Smuggling Daming

The first meeting between Zhou Zhong and Tianshan Shangyi and others was also very pleasant. This is mainly because the other party wanted Zhou Zhong, so he deliberately wanted to get close to the distance between the two parties. Shang Shun made friends with each other so that he could better influence the political situation of the Wa Kingdom in the future, so he had a good chat with Tayama Shangyoshi and Ashikaga Kakki.

However, for the other deputy envoy Hatano Hideo, Zhou Zhong was unable to overcome his psychological barrier because of his family background. Fortunately, Hatano Hideo is also a very taciturn person. As long as others do not ask, he will never He took the initiative to speak, which made Zhou Zhong feel a lot easier.

After the banquet, Ashikaga Kazuki and the others finally asked Zhou Zhong when he planned to go to the capital?It's already mid-August after all.Although Zhou Zhong's preparations were almost done, the corn and sweet potatoes hadn't been harvested from the field yet, so he thought about it and told the other party that the departure day would be on the first day of next month, and they could rest for half a month. Take a moment and get ready at the same time.

After seeing off Ashikaga Kazuki and others, Zhou Zhong, who had a rest for one night, went to Nanyang Town again. Now Nanyang Town is not only a residential area where the people of Beigang gather, but also most of the workshops of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce are there, but some The workshops are too disturbing or not very safe, and there are also reasons for keeping secrets, such as artillery workshops and gunpowder workshops, so these workshops were moved to a valley in the south of Nanyang Town by Zhou Zhong, and they were closely guarded. Hence the name "Workshop Valley".

Zhou Zhong went to the workshop valley this time. This valley is actually next to the valley where Priest Nader tested the cannon.It's just that this valley has a large area and a relatively high terrain. Even during heavy rains in summer, there is no need to worry about being flooded in the valley. Now the entire valley has been carefully planned into an industrial area, not only artillery workshops and gunpowder workshops Here, there are also workshops for ironmaking, weapons, glass, etc.

After arriving at Workshop Valley, Zhou Zhong first went to the artillery workshop to check the casting progress of the artillery.With the help of several cannon craftsmen brought by Father John, not only the various problems of the original cannons were solved, but also the casting speed was accelerated a lot. Two guns were used as a test, and most of the remaining gun positions were still empty.There is no way to do this, after all, the casting of cannons is not something that can be completed in a day or two.

After leaving the artillery workshop, Zhou Zhong went to the gunpowder workshop located in the innermost part of the valley. Because the gunpowder workshop was extremely dangerous, he was far away from other workshops, and the craftsmen in the workshop paid relatively high wages.Speaking of which, Daming's gunpowder ratio is almost the same as the optimal ratio of black gunpowder.Zhou Zhong didn't have any good ways to improve it, he could only make gunpowder into granular gunpowder.In this way, there is no need to worry about the gunpowder being placed for too long, which will cause the gunpowder to be stratified. In addition, the granular gunpowder burns more fully, which is more powerful than powdered gunpowder.

However, Zhou Zhong didn't dare to stay too long in the gunpowder workshop. After all, watching the craftsmen knead the gunpowder like dough was indeed very courageous for a postgraduate student. Zhou Zhong felt that he was still a life-saving person.It's really not suitable to stay in such a dangerous environment, but after he left.Immediately, people asked the craftsmen in the gunpowder workshop to raise their wages again, and promised that if the craftsmen had an accident, the chamber of commerce would always take care of their families. After all, these craftsmen were taking great risks to work here. In the event of an accident, they probably wouldn't even be able to leave a whole body behind.

After leaving the gunpowder workshop, Zhou Zhong went to the glass workshop again, and now the glass products produced by the glass workshop have begun to be sold to the outside world, but glass is not a rare item in Daming, and businessmen have already shipped it from overseas to Daming for sale, so The price is not very high, but considering the low cost of glass, the profit of glass products is still very rich, and whether it is sold domestically, Japan, North Korea and other places, glass products are in short supply, so Zhou Zhong has already I'm thinking about expanding the glass workshop.Finally, when leaving, Zhou Zhong also brought some precious gifts to Jinxuan and the others.

It was already afternoon, and in the living room of Zhou Zhong’s residence, Sheila was handing the words she wrote to Jinxuan and the others for inspection. After studying for this period of time, Sheila seemed to have mastered the knack of learning Chinese characters , Now I know a lot of commonly used characters, but I still have problems in writing, and I often write some typos.

When Zhou Zhong entered the living room, Jinxuan and the others had just finished checking the words written by Sheila. It was getting late at this time, and Sheila had to rush home before dawn, so when she saw Zhou Zhong coming in, she stood up and prepared leave.

But at this time, Zhou Zhong stopped Xila with a smile and said, "Sila, don't leave in a hurry. I went to the glass workshop today, and it happened that something was made there, so I took it with me. A few came back to make gifts for you."

