After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 175 Innocent
On the first holiday after returning to Chang'an City, Hai Xiya took his wife and a pair of grandchildren and walked into the gate of the Zhou family's third-room ancestral home to visit his "sick" eldest sister Zhou Ma.

After all, the Hai family is the in-laws of Zhou Ma's family, and they are here to visit. No matter how reluctant Zhou Shigong, the head of the third room of the Zhou family, is to receive foreign guests, he still welcomes the Hai family in politely, with a friendly and friendly look on his face. Chat with them.

Fortunately for him, although his sister-in-law, Mrs. Ma, looked unhappy, she did not speak rudely to his brother-in-law in person. She obviously did not intend to bring up the matter of him and his stepmother taking away the marriage property from his wife again.

If this matter could really go away, then he wouldn't be able to smile more sincerely at the visiting Hai family.Compared with the clan members who kept coming to criticize him, the Hai family, who knew the inside story, had a much kinder attitude towards him, which made him relax a lot and no longer had to be wary of the criticism from the guests.

After the greetings, Mrs. Ma and her two grandchildren, led by the housekeeper, went to the backyard to visit their "sick" eldest sister, Mrs. Zhou.Since Mrs. Ma is also "sick", they don't need to go to the yard where she lives, they can go directly to the main courtyard.

However, on the way, Haitang and Haijiao noticed someone peeking at their group almost at the same time.

Haitang immediately looked in the direction of the man, but only saw a flash of blue-gray clothes.

She asked Hai Jiao in a low voice: "Brother, can you see the figure over there?"

Hai Jiao also stared in the same direction and replied in a low voice: "I saw it. It was a man wearing gray and blue clothes, but I don't know whether he was a man or a woman."

The brother and sister once again looked at the doorway where the figure had flashed, and recognized that it was the second entrance to the courtyard on the east road of the third-bedroom ancestral home of the Zhou family.

Generally speaking, the east road of a big house is reserved for heirs, right?If the first courtyard on East Road might be a guest house, a stable or the like, then the second courtyard might be Zhou Jinpu's residence?Is it him or his family members who are peeking at the Hai family members who come to visit him?Are they trying to find out about their stepmother?

Hai Jiao pondered for a moment and whispered to his sister: "Ignore him for now. I'll just tell my aunt later." Hai Tang nodded.

In fact, even if Zhou Jinpu wanted to spy on the whereabouts of his Hai family, there was nothing to be afraid of.They don't live in the third room of the Zhou family, and their identities are not something Zhou Jinpu can easily control.If he dared to provoke their family, neither Haitang nor Haijiao would mind giving him a hint of humiliation.

Just when Haitang and his party arrived at the main courtyard of the Zhou family's third room, Haixi Ya followed his brother-in-law Zhou Shigong to the study and began to have a relatively relaxed conversation.

But after the conversation started, Zhou Shigong discovered that what they were talking about was actually not easy.

As if just chatting, Hai Xiya briefly mentioned his experience after leaving Chang'an, and soon talked about returning to Suzhou and re-entering the official career, especially the various difficulties and tests encountered during the preparation of the glass workshop. .

He did not tell the recipe for making glass, but other than that, he told the entire process of establishing and operating the glass workshop.

He talked about the origins of Dashi glass craftsmen, the language and custom difficulties encountered by apprentices in Dachu during their studies; he talked about the difficulty of finding glass materials, the differences between similar materials in Gansu and the Western Regions, and which materials should be tested repeatedly. How troublesome the process is to make it more suitable; he talked about the problems encountered during the construction of the workshop itself, as well as the special materials needed for the furnace, and the safety issues that must be paid attention to during the glass firing; he also mentioned how many times he failed when trying to produce glass , how much does it cost? After firing, we have to consider whether the product meets the preferences of the wealthy people in Dachu, whether it can be sold smoothly, and how to ensure that the product will not be damaged too much during long-distance transportation...

