Chapter 129 shocked Lao Zhu’s jaw!Will glass that is a thousand times cheaper be born? The little devil was very embarrassed at this time.
At first, they thought it would be useless if the Ming Dynasty just sent 1000 people, but now it seems that the soldiers they sent there are simply magic weapons.
Nothing could be said at the moment.
When Chen Han saw this, he suddenly thought that he seemed to be able to help the Ming Dynasty's army. At least now he had something to use.
So Chen Han immediately asked: "Commander Mu, when are you planning to attack the Japanese slaves?"
Before Mu Ying could answer the question, Matsushita Ijiro beside her said impatiently: "It's best to leave within the next two days."
After saying this, he immediately felt as if he shouldn't have said it, but he still had the courage to explain: "I had heard before setting off that the Northern Dynasty was about to launch a fierce attack, aiming to force our country to hand over the three artifacts.
The situation is critical now, and I ask for your country’s help. "
After hearing this, Mu Ying said: "It is estimated that we will set off in five days at most."
Although Matsushita Ijiro felt that five days was too much, and he wished he could leave tomorrow, he couldn't say anything more.
Chen Han thought for a moment and said, "Okay, since I'm leaving in five days, I must hand something over to Mu Shuai within these five days."
Mu Ying wondered: "Who is Mr. Chen?"
Chen Han replied: "It's better to see if I can do it. If I can't do it, it will make people laugh."
They said nothing more.
After the visit, Chen Han immediately returned to the School of Engineering.
Unexpectedly, he met Zhu Youwei, Princess Jiangdu, who came to visit him at the door.
Zhu Youwei brought her personal maid Xi'er.
The two met at the gate of the Engineering College, so it was not too close.
Xi'er burst into laughter upon seeing this.
"Princess, Mr. Chen has been away from the mountain for more than a month, but he has been busy and has not come to see you.
Xi'er actually thinks it's better to be in the mountains. "
One sentence made Zhu Youwei blush.
The two looked at each other for a few moments and were about to speak when they saw a carriage escorted by officers and soldiers slowly approaching on the official road of the Engineering College.
Princess Jiangdu frowned when she saw it, "It's my mother-in-law!"
Chen Han was also very interested when he saw this. It turned out to be the Crown Princess Lu.
She probably sent the injured Zhu Yunwen back.
Jiangdu County Zhu obviously guessed something, and immediately reminded in a low voice: "You injured Zhu Yunwen a few days ago, and of course my father and Grandpa Huang have no other blame.
Even the impeachment against you in the court was suppressed by the emperor and the others.
But the more this happens, the more resentful the mother-in-law will be towards you. If I see you later, I still need to pay you a courtesy. "
Chen Han nodded: "I understand this."
The carriage soon arrived at the gate of the Engineering College.
There was already a palace maid on the carriage to inform Madam Lu, and the person standing in front of the carriage was Princess Jiangdu.
Facing Jiangdu Princess Lu, she was very unhappy.
First of all, Princess Jiangdu is not the daughter she gave birth to, and there is a layer of relationship between her.
Furthermore, every time she deliberately made things difficult for Zhu Yunxi, the Jiangdu Princess would stand up and make herself very embarrassed.
Now I heard that Prince Zhu Biao wanted to betroth Princess Jiangdu to Chen Han, so he was his enemy.
So Lu was very angry when she saw her son sitting in the carriage and being ordered by the emperor to return to the Engineering College before his injury healed.
The carriage stopped at the gate of the Engineering College.
Princess Jiangdu bowed respectfully: "Jiangdu, see my mother and concubine!"
Chen Han also saluted, "Chen Han, the head of the Weichen Academic Affairs Department, met with the Crown Princess."
Mrs. Lu slowly got down from the carriage. Zhu Yunwen was afraid of Chen Han and did not dare to come out.
After coming down, Mrs. Lu looked emphatically at Chen Han, who had injured her son, "This is the head of the Academic Affairs Department who has been causing trouble in the capital for more than a month. He is indeed a young and promising person.
Jiangdu, you are so lucky to have such a husband. "
Princess Jiangdu was about to thank her when she suddenly heard Mrs. Lu sternly shouting at Xi'er who was behind Princess Jiangdu: "You are so brave, you are not polite when you see me. How unbecoming is it? Do you think there is someone behind you?"
Xi'er was shocked when she saw this, "The Crown Princess's servant has just..."
She wanted to say that she had just saluted, but she stood behind her and her voice was a little lower, so Lu didn't hear it.
