Bronze mirrors are made by polishing, and there was no sandpaper in this era. No matter how much polishing, the coating effect would not be achieved. In addition, the background color of copper is dim, and people in the reflected light will also look sallow. This is just because everyone is used to the coating in bronze mirrors.
I just can't notice it myself.
Now that Li Mu's silver-plated mirror came out, everything became clear. In the past, the makeup that he thought was satisfactory in the bronze mirror turned out to be defective everywhere under the reflection of this silver-plated mirror. What did the fourth concubine do?
Can you accept it?
Empress Changsun, on the other hand, does not have as big a sense of crisis as they do. It is not that she has no wrinkles, but her status brings a much better mentality than the fourth concubine. She and Li Shimin's childhood sweethearts have a close relationship, and it does not rely on their beauty. Fourth Concubine
Concubines are different. To put it nicely, they are called concubines. In fact, they are no different from Li Zhien. Aren't concubines just concubines of the emperor? If they lose their beauty, they will fall out of favor sooner or later.
After seeing their own shortcomings, Concubine Yin and others no longer bothered to stay and chat, and returned to their respective palaces with the mirror that belonged to them. They each found ways to remove acne and wrinkles.
Already.
Empress Changsun held the mirror and looked at herself in the mirror for a while. Wang Ou's appearance flashed in her mind for comparison. She had to admit that although Wang Ou was two years older than her, his appearance was indeed younger than hers.
Moreover, Wang Ou has never given birth and has a body as slim as a girl, but she has given birth to four children, and her figure is inevitably a little heavier. In comparison, she actually seems to be at a disadvantage.
Queen Changsun was a very smart woman. She managed the harem and treated everyone well. It was not that she was not jealous, but she knew that although there were three thousand beauties in the harem, no one could shake her position. But that one
Mrs. Peony was different, she was the person Li Shimin could not ask for. In the words of later generations, Wang Ou was the white moonlight in Li Shimin's heart, and she had a position that no one could replace.
But naturally she would not say these words to a junior.
Empress Changsun motioned for Li Mu to sit across from her and said with a smile: "You can always come up with new things. This mirror must be worth a lot of money, right?"
"The Queen has a sharp eye!" Li Mu praised: "You can't hide anything from the Queen. This mirror is really expensive." Li Mu picked up the mirror next to it that belonged to Concubine Wei. She didn't come to play mahjong today.
It would take a while before it could be sent to her, so Li Mu took it as an example.
"The frame of this mirror is carved from nanmu. I won't mention it because compared to the mirror itself, the frame is almost negligible. Let's talk about this mirror. You can see that its texture is made of colored glaze. See the Queen.
This mirror is made of the same material as the small bottle of perfume. The difference is that this mirror requires more glass and is more expensive to make."
"This is just the texture, the important point is the reflective material of this mirror. Does your Majesty know what this is?"
Empress Changsun took a look in the mirror and guessed: "Looking at its color, could it be silver?"
"No wonder Your Majesty said that the empress is smart, it is indeed true. It is silver! Not much silver is needed to make this mirror. The difficulty is how to spread the silver evenly on this piece of colored glass. I dare not
To deceive the queen, the five mirrors I presented today were made by me for three days. After breaking countless colored glasses, I guessed that there were six complete mirrors left. One of them was a small one, which I left to my wife. Five large mirrors were left to me.
Yes, I brought it to the Queen and the four noble concubines."
"A lot of glass was broken?" Empress Changsun didn't understand the process and was very curious, asking: "Why is this so?"
"My Majesty, I don't know. Glaze and silver are two materials, just like wood and iron. Have you ever seen pig iron in wood or wood in iron? This is almost impossible, and I used a secret method to make it.
The forced fusion of silver and colored glaze is based on the common nature of the two."
Before Queen Changsun could ask, Li Mu continued: "The commonality is that both are meltable when exposed to fire. Glass will melt when exposed to fire, and silver will melt when exposed to fire, but fire cannot burn wood like wood.
Burn the two to ashes. However, the melting temperatures of the two are different, and the glass is very brittle. If you don't pay attention, the temperature will be a little different. When the silver juice touches the glass, the glass will shatter. It must be when all conditions are suitable.
, so that the two can be integrated into one.”
Li Mu sighed: "After I accidentally discovered that the two can be fused, I started the experiment with the help of my two brothers. After countless failures, I got some experience and made these five mirrors.
The materials consumed are as much as a thousand guan. I have calculated that if I want to trade this mirror as a commodity, I would have to sell at least 200 guan per mirror to break even. Although ours is indeed
Okay, but who would spend two hundred dollars to buy a mirror? So until the problem of fusion cannot be solved, I no longer plan to continue making mirrors."
"I see." Empress Changsun rubbed the mirror in her hand, thought for a moment, and then asked: "If the problem of fusion is solved, can this mirror be mass-produced?"
