The Way of the Lord and the Minister

According to literature, glass mirrors were first invented by the Venetians in Italy, probably during the Zhengde period. In other words, glass mirrors have only been available in Europe for less than twenty years.

In fact, even in Europe, the method of making glass mirrors is still a secret. Local nobles moved glass production workshops to isolated islands to protect them layer by layer, and implemented monopoly operations to obtain huge profits.

Simply put, there are two main steps to make glass mirrors. The first step is to fire transparent glass, and the second step is to add a reflective coating to transparent glass.

At present, the method of adding reflective coating to glass mirrors is undoubtedly very backward compared to modern times. They first paste a layer of shiny tin platinum on transparent glass, then drizzle it with mercury. The mercury dissolves the tin platinum, making it stick to the glass to form a reflective coating, and then apply a layer of protective paint to make a mirror.

This kind of mercury glass mirror is troublesome, and mercury is toxic, so it was gradually eliminated. People began to use silver plating. The production method is very simple. Soak the glass in the silver solution, and then use glucose to reduce the silver ions in the silver solution. The reduced silver ions will stick to the glass to form a reflective coating, which is the so-called "silver mirror reaction".

However, the cost of making silver plating is very high. Modern mirrors have been replaced with aluminum plating, and the effect is even better than silver, making the mirror brighter.

Of course, Xu Jin is not an engineering man, so he naturally doesn't know how the coating of modern mirrors was made. He just provided Sun Laosan with general ideas and asked him to study them by himself. Unexpectedly, this kid is really talented. In just one month, he actually made him come out with the glass mirror.

At this moment, in the living room of the front yard of Xu Mansion, Sun Laosan and Kang Bo both looked excited. The former handed a glass mirror the size of an adult's palm to Xu Jin's hand.

Xu Jin took the mirror and looked at it. He immediately saw himself in the mirror, and Zhu Hougui's handsome face that made women jealous. The boy was leaning his head next to him, and finally snatched the mirror from Xu Jin's hand and said excitedly: "Let me... cough, let me see!"

The brightness of this glass mirror is naturally not as bright as that of modern aluminum mirror, but the quality is definitely comparable to that of the Western mirror. Xu Jin was naturally very satisfied and nodded in praise and said, "Sun Laosan, the mirror is well made, and I will reward you with three months of wages."

Sun Li rubbed his hands and smiled shyly: "Sir, this coating method was created by Mr. Kang and Xiao. Xiao didn't dare to take the credit for it."

Xu Jin laughed and said, "Then Kang Bo will also be rewarded with three months of wages!"

When Kang Bo heard this, he was so happy that he could not see his eyes. He kept saying, "I thanked the Lord for the reward."

Zhu Houcan asked enthusiastically: "How did you make the coating of this glass mirror?"

Sun Li and Kang Bo looked at each other hesitantly. They didn't know the little emperor. After all, not everyone was lucky enough to see the beauty. The coating of the glass mirror is a secret, so naturally they can't be told casually.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "But it's okay, this is one of the masters of our workshop."

Sun Li and Kang Bo couldn't help but feel relieved, and the former simply explained the method of making glass plating.

It turned out that since Sun Laosan entered the workshop, he has been studying the coating of Western mirrors. However, there are no methods such as elemental analysis at this time. If you just look at the appearance, it will be useless no matter how you study it. So Sun Laosan has been studying for a few days and finally let go of his hands and dry it by himself. He tried to apply ink, paint... and so on. Dozens of methods have all had poor results.

It happened so coincidental that when the glass was burning a few days ago, Kang Bo accidentally dropped a silver bean into the stove. Kang Bo was very sorry at that time, but when the glass was released, Sun Laosan unexpectedly found that the silver bean melted into a small pool of silver platinum and stuck to the glass, and the position of the silver platinum could clearly reflect the things.

This discovery made Sun Laosan overjoyed, so he and Kang Bo studied it for a few days and finally invented the method of silver plating the glass mirror.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but laugh: "Then your luck is not bad."

