Chapter 8 Spark Fund (II)

"Emperor, it will be the birthday of the New Year in a few days. The governors and governors of all provinces have sent people to send gifts to the emperor and enter the palace. After reading the gift list, several sisters felt that it was too expensive and dared not accept it. Please give me some advice!" Yanhong handed over a stack of gift lists and said.

"Ah, you can put it down first, I'll see later." Inviting and giving gifts is a very important part of Chinese ethics culture. Even the emperor cannot avoid customs. It is also appropriate for the ministers to give birthday gifts to the emperor, and the rules have been made.

Yanhong wanted to speak but stopped, and stood quietly aside, just looking at Zhu Yinglong.

"Sister Yan took the medicine configured by Sister Qing, and her body improved. Will the emperor go and see her?" Before she could, Yanhong opened her mouth and said.

"Okay, I'll go see her when I go down, and you can go together." After being interrupted, Zhu Yinglong was a little unhappy. When he heard the news about "Zhang Yan", all the unhappiness disappeared.

"I obey the order, I will leave first. If the emperor has any instructions, I will arrive with a shout." Yanhong took a light step by step and turned back and left the study room.

"I understand." Zhu Yinglong agreed absent-mindedly.

This is not the first time Zhu Yinglong was upset about money, so he took out a gift list and browsed it. Although he didn't understand the jade, agate, calligraphy, painting, coral, etc. written on it, nearly half of the gifts are valuable. Money, aren't these money? Zhu Yinglong's eyes lit up. If he sold these gifts presented by the governor, he should be able to raise a lot of money. These things cannot be used as guns or as food. What's the use of having more? He decided to deal with them when the Wanbao Festival is over, but this is just a temporary emergency response. In the long run, it is far from enough. If Zheng Zhilong and the Red-haired Dutch had not controlled the Taiwan Strait and developed maritime trade, would he still worry about the lack of silver? Now he can only take a detour to Japan first, and then turn the goods a few times, and he also has to think about Zheng Zhilong's pirate fleet at any time. Although the profit is a little, the risk is too great.

Zhu Yinglong thought about it and ordered people to call Tian Shulan, who was responsible for the management of the harem industry.

Tian Shulan seemed very excited when she saw Zhu Yinglong, and rushed into the Nan Study room. She first kissed Zhu Yinglong on the forehead with a dragonfly, and then put her delicate body into Zhu Yinglong's arms without hesitation. Her cheeks flushed and resentful look at Zhu Yinglong and said angrily: "Your Majesty, you haven't been to Lan'er's Yikun Palace for a long time."

Thinking about it carefully, I haven't been to Tian Shulan's bedroom for a long time, and I feel a little guilty: "I have a busy country and I have a lot of troubles every day, but I really don't have time."

"By the way, I'm asking you for something. How is your "Spark Fund" running!"

"The emperor doesn't ask, I'm about to tell you." Speaking of serious matters, Tian Shulan put away a sweet smile on her face, revealing that she became mature and steady, which was not in line with her age.

"Tell me quickly!"

"I want to tell the emperor a good news. We will successfully create a glass mirror according to the 'silver mirror reaction' you said!" Tian Shulan reported the good news.

"Really?" Zhu Yinglong was overjoyed. This was a money-making thing. In this era, Venetians could already make glass mirrors. But this has always been the secret recipe for Venetians.

History At this time, Venice was the center of the world's glass industry and could be called the "kingdom of glass". The Venetians pasted shiny tin foil on the glass surface and poured mercury. Mercury is a liquid metal that can dissolve tin well and turn into a viscous silver-white liquid: "tin mercury agent". This tin mercury agent has high strength and can stick tightly to glass and become a glass mirror.

The glass mirror took a big step forward compared to the bronze mirror, becoming a very fashionable thing and was very popular among people. At this time, princes, nobles and wealthy men from all over the European countries rushed to Venice like a tide to buy it. When the French Queen Mary de Medici held her wedding in 1600, the King of Venice also presented her a small glass mirror as a gift, worth more than 150,000 francs, which was about 25,000 taels of silver. It can be seen that the glass mirror industry was a very profitable industry at this time.

