The plan of the year lies in the spring, and the plan of the day lies in the morning. The ancients liked to do everything early, for example, the officials of the Ming Dynasty went to work very early, of course, they got off work very early, and at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the officials of various ministries and institutes left the official office one after another and went home.

Xu Jin originally made an appointment with Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, to talk about things after work, but Master Fei asked him to come over tonight, so he could only send someone to inform Xu Pengju to postpone the meeting until tomorrow.

Xu Jin returned to the house, first went back to the backyard to change his regular clothes, and played with his wife and children for a while, and then planned to go out to see Master Fei, but then the housekeeper Dabao ran in with a happy face and said: "Master, it has been made, and the transparent glass has been made?" ”

Xu Jin stood up suddenly and said in surprise: "It was made by Comber?" ”

Last summer, Xu Jin set up a glass-burning workshop in the outer city, and found a retired craftsman named Comber to study transparent glass, but a year has passed, and still no transparent glass has been studied, and hundreds of taels of silver have been spent, of which the loss of raw materials accounts for the majority of the cost.

Dabao shook his head and said: "That's not it, a man named Sun Li came to the workshop today, claiming to be from Yanshen Town, Shandong, saying that he was looking for you, master, and he had a piece of transparent glass in his hand." ”

Xu Jin suddenly said: "It turned out to be him, where is the person now?" ”

Dabao said smartly: "The little one has already brought him back to the house, and he is waiting outside." ”

Xu Jin said approvingly: "Dabao, good job, go, bring people to the living room, and I'll be there later!" ”

"Okay!" Dabao happily withdrew.

Xu Jin kissed his son's chubby little face, and took advantage of the situation to pat his son's mother's bright red little mouth, which caused his wife to be coquettish, and then Shi Shiran walked out of the house.

in the living room. The third child of the Sun family sat on the chair nervously, his legs together, a gray cloth burden resting on his lap, and his hands were protected, as if he would be snatched away by others.

It is said that last year in Liubu Town, Shandong, Xu Jin promised Sun Li that as long as he made completely transparent glass, he would reward him with 3,000 taels of silver, so after Sun Li returned to his hometown in Yanshen Town, Qingzhou, he immediately started to study and fire transparent glass. After spending several months and investing dozens of taels of silver, last month he was actually allowed to burn transparent glass.

Sun Laosan was overjoyed, and after discussing with his family, he immediately packed his luggage and went to Beijing, and found the glass workshop according to the address left by Xu Jin. However, sitting in the luxurious living room of the Xu Mansion at the moment, Sun Laosan was suffering from gains and losses, and was a little worried that Xu Jin would not fulfill his promise, if so, then the dozens of taels of silver he invested would be wasted, and he would also take a few months to travel back and forth.

Just when Sun Laosan was nervous, a handsome young man in a brocade robe walked out from behind the screen calmly, with red lips and white teeth, and a peaceful smile on his face. Sun Laosan recognized it at a glance, and immediately stood up and knelt down and saluted: "The grass people have seen Lord Xu." ”

Although Xu Jin didn't like to kneel, he could only follow the customs, and said with a smile: "Get up, don't be polite." Sun Laosan, this official heard that you made transparent glass, but is there such a thing? ”

Perhaps infected by Xu Jin's smile, Sun Laosan's uneasiness in his heart was dispelled from the moment he saw Xu Jin, and his intuition told him that the Lord Xu in front of him would definitely not break his word, so he stood up and replied with a little pride: "Thanks to the blessing of the Xu people, the grass people have indeed made transparent glass!" ”

After Sun Li finished speaking, he opened the baggage, took out an irregular transparent object from it, about the size of a brick, and respectfully handed it over and said, "My lord, please take a look." ”

Xu Jin took it and took a closer look, tapped it again, and nodded: "Yes, it's this kind of transparent glass." ”

Sun Li's face was full of joy, and he rubbed his hands and said cautiously: "My lord said that there would be three thousand silver to make transparent glass...... Hehe! ”

Xu Jin said with a smile: "Don't worry, this official will do what he says, and he will never break his word." Sun Laosan, take a look at this thing first! With that, he took out the glass mirror and handed it over.

