Chapter 488: The Way of the Monarch and the Minister

According to the literature, the glass mirror was first invented by the Venetians in Italy, about the Zhengde period, in other words, the glass mirror has only been available in Europe for less than 20 years.

In fact, even in Europe, the method of making glass mirrors is still a secret, and the local aristocracy moved the glass production workshop to the isolated island to protect it layer by layer, and implemented monopoly management to obtain huge profits.

To put it simply, there are two main steps in making a glass mirror, the first step is to fire the clear glass, and the second step is to add a reflective coating to the transparent glass.

At present, the Venetian method of adding reflective coating to glass mirrors is undoubtedly very backward compared to modern times. They first pasted a layer of shiny tin platinum on the transparent glass, then poured mercury, which dissolved the tin platinum and made it stick to the glass to form a reflective coating, and then applied a layer of protective paint to make a mirror.

This kind of mercury glass mirror was troublesome to make, and because mercury was toxic, it was gradually phased out, and people began to use silver plating. The production method is very simple, the glass is soaked in a silver solution, and then the silver ions in the silver solution are reduced by using glucose, and the reduced silver ions will stick to the glass to form a reflective coating, which is the so-called "silver mirror reaction".

However, silver plating is expensive to make, and modern mirrors have switched to aluminum plating, and the effect is better than silver, making the mirror brighter.

Of course, Xu Jin is not an engineering man, so he naturally doesn't know how the plating of modern mirrors is made, he just provided Sun Laosan with a general idea, and then let him study it himself, but he didn't expect this kid to be really talented, and it was only a month before and after, and he really let him get the glass mirror out.

At this moment, in the living room of the front yard of the Xu Mansion, Sun Laosan and Kang Bo both looked excited, and 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, and immediately saw himself in the mirror, as well as Zhu Houxi's handsome face that made women jealous, this kid was probing his brain next to him, and finally simply snatched the mirror from Xu Jin's hand, and said excitedly: "Let me ...... Ahem, let me see! ”

The brightness of this glass mirror is naturally not as bright as that of a modern aluminum mirror, but the quality is definitely comparable to that Western mirror, Xu Jin is naturally very satisfied, and nodded approvingly: "Sun Laosan, the mirror is made well, and the official will reward you with three months' wages." ”

Sun Li rubbed his hands and smiled shyly: "My lord, this plating method was thought up by Kang Lao and the small one together, and the small one didn't dare to monopolize the credit." ”

Xu Jin smiled when he heard this: "Then Comber will also reward three wages!" ”

Comber was so happy that he couldn't see his teeth when he heard this, and said in a loud voice: "The little one thanked the adults for the reward." ”

Zhu Houxi asked with great interest: "How did you make the plating 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 Tianyan, the plating of the glass mirror was a secret, so naturally they couldn't say it casually.

Xu Jin smiled: "But it doesn't hurt to say it, this is one of the masters of our workshop." ”

Sun Li and Comber couldn't help but be relieved, and the former briefly explained the production method of glass plating.

It turned out that Sun Laosan had been immersed in the study of the plating of Western mirrors since he entered the workshop, but at this time there was no method such as elemental analysis. So Sun Laosan studied for a few days and couldn't figure it out, and finally simply let go of his hands and did it himself, trying to apply ink and paint...... And so on, dozens of methods are not effective.

It was so coincidental that when he was burning the glass a few days ago, Comber accidentally dropped a silver bean into the stove. At that time, Comber was still very sorry, but when the glass came out, Sun Laosan unexpectedly found that the silver bean had melted into a small pool of silver platinum and stuck to the glass, and the position of the silver platinum could clearly reflect the thing.

This discovery made Sun Laosan overjoyed, so he and Comber studied it for several days without sleep, and finally invented a method to plate glass mirrors with silver.

Zhu Houxi couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "Then your luck is not bad." ”

Xu Jin smiled: "It's not that they are lucky, it's just that success has always favored those who are prepared, if it were someone else, they might not find this phenomenon." ”

Zhu Houxi smiled and said: "Yes, but if this glass mirror is coated with silver, wouldn't the cost be very high?" ”

Comber grinned and said: "This little boy is to the point, the old man has roughly estimated that it costs a penny to build a mirror of this size, and the bigger the mirror, the more it will cost, and ordinary people are afraid that they can't afford it." ”

Xu Jin didn't care, even in Europe now, mercury mirrors are also valuables, not to mention the mirrors coated with silver, a few dollars of silver and a few taels of silver are really nothing, I believe that once this kind of mirror comes out, I am afraid that ten taels of silver a piece, those upper-class nobles will also flock to it. In addition, it is a monopoly production, so there is no worry about sales at all, which is a profitable business.

At that moment, Xu Jin asked Dabao to supervise the production of 100 glass mirrors to test the waters, and then expand production when the market was opened.

Xu Jin sent Sun Laosan and Kang Bo away, and Zhu Houxi 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: "Your Majesty, don't you think you look very philistine now?" That has the appearance of a half-point ninety-five! ”

Zhu Houxi said disapprerovingly: "This is not to make the poor, don't talk nonsense, how much can you make in the glass business?" I have a number in my heart. ”

Xu Jin estimated a little and replied: "The minister plans to sell a mirror for ten taels of silver, as far as our Ming gentry class is concerned, it is not a problem to sell 30,000 yuan......

Zhu Houxi's eyes suddenly widened, and he blurted out: "Isn't that two or three hundred thousand taels of silver?" ”

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

Xu Jin said with a smile: "You have to deduct all kinds of costs, and it would be good to have a profit of 200,000 taels in the end." ”

Zhu Houxi rolled his eyes and said, "The profit of 200,000 taels of silver, this is not bad?" Profiteers, big profiteers, but I like ...... Hahaha. However, 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 are not short of this money, besides, if they don't buy ours, there is nowhere else to buy it." Moreover, glass is a fragile product, and it is estimated that there will be many people who will come back to buy it. ”

Zhu Houxi's face was flushed with excitement, Xu Jin was equivalent to getting him a hen that could lay golden eggs, could he not be happy?

Zhu Houxi rubbed his hands and said a little embarrassedly: "Xu Jin, or let's divide the mirror business equally." ”

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

Xu Jin hurriedly waved his hand and said: "The emperor helps the world at the same time, it is understandable to take a large share, the minister only supports a small family, and three percent is enough!" ”

Although with the current relationship between the two monarchs and ministers, it is okay to occasionally make some harmless jokes, but when it comes to actual interests, Xu Jin has always been cautious, and must not go beyond the way of monarchs and ministers, what will happen to Shen Wansan, who is richer than Zhu Yuanzhang? Raid the house and fill the army, you have a life to earn money and no life to spend!

Of course, Emperor Jiajing is naturally not as brutal as Lao Zhu, but it is still the same sentence, the most fickle thing in the world is the human heart, and it is best for those who are ministers to abide by the way of being ministers.

Therefore, no matter how much you are better than you, those who are in politics can't be high, and those who are in business can't be rich and rival the country, otherwise it's just cooking oil with fire, and the cattle are in the end, unless you have the ability to replace them!

The two chatted for about half an hour, and the little emperor left the Xu Mansion and returned to the palace with brisk steps. Huang Jin, the imperial eunuch who accompanied him, couldn't help but secretly sigh that every time the emperor left the Xu Mansion, he was in a happy mood, and it was no wonder that Jing Anbo was favored by the emperor, incomparable, incomparable!