readx(); When she got to the "crystal palace", Anna was not a palace for people to live in, but a long row of simple houses made of glass. The north wall of these houses is still made of adobe, and the east, east, west and west sides and the roof are made of bricks, wood and iron bars to form rows of neat rectangular frames, each frame inlaid with a flat transparent glass. When the glass is illuminated by the sun, it naturally sparkles and shines.

Anna was immediately taken aback, because she had the impression that China could not make glass. In the Western West's ocean-going trade with the Ming Dynasty, glass products, including glassware, glass mirrors, and glass crafts, were among the few commodities that were popular with Chinese buyers. At last year's auction, one of her small glass vanity mirrors, along with two other things, sold for a whopping 100,000 taels of silver, which made her ecstatic, and immediately wrote a letter to her brother João IV, asking him to try to increase the export of glass products to China.

It's just that this glass product is very easy to break in the sea, and the glass production in Portugal is also very low. João certainly didn't want to miss the opportunity to make a lot of money, but the situation in Portugal was extremely chaotic, and the forces loyal to him and those loyal to King Philip IV of Spain were fiercely facing off, and it was certainly impossible to expand glass production. He also wanted to import the glass from the Republic of Venice, which is the most famous glass product, and then resell it to China, but he had not yet negotiated.

Unexpectedly, just a few months later, so many large pieces of glass appeared in front of me! Anna was stunned and pale, and asked in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, these glasses... How did you get it? Is it from the Spaniards, or the Dutch, or the English..."

"Your Royal Highness Princess, please rest assured, Daming has only signed a trade agreement with your country now, and will not trade with other Western countries for the time being." Zhu Youzhen smiled proudly, "Besides, Spain and the Netherlands are both enemies of our country, should I go to the enemy?" These glasses are all produced by Daming himself. ”

"It's... How is this possible? "Anna is incredulous.

"I said you don't believe it, but the expert is here, so let him tell you about it. Mr. Song, I'm coming! ”

It turned out that a person was hurrying from a distance, and when he arrived, he was about to pay a big salute, but Zhu Youzhen hurriedly stretched out his hand to support him and said, "Mr. is exempt." Your Royal Highness Princess, I will introduce to you: this gentleman's name is Song Yingxing, and he is a scientist. Mr. Song, please explain to Her Royal Highness Princess Anna how these glasses are made. ”

Song Yingxing was originally a little nervous, but when it came to professional topics, he immediately became relaxed, and said like a few treasures: "Obey the order." In fact, glass has existed in ancient China, and it is a transparent glaze droplet that flows down due to high temperature in the process of firing porcelain, called 'colored glass'. Because its form is close to jade, it is extremely difficult to make, so it was once more precious than jade. But jade is a natural thing, both warm and firm, just like the gentleman's product, so the ancients still jade, not glass can be replaced. And because glass is only used to make exquisite handicrafts, ordinary people can't afford to use it at all, so the amount of glass manufacturing is very small, and there are fewer craftsmen who know the glass making process, but they buy more from overseas.

"Three months ago, the Holy Majesty ordered Wechen to study the glass-making process and asked for the production of flat glass, the flatter the better, the bigger the better, and the more transparent the better, rather than a craft like glassware. Wechen and the glass craftsmen who were sent in by order studied the experiments day and night, but there was no progress in the first month, because there were two major problems that were difficult to solve.

"One is the transparency of the glass. The raw material of glass is not difficult to find, that is, quartz stone; The production is also very simple, that is, the quartz stone is crushed and ground into quartz sand, and then heated to melt it into a viscous state, and then processed into the desired shape. However, quartz sand is extremely difficult to melt, and the ancient method is to add lead to melt. Although the glass burned in this way is pleasing to the eye, it has poor light transmission and does not meet the requirements of the Holy Lord.

"The second is the shape processing of glass. There are two main ways to make colored glass, one is casting, and the other is blowing. Casting is an ancient method, and blowing is introduced from overseas. Comparatively, blowing is simpler, so we also use the blowing method to make glass. This blowing method is to use a hollow iron pipe, one end to provoke the glass melt, the other end to blow the air, by controlling the time and force of the blowing, the glass solution is blown into the desired shape, and after cooling, it is the finished product. But this method is only suitable for making round objects such as cups and bowls, and this flat plate cannot be blown anyway.

"Later, the Holy Lord invited a foreign monk, and he told us that if we wanted to get transparent glass, we needed to add limestone to the melting process. After the experiment, it was very successful..."

Sun Dikoko alone knotted the ball by the cold main by the sail

"What!" Anna asked in surprise, "Your Majesty the Emperor, who is this 'foreign monk'?" ”

"Maldini." Zhu Youzhen smiled proudly, "I allowed him to preach in Daming, and provided him with funds and space to build a church, of course he has to repay me." It just so happens that he knows a little bit about how to make glass..."

"How could he do this?!" Anna said angrily, "The process of making glass is a secret that is strictly guarded by various countries! Especially Venice..."

"Venice?" Zhu Youzhen said sarcastically, "It seems that Maldini doesn't have a good impression of Venice..."

Anna was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized. As a missionary sent by the Pope, Maldini was of course not obliged to keep secrets for the Republic of Venice, and perhaps the Pope instructed him to deliberately leak glass craftsmanship to attack the Republic of Venice.

It is not surprising that no matter how secret the craft is, it will not last long under the lure of money, otherwise the rest of Europe would not have learned to make glass. It's just that she still can't figure it out, Maldini is only a missionary after all, and he has studied in a seminary since he was a child, and has not interned in any factory or workshop, even if he knows the formula, he still hasn't seen the specific production process, how can he teach Chinese craftsmen to make flat glass?

The knot does not hate the enemy and picks up the unique star

"This is not taught by foreign monks." Song Yingxing said excitedly, "One day, Wei Chen was distressed in his heart, and he drank and talked with Chen Zilong, a senior disciple of Xu Ge. The wine was half-drunk, and when it came to the difficulty of making flat glass, Chen Zilong pondered for a moment and said, unfolding the side of the cylinder, isn't it a rectangle? What a sentence to wake up the dreamer! Weichen immediately experimented, still using the blowing method to blow the glass into a cylindrical shape, and then cut it with a knife, flattened, and it was successful! ”

"Three months ago, the Holy Commander ordered Wechen to study the glass-making process and asked for the manufacture of flat glass, the flatter the better, the bigger the better, and the more transparent the better, rather than a craft like glassware. Wechen and the glass craftsmen who were sent in by order studied the experiments day and night, but there was no progress in the first month, because there were two major problems that were difficult to solve.

"Good!" Zhu Youzhen laughed and said, "We have never engaged in a technological blockade of the West, compass, papermaking, gunpowder, movable type printing, everyone has learned it, and now it is higher than the level of the Ming Dynasty." But the West always likes to impose a technological blockade on us, and the same is true of glass. But it doesn't matter, the old man has long said, blockade, blockade for ten or eight years, and China's problem will be solved! ”

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