"Redstone is indeed a very good dye, but it is not irreplaceable, in addition to redstone, there are many kinds of minerals and even plants can also be used as raw materials for extracting red dye, red dye market is fiercely competitive, and the profit is not high."

The Fogel family had a printing and dyeing factory, and Anthony knew the industry better, first poured cold water on Semyon Ivanovich, who planned to open a dye factory, and then pointed out a new idea.

"Instead of opening a dye factory, it is better to use redstone to refine mercury, which is an expensive alchemy material and casting material, and the profit is much higher than selling dye."

"I've heard people say that redstone can be used as a raw material for refining mercury, but what is the use of mercury? It seems that only mages and alchemists are interested, and the group of spellcasters in the Far East is too small, and most of them are deep and simple, and it is difficult to sell the mercury produced. Semyon smiled slightly wryly.

"That's ......," Anthony had to admit that he had an unreliable idea, rubbing his chin and muttering, "In addition to being used as a spell casting material, mercury actually has other uses...... For example, it is used to make barometers and thermometers. ”

"That's a good idea!" Xie Miao's eyes lit up, "Barometers and thermometers are both essential instruments in the industrial field, and there is a lot of market demand in Karon Industrial Zone alone, Master Anthony, thank you for helping me come up with a good idea!" ”

Anthony waved his hand very forcefully, "It's a little thing, don't care, I wish your factory a speedy start and a prosperous business." ”

"Barometers and thermometers are complicated, aren't they?" Lyudmila inquired curiously.

"With the current level of industry in the Far East, it is not easy for these two instruments to reach the standard of precision." Barometers and thermometers are high-end instruments in the world of Vales, and Roland has been fortunate enough to see them a few times, which are much larger than similar instruments on the planet and less precise, "There are three main difficulties in the manufacturing process, one is that the instrument needs to be matched with high-quality glassware, the second is to keep the vessel sealed and kept in a vacuum, and the third is that mercury is a dangerous substance, and inhalation after evaporation can cause poisoning." ”

Xie Miao was dumbfounded when he heard this, and only spoke after a while: "There are two factories that produce glassware in the industrial area, but it is difficult to prevent mercury vapor poisoning, unless an alchemist is invited to take charge of it, no one dares to do the link of refining redstone into mercury alone." ”

"Not only an alchemist, but also a warlock to ensure the precision and stability of the instrument." Roland smiled lightly, "These are not problems, I will say hello to Jack and Kafta from the Ordnance Institute when I go back, and ask them to provide comprehensive guidance from alchemy to mechanical techniques for the instrument factory, as for how to thank these two technical consultants, I don't need to say, you can do it yourself." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your advice!" The future owner of the instrument factory was overjoyed, "I am not an ignorant person, and I will definitely thank the two consultants." ”

Anthony was a little moved when he heard this, and said to Semyon Ivanovich: "With the gradual expansion of the industrial scale in the Far East, the demand for steam engines will also rise sharply, and steam engines are indispensable for thermometers and barometers. ”

"Of course I don't mind!" Xie Miao's face was full of beard and his smile trembled, "I'm worried that I can't get investment, Young Master Anthony has really helped me a lot!" ”

"If you are short of money, you should look for Roland, this is the big boss of the Central Bank of the Far East." Anthony said with a smile.

"You don't have bad ideas, the money of the central bank belongs to the state, not Roland's personal!" Lyudmila had a righteous face, "If you are short of money to set up a factory, you have to go through the formal procedures and apply for a loan from the bank...... Is the instrument factory a key industrial project? She turned to look at Roland.

"Precision industrial instrument and equipment manufacturing plant, the products involve military equipment, in line with the standards of key support projects." Roland gave an affirmative reply, and then pointed to Semyon Ivanovich, "You make a report, apply for a policy loan from the China Development Bank under the central bank, the interest rate is much lower than that of commercial loans, but this money is not so easy to get, special funds are the most basic principle, and they must be audited every quarter to ensure that every copper plate is used in practice." ”

Anthony was depressed when he heard the "financial audit", and made a look at Semyon Ivanovich and made an explicit hint: "If you apply for a loan from the China Development Bank, I will not be able to participate in your instrument factory, otherwise there is an interest relationship between us, and I will no longer be able to interfere in the financial audit of the instrument factory!" ”

Xie Miao nodded in understanding, and secretly worried: Is it more promising to partner with the young master of the Fogel family to do business, or is it more cost-effective to apply for a low-interest loan? It's really a blissful annoyance.

Roland was also very satisfied with Anthony's attitude, although this kid was a little treacherous, but as he himself declared, there was still a little bit of "integrity" - the law did not prohibit anything, but he would rather not earn money that violated professional principles.

Roland and his entourage walked around this desolate hillside for more than half an hour, talking about the printing and dyeing industry from red stone, and then talking about mercury and instrument factories, and their interest was undiminished. It wasn't until Semyon urged everyone to go down the mountain to visit another factory that Roland suddenly thought of another important use of mercury.

"Semyon, you just mentioned that there are two glass processing factories in the industrial zone, do these two factories have any plans to produce mirrors?"

"Mirror ......" Semyon Ivanovich was confused by His Royal Highness's leapfrog way of thinking, "The products of the glass factory are mainly all kinds of utensils, bottles and cans, I really haven't heard that they have any plans to produce mirrors, besides, most of the mirrors are made of bronze, right?" ”

"Roland is talking about the kind of high-end mirrors made of glass with metal plating on the back, also known as 'crystal mirrors', and the copper mirrors used by ordinary people in the Far East are not the same thing." Girls always know more about dressing utensils, and Lyudmila's dresser has a large glass mirror, which is much clearer than the copper mirror, and of course more expensive and fragile, which is the standard "luxury" of this era.

"Glass mirrors...... "The middle-aged uncle with a beard on his face was confused, "I'm really sorry, I don't know anything about this industry, and there is currently no factory specializing in the production of glass mirrors in Karon Industrial Zone." ”

"Not to mention the rare glass mirror in the Far East, it is also an expensive luxury in the Imperial Holy City, the manufacturing principle of the glass mirror is very simple, that is, to coat the back of the transparent glass plate with a layer of reflective paint, but the specific manufacturing process is much more complicated, the difficulty lies in the formula of that layer of paint." Anthony points out the key aspects of the mirror-making process.