Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 208 Gifts
No matter how worried Hu Weiyong was, facing this situation, he felt really powerless.But, are you willing?Of course not willingly!
After thinking hard, he suddenly came up with a plan and finally had a new idea.

Now that he was still on the way back north, it was not a good time to mention it, and he also needed allies, so he took advantage of the opportunity on the way to communicate with other colleagues.

In mid-December of the 12th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang and his party returned to Nanjing.Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing finally returned to the consort's mansion after three years of absence.

There are only a few servants left here to take care of it, and it's basically the same as when they left.On the other hand, during the holidays, even though Zhang Yifan and his wife were not here, things were sent from the palace and the East Palace and piled up in the mansion.

The next day, Zhu Jingjing and Zhang Yifan entered the palace to pay their respects to Queen Ma.

After not seeing each other for three years, Queen Ma was a little older, but from Zhang Yifan's point of view, there was no sign of illness.

Empress Ma had already learned about Zhu Jingjing's pregnancy from Zhu Yuanzhang. After asking around, she gave many supplements to soothe the nerves and mend the fetus.

Later, Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing went to the East Palace, mainly to meet the princess.

What makes Zhang Yifan happy is that in the original history, the princess passed away in November of the 11th year of Hongwu.But now, he is living well. After all, the age of 24 is the time of youth.

Seeing Zhang Yifan and the pregnant Zhu Jingjing, the princess changed her dignified attitude in front of others and talked eloquently, recalling the time when Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing knew each other, and the time when she and Zhu Biao went to visit relatives in Xiangshan County. things.

Even when Zhu Xiongying knew that his aunt and uncle from Xiangshan County were back, he rushed over to meet them, shouting that he wanted to swim (play in the water).Obviously, he has always been thinking about the fun of swimming (playing in the water) in Xiangshan County.

While they were talking, Princess Ningguo also came over.

When visiting Queen Ma in the palace, Zhu Jingjing had already seen her unmarried sisters, but Princess Ningguo, her sister with the smallest age difference, got married this year and moved out of the palace, so she didn't see them.

At this time, the two sisters had not seen each other for three years, and both had changed a lot.

Zhu Jingjing even smiled and said: "I didn't expect that after three years of not seeing each other, the little girl is already married. It's a pity that my sister was not in the capital at that time."

As soon as she looked at this sister, she immediately remembered the day when she ordered her to be his consort. This stupid sister actually comforted her and said that it didn't matter even if her father didn't choose Brother Fan as his consort, she could castrate him and he would be by his side.

Now that my sister has grown up, she probably knows what a stupid suggestion she made back then, right?
Thinking about this, she felt a little funny, so she turned to look at Zhang Yifan who was holding Zhu Xiongying, and Zhang Yifan was a little confused.

Princess Ning Guo may have remembered this. She followed her eldest sister's gaze and looked at her eldest brother-in-law. Her face immediately turned red. Then she quickly spoke and changed the subject: "Sister, brother-in-law, since you are back, then make up for what you gave me." Give me a gift! Don’t tell me that you didn’t bring any special products when you came back from Xiangshan County?”

Zhu Jingjing felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, so she turned to look at Zhang Yifan.

There was originally still time to prepare, but unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang ran over with all the civil and military officials, disrupting their plan.So much so that Zhu Jingjing had no time to think about what to bring, and had to follow Zhu Yuanzhang back north in a hurry.

When the princess saw this, she immediately realized that Zhu Jingjing most likely did not prepare a gift.Because she came to the East Palace empty-handed, she smiled and helped Zhu Jingjing: "Your sister and brother-in-law prepared such a big gift for my father in Xiangshan County. This is already better than any gift. Look at it." Father is very happy..."

Indeed, what she said was definitely a huge gift for Zhu Yuanzhang and the prince Zhu Biao who would be the emperor in the future.However, Princess Ning Guo got married, and all the children she gave birth to were named Mei. Do you use this reason to argue against her?

Of course, if you insist on saying it, that’s fine!
After all, Princess Ningguo is also a princess, and the Ming Dynasty is stable, so what Princess Ningguo enjoys is glory and wealth, right?

