The glass matter is coordinated by Tian Xiu, and Yang Heng is only responsible for some miscellaneous tasks such as artificial raw materials for the site, so now Tian Xiu will introduce the front and back of Xiaoluofang's firing glass.

“…… At present, several fire-burning craftsmen in Xiaoluofang are all specially transferred from the Great Inner Skillful Instrument Division. Their materials and methods, first, according to the Tang Dynasty Xiao Cong's "Nanshan Fog Record" records, 'with stone as the quality, with nitrate and it, reef and then forging, where copper, iron, Dan lead can be changed; It can't be made of non-stone, it can't be made of non-nitrate, and it can't be refined without copper, iron, and lead. This is the ancient law, there are many records in the historical books of the classics of the past dynasties, "Shangshu Yu Gong" is contained from time to time, there is "Miao Lin" when refining bronze, "Chu Ci" also sees more "Lu Li", the so-called "Liuli", "Boli", "Po Li", "Medicinal Jade" in the Buddhist scriptures after the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, although the names are different, and because of its color, there are ten kinds of points, such as red, white, black, green, yellow, blue, cyanosis, red and purple, in fact, all of them are the same thing. Another kind of process of making glaze is to burn casting, it is the Hu method from the Western Regions in the Middle and Tang Dynasty, first make the mold, and then inlay the gold and stone, mixed with five ashes, after the fire gold and ash are melted naturally have shapes. This method is not found in the people, and the Ouchi craftsmen do not know its origin, but it is said that it is a skill left by their ancestors. However, it is recorded in the Book of Wei and the Northern History that during the time of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were merchants of the Dayue clan who burned and cast glass in the capital. The glassware made in this way is clear in color, thin and translucent. It's just that it's a thousand miles away from the 'transparent' glass that Ying Bo described. ”

Shang Chengmu remained silent. Tian Xiu's words quoted classics in large paragraphs, one on the left and one on the right "Liuli", which made him dizzy, and he couldn't even distinguish which words they were. He felt that this guy was completely targeting him. It was because she knew that he would faint when he heard the classical Chinese, so she deliberately recited the original text one after another. Especially the last sentence "Ying Bo's transparent glass", the intention is even more obvious, it is completely pointing at the monk and scolding the bald donkey.

He laughed dryly twice, simply didn't touch Tian Xiu's nails, turned his head and asked Chang Xiu: "What is Dan lead?" ”

Chang Xiu is a great writer, and he is very familiar with these things, so he said without thinking: "It's cinnabar and lead powder." ”

"What for?"

"I need to use it when I order school books. Dan pen writing, lead powder smearing. Women also use them when grooming, dansha can be used to coat the lips, and lead powder can be used to draw eyebrows. Chang Xiu said. He is a free-spirited romantic character, and he also recited a poem by the way, "It's better to look at the words, and the Dan lead is a point of investigation", in order to prove that what he said is true, and the Dan lead has always been a necessary thing for proofreading articles and books.

Shang Cheng grinned. He also thought that this was a new sentence written by Chang Xiu casually, and he wanted to praise a few words of Chang Xiu's literary brilliance and talent, but suddenly glanced at Tian Xiu, and quickly swallowed back the flattering words that poured into his mouth. Forget it, he doesn't even know how to write the ten words that Chang Xiu recited, so don't be smiling and generous. But Chang Xiu's explanation couldn't teach him satisfaction. He went to see Yang Heng again. In terms of technology, Yang Heng is definitely not as good as Tian Xiu, who is proficient in miscellaneous science. But he couldn't help Tian Xiu's arrogance, so he had to ask Yang Heng. Anyway, Yang Heng, as a half-tone technical official, always speaks more reliably than an administrative official like Chang Xiu, right?

Yang Heng is indeed more knowledgeable than Chang Xiu, he said: "Dan lead is a kind of base material; It can also be used to cast bronze. ”

In this way, Shang Cheng somewhat understands that Dan lead is a form or another name for lead. But he was still not satisfied with the answer. Yang Heng said it was still too simple and general, he still couldn't imagine the appearance of Dan Lead, let alone connect it with other metal materials he was familiar with. Alas, why can't these guys make a scientific classification of such things as lead? If it could be divided into lead ore, lead powder, and lead oxide or electrolytic lead, although he still couldn't understand it, at least he could have a general idea.

Tian Xiu added next to him: "Lead is transformed into ten thousand ends, and it turns into color at any time, making people inexplicable, so because of the time and distance, it is also known as Baidan, Huangdan, monk, and Dan lead." The women's makeup that Chang Daren just mentioned was the white pill when it had just become powder. After a period of time, the rusty yellow color is called Huang Dan, and the red one is called Dan lead. ”

Shang Cheng nodded as if he didn't understand. According to Tian Xiu's description, Dan lead seems to be lead oxide, right? But he wasn't sure yet. He didn't know how to use to confirm, so he just nodded.