Sun Li was slightly stunned, cautiously took the mirror and looked at it, and said in surprise: "My lord, this is ...... Glass mirrors? ”

Xu Jin nodded and said, "Yes, the glass mirror made by Westerners is a hundred times clearer than the copper mirror." ”

Sun Li's heart moved, and he blurted out: "Could it be that the adults want transparent glass because they plan to build this kind of mirror?" ”

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Smart, that's true." You can make a mirror by putting a layer of things behind the clear glass, do you have the confidence to make it? ”

Sun Li flipped the glass mirror over and looked at the back, and said confidently: "If Westerners can do it, we will definitely be able to do it." ”

Xu Jin showed a hint of appreciation in his eyes and said with a smile: "Okay." Then the official will open the skylight and say something bright. Now there are two ways, the first is that the official pays 3,000 taels of silver to buy the recipe for burning transparent glass; The second is that you stay in the official's glass workshop to work, in addition to five taels of silver per month, you also account for 10% of the dry shares of the workshop, and there will be dividends every year after the workshop is put into production. ”

Sun Li's face suddenly swollen and red, and his heart was pounding with excitement, because the two choices given by Xu Jin were very tempting, three thousand taels of silver was undoubtedly a huge fortune overnight for him, but five taels of silver per month, and one percent of dry shares were also very attractive.

Sun Li hesitated for a while, and finally obviously made up his mind, patted his thigh and said, "My lord, the grass people are willing to stay in the workshop to work!" ”

As an ordinary craftsman, Sun Li dared to spend half a year and spend dozens of taels of silver to study transparent glass, and he was obviously a person with courage and vision, so he made a wise choice after a little measurement. Let's not talk about the dry stocks, it is worth it to be able to climb Xu Jin's thighs.

Xu Jin's eyes were even more appreciative, and he smiled: "Okay, then from tomorrow onwards, you will go to work in the workshop, cooperate with Comber, and be responsible for the development of the mirror. ”

Sun Li was overjoyed, knelt down again, and said repeatedly: "Lord Xie, the small one must make the glass mirror as soon as possible." ”

Dabao, the housekeeper standing on the side, looked envious, the house in Ming Shifang had hundreds of square meters, and he bought it with his own hands, spending nearly five hundred taels of silver.

Xu Jin nodded and said, "Dabao, arrange a place for Sun Laosan, and take him to Mingshifang's house tomorrow." ”

Sun Li happily followed Dabao out of the living room, and couldn't help asking: "Dabao housekeeper, how big is that house in Mingshifang, there are many people in the small family, if it is too narrow, I am afraid that I can't live in it." ”

Dabao said angrily: "The front and back are nearly 400 pings, worth 500 taels of silver, which was purchased by the housekeeper himself back then, and your kid has made a lot of money, be content!" ”

"Five hundred taels !!" Sun Li was so shocked that his mouth opened wide and couldn't close his mouth, his little heart was a little unbearable, like he was drunk, and he was a little floating when he walked.

The reason why Xu Jin is so generous to Sun Xin, and he gives dry shares and a house, is because he is indeed a talent, and he is a talent who has mastered the "core technology".

Making glass mirrors is a technical job, not as easy to be copied as underwear, Wei Guogong can indeed monopolize the underwear market for a short time by virtue of his power, but it must not last long, because the women of the Ming Dynasty are all ingenious, they like to do needlework by themselves, no matter how powerful Wei Guogong is, it is impossible to prohibit women from making their own underwear at home to wear!

Of course, if Wei Guogong continues to maintain his advantages in the selection and design of underwear, business still has to be done, but it is impossible to be as popular as at the beginning.

The glass mirror is different, this kind of "high-tech" stuff is generally not man-made, it is definitely a profitable business, as long as the manufacturing method is not leaked, it is easy to monopolize it for tens or hundreds of years.

No matter what the era, monopoly means a lot of money!