There is a young craftsman who is good at making all kinds of bronze utensils in Guanwang Temple, named Gan Lun, smart and studious, exquisite craftsmanship, instigated by a Suzhou person, Gan Lun imitates Xuande furnace, from color, system to style knowledge are all fake and true, can make the best Xuande furnace only have the kind of Tibetan scripture paper color, these copper furnaces are sold as antiques by the Suzhou people, a halberd ear furnace sells for fifteen taels of silver, a small Yi furnace sells for twenty taels of silver, unexpectedly there are many connoisseurs of Shanyin, they are recognized, Suzhou people fled overnight, A few squires who bought fake antiques asked Gan Lun to compensate for the silver, Gan Lun knelt on the ground and begged, saying that he only had to make a copper furnace for one or three dollars of silver, and he couldn't pay the silver, and several squires called Liu Bantou of the county government to pull Gan Lun to see the official, Gan Lun and his wife were scared and cried, and they were met by Zhang Cao, who was wandering, and asked what happened, Zhang Cao suddenly thought that there was one less coppersmith in the Hanshe Mirror Workshop, so he sent the squires on behalf of Gan Lun, and brought Gan Lun back to the Hanshe Mirror Workshop to make telescopes of the telescope. This Gan Lun can read and write, and is willing to learn, and quickly mastered the principle of the telescope, and the last assembly process of the telescope is completed by Gan Lun - "Third Young Master, Jie Zi Xianggong-"

Gan Lun saluted, took out a tube of telescopes from the wooden box held by an apprentice beside him, respectfully presented it to Zhang Cao, and said: "This is a newly made clairvoyant mirror, which is much clearer than last year's one, and the third young master will know it as soon as he tries it." ”

Zhang Cao took the tube of white copper telescope, twisted it, telescopic and unhindered, very exquisite, then walked to the window, and looked at the bell tower a mile away with the telescope.

"Look, the bell tower over there, these naughty boys aren't afraid of falling to their deaths-"

Zhang Cao handed the telescope to Zhang Yuan and laughed.

Zhang Yuan took a look at the binoculars, the lenses were clear, the craftsmanship of the mirror craftsman to polish the lenses had grown a lot, Zhang Cao's focal length was also adjusted appropriately, the bell tower a mile away was like two zhang away on the adjacent street, and even the inscription on the big bronze bell was vaguely recognizable, haha, there were five boys standing on the eaves of the bell tower peeing downward, reflecting the light, and the urine was rainbow - Zhang Yuan smiled: "The third brother is lucky, he can always see interesting things." ”

Remembering that the year before last, he used a telescope to see Yao Fu and his nephew Yang Shangyuan's wife pulling and pulling to annihilate, Zhang Cao laughed and said: "This telescope is good, it's almost the same as the one I bought from Macau." "Let Nengzhu bring the brass telescope over, compare it, the clarity of the brass telescope made by the Hanshe Mirror Workshop is not inferior to the brass telescope of the Taixi people - Zhang Yuan also compared the two telescopes for a while, the clarity is about the same, but the brass telescope has a slightly stronger zoom ability, it should be a twelve-fold zoom, the white copper telescope of the Hanshe Mirror Workshop is about ten times, Zhang Yuan heard a mirror craftsman sigh: "It's a pity that it's a few days late——"

Zhang Cao had long forgotten the promise, but Zhang Yuan remembered, and said to the three mirror makers: "On April 26 last year, my third brother and I promised that if the endoscopy workshop can make a telescope comparable to this Taixi telescope in one year, we will reward the three of you with forty taels of silver each, if it can be made in advance, every ten days in advance, each person will be rewarded with one or two silver, today is the first day of the fifth month, although it is a few days later than the agreed period, but this telescope is really good, and there should be a lot of silver." ”

The three mirror craftsmen were overjoyed, and thanked them repeatedly, forty taels of silver is a huge amount of money for a small family, and they can buy a house with a large compound in the suburbs of Shanyin City-Zhang Cao scratched his head and said: "Yes, I forgot, it should be rewarded." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Gan Lun is later, ten taels will be rewarded, and the rest of the apprentices will be rewarded with one to three taels of silver each, and the three mirror masters will be the masters, and those who are diligent and willing to learn will be rewarded with three taels——"