He asked Tian Xiu: "Then what are the difficulties you are encountering now?" ”

"We've tried all the tricks, and we can't fire the colorless transparent glass you said no matter what." Tian Xiu said in a flat tone with a blank face.

Shang Cheng immediately shut his mouth. Unlucky, why didn't he open which pot to mention? Isn't this putting your own head in the lion's mouth? He pretended to drink water with a teacup, and while hiding his embarrassment, he wrinkled his brows and made a thoughtful look.

Yang Heng saw his embarrassment, and hurriedly interjected: "Uncle Ying, according to the method you instructed at the beginning, we took the fine sand in the Xiaoluo River, washed it repeatedly with clean water, and then sharpened it repeatedly with a magnet, and finally specially selected those who were fine and white to enter the kiln, one by one, it was the kind of quartz stone you said. But these stone spirits ...... Oh, it's quartz stones, one by one, these quartz stones can't be burned at all. Later, we mixed these quartz stones into other base materials and sent them to the kiln for firing. Until the day before yesterday, a total of more than 180 kiln materials have been tested, and only two percent of those who can produce the kiln have been tested. All of the burned out are glass, red, blue and blue...... There are all kinds of colors, but these glasses are not enough to even make glassware, the material is thin and brittle, cold and hot at first or through the wind and rain, the hand is gently pinched, and some are broken. At this point, he stopped talking, and sat upright in his chair with a respectful expression, as if he was listening to the teachings of the Shangguan. As for the transparent glass, he didn't mention it at all.

Shang Cheng raised his face and thought for a long time, and said, "This is because the temperature in the kiln is not enough, so the quartz can't be burned." You didn't add soda ash? ”

Tian Xiu was stunned for a moment, and asked suspiciously, "What did you say?" ”

"Soda ash." Shang Cheng said. But he didn't know how to explain this industrial raw material to Tian Xiu, so he had to tear a page from the bookcase and write it to her.

Tian Xiu took the paper and looked it up and down. She didn't know the word "alkali", and she couldn't deduce the origin of the word based on its side and shape, let alone the meaning and pronunciation of the word. She guessed that this might be a "salt" character, a variant of Shang Cheng's casual writing, and she couldn't see that this guy actually wrote a good hand...... Thinking wildly, she asked, "What's the use of this soda ash?" ”

"Quartz stone and soda ash are mixed together, which can reduce the melting point of quartz. It is possible to burn quartz stone at a relatively low temperature. ”

As soon as they heard him say this, Tian Xiu and Yang Heng suddenly looked happy. It's because they can't burn that inexplicable ghost quartz stone, so they can't burn the glass for a long time. Now that there is "soda ash", isn't glass just around the corner?

Tian Xiu immediately asked, "What kind of stone is this soda ash?" She saw that the word "alkali" had a stone character on the side, and she took it for granted that this was a kind of stone, and soda ash was mostly the same as quartz stone, and Shang Cheng deliberately gave this stone a new name for better identification.

"It's not a stone ......"

"Where can there be soda ash?"

This question can stump Shang Cheng. He is very skilled in writing with a pen and a knife and slashing people, but the soda ash is not clear. He searched his stomach and thought about the origin of soda ash, and said intermittently: "Soda ash, as the name suggests, is pure alkali...... Oh, the quintessence, one by one, it should be simple...... Well, it's a very pure alkali. This and this, it should be heating or purifying trona or something, and then crystallizing whatever, and finally soda ash. ”

Chang Xiu and Yang Heng have already circulated the two words written by Shang Cheng, and they can't figure out the origin of the word "alkali", looking at Shang Cheng's frowning appearance when he speaks, it is estimated that he can't know what this soda ash and trona are. They didn't dare to interject casually, for fear of interrupting Shang Cheng's train of thought. They looked at Shang Cheng with blank eyes, and they didn't even dare to take a breath, for fear of accidentally disturbing him. The sky is pitiful, and the glass that has been worrying about the inside and outside of Xiaoluofang for a long time is finally about to clear the clouds and see the blue sky! God opened his eyes and dropped a soda ash, this time, everyone will have the day to raise their eyebrows!

