Chapter 12: Glass
After Wang Quanquan finished speaking, he walked out without looking back, leaving everyone present with a dashing back.
The emperor and the concubine looked at each other, and the emperor felt a sense of self-blame at this time - even if he was a fool, he also had self-esteem, and he should not be so obvious.
But the momentum of Wang Quanquan's speech just now was quite intimidating, maybe this kid was really not as stupid as he thought. The emperor actually had this idea at this time, and even faintly had expectations for the king's authority.
At this time, looking at the king's authority, his steps were not in a hurry or slow, and he was thinking about how to complete the Haikou he boasted of. Because he was too focused to pay attention to the road, he tripped over a protruding stone on the road, and then stumbled, and under the unsteady footsteps, he hit his head on the ginkgo tree on the side of the road, and the snow fell to the ground.
The emperor who saw this scene was stunned for a moment, then sighed and shook his head, it seemed that he was thinking too much.
The concubine couldn't help covering her face, it was too embarrassing.
Seeing this, Xiao Chunzi hurriedly stepped forward to help, "Is the master okay?" ”
Wang Quanquan, who was supported by Xiao Chunzi, was very thick-skinned, he waved his hand, and he didn't feel embarrassed, and strode out, quite heroic, but that was just his own feeling.
"No, let's let him get married early, I don't worry about him like this."
After a long silence, the concubine took the lead in speaking. The Emperor nodded silently.
Three days later, as soon as the sky was bright, Wang Quanquan knocked on Xiao Chunzi's door, Xiao Chunzi thought it was a little eunuch who didn't open his eyes, and responded impatiently, opened the door and looked, but he didn't expect it to be His Royal Highness, what kind of trouble is this?
He had never seen His Royal Highness get up so early, when was it not the third pole of the sun, and he dragged him hard to wake him up, and today the sun came out in the west?
It's strange enough to look at his dress again, the Polo Chinese dress is gone, the python pattern inlaid jade belt is gone, the white hosta on his head and the Luo silk boots on his feet are all gone, replaced by coarse cloth linen clothes, foot cloth shoes, and hair tied back with strips of cloth. The strangest thing was that he was carrying a rattan basket behind him.
Looking at His Royal Highness Eight's dress, Xiao Chunzi couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Your Highness, are you going to Your Majesty to take the blame?" ”
This is the only answer that Xiao Chunzi, who hasn't read much, can think of, but it's not right, how can anyone bear the guilt of carrying a basket.
Xiao Chunzi's words made Wang Quanquan can't help but roll his eyes for a while, he is this kind of image in the hearts of others, and he is guilty of Jing and carrying the wrong equipment? The king didn't bother to explain it to him.
"Let's go, accompany me out of the palace."
"Huh?"
There are three mountains near the outskirts of Beijing, located in the north, southwest and due east.
Wang Quanquan's trip was to go up the mountain to find raw materials.
The southwest is a coal mountain, which has long been explored, and the east is the imperial tomb and the ancestral tomb of his own family, which cannot be planed. Wang Quanquan can only go to Beishan to try his luck.
After Wang Quanquan boasted in public that day, he came back to study the fragments of the wine bottle that he had broken. This artifact, which is regarded as a treasure in the eyes of the emperor, in his opinion, is not wanted to give away to the people who collect waste products, which not only have large and small bubbles, but also mixed with various impurities, and the surface is pitted and very inferior.
A thousand years later, glass has become an indispensable material in people's daily lives, and glassware is everywhere, and the process of making glass has even been written into textbooks. Wang Quanquan had almost forgotten about those complicated chemical formulas, but he still remembered the materials needed.
Wang Quanquan originally thought that with his own knowledge, with the technology of this era, and a few more skilled craftsmen, he would definitely be able to make cross-era glass products with a few more attempts, and maybe he would be able to make those archaeologists doubt life in the future.
But after two full days of continuous visits and investigations, he completely lost confidence.
Wang Quanquan first inquired about the craftsman, the production of glaze in this era is very complicated, more than a dozen processes, and the yield is still very low, it belongs to the technology that half depends on experience and half depends on character. After watching the "proud works" they displayed, I deeply realized that what I smashed was indeed the best in the world.
Since the technology is limited, it is still step by step, and Wang Quanquan decided to start with the raw materials first, and the production can be tried little by little.
Beishan looked very close, but Wangshan ran a dead horse, and the two set off before dawn, one person and one basket, and walked for nearly two hours before reaching the foot of the mountain.
Looking at the royal authority walking in front, Xiao Chunzi was very surprised, he didn't expect that His Royal Highness, who was pampered on weekdays, had such good physical strength, and he walked faster than himself, not to mention, he didn't show fatigue at all.
