Liu Tan's slap on his thigh startled Gongshu Yi. He looked at Liu Tan cautiously and asked, "Your Highness?"
Liu Tan took a deep breath and said, "It's okay, I just... never expected it."
He went through so much trouble, and in the end it can be solved with just some salt?
Of course, using some salt is actually quite a luxury in this era. After all, ordinary people have not yet achieved salt freedom, but this is already a method.
Liu Tan quickly ordered someone to tell the craftsmen to do it according to this method.
Of course, the so-called low temperature in low-temperature ion exchange is also relative. This low temperature refers to the temperature zone lower than the strain point of glass. Liu Tan estimated that it should be around 400 degrees, but their thermometer is not accurate to this number yet, so he simply let those people try it. Anyway, they have found a method, and it will be much easier to experiment with temperature.
After Liu Tan gave his instructions, he turned to look at Gongshu Yi and said with great emotion, "Your recipe is really a great help."
Otherwise, according to his imagination, he would never think of using salt!
Facts have proved that having knowledge in your head is useless if you cannot use it flexibly. What is the difference between that and having no knowledge at all?
Gongshu was quite flattered and said quickly, "I'm glad I could help Your Highness."
Liu Tan said, "Your family's situation is rather special. I intend to reinstate the Winter Official position and have asked the Prime Minister to prepare for it. It just so happens that it will take some time for your father to arrive, so let's wait until he arrives before granting the position."
Gongshu Yi's eyes widened: "Dong...Dongguan?"
Liu Tan was afraid he might misunderstand, so he briefly explained, "It's quite different from the Zhou Dynasty's Winter Palace."
Gongshu Yi instantly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "If Your Highness wants my father to be the Winter Palace Official, I... wouldn't dare to do that."
In the Zhou Dynasty, the duties of the Winter Official were quite important. Although the Gongshu family was looking forward to becoming an official so that they could be proud in front of the Mohist school, they were unable to do the work of the Winter Official. Even if his father were really asked to do it, he would not dare to do it.
Moreover, the official position set up by Liu Tan was to their liking. They still remembered the foundation of the Gongshu family over the years. If their time was wasted on other trivial matters and their skills declined, then not only would His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory be unhappy, but even other people in the family would definitely not accept it.
The patriarch of the Gongshu family was not succeeded by his son after the father's death, but was chosen based on his own ability, and was more cruel and ruthless.
Now he can be an official and continue to hone himself, and Gongshu can also see that the King of the Northern Territory seems to have another system of mechanical technology, which is what Gongshu values more.
However, even if the King of the North is generous, if you want someone else's things, you have to exchange them for something of equal value.
All they could do was to meet the Northern King's requirements as much as possible, and then learn something in the process. It didn't need to be too much, just enough to further improve the Gongshu family's mechanical skills, so that his father's position could be more stable.
Gongshu Yi was originally a leader of their generation. In addition, after he arrived in the Northern Border Kingdom, he sought an official position for his family. There was a high possibility that he would become the next clan leader.
The most important thing is that he is very familiar with the King of the North!
Gongshu Yi was getting happier the more he thought about it. Suddenly, he heard Liu Tan say, "There might be Mohists among the officials assigned to the Winter Palace. When that happens, I hope to see healthy competition, not unscrupulous suppression. Do you understand?"
Gongshu Yi was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Liu Tan. He was unhappy at that moment. In his opinion, since his father was the Winter Official, it would be best for him to have members of his family as the subordinate officials.
But after seeing Liu Tan's warning look, Gongshu Yi's slightly heated brain cooled down a lot.
Only then did he realize that the Winter Official was only appointed to his father and did not really belong to their family.
The other officials also had to be selected by the court of the Northern Border Kingdom. It was only because he had previously improved the hand crossbow and the pedal crossbow, and contributed the method of firing glass, that his father stood out.
Gongshu Yi asked cautiously, "What if the Mohists refuse?"
Liu Tan glanced at him, knowing what he was thinking. He sneered and said, "It's up to them if they want to come or not. But the Gongshu family and the Mohist school aren't the only ones in the world who know mechanical engineering. And what I want is not just mechanical engineering, I want to study things and gain knowledge!"
Investigate things to acquire knowledge.
Gongshu Yi read these four words again and felt that he seemed to understand, but also seemed not to understand. He looked at Liu Tan in confusion and asked, "Then what does Your Highness want us to do?"
Liu Tan waved his hand: "The rest of the things are not yours to do. When your father comes, I will personally instruct him."
When Gongshu Yi was leaving, his thoughts were similar to Huo Guang's before. He also felt as if he had been tricked by the King of the Northern Territory.
The King of the North knew very well that their family was seeking official positions in order to increase the family's influence and also to find a way out for the family. The King of the North saw this and added an extra department specifically for them.
What they are waiting for is the leader of the Gongshu family to come with the core of the entire family.
Gongshu Yi thought about it for a moment, then laughed at himself. Even if they could guess, what would it matter? Even if they knew it was a trap, they would still step into it without hesitation.