Tian Xiu also frowned, and accompanied Shang Cheng to think about it. She is known as a miscellaneous master, but what Shang Cheng said about trona and purification, she didn't understand the essentials at all. She thought about it for a long time, then suddenly stood up, walked to the table, casually pulled a piece of paper and wrote the word "salt", and asked eagerly: "Is this word the word 'alkali' you are talking about?" ”

Shang Cheng's eyes stared at the italicized character with complex strokes, and his mind was still thinking about the production method of soda ash over and over again, and said casually: "What is this word?" One by one, oh, it seems to be this word. ”

Tian Xiu couldn't cry or laugh. I wrote a variant word.,I don't know the origin of the word.,How to teach people to evaluate it? This is the same as when he proposed that Taibai Mountain is a volcano or something, and his words can be refreshing, but they are completely incomprehensible, and teaching people to believe is not unbelieving. Let's say that he is very knowledgeable, and he doesn't even know the word "salt". It is said that he does not learn and has no skills, but he can also propose what glass and what quartz stone to take soda ash, and keep saying that soda ash can make quartz stone easier to melt, and there is no way to refute it. is such a guy who is halfway through his studies, not only did he become a county uncle in Shangzhu State, but he was actually cited as a confidant by Mr. Dingyi?

Now, now that he knows the origin of the word "alkali", Tian Xiu no longer asks for the bottom of it. According to Shang Cheng's description, after the plant ash is boiled with water, there is a process of "purification and crystallization" to obtain "soda ash". She had read an ancient book of Taoist alchemy written by the Qi people of the Southern Dynasty, and there was a record in the book, "Take the stone essence for use, use the five ashes as a guide, and then get the glass." "In the past, I always didn't understand the specific meaning of stone essence and five ashes, but now I understand, stone essence is quartz stone, five ashes is grass and wood ash, and stone essence is mixed with soda ash, which can burn glass! However, there is another problem, the fire in the kiln is still not strong enough.

Several veteran craftsmen who helped in the workshop said that whether it was the finest charcoal for Ouchi or the stone coal that was brought in, it was enough to burn the fire. She didn't know if the fire in the kiln would melt the quartz stone after adding soda ash. Even with the accounts of her predecessors, she was still not sure that she could fire the glass.

Shang Cheng nodded and said, "The temperature in the kiln is indeed a problem. If the temperature is not enough, no matter how much soda ash is added, it probably won't work. But charcoal and coal can't work, so use coke. He searched the corners of his mind for relevant memories. The burning temperature of charcoal seems to reach 1,000 degrees; Coal, that is, what we usually call carbon, can reach 1,200 degrees; Can coke reach 1,500 or 1,600 degrees...... The melting point of glass seems to be this temperature, right? And that's without the addition of soda ash. ”

Tian Xiu, Chang Xiu and Yang Heng looked at each other. Can charcoal reach a thousand degrees? Is the charcoal 1,200 degrees? What does the word "degree" mean? Is it a measure? Since it's a measurement, there must always be a comparison between the long and the short, right? And how are these thousand degrees and 1,200 degrees measured?

The problem is simpler, at least than how to fire glass. Shang Chengle pointed to the teacup in his hand and said, "It's easy to measure the temperature. When the tea soup in everyone's hand freezes, it is zero degrees; And when it burns to the surface, it's 100 degrees. Warmer than it. He held it up, "Like this cup of tea in my hand, my hand is a little hot to the touch, and I can bear it, and the temperature is estimated to be forty or fifty degrees." ”

Tian Xiu wrung her brows and thought for a long time, still feeling a little unacceptable, and was about to continue the topic, Chang Xiu interjected first: "How can you get this coke?" After all, he was not a technical official, and he didn't care about miscellaneous studies, and all he wanted was to get the glass out as soon as possible. As for what tea soup and what temperature, what does it matter? All he needs is glass!

"Find a piece of land, dig a big pit, and set up an isolation layer in the middle like a coal furnace, put coking coal on top, and burn charcoal below. Or directly on the ground to raise a circular vault of the long corridor, or divided into two layers, the top is coking and the bottom is heated. Shang Cheng drew a picture on the paper as he spoke, and drew a sketch in three strokes and two strokes. He had seen this method of coking in the countryside a few times, and although he didn't know how to do it, the appearance could be drawn casually. At the end, Chang Xiu said, "The coking time is not short, at least six or seven days, and there are still a few processes, the key is the last coke push or something." In short, it's up to you to figure it out. However, the combustion efficiency of this coke is definitely higher than that of charcoal, and charcoal cannot be compared. ”

Chang Xiu didn't care what he said, he directly ripped the paper and handed it to Yang Heng, staring at Yang Heng's eyes and telling word by word: "Be careful, go back and find someone to keep an eye on!" Whether it's asking for money or things, come to me directly! ”

Yang Heng nodded vigorously, carefully folded it and put it away close to his body.

Shang Cheng suddenly added: "You can try to add Dan lead as well!" Lead glass is better and more transparent than glass! He vaguely remembered that lead glass seems to be called crystal glass, the hardness is higher than ordinary glass, and the light transmittance is also better.

Chang Xiu nodded casually in agreement. He didn't hear what Shang Cheng was saying at all, and asked again: "Zida, you see that the liquor has eyebrows, and the glass has hope, isn't it ...... to promote new farm tools and new methods?"