Li Mu nodded and said: "If the problem of fusion is solved, the glass will not explode during fusion, or the number of explosions will be reduced. There is no problem in mass production, but in terms of cost, it only costs three times the cost of glass and silver.
If you want to make money, you have to sell more than five guans."
"Wu Guan..." Queen Changsun thought for a while and said: "If we sell Wu Guan, it would be a suitable price. This glass mirror is so clear and is much stronger than a bronze mirror. A bronze mirror, even if it is smaller, needs
A consistent amount of money..." After a pause, Empress Changsun continued: "Li Mu, do you think it is possible to sell this mirror for a consistent amount of money?"
"This..." Li Mu didn't understand what he meant and said ambiguously: "If you have such a big mirror in your hand, you will definitely lose money."
"Don't be so big." Empress Changsun measured the size of a palm and said, "It's so big. Is it possible to make money?"
Li Mu secretly thought, let alone the money, the cost of a palm-sized mirror is only ten cents, and if it is sold for the money, the profit is a hundred times. But he is still confused: "Then I have to wait until I break through the technical difficulties of making colored glaze.
Maybe we can do it when the price of colored glaze comes down a bit."
Empress Changsun sighed and said, "I really hope that day comes soon."
Li Mu didn't understand and asked, "Why does the queen have such expectations?"
Empress Changsun smiled and said: "Li Mu, although you are talented and talented, there are some things you don't understand. Let's talk about the bronze mirror. Do you know that if all the bronze mirrors in the world were replaced with this glass mirror,
How much copper will be saved? What if this copper is made into copper coins?"
Li Mu was stunned for a moment.
He was confused for nothing else, but was surprised by Empress Changsun's perspective on things. As a native of the Tang Dynasty, she was able to realize the impact of the stock of money on the economy. Even in later generations, most people would understand these principles.
He doesn't understand. But Li Mu does, because the job he did in his previous life was data balancing. A game server can be regarded as an independent small market.
If there is an excess of 'gold coins' in the server, it will cause the devaluation of gold coins and skyrocketing material prices. If there is a shortage of 'gold coins' in the server, it will affect transactions.
In the long history of China, money shortage has always been a very big problem. There are many reasons for this problem, one of which is what Empress Changsun said. The more official saying is "selling money to use it as a tool".
Gold, silver, and copper naturally have the properties of currency. Copper, even if it is not minted into currency, has value in itself. In fact, the value of copper coins is reflected in its weight. In this way, there will be
A question. The copper coins earned by wealthy families from their operations can reach tens of thousands of coins. For families like the Wang family in Taiyuan, hundreds of thousands of coins are not new. These copper coins will rot if they are piled up for a long time. How to solve this problem?
Melt it! Make utensils!
It is a very common situation to melt copper coins and make them into bronze mirrors. Usually when a wealthy family marries their daughter, they will give a bronze mirror as a dowry. When the money is not needed, it is a mirror. When the money is used, the mirror is sold.
It can be converted into money, proper hard currency.
This problem is slightly extended to the problem of currency hoarding.
For aristocratic families like Wu Xing Qi Wang, the emperors have changed for several generations, but their families are still there. Their ancestors have accumulated wealth for generations and saved all the copper coins on the market into their own treasury. But they have very few things they need to buy.
This has led to families like them only plundering currency from the market, and once the currency is in their hands, it will no longer flow into the market.
For thousands of years, the amount of copper mined has been limited. The more savings a family has, the less money there is in the market, and the direct result is a reduction in transactions.
To give a simple example, if there are many copper coins in the market, the copper coins will depreciate relatively. One copper coin can buy a pear, and the transaction can be completed smoothly. But when the number of copper coins in the market is reduced by half, the original value of one copper coin becomes
The price was doubled. One copper coin could buy two pears. At this time, the value of one pear was equal to half a penny. However, this person only wanted to buy one pear, so the transaction could not be completed.
If there are fewer transactions, the market will be less dynamic. To put it simply, GDP will be low. As a game, for a dynamic server, the total amount of 'gold coins' must be adjusted appropriately. 'Gold coins' cannot be allowed to depreciate excessively.
Don't let the 'gold coins' be too few. This work is one of the main tasks for Li Mu to balance the data before traveling through time.
It was also because of this that when Empress Changsun raised her head, Li Mu understood what she meant.
"The queen is indeed worthy of the name of the hidden prime minister in the palace. With such knowledge, you are no weaker than the prime minister." Li Mu stood up and saluted respectfully. He really admired her.
"How can you be so exaggerated? I am just a prostitute, just talking nonsense. This important matter in the court must be discussed between your majesty and your high-ranking ministers..."
Before Empress Changsun could finish speaking, a voice interrupted: "Queen Mo Miao praised him. Is this boy worthy of being called Humerus?"