and dismissed the teacher who said Liu Qi's painting was average, and hired a teacher of realistic painting for him.

At the same time, the carpenters took shape one by one. Except for the wooden house, which was more complicated and still needed to be considered, the other four toys had already been made.

Compared with the semi-finished products that were taken out during the previous test, these finished products are not only more complete, but also more beautiful. The toys are engraved with exquisite patterns, smooth without wood thorns, and painted with colored paint.

After the finished product came out, Chu Yan took it to Liu Qi for a look, and asked him to help pick out the faults, and then listed them one by one, and handed them over to several carpenters for re-improvement.

After doing this for about two or three versions, I finally settled on the final one.

At this time, Chu Yan’s newly purchased house has been simply remodeled. This house is intended to be used as a “factory”. The shops in the market are so big that they can’t accommodate so many people. It is impossible for the palace to allow so many civilians to enter. , and bought the house alone.

The location is a bit out of the way, but it is not too far from the shop, and the price of the house is only three hundred silver taels, which is not expensive in a place where every inch of land is precious in the capital.

He asked Chen Su to re-hire more than a dozen skilled carpenters to live in. These people were counted as the second group, and four more people who could make porcelain were recruited in, which was counted as the third group. The aristocrats have made ceramic objects, and the toys drawn by Liu Qi are not difficult for them to make.

There are three courtyards in the house. The largest one is connected to the backyard and the inverted room, which is reserved for the second group of loose carpenters. The smallest one is the place where ceramic craftsmen work. The middle one is for six carpenters who participated in the design of five kinds of toys. Where they live, they even have a big room for every two people here, and if they don't want to go home, they can stay in the house.

Chu Yan even sent them two guards to guard the yard.

The first job of the newly invited craftsmen is to make small dolls, both wooden and ceramic. These dolls designed by Chu Yan are all in a Q version style, and the joints such as limbs are movable .

The potters are all carefully selected, but the new carpenters are a mixed bag. From the process of these people's work, it can be seen whether they are careful or not. Almost every three days, a carpenter is asked to leave, and a new one is filled in the next day. After repeating this for about half a month, the number of people stabilized at 14.

After the first four finalized toys came out, Liu Qi spent some time drawing and dismantling them, drawing out the design in detail.

After reading it, Chu Yan couldn't help but said: "Can you split it up again? I mean, each step may be handed over to different people, and finally stitched together. They only need to see their own part of the picture. alright."

Liu Qi's brain is not slow, and he quickly understood what he meant: "It is possible, but after sending out these blueprints, they can still see everything when they are put together?"

Chu Yan shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I have a solution."

So Liu Qi took a longer time to dismantle the production process one by one.

When the second group of carpenters had been in the toy shop for a full month, Chu Yan called two old carpenters into the lobby alone.

Both of them are a bit old, but their skills are very stable and careful, Chu Yan is quite at ease with them.

"I know that your family has sons and apprentices who have inherited your craftsmanship, so there must be enough people. I thought about it, and the two of you don't need to come to the workshop in the future."

The two were shocked and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"My lord, the small family just moved to the capital this year, and the price of everything in the capital is high. If the small one can't get a living, it really won't be able to support the whole family!"

Another followed suit.

These newcomers didn't know Chu Yan's identity, and thought he was the chief manager of the workshop. After all, no one would have thought that the majestic prince would go to the workshop every day, dressed in good materials but simple in style, and eat and share with them. Drink, and sometimes even handle the wood by hand, just to save them some time.

Fang Guanshi, who was in charge of the second and third groups, and the six people in the first group only called him son under Chu Yan's instruction.

Chu Yan said: "Don't worry, I'm not going to fire you, but I think you've done a good job and have people at home, so I want to entrust you with building blocks and nesting dolls. In the future, you just need to make things at home. Send it here again, and Manager Fang will settle the wages for you.”

The two were overjoyed and worried at the same time.The joy is because after the family has contracted this job, even if it is their own business, the children, apprentices and daughter-in-law of the family can find jobs.Worry is that he thinks that the treatment of the palace is so good, if he pays the job...

"I plan to give the building blocks to Lao Ge. A small set of ordinary wood will give you 50 coins, a large set will cost you 200 coins, a small set of medium wood will cost you 100 coins, and a large set will cost you 300 coins. The trough type is more complicated, and I will give you eight taels of silver for one set. If you have a customized one, you will share [-]% of the profit. The wood is from our workshop. I won’t give you more, and you have to make up for what is really missing.”

Lao Ge's face was shocked, but he was thinking crazily in his heart.

An ordinary small set is only 20 building blocks, which is equivalent to two small pieces of wood and can earn five yuan. They need sawing blocks, trimming, sharpening wood thorns, painting, and lettering... One person can make 30 blocks a day. Come to block is not a problem!The three sons of his family can help him do it, and it costs 120 yuan a day, a net profit of 300 yuan!As for the high-grade wood, although the higher-grade building blocks have more shapes, especially the two-button and card-slot workmanship is also complicated, and you have to be careful not to damage the precious wood, but it is not a problem for him to make 10 pieces a day. The set is 150 yuan, and you can get five taels of silver in half a month!

Chu Yan reminded: "Don't look at the high-level wood building blocks, you just want to be high-level. I have a number of high-level and medium-level people every month. It can't be less or more. In addition, if you find workmanship There will be absolutely no acceptance for sloppy places.”

