Three months later, Dongchang sent Li Tong to him. After Li Dan received Li Tong, he was completely at ease with the forces behind Zhang Qianfang, and he was also very enthusiastic about Zhang Qianfang, Zhang Qianfang also remembered that Li Dan was the first person the emperor said he wanted to befriend, and naturally he tried his best to make friends, and soon the two of them became friends for many years.

On this day, Li Dan asked: "Brother Zhang has a way to transport money from Daming, and if you exchange the money for copper, you can get five to six times the profit." When Zhang Qianfang heard this, he reported it to the contact person of the East Factory, but it made Wei Zhongxian take it to heart, and it happened that he had extra copper coins now, so he put forward such an idea.

According to Zhu Youxiao's instructions, Wei Zhongxian transported all the copper coins recovered by the bank from Tianjin and Nanjing to Quanzhou, and handed them over to Zhang Qianfang to be shipped to Japan.

Zhang Qianfang got so many copper coins for a while, so he discussed with Yang Tiansheng and used Yang Tiansheng's ship to help transport copper coins, Yang Tiansheng was specially stationed in Japan to be responsible for the import of copper coins into Japan, and he was responsible for transporting money by sea. The two of them have a total of more than 30 boats, and no one dares to rob them at sea, so it is very smooth, but the copper is in short supply for a while, Zhu Youxiao instructed that the copper money should not be transported to Japan too quickly, take your time, and do not lower the price of copper coins. Japan happened to have a lot of these two mines, so a large amount of silver went to the mint and banks, and sulfur went to the armory.

Because Zhang Qianfang had made meritorious contributions to the development of shipping, and could not explicitly promote his officials, the emperor issued an order to promote Zhang Siyou to be an assistant teacher of the Guozijian (from the eighth grade), and a year later he was promoted to the secretary of the Guozijian (from the sixth grade). The speed of promotion is really like a rocket, but a division is not in the eyes of the ministers, and it has not caused any waves.

In the western suburbs of Beijing, a large river winds down, this is the famous Lugou River, which is famous because it has another name: Wuding River. There is the famous Lugou Bridge on the river, which is the only way for the southern provinces to enter Beijing and an important gateway to Beijing.

Fifteen miles up the Lugou Bridge is the Mint and the Ordnance Bureau, which have been very popular in recent times. The towering walls and occasional parade soldiers tell you that this is a no-go zone. A little further down from them, there was a large clearing where many people were busy.

Shi Yuanya, the eunuch of the Inner Palace, was accompanying a blonde and blue-eyed missionary, and when the missionary said a word, he asked the little eunuch behind him to remember it. The emperor was going to set up a glass factory here, and this missionary happened to know how to make glass, so he came here today to survey the site.

It was almost noon, and the construction plan was finally completed, and Shi Yuanya ordered the little eunuch to entertain the missionaries well, and then went to Wei Zhongxian to report to him.

Wei Zhongxian was losing his temper, he sent people to Yanshen Town in Shandong to find an old craftsman who made glass, but no one wanted to come. He couldn't wait for Dongchang to raid their home, but he could only hate it, because others didn't do anything wrong. After listening to Shi Yuanya's report, he gritted his teeth and said: "I don't believe in this evil, the Holy Lord has already told us all the principles, and the internal officials and supervisors also used to have craftsmen who made glass, and missionaries to help, but it was a matter of trying a few more times, pass on the word to me, whoever can make the glass fast and good, there will be a heavy reward." Doesn't it say that there must be brave men under the heavy reward, and the sprinkler family must use good and cheap glass to crush them. Lao Shi, you go to the Siyuan Bureau to find the little eunuch who used to make test records, according to their methods, you must be able to establish the production procedures, this time I will not trouble the saint, I want to do this thing myself, let the saint know that I Wei Zhongxian is not only loyal, but also virtuous, worthy of this name. ”

Zhu Youxiao wanted to make glass mirrors, and the manufacturing process of mirrors is now in the hands of the Venetians, but Zhu Youxiao learned silver mirrors in high school and can make better glass mirrors than the current West. It's just that he only knows the principles, including the principles of making glass, but he doesn't know how to operate them. The Inner Palace Supervisor could also make glass, but the production was low, and the quality was not very good. Wei Zhongxian heard that the best glass was made in the workshop of Yanshen Town, Shandong, so he wanted to find someone to discuss buying some technology or find a few old craftsmen to help, but he didn't want to be refused.

In desperation, Wei Dugong had no choice but to rely on himself, on the one hand, let Shi Yuanya supervise, and strive to create the glass factory as quickly as possible, on the other hand, let people start group experiments in the inner palace supervisor, to find a fast and good quality flat glass production method, he offered a reward of 400 silver coins, rewarding the team that first found the best production method, and let people start experimenting with what the emperor said about the silver mirror reaction, but the silver mirror reaction experiment was carried out under the close supervision of the East Factory, and the tone was set first, who dared to divulge any secrets, It is certain that the family will be exterminated.

And his other henchman, Li Zhen, led people to conduct cement experiments. Zhu Youxiao only knew that the limestone was first pounded into a fine powder, mixed with a certain amount of clay, mixed with water, stirred evenly into a slurry, heated and dried. Then the dry material is beaten into blocks, and then loaded into a lime kiln for calcination, and the calcined blocks are cooled and crushed and ground to make cement. However, the proportion of clay added, the time and temperature of the firing are completely unknown. Therefore, the best recipe and firing time can only be determined through experiments.

In fact, knowing the principle, as long as you have the opportunity to conduct a lot of experiments, you will always find a suitable method. By the time the glass factory was completed under the guidance of the missionaries, the method of making flat glass was basically perfected, and the silver mirror reaction had achieved good results. Zhu Youxiao looked at the crude mirror with a look of disdain, while Wei Zhongxian was shocked. He tried it himself, and the first time he saw himself clearly in the mirror, he thought it was another person looking at himself in the mirror.

However, Zhu Youxiao knew that no matter what, this mirror was one heaven and one underground than the bronze mirror. So he instructed: "Factory, you must give me this method of making mirrors, at least ten years, we can only make this kind of mirror in this world, I will use the mirror to receive their silver into my hands, with the silver, I can do a lot of things, a great Ming will be born in my hands, and the factory minister, you, are the closest assistant and witness to me." I come, I see, I conquer, Caesar's words are simply tailor-made for me. ”

Although Wei Zhongxian didn't know who Caesar was, he was also moved by the word "nearest assistant" that the emperor said. The Holy One does not regard me as a slave or a maidservant, but as an assistant, so how can I not do my best to serve the king?

He immediately knelt down on the ground and said, "Slaves and maids must bow down and die for the sake of the saint." ”