A group of apprentices were overjoyed, and they came up to thank them, in addition to taking care of the rice, the apprentices of the mirror workshop only had two coins of silver per month, and they were overjoyed to get a reward of one or two silvers - Zhang Yuan held up the white copper telescope in his hand, and said: "This telescope is slightly inferior to the Taixi people in terms of telepathy, you all understand the principle of mirror-making, I will give you another five months, before Mengdong October, you can make a telescope that is far from inferior to Taixi or even surpasses it, the three mirror-making masters and Gan Lun will be rewarded with another forty taels, and the rest of the apprentices will also be rewarded." "The reason why it was set before October was because if he won the autumn festival, then he should leave for Beijing in early October for the spring of the following year.

The telescope of the Hanshe Mirror Workshop is not in mass production now, but it is constantly improving the trial production, it is to paste the money into it, the income of the Mirror Workshop depends on the glasses, the Mirror Workshop can now make 50 pairs of faint goggles, 40 pairs of myopia glasses, and 40 pairs of incense glasses per month, Zhang originally thought that the incense glasses would not be as popular as the myopia glasses and faint goggles, but the fact is that the incense glasses are in short supply, and many households use incense glasses instead of fire sickles and flints to make fire. Zhang Yuan has asked the mirror workshop to reduce the production of 20 pairs of faint goggles every month, and increase 20 pairs of incense glasses - the glasses sales of Hanshe Mirror Workshop are responsible for the sales of glasses by Wu Ting and Fu'er's father Zhang Laoshi, a bookkeeper, a cashier, the retail price is four taels of dim goggles, six taels of myopia glasses, the original price of incense glasses is three taels, because it is easy to sell, it is natural to raise the price, mention four taels, if there are foreign merchants to purchase in bulk, it is only one or two cheaper, and do not give more discounts, the glasses of the Hanshe Mirror Workshop are excellent, and by the reputation of the Hanshe, why worry about not selling.

Zhang Yuan asked the mirror workshop inventory crystal stone is only enough for this year and next year, so he discussed with the third brother Zhang Cao, by him out of 1,000 taels of silver, Zhang Cao out of 500 taels of silver, and then from the mirror workshop income of 500 taels to make up 2,000 taels of silver, send the mirror craftsman surnamed Sun and Dongzhang's Laifu, Xizhang's Qian Laoben to Haizhou to purchase a large number of crystal stones, because the Hanshe Mirror Workshop uses Haizhou crystal to polish the lens, this move will be popular in the glasses workshops in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the price of crystal will rise sharply in two or three years. Therefore, the Hanshe Mirror Workshop must first save enough ten years of crystal consumption and then say - leaving the Mirror Workshop, the two brothers walked slowly along the willow embankment of the Fu River, the midsummer sun was quite blazing, the water surface was dazzling, Zhang Yuan squinted his eyes, the light was too strong His glasses would still be uncomfortable, at this time it was about the beginning of noon, there were a few dragon boats on the Fu River beating the drum and rowing slowly, today is the first day of the new year, the dragon boat competition in Shanyin and Huiji counties will not start until the third year of the junior high school, and now it is just a practice to cooperate - Zhang Yuan proposed: "Third brother, the third day of the junior high school, we will each bring our ladies to watch the dragon boat, Call the eldest brother and wife too, and then go to the garden after watching the dragon boat, the lotus flowers in the garden should be in full bloom now. ”

Zhang Cao said happily: "Okay, I'll go and tell the eldest brother later-but we have to ask the eldest father first, if it happens that the eldest father wants to invite someone to visit the garden, then we have to change the word." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Okay, the third brother went to inquire and let me know." ”

