The business Zhu Su mentioned was undoubtedly glass burning. It was not until Zheng He returned from his voyages to the West decades later in the Ming Dynasty that he mastered the technique of burning glass through the Western craftsmen brought back by Zheng He. If you take out the glass at this time, wouldn't you make a lot of money?
Among the keys to making a fortune for time travellers, glass making is undoubtedly one of the top ones. The sand is burned for free, and the glass products produced can be sold for the price of gold. Nowadays, we are short of money and need a business that can make money quickly.
The wounded soldiers arrived quickly, and to Zhu Su's surprise, few were willing to learn the glass-making craft from Zhu Su. They were originally military households, and making glass was a craftsman's job. Which military household would be willing to degenerate and become a craftsman?
In the end, only fifteen disabled veterans and their families were willing to help Zhu Su with the glass burning business. Most of these people have injured their hands and feet and are unable to farm, or they have sold their land early due to livelihood reasons and cannot replace it with new land, so they settle for the next best thing. This once again made Zhu Su realize the low status of craftsmen in the hearts of thousands of Chinese people.
Although there are several craftsmen in Zhuangzi arranged by Lao Zhu, they are all responsible for making steel and burning cement. There are few people, but all the death deeds were signed, and the family members moved here with Zhu Su in order to keep it secret. Since the candidate had to be kept secret, there was no way to recruit as many people as possible, so Zhu Su, the "side job" of glass-making, had no choice but to train people by himself.
Unexpectedly, I rushed to give those veterans a cooking skill, but they were not so rare that they would rather farm with their status as military households.
The problems don't end there. There was another problem at the steelmaking furnace. Because the temperature of the steel-making furnace was too high, the craftsman thought that nothing was wrong and did not relieve the pressure in time, causing the molten iron to overflow and destroy the furnace. Zhu Suna was so fashionable that he didn't care about his fatigue during morning exercises and Li Wenzhong hurried to see it. Fortunately, no one died.
However, someone was seriously injured. The craftsman who relied on his skill and did not take Zhu Su's instructions to heart was almost beaten to death by Li Wenzhong. If Zhu Su hadn't stopped him, the first murder would have occurred in Zhuangzi.
Looking at the craftsmen wailing on the ground and other craftsmen with frightened faces, Zhu Su couldn't help but sigh deeply: These people have no relevant knowledge, they can't listen to other people's words, and they always hold on to the ideas passed down by their ancestors. Technology is easy and unwilling to change. I'm afraid that in my heart, I just regard my instructions as a child's joke. It’s probably not practical to rely on them to make a technological leap.
We need people who truly understand technology. And there are only half of such people like me in this era...can't even be counted as one, because I still only have a partial understanding of it.
I need to cultivate talents enough to drive technological progress...
But now that we are here, we have to bite the bullet no matter what. On this day, Zhu Su squatted with a group of veterans and their families who were willing to burn glass, and explained to them in detail the method of burning glass: "The key to burning this sand into glass is not the sand, but the ashes of the vegetation. !" He said, pointing to the dark things aside.
To bake sand into glass, you need to reach its melting point, which is a furnace temperature of 1,700 degrees. At this time, the temperature of the furnace is far from reaching this height, so it is necessary to find ways to lower the melting point of the sand. In sixteenth-century Germany, someone discovered that using potassium carbonate could effectively lower the melting point of sand. The simplest way to obtain potassium carbonate is to extract it from plant ash.
Unable to tell the temperature, Zhu Su could only break it down and tell these novice craftsmen how to extract plant ash and how to bake it. A few days later, a lame veteran named Lao Zhuang successfully produced a glass solution.
These people were more useful than the craftsmen assigned by the Ministry of Works, which Zhu Su did not expect. However, the steps of making glass are indeed easier than others. The main reason is that the materials are unpredictable, and to put it bluntly, there is no difficulty. Zhu Su asked these fifteen people and their families to start with the simplest mirrors and prisms, and slowly study the methods of blowing glass and glassware. Only then did Zhu Su feel relieved and left the glass kiln.