Hai Xiya has basically talked about the difficulties that a glass workshop will encounter in the process of establishing and operating it.After Zhou Shigong listened, he realized how naive his previous thoughts were.

He thought that as long as he had skilled craftsmen, had the recipe for making glass, recruited a few trustworthy apprentices and built a kiln on Zhuangzi, he would be able to make glass.There are merchants from all over the country in Chang'an City, and it doesn't take much trouble to transport the glassware from the Zhuangshang workshop back to the city.No matter what is burned, as long as it is glass, it can always be easily sold and exchanged for a large amount of money...

However, according to Hai Xiya, he couldn't even pass the material level.

The Dashi glassmakers stayed in Suzhou and Ganzhou workshops for several months to teach their skills before coming to Chang'an.By this time, the glass workshop in Chang'an had been built according to the old practices of Gansu and Suzhou, and the Da Shi craftsmen could start work as soon as they arrived.During the construction of the workshop, Chang'an obviously made more preparations, such as looking for suitable sources of glass materials, refractory materials and fuel supplies around Chang'an, and then assigned them all to the border army. In the name of the guard house, lest others come to fight for it.

If a workshop is established with the permission of the Border Army, both materials and fuel can be purchased from the Border Army, which can also add income to the Border Army; but if an unrelated outsider secretly attempts to build a glass workshop and compete with the Border Army, Li, unless he has a way to find a source of materials and fuel supply channels that are not under the control of the frontier army, he will never be able to burn a large number of glassware on Chang'an territory.In order to control this way of making money, the frontier army often dug pits for future competitors.

The third room of the Zhou family almost jumped into this pit.

Zhou Shigong couldn't help but think that if he really successfully obtained the villa where his wife was married, and followed the requirements of the hired craftsmen, he spent a huge amount of money to build a qualified glass workshop on the villa, but because he couldn't find suitable materials, he burned it. Without the glassware, the news also leaked out, letting the border troops and Zhou family members know... Didn't he get nothing, lost a lot of money in vain, and had to face the accusations of thousands of people? !

The old military advisor knew about this and came to stop Sanfang's plan, which didn't seem to be a bad thing... At least he hadn't lost a lot of money yet, he just had to bear the blame and received a few more scolds.But Sanfang's dire financial situation did not get worse, which was enough for him to be grateful.

Thinking of this, Zhou Shigong also understood why his brother-in-law said these things to him, and whispered: "Thank you brother-in-law for telling me these inside stories. If you hadn't told me in detail, I wouldn't have known that building a glass workshop was so trivial. A difficult thing. I thought it was too simple at first and almost suffered a big loss."

Hai Xiya smiled: "It's not a big loss. Even if the news never leaked, my brother-in-law's family successfully built a glass workshop. Only then did they realize that they couldn't procure the materials to make glass without telling the border army. At least you also got the formula. . As long as there are recipes and knowledgeable craftsmen, it is the same if you rebuild a workshop in another place. Glass materials are cheap and easy to obtain, not just in the northwest. In another place, if you have the recipes and capital, you can still make money. This money is just more trouble.”

Zhou Shigong smiled bitterly: "My family has been living in Chang'an for a long time, and my family and friends are all here. Where else can I go to build a workshop? Brother-in-law, please don't laugh at me..." Even if he goes to the border town where his younger brother or second son is stationed, he is still a border army. territory.Is it possible that I can go to marry my sister who is far away from the capital...

Zhou Shigong's expression changed slightly.

My sister had money and space, and no shortage of people... Originally they planned to build a glass workshop, and the apprentices they hired were all the descendants of the shopkeepers and clerks who used to be employed by their stepmother, Mrs. Ma.According to the stepmother, they were better able to keep secrets than the children of veterans.

But if the workshop plan fails and the stepmother sends people to her sister in the capital to build another workshop, then... he has spent so much effort poaching the frontier army, who will benefit in the end?

Sister, brother-in-law, or Yingchuan Houfu?
But it was Zhou Shigong who had to bear the consequences!

(End of this chapter)