"Glass was once an important export industry for Rome. But now that Rome has declined, even this advantage no longer exists. In our hands, we must revive it." Guo Kang encouraged everyone: "The East lacks suitable glass raw materials. So their early technologies started very slowly. If we want to maintain the balance of imports and exports, we can only rely on these technologies."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with him.
"I have used the output here to make some souvenirs and give them to important sponsors and celebrities. Judging from the feedback I received, the effect is very good." Guo Kang said: "I believe these technologies are not only beneficial to theology, but also beneficial to theology. It will also work in reality.”
"If our theological theory is correct, it should indeed have a positive effect on reality." Dmitri agreed: "This is also the will of Heavenly Father."
"Yes." Guo Kang was quite emotional and joked to himself: "Studying these things at least gives me something I can use. When I gave the coated mirror to my sister who always had a bad face, She couldn’t help but start saying nice things about me.”
Everyone started laughing.
"You are a gifted philosopher, Mr. Guo." Dmitri tried to comfort him kindly: "We who study philosophy should not pay too much attention to the attitude of women."
"Family, friendship, love...these emotions are so wonderful. They are beautiful gifts given to mankind by Heavenly Father. It is reasonable to hope for family love."
"But we philosophers should remain rational. Aristotle said that women are failed men, and their souls are incomplete. In this case, they cannot give others complete love like men."
"It is certainly reasonable to seek support from female relatives, but we don't have to be too entangled in it. Even without these, there will be no obstacle to philosophers' pursuit of truth - after all, as the sages have already discussed That way, only between men and men, there can be real affection,” he concluded.
The monks once again expressed their agreement.
Guo Kang understood that he wanted to express his good intentions, but this conclusion sounded strange... But the Greeks had been discussing it this way for two thousand years, so it was probably useless for him to say it, so he had to try to change the topic.
"Let's take a look here." He led everyone out of the building and came to another small building.
As before, when they climbed to the top floor, they found that there were large and small plate glass stacked here. There was a piece of glass sandwiched on a table, and a group of Slavic slaves pushed the machine to make the wheel above the glass rotate rapidly. Next to him, a monk adjusted the height of the table and carefully brought the glass close to the wheel.
After the wheel and the glass were close, another priest began to sprinkle water on the glass. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the wheel is used to polish glass plates.
Outside this house, under a shed, polished glass was being transported out in a steady stream. Two people, also wearing beak masks and wearing linen-colored clothes, were carefully placing the glass on the table. There was another man dressed the same but in a black robe. He picked up a brush, dipped it in the liquid in the pottery bowl next to it, and started to brush it on the glass.
"This is used to apply metal coating on glass." Guo Kang said: "Mix gray tin powder and mercury to form this liquid called 'mercury tin mixture'. Brush it on the back of the mirror, heat and evaporate it. When it dries, the mercury evaporates, leaving only a layer of tin.”
"In this way..." Dmitri nodded habitually, and then suddenly reacted: "Wait a minute, this..."
"What's wrong?" Guo Kang asked.
"You just told other people about this recipe?" Dmitri asked in surprise: "Shouldn't this be a secret?"
"In order to study light before, I also learned about the manufacturing of glass." Seeing that Guo Kang didn't answer, he added: "The technology in Europe now is not as good as the Roman classical period. But the Venetians have restored part of the ancient technology, not only in Sells plate glass and also peddles all kinds of glasses and lenses.”
"The Venetians attach great importance to these secrets. A hundred years ago, they gathered all the technicians on Murano Island, so no one knows the specific technical details. They took the opportunity to ask for high prices, and our order simply couldn't afford it, so we had to give up. ." He talked about what happened before: "If we can produce it, we should be able to lower the price a lot."
"In fact, there is no need to consider lowering prices." Guo Kang said: "The workshop is still small now, but it will definitely expand its output in the future. We can solve this demand ourselves."
"Wait a minute, you mean that the current output is enough for so many places?" Dmitri was even more surprised.
Guo Kang and Tuo Huan looked at each other.
"I only know that this thing should be quite valuable." Finally, Guo Kang replied: "Didn't the Venetians already create such a thing?"
"I don't know craftsmanship, and the Venetians won't teach me. But the process they make is definitely not as simple as yours, and the effect is not as good."
"Look." He pointed to the man who was brushing mercury.
While he was talking, he had already painted it, put the glass and the fixed iron ore in an iron box next to it, and then closed the lid.
A fire was lit under the iron box, but the fire was not very strong. After the box was closed, a group of Slavic slaves outside the shed got the order. Under the discipline of the monks, they began to push a large gear connected to a belt.
After a while, the priest ordered the slaves to stop. The gears gradually slowed down. The priest opened the lid, carefully picked up the already bright mirror with a clip, and put it into a wooden box next to it.
"Oh, the other end of the belt is a fan." Guo Kang explained the covered part: "The belt enters through two small openings and is allowed to rotate, so that the gas can be sucked away and enter the ventilator."
"The end of the vent pipe is a small pool - that's where it is." He pointed to the pool dug out of the ground not far away: "The gas passes into the pool, and the mercury is cooled. We will recover the mercury from there."
"I understand, so I'm even more convinced that this is not a Venetian technique." Brother Dmitri affirmed: "Their mirrors that sell well all over the world do not have our craftsmanship."
"Huh?" Guo Kang also realized the problem.
He only knew that the Venetians had made glass mirrors very early, but he himself could not remember the specific year. After I came here, I saw a few mirrors that were said to be made by the Venetians, but I never thought about it. They actually had other, older craftsmanship, but the later method was more famous.
As a result, Guo Kang always thought that this was a method that others had already used, and he never even thought of deliberately keeping it secret. He thought that if it was leaked, the Venetian people would be uncomfortable at most...
(End of chapter)