Xiao Chunzi was still worried before she traveled, with the temperament of His Royal Highness Eight, if he was too tired to walk halfway through, he would have to carry him back to the palace with a basket, and he would have a headache when he thought about it. But the current Eighth Highness is obviously very physically strong, his steps are extremely fast, and he bends down from time to time to pick up a stone to check, and puts it in the back basket behind him when he thinks it is useful.
Wang Quanquan's cultivation has been stuck in the fifth layer of condensation for a while, there is no way, now the aura is too thin, it is not enough for him to cultivate, but the physical strength has still improved a lot, plus he ate half a pig before leaving in the morning, and now his physical strength is very strong.
The emperor talked to him once two days ago, because he was too good to eat, the sheep prepared in the palace for the winter had been eaten a few left, if he did not control again, everyone might not even have to eat haggis during the New Year. Rao is Wang Quanquan is thick-skinned, and he doesn't feel embarrassed, so he looked for a long time, and he set his sights on pigs, pork is cheap, grows fast, and has a high yield, which is very suitable for the current Wang Quanquan.
At this time, the royal authority with half a basket of stones jumped up and down, and from time to time threw a few pieces into the basket of Koharuko's back, after walking for nearly two hours, the two finally climbed to the top of the mountain, Koharuko was already tired, and sat on the ground with a butt, and the king finally had a tired feeling, took out an oily paper bag from the basket, which contained various foods of bread, and two water bladders, and the two of them ate the food in their hands while eating the food on the top of the mountain, while overlooking the scenery of Kyoto.
"Master, can you really make the glass you said?"
Being asked like this, Wang Quanquan didn't know how to answer, the ghost knows if it can really be made, after all, it is the crystallization of technology accumulated for nearly a thousand years, although he thinks so in his heart, but it can't hit morale.
"Well, of course, am I that unreliable?"
"Well, that can't be!"
With such flattery on his lips, Xiao Chunzi was deflated in her heart, got! It's been in vain again.
Even in winter, the midday sun on the summit is warm. After resting on the mountain, they set off and walked down the mountain, each carrying half a basket of stones, and carefully walked along the path, and finally they rushed back to the inner garden of the palace before dark.
After returning to the palace, Wang Quanquan hurriedly sorted the materials, called a glass craftsman in the palace, and asked him to help take a look, but he got the news that directly made him collapse: these stones are either too impurities and not suitable, or they are useless at all, and the only useful ones are the stones named Lingzi Stone, that is, dolomite, which can be used for the production of glass, and the day's work is in vain.
At night, Wang Quanquan pondered in the room, and after a full candle was consumed, he finally understood what the problem was, because he was too naïve, and always wanted to find materials by himself. But there's one thing that can easily solve the problem, and that's money! So he drafted a notice overnight, and then went to the emperor to seal it, and after being reprimanded, he finally got his wish and went out of the imperial study.
The next day, notices were plastered everywhere in the imperial city - the palace bought several materials at a high price, including soda ash, quicklime, rhombus and silica sand, and it must be of the best quality.
These materials are relatively difficult to get, and he doesn't want to leak the formula easily, so he plans to get the rest of the easy ones himself. First went to the famous official kiln in Kyoto, not the kind of kiln opened by the official family, but the official kiln that produces porcelain, and asked for a few bags of kaolin, kaolin as the root of porcelain, the official kiln is naturally not lacking, and the king of authority specially asked Xiao Chunzi to find a few trustworthy guards to help carry it.
Next, the operation of the king's authority made Xiao Chunzi a little incomprehensible, he wrote a prescription with seven or eight flavors of medicinal materials on it, and then asked Xiao Chunzi to take medicine in the whole city according to the prescription, and he was stunned that one person affected the price of medicinal materials in the entire capital.
After doing all that, he shook his head in his chair and began to sing.
In the next few days, a long queue formed outside the palace, all of which were merchants of all sizes in the city, and the king set up a temporary station here to collect samples.
"What do you call it?"
"The contemptible person's surname is Li, and he is the owner of the Li family business house in the west of the city."
Faced with the young man's question, the boss surnamed Li hurriedly nodded and replied. The young man in front of him looked young, but he had a temperament that no one was close to, which made this old oilman in the shopping mall can't help but be cautious.
This young man was the king, and he happened to be idle today—in fact, every day he was idle, so he planned to come and select the materials himself.
"Lao Li, you are not pure."
Wang Quanquan picked up a little stone powder and rubbed it on his hand.