However, before the concubine finished speaking, she was interrupted by Zhang Yifan, who said with a smile: "I did prepare a gift when I came back this time. Besides, but since the eldest sister asked, I can reveal a thing or two first."

When Princess Ning Guo asked for a gift, she was just being coquettish to her sister. Otherwise, it would be shameless for her to reach out and ask for a gift even though she is already married.

Unexpectedly, this brother-in-law actually prepared a gift.However, she looked at her sister's expression just now, as if her sister didn't know, so she became a little curious, and asked: "What gift is it? Take it out and see?"

"You can't take it out now!" Zhang Yifan heard this and said with a smile, "It's shares!"

In the past, there was no term for shares, but with the popularity of Xiangshan County, some new terms have been passed on.Upon hearing this, Princess Ningguo confirmed in surprise, "Shares, what shares?"

Up and down the court, the hottest, most popular, and most enviable thing discussed now was shares, but what they were discussing were the shares of the bank that the emperor was about to set up in the capital.

But no matter what, in the eyes of people in the capital today, the word share means a lot of money.

Upon hearing this word, even the princess opened her eyes wide and stared at Zhang Yifan in surprise.

Zhang Yifan glanced at Zhu Jingjing, who was a little confused, and then said with a smile: "I have figured out a new thing, which is colored glaze, the colorless and transparent kind. I call it glass, and I am going to bake this glass and sell it. , we will set up a factory in the form of shares. Although Jing Jing and I can open this kind of factory with our current salary, I am still willing to use shares to let my father, eldest brother, second brother, etc., as well as my eldest sister, The second sister and others are also involved. How about it, do you want it?"

The cement was dedicated to the imperial court in exchange for the opportunity to compete for the prince's consort; this glass, he did not intend to dedicate to the imperial court, and regarded it as an inheritance passed down from generation to generation.

This property has bound the entire royal family in the form of shares. As long as the Ming Dynasty is still there, this glass factory should never fail.

But who would have thought that after hearing this, Princess Ning Guo immediately frowned and said, "Colorless colored glaze doesn't look good at all. Can you sell it?"

Zhang Yifan: "..."

After hearing this, the Crown Princess was a little disappointed and said: "Yifan, I thought you had come up with something wonderful, but it turns out it's just colorless colored glaze! Isn't that just crystal? I like this thing. There aren’t many people!”

Girls love to be beautiful, and of course they love to be colorful.

However, there are exceptions. After hearing this, Zhu Jingjing immediately retorted: "Brother Fan must be doing things for a reason and cannot be judged by common sense!"

After hearing this, Zhang Yifan laughed and said, "My wife still understands me!"

Princess Ningguo looked at Zhu Jingjing, then at Zhang Yifan, and finally asked uncertainly: "Can you really make money?" After she finished speaking, she thought for a while, and then added: "If I have to choose, I like red, Other colors are just fine, if there is no color at all, then I definitely won’t like it!”

In the history of China, why glass was not developed in the end, but glass was developed. This has something to do with the aesthetics of ancient people. Otherwise, craftsmen who have been pondering for thousands of years will definitely be able to figure it out.

Zhang Yifan listened and said with a smile: "Colorless and transparent glass is of course not as beautiful as colored glaze. However, it can be used in many places and is very useful."

Hearing his words, the Crown Princess suddenly waved over to a maid and gave instructions in a low voice. Then she saw the maid hurried out.

The Crown Princess smiled and said to Zhang Yifan: "Yifan, the price of glass...that is, crystal is indeed not bad, but it is the least valuable of all jade."

When Zhang Yifan heard this, he immediately nodded and said, "Yes, it's crystal, the kind without impurities."

While he was talking, he saw the maid who had just gone out holding something in her hand.

Zhang Yifan turned his head to look and was stunned for a moment.But he quickly came to his senses and knew that this was definitely not glass, but crystal.

Sure enough, the Crown Princess took it, looked at it, and then handed it to Zhang Yifan and said, "Look, this is the crystal deer paperweight used by your elder brother."

Zhang Yifan put Zhu Xiongying down, walked over and reached out to take it, and then looked at it carefully.I have to say that the crystal used by the prince is indeed of the highest quality. It is crystal clear and has no impurities. It is almost the same as the colorless and transparent glass of later generations.