Back in Dongzhang, Shang Ran asked about the telescope, the white copper telescope Zhang Yuan had brought back, so he took it out for Shang Ran to see, Shang Ran insisted on the telescope on the corridor to look at the opposite Xizhang courtyard, according to Zhang Yuan's words to slowly adjust the focus, happy to say: "Sure enough, it is in front of you." He added: "Xiao Hui really wants such a clairvoyant mirror." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "I promised her that I would give her a tube of clairvoyant mirrors when I entered Beijing, and I don't know if I can make the trip this year." ”

Shang Ran smiled and said: "It must be possible, Zhang Lang's collection of current writings has been spread to Jingshi, and my eldest brother has also read it, so I wrote to praise you." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Can you be promoted in the Jinshi, there seems to be a destiny in the dark, my teacher is weak and weak, as knowledgeable as the sea, but he only reached high school in the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, and the first middle school is the champion, the one you read for me before Xie Yuan Xu Guangqi's craftsmanship 'Shun's dwelling in the deep mountains' has been deposed, and it was seen when Mr. Jiao searched the volume, and after reading it, the case was amazing, so it was set aside for Xie Yuan, otherwise Xu Guangqi didn't know how many years he would have to waste. ”

Shang Ran nodded and said: "There must be Bole if there is a thousand miles, this examiner is very crucial, I don't know which Hanlin official is the chief examiner of this year's Hangzhou Township Examination?" ”

The chief examiner of the township examination is also known as the president, since the thirteenth year of Wanli, the chief examiner of the township examination in each province is selected by the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites to serve as the Beijing official, and most of them are written and edited by the Hanlin Academy to take these words and forest officials as the main exam, because these words and forest officials are the leaders of the palace examination in recent years, and they have knowledge and prestige, and they are the best candidates for the chief examiner, and because the cabinet auxiliary ministers must come from Hanlin, so there is such a saying, saying that this is the cabinet auxiliary ministers in the selection of talents to strengthen their own momentum - Zhang Yuan said: "It should not be decided yet, At the end of the month or the beginning of next month, it should be decided, and the presidents of the main examination will start from Beijing to go to the place, once I know who the president of Zhejiang is, I want to study his eight shares of literature and invest in what he likes. ”

Zhang Yuan asked Mu Zhenzhen to take 1,000 taels of silver and hand it over to Laifu, and ordered Laifu to set off to Haizhou to purchase crystals with Xizhang's Qian Laoben and Sun Jingjiang - Shang Ran was very surprised to see Zhang Yuan having so much silver, and remembered something, so he went to the box and turned out a land deed, and handed it to Zhang Yuandao: "Zhang Lang, this is given to me by the second brother, it is the title deed of Baima Mountain, and the second brother sent the tea garden and orchard of Baima Mountain to me as a dowry——"

Shang's White Horse Mountain Tea Garden and Orchard have an annual income of four or five hundred taels of silver, Shang Zhou Zuo and Shang Zhou Dezhi Dong Zhang Qing are poor, and they regard White Horse Mountain as their little sister's dowry, so that Zhang Yuan can not worry about firewood, rice, oil and salt, and can study with peace of mind, and the little sister said that the common use will not be shabby and poor - Zhang Yuan saw the title deed of White Horse Mountain, and laughed and said: "Zhang Yuan married a gold ingot lady." ”

Shang Ran "eat" and said with a smile: "Who knows that Dongzhang is also hiding his wealth." ”

Zhang Yuan knew that he had some doubts about having so much silver, the husband and wife had been for a lifetime, and there were some things that had to be explained to her, and they would have to rely on the housekeeper in the future, when he even said that he had obtained a large amount of gold, silver, calligraphy and painting from the Dong shipwreck, Shang Ran was stunned, and asked for a while: "Zhang Lang, you and your sister have partnered with Shengmei Firm, and opened a bookstore and a mirror shop, what are you going to do with so much money?" ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "That's a good question, what do I want to do with so much money, I don't have much interest in fine food, prosperity and luxury, everything I do has only one purpose, that is, the last paragraph of "The Legend of the West Chamber" 'The four seas are safe, the rivers are clear', and-" Holding his hand and said: "May the years be stable and quiet, and may my husband and wife grow old together." ”

(To be continued)