Before he could change out of his dusty clothes, Xiang Deng came in with a sneaky look and reported: "Your Highness, the Duke of Wei is here with his young master and the Suan Ding."
"Oh?" Zhu Su perked up. Xu Da is here? The young master is undoubtedly Xu Yungong, and Suan Ding is definitely Fang Xiaoru. He put on his robe and rushed to greet them without even washing his face. From a distance, he saw Li Wenzhong and Xu Da in casual clothes chatting happily in the school grounds.
"Wei Guogong has come so far to miss his welcome. It's really rude of a junior." Zhu Su, the old man from far away, said loudly as he walked away. When facing Xu Da, Zhu Su always felt as if his actions were completely controlled. Unlike Lao Zhu's absolute pressure like a mountain, Xu Da gave him the feeling of being as unpredictable as a ball of water. It is said that water is impermanent and soldiers are impermanent. Although Xu Da was extremely kind and courteous to him, Zhu Su always instinctively did not dare to be rude to him.
"Your Highness, Fifth Highness, is serious. It is already rude for me to visit rashly this time. How dare I bother Your Highness to welcome you from afar?" Xu Da looked like an ordinary uncle who came to visit relatives from the next village with a smile and a pair of casual clothes. Only a pair of bright glasses The amazing eyes allow people to notice the extraordinaryness of this person at a glance.
Before Zhu Su could be polite again, Xu Da pointed at the Wu Wangwei in training with a surprised look on his face: "I didn't expect that in addition to being proficient in arithmetic, the Fifth Highness also knew such methods of physical training and military training. From what I saw, these young people Although there are only more than 20 people, their orders and prohibitions are consistent, and their prestige and momentum are no longer inferior to hundreds of thousands of people. They only need to go through blood and fire to become elite soldiers. If they break up the army, they can pull up an army of tens of thousands in an instant. An army of men…”
"Xu Shuai, these people are more than just giving orders and prohibiting them." Li Wenzhong's words revealed a sense of proud showing off. "They are also good at traveling through mountains and forests to lurk and spy."
"They are all good young men. In time, they will surely become braver soldiers than their fathers and brothers who sacrificed their lives!"
"Oh?" Xu Da said in surprise. He couldn't help but turn his eyes and looked at Zhu Su a few more times. During the three-stage attack, he thought that the fifth prince might have the talent to lead an army. Now that he discovered that this prince had actually figured out such a superb military training technique, even he, an old soldier, couldn't help but marvel.
After returning from the Northern Expedition, he thought that there was no possibility of him going to the battlefield again. He has already reached the point where his achievements are hard to reward. His Majesty was determined to destroy Meng Yuan in one fell swoop, so he gritted his teeth and still used himself, the most prestigious person in the army, to lead the army. Now that the government and the public have agreed on the national policy of a temporary stalemate with Meng Yuan, he, the Duke of Wei, has no place to use. Your Majesty will never give him another chance to make meritorious deeds.
Although Xu Da came from a humble background, he had read history. The fate of Liu Bang's brothers was clearly engraved in history, so how could he not be afraid?
But the passion for hoping to defeat Meng Yuan in the north has not cooled down after all. He was not willing to just let him die in the forest. The only hope now is that Ming Dynasty can recruit a few more young warriors who can inherit his unfinished ambition and completely wipe out Meng Yuan. This Fifth Highness is good at maneuvering, talented, and proficient in military training. He is actually a rare seed for a famous general.
What's even more rare is that he and His Highness the Crown Prince are close relatives of flesh and blood. In the future, he will not need to worry about something that will overshadow his master. If he can teach him what he has learned throughout his life, then he will not have to worry about it even if he closes his eyes. No one can suppress Meng Yuan!
(End of chapter)