Xu Jin smiled and said, "It's not that they are lucky, but that they have always been successful in favor of prepared people. If it were someone else, they might not have discovered this phenomenon."

Zhu Houying smiled and said, "It's reasonable, but if this glass mirror is coated with silver, wouldn't it be very expensive?"

Kang Bo grinned and said, "This young man has come to the point. The old man has roughly estimated that it will cost a cent to build a mirror of such a big one. The bigger the mirror, the more it costs. Ordinary people may not be able to afford it."

Xu Jin didn't care. Even in Europe nowadays, mercury mirrors are also valuable items, not to mention mirrors with silver coatings. Compared with the price of a few silver, a few ounces of silver is nothing. I believe that once this kind of mirror is released, ten taels of silver will probably be flocked to those upper-class nobles. In addition, it is a monopoly production, so there is no need to worry about sales at all. This is a profitable business.

At present, Xu Jin asked Dabao to supervise, first producing 100 glass mirrors to test the waters, and then expand production after opening up sales.

Xu Jin sent Sun Laosan and Kang Bo away, and the guy Zhu Houcong couldn't wait to ask: "Xu Jin, how much money do you think this glass business can make?"

Xu Jin looked at the little emperor with silver eyes and couldn't help but laugh: "Master, don't you think you are very philanthropic now? That's the look of the 95th Lord!"

Zhu Houcong said disapprovingly: "This is not just a poor person. If you talk less nonsense, how much can the glass business make? I have a good idea."

Xu Jin estimated it briefly and replied: "I plan to sell ten taels of silver in a mirror. For our Ming gentry class, it is more conservative to estimate that it is not a problem to sell 30,000 yuan..."

Zhu Houcong's eyes suddenly widened and blurted out: "Wouldn't that be 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver?"

The treasury's income last year was less than 4 million taels, and the little emperor was naturally very surprised that this glass business could make 300,000 silver.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "It's good to have to deduct various costs, and it's better to have a profit of 200,000 taels in the end."

Zhu Houcan rolled his eyes and said, "The profit of 200,000 taels of silver is not bad? Prodigal businessmen, big profiteers, but I like it... hahaha. But Xu Qing thinks everyone is willing to spend ten taels of silver to buy a mirror?"

Xu Jin said calmly: "Your Majesty, our Ming gentry is not short of this money. Besides, if they don't buy ours, they will have nowhere else to buy it. Moreover, glass is a fragile product, so there will probably be many people who will buy it back."

Zhu Houcong's face turned red with excitement. Xu Jin was like getting him a hen that could only lay golden eggs. How could he be unhappy?

Zhu Houcan rubbed his hands and said a little embarrassedly: "Xu Jin, why don't we share the business of this mirror evenly."

According to Xu Jin's proposal, Sun Laosan, a technical backbone in the glass mirror business, accounted for 10%, Xu Jin himself accounted for 30%, and the little emperor accounted for 60%. Zhu Houcong took the big head without doing anything, so the kid was a little embarrassed and proposed to split it with Xu Jin.

Xu Jin waved his hand quickly and said, "The emperor helps the world, and it is understandable to have a big share. I only support a small family, 30% is enough!"

Although it is okay to make some harmless jokes with the current relationship between the two of them, Xu Jin is always cautious when it comes to actual interests, and should not go beyond the way of the ruler and the subject. What will Chen Wansan, who is richer than Zhu Yuanzhang, end up? He confiscated his home and became a military officer, and he has the life to make money but spend it!

Of course, Emperor Jiajing is naturally not as cruel as Lao Zhu, but as that, the most fickle thing in the world is the heart of the people. It is best for those who are ministers to adhere to the way of being ministers.

So, no matter how good you are, those who work in politics cannot be too good to shock the master, and those who work in business cannot be rich enough to compete with the country. Otherwise, they will be cooking oil with fire and the bulls will end up being the end, unless you have the ability to replace them!
Chapter completed!