The fact that someone of the Northern King's status could set a trap indirectly proves that they have the ability to do so, and also shows that the greater the danger, the greater the reward.
What's more, the King of the North treats his own people very kindly and would not really cheat them.
Liu Tan didn't know what Gongshu Yi was thinking. He was happily waiting for the tempered glass to be born.
Hey, it would be better to call it salted glass than tempered glass. But when he thought about it, he realized that he himself was misled by the name, so others would definitely be misled as well, so it’s better not to change the name.
After all, the formula of glass...is actually not that difficult to know.
The entire production process is similar to that of firing glass, but it is easier because of the use of honeycomb coal.
Since he has honeycomb coal, other people can have it too, at least they can buy it from him. Does he prohibit the sale of honeycomb coal just to prevent others from burning glass?
Impossible. In fact, Liu Tan wanted honeycomb coal to sell well more than anyone else, so that he could pay more taxes and Huo Guang would feel a little more relaxed.
The only key point of glass now is to remove iron impurities.
Liu Tan sat in his study and thought, actually he didn't intend to keep this recipe to himself.
Because he did make glass from the beginning just to give Liu Che something new, but because of the previous kang incident, he paid special attention to the current situation of the people.
Nowadays, ordinary people’s windows are basically covered with reed curtains in the summer and sealed with wooden boards in the winter.
Yes, in order to keep warm, people will directly close the windows. They may open them for ventilation when people are not at home during the day, but they are closed most of the time.
Because there was no paper in those days, there was no light-transmitting window paper. For example, the nobles would use very thin mica or shell pieces in winter, while in summer, the rich used hemp, and the palace used window gauze.
He had also felt it was inconvenient before, but not to that extent. Now that he knew the lives of ordinary people, he found it unbearable when he thought about the winter when they had to endure darkness in the house or rely on a little light coming through the cracks.
So he wanted to promote glass, but in order to improve the living standards of the people, he also had to take into account the feelings of high-ranking officials and nobles.
They won't be happy if the things they use are the same as those used by ordinary people.
Especially Liu Che, if Liu Che knew about it... Liu Tan thought about it and thought that Liu Che would probably take him to Chang'an to receive love education.
Thinking about the fact that he wanted to hold the Lantern Festival in Shuofang City but forgot that Emperor Liu Che in Chang'an was unhappy, this would only make him even more unhappy.
So the solution to all problems lies in tempered glass.
Well, ordinary people's glass can also have one less step of removing iron impurities, so as to classify it into different grades. The lowest grade is naturally the kind of glass that is so green that it looks like a beer bottle reborn. This kind of glass is also the cheapest, after all, it has poor light transmittance.
The next step is to remove iron impurities, then two and three steps, and finally the tempered glass with the best light transmittance.
The advantage of tempered glass is that it can be made into very large pieces. In order to ensure safety and to avoid easy breakage during construction, ordinary glass will try to keep its shape smaller. Therefore, if ordinary people use it, the window frame can only be made into grids and then the glass is embedded in it.
In this way, the classes of princes and nobles were separated from the ordinary wealthy families and common people.
The more Liu Tan thought about it, the more he felt that this method was good. He simply pulled the map over and was about to choose a place in the industrial zone as a glass kiln. The kiln in the palace would only be used as an experimental device.
Generally, when there is no experiment, the kiln is basically in a cold state.
But just as he was about to start writing, he thought for a moment and, in order not to let the newly built industrial zone go to waste, he cautiously put down his pen. He turned around and asked Miao Rui to hand the map to Zhu Shanfu, saying, "Help me choose a plot from the workshop area."
Zhu Shan was stunned for a moment, looked at Liu Tan in confusion and asked, "What?"
Liu Tan coughed lightly and said, "Don't worry about it. Just click on whatever you like."
Zhu Shanfu hesitated for a moment, circled out a piece without asking any more questions.
Liu Tan took a look and found that the place where Zhu Shan was clapping his hands was similar to the one he had previously selected, and he nodded with satisfaction.
He remembered his previous thoughts and decided to ask Huo Guang to be on the safe side.
Just as he was thinking about this, someone happened to come and report: "Your Highness, the Prime Minister requests an audience."
Liu Tan had him brought in and said with a smile, "I'm looking for you for something."
Huo Guang's eyelids twitched. Liu Tan's visit to him... must be up to no good, so he spoke before Liu Tan could say anything: "If Your Highness's matter is not urgent, please put it aside for now. I have something to report to Your Highness."
Seeing his serious expression, Liu Tan asked, "What's the matter?"
Huo Guang handed him a document that detailed the recent events in the refugee camp. Jiang Chong had already captured someone, but the mastermind behind the scenes had not yet been discovered.
After reading it, Liu Tan raised an eyebrow and said, "Have all those who spread the rumors been caught? Have no one slipped through the net?"
Huo Guang shook his head. "Jiang Chong and Wei Buyi investigated for a long time and only stopped after they were sure."
Liu Tan nodded and said simply, "Well, kill him."
Huo Guang: "Ah?"
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