Before coming, he also went to the Hanlin Academy to ask for advice from a certain bachelor who was quite good at geography. When the young scholar first saw him, he was so nervous that his legs trembled, and Wang Quanquan was afraid that he would pee out when he was excited.
But fortunately, after explaining the intention, the bachelor changed his previous nervousness, and became endless, not only explained in detail the key points of identification of these stones, but also gave Wang Quanquan a few samples for him to facilitate comparison, and when he left, he was still very reluctant, so that Wang Quanquan had time to sit.
There are popular professions in every era, and most of the Hanlin Academy are people who study Chinese culture and write books and lectures, and then they are people who study Zhou Yi and are proficient in astronomical divination.
It is indeed rare for someone like him to study stones, and it is rare to meet people who have a common language, but according to Wang Quanquan's career plan, he really needs to make friends with such a person who has made achievements in geology, so he pushed the boat down the river and held the hand of the bachelor: "Comrade, you must take care of your health, the organization needs talents like you." There is a feeling of sympathy and hatred for each other. He almost peed his pants for the bachelor with this operation, and he was stunned to send him far away.
So at this time, the kingship has become half an expert.
"Little brother, I've been doing it for all these years, I only sell top-notch goods, how dare I sell defective products, isn't this a smashing signboard!"
As he spoke, he was about to step forward, but when Xiao Chunzi saw this, he wanted to stop it, but he was stopped by Wang Quanquan's eyes, he wanted to see what tricks this old fritter was going to play.
I saw that the businessman surnamed Li stepped forward and secretly stuffed something into Wang Quanquan's hand, and Wang Quanquan looked down and saw that it was actually a piece of silver. The amount is reversed, fifty taels is there, if this is put aside by ordinary people, two or three years to eat and drink without worry, it is really generous.
"Little brother, take a closer look at this product."
Then he leaned into Wang Quanquan's ear and whispered, "I have some friendship with Chief Zhao of the Great Interior, and it is convenient for the little brother." ”
Wang Quanquan immediately understood what he meant, and this is a combination of grace and power, first stuffing the silver and then mentioning the people, and the collusion between officials and businessmen was really understood by him.
Mr. Zhao? Why does this man sound so familiar?
Can you not be familiar, I just beat someone a few days ago.
"Okay, you can leave a name post, and I'll look for you when I get back."
Hearing this, the businessman surnamed Li immediately smiled, and did not forget to boast about Haikou.
"The little father-in-law is really sensible, I will give you a few more kind words in front of Manager Zhao another day."
Wang Quanquan's face twitched, although he had already guessed that the other party was a procurement eunuch, but he still couldn't help but want to scold his mother when he said this. But who is the king's authority, his expression immediately calmed down, and he arched his hand and said:
"Then there's the shopkeeper of Lao Li."
Shopkeeper Li left happily, in his opinion, this business is nine out of ten, after all, he has dealt with the royal family for so many years, and he has already understood this. Originally, if he had said hello to Zhao Fang directly, he wouldn't have to say more. But the chief manager can't be sent by a few dozen taels, and I don't know how much cargo the royal family needs this time. If it was a big business, Zhao Fang would definitely be there in person, and he would not let such a big oil and water into other people's pockets.
On the other hand, His Royal Highness looked at the back of Shopkeeper Li at this time and showed a sneer. This scene was seen by Xiao Chunzi, and she thought that it was over, and someone was going to be unlucky.
"I said how I ate a few sheep, and the emperor Lao Tzu shouted that the expenses in the palace were not enough, and some people co-authored to fill their own pockets!" has eaten sheep all his life, but today he has become someone else's scapegoat, which makes the royal authority unacceptable, and he has always had the share of himself to make trouble for others.
"Very good, Zhao Zong, I remember you."
At this time, Zhao Fang, who was eating shabu mutton in the palace, suddenly sneezed, "Damn, why is it cold?", after that, he wrapped the blanket on his body, picked up a piece of hot mutton and put it into his mouth.
After a whole day of inspection, the raw material supplier was basically determined, and the rest was to let the household officials and the businessmen grind their lips, because this time it was the personal needs of the king's authority, so the procurement did not go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the silver was still out of the household department, which showed that the emperor was used to him. For this reason, the household officials also went to the emperor to protest several times, but they were all suppressed by the emperor.
"Really, a group of old men know how to bargain, if I am the emperor, and I will replace all the household officials with aunts, which businessman can survive a round in their hands?"
While saying inconsequential words, he threw the peeled orange into his mouth. In ancient times, this was not good, the transportation was inconvenient, and it was already a royal privilege to be able to eat the citrus of the south in the winter in the north.