Seeing him looking at it, the princess said: "This kind of thing is just a rare thing to buy. It will definitely not be bought by many people like cement."

What he said was that he was still not optimistic about the glass factory that Zhang Yifan was going to establish.

At this time, Zhang Yifan had walked back to Zhu Jingjing and sat down, then handed the crystal deer paperweight to his wife to see, then looked up at the princess, smiled and shook his head and said: "Sister-in-law, you have never seen this before, this kind of shamelessness The transparent crystal, or the glass I will bake in the future, actually has very great uses, even if it is not as good as cement, it is not much different!"

People today, even the flowers in the greenhouse, such as Princess Ningguo, all know what cement is.At this time, Princess Ning Guo was surprised when she heard Zhang Yifan's comparison. She immediately asked: "Brother-in-law, would you like to hear it? My sister has always said that you are very smart, but I can't figure out how this kind of crystal can be used." How useful can it be compared to cement?"

The impression from three years ago was too profound for her.

Because Zhu Jingjing said in front of him that his Brother Fan was the most talented person in the world. If her father didn't order her Brother Fan, she would rather die!

At this time, Zhang Yifan heard her question and saw the Crown Princess and Zhu Jingjing looking at him. He smiled and pointed his finger at him and said, "If the glazed tiles above were changed to this kind of crystal, wouldn't there be a problem in the house?" Brighter? And..."

As he spoke, he pointed to the paper windows and said: "If these windows were all made of this kind of crystal, wouldn't the house be brighter? It would also be windproof, so you don't have to worry about getting wet by rain. The houses built in the future, Is it possible that a cement house will be equipped with windows made of crystal as standard, or even a wall made of crystal?"

They were unfamiliar with glass, so they just talked about crystal.

Upon hearing his words, several women were immediately stunned.

So it can still be used like this?
However, the Crown Princess quickly came to her senses, shook her head and said, "There is no such big crystal!"

There are not many such high-grade crystals.

Zhang Yifan couldn't help but slapped his head, and said a little speechless: "I can fire it, even if it's not big enough, it can be spliced. Also, these are not colorless transparent glass, or the real purpose of crystal!"

When Princess Ning Guo heard this, she immediately became curious and asked quickly: "Brother-in-law, what is the real use of the crystal?"

Zhang Yifan listened and immediately replied: "Tools that can be used to help us people. For example, the difference in polished crystals. You can see enlarged characters through the crystal, which can help the elderly see things clearly. It can also help people see in the distance. items, etc.”

As he spoke, he pointed to the crystal deer paperweight in Zhu Jingjing's hand and said, "You can find an angle and try it, and you will see that looking through this crystal can have a magnifying effect!"

According to later research, someone discovered this in the Southern Song Dynasty, and thus there was a magnifying glass for the elderly to use to see things.However, glasses were not available until the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty.Some say it came from the Western Regions, while others say it was brought in by missionaries. There are different opinions.

When Zhu Jingjing heard her husband's words, she immediately adjusted the angle and tried it. Sure enough, she saw signs of magnification, so she was surprised and called her sister over to take a look, and even the princess came closer.

Afterwards, the Crown Princess praised: "Yifan, you are so careful in your observation!"

Zhang Yifan just smiled slightly after hearing this.In fact, he had a theory before he came to this conclusion.It's just that no one in this world knows his theory yet.

The colorless and transparent property of glass gives humans the possibility to observe the world. This is the most important role of glass.However, Zhang Yifan now doesn't want to say so much in one breath.

Looking at the three women and a little kid playing with the crystal deer paperweight, Zhang Yifan just added: "I estimate that by then, the glass that will be fired will not only be enough, but also cheap enough, so it will definitely make money." , do you want this share?"

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Princess Ning Guo immediately raised her head, stared at Zhang Yifan, and rushed to say: "Brother-in-law!"

After she finished speaking, she suddenly thought of something and immediately blushed.

Zhang Yifan pretended not to see it, and after spending some time talking, he finally sold the glass factory.

He can be sure that things spread through women will definitely be the fastest.

Sure enough, early the next morning, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhang Yifan.

　You can find the crystal deer paperweights from the Ming Dynasty by searching online, and there are real ones.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)