When Mrs. Lu heard Xi'er's sophistry, she pretended to be furious: "You mean, I have wronged you?
It seems that this princess is really easy to bully, and she can step on any cat or dog. "
Zhu Youwei and Chen Han listened and their expressions suddenly changed.
This Mrs. Lu seemed to be teaching Xi'er a lesson, but every word she said was directed at both of her.
This is really the extreme use of yin and yang and criticizing Huaihuai.
Every sentence was scolding Chen Han and Princess Jiangdu.
Seeing this, Xi'er fell to her knees on the ground: "I don't dare, I know I was wrong!"
Lu was even more bossy: "If you make a mistake, you will be punished. Otherwise, if you don't learn a lesson, I will punish you by kneeling at the door for an hour."
Just when Zhu Youwei and Chen Han were about to step forward to speak, Xi'er saw this and immediately said loudly: "Princess and Young Master, it's all my fault. I am willing to accept the punishment. You two should stop punishing me!"
Eh! !
Zhu Youwei and Chen Han calmed down as soon as they heard this.
This Ms. Lu is obviously looking for trouble. If the two of them come forward to say something again, then there is no telling what tricks this woman will be able to outsmart, and then more clues will fall into Mr. Lu's hands. .
Xi'er is very smart. She knows that Chen Han and Zhu Youwei will not let it go, so she would rather accept this unwarranted punishment and kneel here than let Chen Han and the princess have another conflict with Lu.
Seeing that Chen Han and Zhu Youwei looked angry, Mrs. Lu could only calm down, not to mention how happy she was in her heart.
But she still got the advantage and said obediently: "Princess, slaves like these must be punished if they make mistakes in the future, otherwise they will get slapped on their noses.
But we will always be the superior masters, and some people will always be lowly slaves. Don't even think about turning over and trampling the master under your feet. "
After saying that, she got on the carriage and took her son to the engineering college.
After seeing Mrs. Lu go away, Chen Han gritted his teeth and became very angry: "She is here for me!"
As he said that, he stepped forward to help Xi'er up.
Unexpectedly, Xi'er said: "Master, it doesn't matter Xi'er. It's a good thing we didn't let him leave any more clues now. If I really get up, she will have more to say.
It doesn't matter, Xi'er, the main thing is that you and the princess can't be caught by her. "
Zhu Youwei let out a long sigh: "Chen Han, go and do your business first. I originally came to see you, and now I have seen you. Now I have to accompany Xi'er."
Chen Han had no choice but to feel very uncomfortable, but he had to admit that the power struggles in ancient times really didn't treat people as human beings.
This Mrs. Lu took her anger out on the master next to her because she beat her son. She is simply a bastard, but you still have no way to argue with her.
Because her identity is the Crown Han could only go in helplessly.
He indeed had a lot to do. After entering, he took his students with him and prepared to find a place to make glass.
The materials used to make better glass include pure quartz, plant ash and limestone.
As for where there are more quartz mines, Jiangsu was one of the important quartz stone producing areas in ancient times, especially Nanjing and Yixing, which happened to be the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
After thinking about it, I realize that there is not a lot of sand along the Yangtze River.
Plant ash is the ash of burned grass. After filtering, potassium carbonate is obtained.
Limestone is everywhere.
Materials for burning glass are easy to find, but the difficult part is actually the process of exploration.
In the beginning, sand was used to make glass, which is silica, plus sodium carbonate that can only be obtained in saline-alkali lake areas. The cost was high and there were many regional restrictions, making it a luxury item like treasure.
In China, the source of sodium carbonate mainly comes from saline-alkali lakes in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Tibet and other places.
At present, water from far away cannot save people from near thirst.
And even if sodium carbonate is used, the fired glass is not light-transmitting, impractical, and the cost is too high, so it can only be used as a luxury decoration on the windows of the cathedral.
Later, the Romans used pure quartz stone instead of sand to make more translucent glass.
In ancient times, the Germans found a way to replace sodium carbonate with potassium carbonate formed from plant ash, thus greatly reducing the cost.
This has slowly transformed glass from a luxury product into a common product that ordinary people can afford.
Chen Han arrived at the college. After the students completed the basic courses, Chen Han took the students out of the college.
He directly reported it to the palace, saying that he would take the students to a borrowed workshop set up by the inner palace supervisor to bake glazed tiles, green curtains and other tributes for the royal family to bake glass.
What is the so-called green curtain? The green curtain used in the palace is a special kind of curtain, usually made of colorless and transparent glass material. Cobalt oxide is added as a colorant to smelt the blue glass material.
