The ancestors of the Su family are generations of southern Fujian Wang clan, generations of scholarly families, and his grandfather's father is also a highly favored grandfather, Su Song, is a famous scientist in the Song Dynasty. He was a jinshi in the second year of Qingli (1042). He first served as a magistrate, and then changed to a pavilion surveyor and a Jixian school manager for nine years, and was able to read the royal collection. After Song Zhezong ascended the throne, he first served as the secretary of the criminal department, and then served as the secretary of the ministry, and in his later years, he entered the cabinet to worship the prime minister, and was famous for making the water transport instrument elephant platform.

Su Hui has a total of four sons and three daughters, and Gao's mother is the youngest daughter of her grandfather.

Due to the shadow subsidy system of the Song Dynasty, senior officials could recommend a certain number of their relatives or other people to serve in the court. Su Zhongshun, the second uncle who came with his grandfather this time, is an alternate outsider. The second uncle, Su Zhongshun, is nearly forty years old, has a Chinese face, looks shrewd and capable, and he is mainly responsible for the family's business.

Cousin Su Huilan, two years younger than Gao Chong, wearing a light green skirt, sat quietly on the chair, but looked at this and that, that is, she kept turning.

Gao Zhong did not have any impression of his grandfather's family, due to the difficulty of transportation, the two families did not come and go much, and in the old days, they may not see each other for a year of more than forty miles. Gao Zhong only faintly remembered that his father had come when he had an accident.

"Darling, come and meet your grandfather, second uncle, and your cousin Huilan." When the mother saw Gao coming in, she said happily to Gao Pet. Maybe my mother was a little excited because her mother's family was here.

"I've seen my grandfather, my second uncle, and my cousin Huilan." High favor courtesy.

"I haven't seen it for a few years, but the darlings have grown so tall, and they are an offspring. Listen to your mother, she was injured a few days ago, but now she is all right? "Grandpa is very kind, not mentioning the ugly thing of being struck by lightning, but he cares about his body, and Gao Chong's favor has increased a lot of favor towards his grandfather. I also see the speaking skills of people who come out of this kind of officialdom.

"See, thank you grandpa for your concern."

"Come and let my grandfather see, it's hurting there." Gao pet went over and stretched out his hand to let his grandfather see.

"It's just that the hands are burned badly, and now it's a new skin." The new skin on Gao Pet's hand was red and all the scabs had just receded a few days ago.

At this time, the younger brother and cousin came to see each other because of their high pets, and several people ran out.

"It's been four years since your father died, and I was planning to come over to see your mother and son some time ago, and I didn't want to receive a letter from your mother, so I came over immediately. Your mother said that you had some new things, such as the Hu people's glass-making methods, and what kind of 'cement' that person had, and your grandfather was very curious, can you tell me? "Grandfather Su Song is a great inventor, so the Su family can be said to have a fanaticism for this kind of novelty and technology. I heard that the third uncle, Su Zishun, got this kind of thing, didn't even go out of the door, and didn't participate in the imperial examination, and made some pots and pots all day long, nicknamed Su Maniac.

"Your third uncle is also coming over this time. But there's something that's stuck, and now I'm depressed. The second uncle said on the side.

"Speaking of this glass, you know it, and you must have seen it. In the Great Song Dynasty, a transparent glass cup costs thousands of silver. Because there are few things and there is no market. The quality is also average. And how much does it cost him to make? Copper coins are not always used. It's a hundredfold, a thousandfold profit. ”

More than 2,000 years ago, a European Phoenician merchant ship, loaded with the crystal mineral "natural soda", sailed on the Belus River on the Mediterranean coast. Due to the low tide of the sea, the merchant ship ran aground. So the crew took to the beach. Some crew members also brought cauldrons, firewood, and used a few pieces of "natural soda" as a support for the cauldron to cook on the beach.

