Li Shimin has now vaguely begun to enjoy the "Li Mu-style" life. This leisurely roasting some meat and drinking some wine is the joy of life.
As if he had guessed what Li Shimin was thinking, Li Mu suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I have an immature suggestion for you. Do you think you can explain it?"
"What?"
"I advise your Majesty not to go to court every day."
"Huh?" Li Shimin was confused after hearing this. Looking at the historical records, being an emperor always puts diligence first. Only those who dislike the emperor are lazy, but not those who dislike the emperor's diligence. Going to court every day, isn't it what a wise king should do?
If you don’t go to court, what kind of advice is this?
"I think it's a waste of time." Li Mu suddenly became serious and explained: "Your Majesty, I don't go to court very often, but occasionally, I found some shortcomings. For example, I mentioned one thing. Your Majesty knows today
Can it be solved tomorrow? Not necessarily. It cannot be solved. Your Majesty will definitely ask, but some things take time and cannot be solved even if you ask. This will make your Majesty worried and your ministers nervous."
Li Shimin snorted and said: "It's right for me to worry about the world, and it's right for my ministers to be nervous. Do I have to go to court in order to make them less nervous? If I don't go to court, am I still the emperor?"
"Why doesn't it count? What does it matter? I feel sorry for Your Majesty. Do you think you are living a happy life now? You get up every morning, go to court after eating, and listen to what a group of ministers say to each other.
It’s endless. At court, there are still a bunch of memorials, and it’s still endless. Your Majesty, how can there be any quality of life at all? Last time I heard from Uncle Cheng that the original rules of the polo match were set by your Majesty.
.It can be seen that His Majesty is a person who loves football, but now that the polo match has been played for almost two months, His Majesty has no time to watch one."
Li Mu sighed with emotion and said: "Your Majesty, whether it is you, my ministers, or just anyone on the streets of Chang'an City, we all have only one life. The gods say immortality, but which one is truly immortal? Princes, generals, and ministers, after death
They are all the same. I don’t know what Your Majesty thinks. Anyway, I can’t work all the time in this life. I have to rest and do something I like.” He pointed to the sizzling barbecue.
Said: "This is one thing."
Li Shimin listened to Li Mu's words, pondered for a while, and suddenly laughed: "That sounds old-fashioned, how old are you, and have you experienced life and death?"
"I just have a small suggestion."
"I will consider it." After a pause, Li Shimin said again: "What were you planning to do today? I'm full too, let's see what you're busy with."
"My plan today is to make a batch of colored glaze." This was not Li Mu's plan for today. It was a plan changed after Li Shimin came. He wanted Li Shimin to see him "with his own eyes" when he was firing the glass, and to "use it"
He bought silver and confirmed that silver and colored glaze were equal, which was crucial to his future plans.
Sure enough, Li Shimin asked Li Mu to calculate it accurately. He couldn't resist his curiosity about the colored glaze and said, "Can I see how the colored glaze is made? If it's inconvenient, I won't force it." Even so,
The expression on his face was, if you dare to say no, I will deal with you.
Li Mu wouldn't dare to say no, and there was no need. He had already rehearsed the process to ensure that no mistakes would be seen.
"Your Majesty, please move."
Li Mu didn't waste any time and took Li Shimin to his studio. Since the windows were replaced with colored glass, the studio looked much brighter. Li Shimin looked here and there, his eyes full of curiosity.
"Eunuch Gao, can you help me later?"
Before Eunuch Gao could speak, Li Shimin volunteered and said, "How can you help me? I'll help you."
"It's nothing." Li Mu pointed to the box under the table and said, "When the stove starts to fire, when I say 'put it', just pour the silver ingots in the box into the stove evenly in batches."
Li Shimin opened the box, and it turned out to be a box of silver ingots. They were all twelve silver ingots, which were heavy in his hand. The box was full, and by visual inspection there were at least two thousand ingots. Li Shimin looked at the silver ingots, and then looked at them again.
He looked at the stove and said suspiciously: "Li Mu, are you going to throw this silver ingot into the stove?"
"Yes!" Li Musha said in a pretentious manner: "I studied for a long time before mastering the secret recipe for making colored glaze. The secret recipe is not difficult. In fact, colored glaze is just made of sand and stone. The key lies in the control of the fire and the silver.
Why couldn't craftsmen in the past find a way to make colored glaze? One word, money! They didn't have the chance to try it, but I did. By chance, when I was doing an experiment, the silver ingot in my sleeve fell into the furnace.
, a magical thing happened, the red-hot sand in the furnace crystallized, and then gradually became transparent, turning into glass! So, I got this secret method through some combination of circumstances."
"It sounds like you are lucky. Light the stove quickly and let me see how sand and gravel turn into glass."
"As commanded."
Li Mu filled the coke into the furnace and explained the difference between coke and coal while filling it. Then he lit the furnace and waited for the furnace to slowly heat up. Then he took a small sieve, crushed the quartz sand and feldspar, and then put the alkali into the furnace.
Li Shimin was really not idle when the stone was crushed into powder. He followed Li Mu and pushed the roller very fast. Although he didn't know how to do it, it was obvious that he was not sparing any effort.
"Your Majesty, although they are sand and gravel, they are also different." Li Mu picked up a piece of alkali stone and showed it to Li Shimin, saying: "This kind of stone is rarely found near Chang'an City. I checked the files in Yubu and found out that this kind of stone is rare."
Stones are everywhere in Tuyuhun. If we mass-produce glass in the future, we will have to buy stones from Tuyuhun to ensure the safety."
"What to buy!" Li Shimin groaned and said: "Tuyuhun is double-dealing. Since the previous dynasty, he has been switching sides between Tubo, the Central Plains, and the Western Turks. Sooner or later, I will destroy it, so I want to buy stones from them? Do I look like a fool?
?”
Li Mu complained in his heart, this is the logic of bandits. He fell in love with someone else's minerals, but he didn't want to buy it with money. He even tried to rob them and planned to kill them. Li Mu was still convinced by this kind of gangster thinking.
All the basic raw materials were poured into the furnace. As the fire heated up, the stones in the furnace were heated until they turned red, like red-hot coals. However, because they had not reached the melting point, there was no sign of melting.
In essence, this kind of furnace will never reach the melting point of quartz stone, so it must have a 'glass auxiliary material package' sold in system stores. This thing is like a catalyst for chemical experiments. Just a little bit will do it.
Let the ingredients blend.
And Li Mu hid this 'catalyst' in the silver ingot.