As Zhou Zhong said, he put a box in his hand on the table, and then looked at Jinxuan and the others with a mysterious face.Jinxuan and the others also felt very strange about Zhou Zhong's complacent expression. After the glass was made, they received many gifts of glass products. It's not unusual, but seeing the expression on Zhou Zhong's face, it seems that today's gift is unusual.

"Hee hee, seeing Mr. Zhou's current appearance, I'm very curious what kind of gift it is?" Sheila gave up her thoughts of leaving after hearing Zhou Zhong's words, and asked Zhou Zhong with a smile. Jinxuan and Bracelet, Bai Mengwan and the other three also showed curious gazes at Zhou Zhong.

Speaking of it, although Zhou Zhong had already agreed to accept Bai Mengwan as his concubine, and Wang Jinxuan also found an opportunity to tell Bai Mengwan afterwards, but the girl was so happy that she couldn't sleep for a few days, and she was usually too embarrassed to see Zhou Zhong again, so she kept hiding He stayed with him for several days, but in the end he couldn't stand Zhuan'er's persuasion, and she wanted to meet Zhou Zhong often, so in the end she still came to Jinxuan's place as usual, but every time she saw Zhou Zhong, she would She lowered her head shyly, not to mention meeting Zhou Zhong's gaze.

Zhou Zhong glanced at Jinxuan and the others proudly, especially when he saw Bai Mengwan, he deliberately paused for a while, but Bai Mengwan lowered her head shyly again.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Zhou Zhong opened the box on the table with a smile, and then took out a shiny silver glass product from inside and said triumphantly: "Sila, you should know This thing!"

"Oh! Almighty Lord! Mirror! It turned out to be a mirror!" Sure enough, when Sheila saw what Zhou Zhong was holding, she immediately jumped up from the chair in shock, shouting incoherently, and rushed to Zhou Zhong's bed. In front of him, it seemed that he wanted to touch it, but he was worried about breaking the mirror, so he stood there hesitantly, with a very funny expression on his face.

"Hahaha~, touch it if you want, I'm not as stingy as the Venetians, this mirror is for you, and Jinxuan, Zhuan'er, Mengwan and you all have a share, if you break it in the future, Just ask me for another copy!" Seeing Xila's cautious look, Zhou Zhong put the mirror into her hand and said, at the same time, he reached out and took out several other mirrors from the box, and gave them to Jinxuan respectively they.

Seeing Zhou Zhong shoving such a precious mirror into her hands indifferently, and even saying that she would give it to herself, Shila was so excited for a moment. She knew the value of glass mirrors in Europe, don't look at her The mirror in her hand is only the size of a book, but it is impossible for a commoner woman like her to own it in her lifetime.

Compared with Xila's excitement, Jinxuan and the other three girls were full of doubts at the beginning. When Zhou Zhong handed the mirror to them, they immediately saw their own clear and incomparable image in the mirror, which was clearer than the usual bronze mirror. It was several times clearer and more real, which made the three of them look in the mirror in surprise. It was the first time that they could see their own faces so clearly when they grew up so big.

However, although Jinxuan and the others were surprised, they were not as excited as Xila. First, it was the education they had received since they were young, which made them maintain their manners at all times. Second, they did not know how amazing the glass mirrors in their hands were in Europe. Therefore, although Jinxuan and the others feel that the glass mirror in their hands is very miraculous, they just think that it is just a novelty made by European craftsmen by Zhou Zhong, and it is not much different from the previous glass products.

It took a while for Shira to wake up from the shock, but she still asked in disbelief, "This...is this really for me?"

"Of course, I know that mirrors are very valuable in Europe, but that's mainly because the production methods are monopolized by the Venetians, so they have raised the price of mirrors to sky-high prices, but in fact, I can tell you frankly that the cost of glass mirrors is not high. Gao, these are just the first batch to be manufactured, and the mirror area is not large, and when the technology matures, I will give each of you a bigger full-length mirror!" Zhou Zhong said with great pride.

After he told the two glass craftsmen from Europe about the making principle of the mirror before, they have been working hard to carry out experiments, and finally produced the first batch of products today, and Zhou Zhong was worried that the mercury behind the mirror was poisonous, so that People paint a thick layer of paint on the back of the mirror, and inlay the mirror on the precious sandalwood board, making the mirror safe and strong.

Hearing that Zhou Zhongri was able to make even bigger mirrors, Sheila was stunned again in shock. She didn't expect that the mirror manufacturing technology, which had been kept secret by the Venetians for hundreds of years in Europe, would be casually discovered. Zhou Zhong figured it out. We must know that Daming didn’t produce glass at all before, but it’s only been a few months now. Not only glass, but also mirrors are made bigger and more beautiful than in Europe. It seems that the description in Marco Polo’s book It is correct, the Central Plains is indeed the center of world civilization. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)