Use this kind of glass material to make strip-shaped water beads as thick as chopsticks, as blue and crystal clear as frozen lake water, and then wear them into bead curtains.
This kind of green curtain is mainly used in royal suburban altars, Qing temples, places of worship to heaven and ancestors, to show the supremacy of the royal family and its incompatibility with the folk fire and water.
Under the influence of the youth culture of ancient emperors, green curtains became an elegant decoration in the palace that kept people away from thousands of miles away.
The craft of making colored glaze began in China's Han Dynasty, and by the Ming Dynasty the technology had become very sophisticated.
However, it should be noted that colored glaze and glass are two completely different things, although they have similar properties.
However, colored glaze usually does not have strong light transmittance and hardness, so it can only be used as a decoration.
The main thing is that the materials are different.
The main material of colored glaze is natural crystal. Due to the difficulty of mining and its scarcity, colored glaze has always been a luxury product of the same level as jewelry and jade, or even more valuable.
But glass, haha... that's a bit too ordinary.
However, the firing process and the grinding tools used are similar.
So when Chen Han was in modern society and saw that such a difficult skill as making colored glaze was so proficient, why couldn't he make glass?
Later I learned that it was actually due to the raw material sodium carbonate.
Among the initial materials for making glass, sodium carbonate was the main material.
But in China, the production of sodium carbonate is mainly concentrated in Qinghai-Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang in the northwest.
It was a place that the ancient Han people seldom set foot on, so they could not obtain raw materials.
The technology of replacing sodium carbonate with plant ash was discovered too late, so China regretfully missed this item.
Chen Han came to the Inner Palace Supervisory Factory, the workshop where colored glaze is made.
Since quartz sand and limestone are also needed to make colored glaze, there is no need to look for the materials, they are available directly.
That is to prepare a separate cooling device, which is actually water.
Hearing that Chen Han was going to create something magical in the palace, Zhu Yuanzhang hurried over to visit when he was free.
Even Princess Jiangdu, who had just returned to the East Palace, came running over.
Chen Han was surprised that Zhu Yuanzhang was idle.
"Your Majesty, you can come so leisurely now to see if the minister is doing such a dirty trick?" Chen Han teased.
Lao Zhu twirled his beard and said with a smile: "Thanks to the cabinet you created, we are now relieved."
Chen Han even joked: "Your Majesty, if His Royal Highness hadn't been carrying you in front, you wouldn't have been so leisurely."
Haha ...
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly: "We have a good son, and you have a good father-in-law!"
Chen Han smiled and said nothing, and looked at Zhu Youwei beside him. Their eyes were particularly soft.
"What are you going to do?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
Chen Han replied: "Glass!"
"Glass? What is it?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
Chen Han was not sure how to explain the terms used in chemistry, so he had to use the analogy of colored glaze: "You can understand it as something whose raw materials are a thousand times cheaper than colored glaze."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened: "A thousand times cheaper?"
Chen Han smiled and said: "Yes, the material used for colored glaze is crystal, and the raw material of glass is sand! But the finished product, the light transmittance and strength of the glass are better than that of colored glaze.
Your Majesty, just wait and see. I can make you a bunch of cups that are as transparent as water for you to drink from. "
Zhu Yuanzhang's face trembled.
Glaze is made of crystal, and glass is made of sand. Glass is more transparent, but it is a thousand times cheaper.
Sand?crystal? This is a thousand times cheaper, not even ten thousand times cheaper.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't believe it.
Because if you believe it, then the emperors and wealthy businessmen who have spent so much money and energy on making colored glaze since ancient times are not the biggest culprits? Zhu Yuanzhang asked in disbelief: "Are you bragging?"
Chen Han smiled and said: "Bragging? Your Majesty, just wait and see, I will make your jaw drop!"
After the plant ash was fired and precipitated, Chen Han personally started the mixing process.
While matching, you also have to teach the students next to you.
After Zhu Gaochi and the others saw Zhu Yuanzhang coming, they all sat upright and did not dare to go beyond the rules at all.
On the other hand, those children of merchants and craftsmen really didn't expect that they could follow their husbands into the palace.
"You all remember to look carefully. Quartzite, limestone, and even plant ash, these seemingly unrelated materials, can be combined together to produce something like colored glaze.
In the eyes of our ancients, this is called turning decay into magic, like turning stone into gold.
Turning stone into gold seems to us like magic, but now I want to tell you that there is indeed the magic of turning stone into gold.
Just like now, remember it. "
……
(End of this chapter)