He motioned for Xin Qing, who accompanied him, to show Lao Ge the list he had drawn up earlier, and Lao Ge took it respectfully, and found that there were more medium woods, followed by high-end woods, and only a few ordinary woods. set.

Lao Ge knew that the wages were frighteningly high without careful calculation, and he could earn 10 taels of silver just for two sets of high-level building blocks a month!Ordinary business people do not necessarily have this number!He was so excited that he thanked me again and again.

After dismissing Lao Ge, Chu Yan asked Steward Fang to take him to identify the person in charge of pulling the wood. The remaining old craftsman was called Uncle Hua.

Chu Yan mentioned the salary of the matryoshka again, and Uncle Hua made a rough calculation, and it was only a lot more than Lao Ge's family!

"Uncle Hua, what I like is your woodcut and painting skills. Our set of dolls is not like building blocks with only a few shapes, but with different shapes. I specially found a few and painted them. The craftsmen of the lantern, they will be responsible for the appearance in the future, and you will be responsible for making it, of course, if you have any good ideas, you can ask the steward to let me know."

Uncle Hua nodded again and again, secretly having an idea in his heart.

He can make those complicated matryoshka dolls with his senior disciples, and leave the simple ones to other disciples...

After the two items were packaged out, Steward Fang took them to the Yamen to sign the contract that day.

Chu Yan allocated two carpenters who were good at making dolls, and asked them to be responsible for making small dolls in the future, and the two carpenters were specialized in making wooden gift boxes for high-end toys.The remaining eight people selected six of them, set up a small courtyard for them, and reorganized them into four groups, separated from the others by a wall, which could only be passed through by the moon gate.Three of them sanded the wood into shapes, one chiseled the holes, and two painted it.

What the five of them have to do is the other three main toys. The five are responsible for the most basic work, and the prepared wood is sent to a group of yards for processing.

Chu Yan also had a lot of considerations for leaving a group of these six people at the beginning. They have their own strengths and just formed an assembly line.

Xing Yi is obviously not an ordinary carpenter. He is good at making some small mechanisms, and he dares to think and do it. He can find a way to achieve many things that Chu Yan thought could not be realized. In terms of ability, a group of older carpenters can't help it. Ashamed, that's why Chu Yan directly promoted him to be the steward of a group.

But he is not good at carving and modeling.So every time Liu Xuan in the group made a beautiful bird shell for him, and then he assembled the mechanism by himself.The bird shell and the horses of the pony carriage are all specially made by Liu Xuan. He happens to be good at making wood carvings of animals, and he can make different shapes. Compared with the ruthless assembly line handed over to the four groups, letting him shape them is more vivid. .

Lao Duan and Sun Qi are good at carving, and they are responsible for all the intricate patterns on the wood.

Mr. Zhang is in charge of measuring. He knows exactly where to drill holes and where to dig holes. If Liu Qi draws the model picture, then he just marks various numbers and small notes on the picture. When making a house model before Chu Yan slandered him that he should build a house.

There is also a man named Yu Qing, seeing Xing Yi is like meeting a confidant, I don’t know if he has been with Xing Yi for a long time or he suddenly became enlightened. On that day, Chu Yan casually mentioned the concept of "guidao", and this person really studied a track, just manipulated It is rather complicated. The carriage cannot move on the track by itself, but a dark box needs to be set under the track. Countless small holes are punched on the four sides, and a wooden stick is inserted in each hole. The carriage moved in different directions, and it would overturn if not careful.

But for this dynasty, such toys are novel enough.

There were only two carpenters left in the second group. They were not assigned to work for a while, so they were still a little nervous, thinking that they were going to be fired.

When Chu Yan brought the two of them to the place where they were going to pawn the shop, they breathed a sigh of relief.

The decoration of this place has been almost finished. There is a two-story shop in front, which serves as the facade. The name "Tao Lefang" has been hung on the door. There is a door on the first floor that leads directly to the backyard. The rows of houses are all hung with beautiful decorations. The strange thing is that the houses on the west side have been demolished, and three doors have been opened on the west wall.

Although the yard is not small, it can be seen at a glance. There is no need to open three doors!

"My lord, this is..." One of them couldn't help but make a sound out of curiosity.

Chu Yan pointed to the spacious yard and said, "I'm going to make some big toys here, and I'll give you the blueprints later. These toys don't necessarily require you to do it yourself. Many of them are manual work. Someone will do them tomorrow." , but you have to keep an eye on them for me, and if they make any mistakes, they must be corrected."

One person was surprised: "That is to say, I, we are contractors?"

"You can also say that." Chu Yan said again, "Both of you are good at making big things, which is just right for this project."

Another person asked carefully: "The two of us, just stare at them? Don't we have other jobs?"

Chu Yan: "Of course. I still have a few sets of things that I need you to show off, but they are all simple things."

He unfolded the drawing, and the two hesitated to recognize it: "The leaf card?"

"Yes and no, but it is indeed chess and card games. You can make five sets of each one first." Chu Yan said.

After arranging everything, Chu Yan picked out a bunch of barely usable toys from the discarded defective products, put them into a box, and carried the box into the palace.

Anyway, throwing it away is a waste, why not give it to those cheap brothers, just to test which of these toys is more attractive to children.