After the crew finished eating, the tide began to rise. They were about to pack up and board the ship to continue sailing, when suddenly someone shouted, "Come and see, everyone, there is something bright and shining in the sand under the pot!" This glittering thing is the glass crew, they brought these glittering things to the ship, studied them carefully, and made this thing again with soda and quartz, and glass was invented. This glass makes a lot of money for them and the countries where these people live. The emperor of this country, fearing that people would know about this technique, sent all the country's glassmakers to an island to live an isolated life for the royal manufacture of glass.

"Glass came to the East through the Silk Road, but we never knew how it was made. This is the result of the secrecy of the country's royal technology, although the king's approach is a bit absolute. ”

"The main materials of glass, quartz sand, soda ash, feldspar, limestone and fluorite, it is similar to the materials you make ceramics, these things are mixed together in different proportions, and they can be made into different things by sintering at high temperatures."

"If you add a small amount of other things, you can fire glass of different colors and uses."

"But it's still difficult to make him like this, where is the difficulty?"

"One is the temperature, which he fires at a much higher temperature than we do porcelain. We burn ceramics at about 1100 degrees, while glass generally reaches 1550 degrees. Our Song Dynasty did not have refractory bricks and crucibles that could withstand fire up to 1300 degrees. So before we make glass, we need to make refractory bricks and crucibles. The second difficulty is this base. This alkali is not produced in our Great Song Dynasty, it is imported from Persia by the Hu people, and the price is also super expensive, only enough for us to produce a small amount. And the amount used in glass production is very large, so the second thing is to solve the problem of alkali and make it ourselves. ”

"It can be said that we are actually building an industry to make glass. However, there is no urgency to use our own alkali to produce glass, we can use the existing alkali of the merchant to make some small quantities of glass products, and we have mastered the production technology through this trial production, and we can use mass production after using our own alkali, and the ordinary old surname can afford it at that time. ”

"Are you saying that there are two problems to be solved in making this glass, one is refractory bricks and the other is alkali, can we do it?" Su Hui heard Gao Pet say this, leaned forward, and asked with concern.

"Grandfather, second uncle, what I mean by this is that this glass factory should be built, and at the same time, a soda factory and a refractory brick factory should be built. Without refractory bricks, glass cannot be made, and without this alkali, it cannot be mass-produced. ”

"As long as there is technology, this factory should not be too much of a problem." Second uncle Su Zhongshun said.

"I mentioned this refractory brick and this problem of achieving high temperatures. Not only is it a problem for glass making, but it is also a problem for iron, steel, copper, and porcelain, which must be smelted at high temperatures anyway. If we make refractory bricks, we can make money without making glass. Grandpa, you must know that the iron factories of the current official family, every furnace, if the second furnace steel is not fried, the furnace must be recuted, because a large number of furnace brick materials are melted into the steel, which not only affects the quality of the steel but also increases the cost of coal. ”

"It seems that this refractory brick is also making a lot of money. Darling, my Su family, although the roots in Chizhou are not deep, but they are still making porcelain, they still have a certain reputation, and your mother also knows this. But how do you do business, can you talk about it? ”

"Glass and refractory bricks are all exclusive technologies, at least in recent years, before the output has not come up, it was a profiteering industry, and it is several times dozens of times the profit, but grandpa, our Gao family has no money now. Due to the fact that our Gao family has invested in many places now, we can only invest in technology, and you will contribute funds, and our Gao family will also account for fifty percent of the profits. ”

It is very high that the capital accounts for six components, Su Hui thought in his heart, but compared to the profits of glass and refractory bricks, it is nothing.

"Okay, but how much is the initial investment? How does the management of this business work? ”

"This specific investment, I didn't calculate, because I don't know the price of various materials and labor outside, five losses always have to be, I'm not sure about this, then I will give you the drawings to estimate it." As for the management of the company, it is fully managed by your family, I miss you can do a good job, and my Gao family only sends accountants to participate. I'll write something specific about the company's articles of association and management. Gao Pet also introduced the management model and internal management of the modern company to his grandfather and second uncle.

This is how the matter of building a factory in partnership with my grandfather was decided.