Because of this, in order to make money, the method of making glass mirrors was extremely confidential. They specially formulated laws: anyone who leaked the secret of making glass mirrors to foreigners will be sentenced to death immediately. In addition, the factory for making mirrors was concentrated on the island of Murano, and troops were sent to set up posts and posts around them, so that no one was allowed to enter and exit. The production of glass mirrors was under a tight blockade. In this way, Venice monopolized the production of mirrors in the world, and francs continued to flow into Venice.

However, the process of making a mercury glass mirror actually took a whole month to complete, which is undoubtedly too much trouble. Moreover, mercury is toxic and the mirror is not very bright.

Under Zhu Yinglong's guidance, glass mirrors made with glass directly use chemical reactions: "silver mirror reaction" is plated. It is used in silver nitrate solution, formaldehyde and ferrous chloride as reducing agents. The silver ions in silver nitrate are reduced to silver particles, and these silver particles are deposited on the glass to make silver mirrors, and the silver surface immediately shines. In order to increase the durability of the mirror, usually after silver plating, a layer of red protective paint is applied on the silver layer. In this way, the silver layer will not be easily peeled and damaged.

With glass mirrors, it is impossible to get rich now. However, such things can only be made with rare and strictly confidential items. Zhu Yinglong does not need to be like the Venetians. It only takes three to five years to be enough. His production method is advanced and safer than the Venetians, and the product quality is far higher than the Venetian glass lenses. I believe that the glass mirrors he produced and the mysterious oriental packaging will be sold at a sky-high price. In this way, the money problem will be almost solved.

Next, Zhu Yinglong finally understood the time and space he lived in. Why was a China that was nearly a hundred years behind others? In just 20 to 30 years, and even surpassed in some aspects, because this nation has endless talents, and its awakened wisdom makes the entire earth tremble. With the support of a large amount of funds from the "Spark Fund", craftsmen with expertise use their talents and study hard. They do not have to be looked down upon by others, nor do they worry about life and family issues. Within half a year, they made a series of common items in later life such as soap, honeycomb coal balls, charcoal furnaces, matches (not the safe ones), and of course, most of them are related to chemical engineering. Other Zhu Yinglong can only give craftsmen a concept, and these can be written about manufacturing methods, but it is more troublesome to find alternative raw materials.

Therefore, the first simple machine tool was all made by craftsmen, and it was put into use three years later, and the steam engine was launched five years later. It still failed to meet the industrial use requirements, and it was not officially used ten years later. The new type similar to the Jenny spinning machine took twelve years to develop, and the generator took fifteen years to manufacture and use, etc.

There is a shadow behind all this, which is the "Spark Fund". The award named after "Spark" has become the highest award in the world's natural science field in the future.

Although the direct controller of Spark Fund inevitably became a monopoly in many industries, under Zhu Yinglong's direct interference, Spark Fund no longer directly participated in the operation and became a non-profit fund. These are all later stories.

With a money tree like Glass Mirror, Zhu Yinglong reconsidered the new warship with two thousand materials that had just been built. There are no eternal enemies or eternal friends in this world. Although Zhu Yinglong doesn't like those Dutch red-haired men, they still occupy the treasure island of Taiwan, but the current naval power of the Ming Dynasty is not enough to make people's teeth. The Dutch are nothing more than seeking wealth. As long as the glass mirror can be transported to Europe through the Dutch ship, such a good thing is not afraid of the Dutch not doing it. Especially after Zheng Zhilong's negotiation failed and after a battle in the Taiwan Strait, he must still think of making a comeback. Of course, it is impossible to come to him by himself. The Dutch have to come to him.

But who is the most suitable person to be responsible for this matter? Zhu Yinglong became in trouble for a moment.
Chapter completed!