Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 275
On September 24th, the [-]th year of Wanli, in the outskirts of the capital.

Yizhen Liulichang specializes in firing royal glazed vessels, and has dozens of tile kilns, and the number of glazed vessels fired every year is astronomical.In June, Daming Royal Glass Factory was established next to Yizhen Liuli Factory.The craftsmen in the factory are naturally selected from Yizhen Liuli Factory.

The factory is controlled by Huang Laifu. Naturally, it adopts the craftsman system like Wuzhai Fort. The monthly grain is stable, the diligent are rewarded, and the lazy are punished. Yizhen Liulichang, which still followed the artisan household system, formed a sharp contrast.Many craftsmen of Yizhen Liulichang, seeing the treatment here, are envious in their hearts, and hope to jump here.

At this time, in the large open-air workshop in the glass factory, it was full of people and the heat wave was pressing.In the open space not far from those tile kilns, there are iron tables one after another.Every time the glass is melted out of the kiln, several craftsmen, chanting, pour the boiling hot glass liquid on the iron table, and then several craftsmen, dragging a thick cast iron round stick, roll it back and forth on it. Then, soon after the glass flattened, it formed a large piece like the table top.

In this way, one side of flat glass is made. Of course, although the flattened glass is large, it is not smooth and needs to be ground.At this time, several craftsmen came over, put a large flat glass on a table covered with thick felt, and sprinkled a layer of fine sand, then put another flat glass, and by pushing and pulling the upper glass, the fine sand Then the two pieces of glass were ground flat.

However, this work seems simple, but it requires five or six craftsmen to work continuously for more than one day, and this is not enough. There are countless lines left by fine sand on the surface of the glass treated in this way, and it needs to be further polished.Craftsmen use a very fine ore powder and water, rub it back and forth hundreds of thousands of times with a small wooden board covered with wool felt, and then rub it hundreds of thousands of times with wool felt.In this way, large pieces of flat glass are finally made, and if the friction continues, these glasses can also be used to make glass mirrors in the future.

Beside an iron table, Huang Laifu had the honor to watch the entire production process of large flat glass, and he couldn't help feeling that this kind of handicraft production is still too slow. The glass production of later generations uses automatic machines to produce glass.Thick molten glass continuously flows out of the glass melting furnace. After rolling, the hot and thick molten glass turns into long glass ribbons. After cooling, it is polished and cut with a machine. How can it be so troublesome.But think about it, it's the Ming Dynasty right now, it's pretty good to have this appearance, after all, there are historical limitations.

Regarding Huang Laifu's emotions, the eunuch of the Banking Bureau next to him certainly would not know, he just looked at the workers in the factory with a smile on his face, and moved the large pieces of ground glass into the warehouse lightly. A large piece of glass is equal in weight to silver.

Since the successful research and development of the large piece of glass in July, when it was introduced to the market, it immediately caused a sensation from all walks of life in the capital.Huang Laifu said before that in order to bring light to a dark house, people will do everything possible.Glass looks like crystal. Although it is not as elegant as colored glaze, it still looks high-end and luxurious, and it is much brighter than window paper or ox horn. How grand is it to install a piece of glass on a window?

For a while, although Huang Laifu set the price of large pieces of flat glass very high, there were still a lot of buyers, not to mention the officials and wealthy households in the capital, who were eager to be the first to be proud of installing glass windows. All windows are fully glazed.Moreover, not only the capital, but also rich urban households in various parts of Ming Dynasty ordered one after another, resulting in a strong demand, which naturally brought a lot of money.Although the big profits of this glass factory belonged to Emperor Wanli and Huang Laifu, and the eunuchs of the Banking Bureau also shared a lot of benefits, naturally they were happy all day long.

Right now outside the glass factory, there are many merchants waiting in line, hoping to grab the goods as soon as possible.And the orders from all over the glass factory have been scheduled for the next year.In order to get the goods as soon as possible, merchants from all over the country resorted to housekeeping skills, even the eunuchs of the Banking Bureau, who did not know how many people received red envelopes and banquet invitations.Thinking about my own depressed life in the past, the eunuch of the Banking Bureau is full of emotion.

Huang Laifu inspected the factory with his hands behind his back for a while, and finally came to a conclusion: "The manpower of the glass factory is still too small, and it needs to be greatly increased, otherwise the orders will be overwhelmed. This matter must be hurry up, time is money... Eunuch Chen, this matter, just Sorry to trouble you old man."

The eunuchs of the 24th Prison of the Ming Dynasty have always been arrogant, but in front of Huang Laifu, the eunuch of the Banking Bureau's palm prints had a smile on his face, and he said: "Ah, what is Huang Junmen talking about? Don’t bother me, please come down from Huang Jun’s family, and our family will follow suit.”

He smiled like a flower: "Speaking of which, our family would also like to thank Huang Junmen. If Junmen hadn't set up a glass factory and made this big piece of glass, how could our family have such a good life?"

For the imperial craftsmen of Ming Dynasty, firing glass was not a problem.Regarding the firing of glass and colored glaze, colored glaze is more difficult, the production process is lengthy and time-consuming, and the selection of raw materials is still strict, requiring the use of precious natural colored glaze stones and colored glaze mothers, and dozens of processes are required to be carefully polished in the later stage.Therefore, in China, colored glaze is a kind of taste culture of scholar-officials, and every piece of colored glaze has extremely high collection value and appreciation value.

And the firing of glass is simple, just use sand and alkali to melt at high temperature. For the Ming emperor craftsmen, high temperature is not a problem. They sometimes fire colored glaze, which requires a higher temperature than glass. The key It's a question of thinking.When I was in Yizhen Liulichang, craftsmen also unintentionally fired small pieces of glass, but these glasses are inferior to porcelain in terms of elegance, and inferior to colored glaze in terms of elegance. What use is there for them?What can this little piece of ugly glass be used for?So in China, the previous glass is useless, and here it is.

It was Huang Laifu who stood up and taught them the method of firing and finely grinding large pieces of glass. In this way, the natural uses are endless.Not to mention anything else, if the people of Ming Dynasty all over the world were to install glass on their windows, their wealth would be enormous.

The benefits are obvious. When the factory was first established in June, when the glass was not researched and fired, the craftsmen in the glass factory all had to rely on Huang Laifu's appropriation for their livelihood. The workers, the money they get every month is counting as much as two, not to mention those more advanced craftsmen. How can this not make the craftsmen of the nearby Yizhen Liuli Factory envious and want to jump over to make glass? Factory craftsman?Ordinary craftsmen are like this. The foremen, supervisors, and eunuchs of the Banking Bureau also receive a lot of benefits every month. As for the Wanli Emperor who takes the biggest prize, he counts the money every day so much that he can't close his mouth. .

Huang Laifu naturally wanted to be modest when a eunuch from the Banking Bureau said this. Finally, he remembered something and said: "Eunuch Chen, there is one more thing. Our glass factory is very profitable now, but we have to be prepared for danger in times of peace. Keep up. I heard that many customers bought glass, but they didn't know how to install it, so that many jokes were made. In the future, I think our factory can make arrangements for the special glass installation and make a proper installation. Standard, do you like it, Eunuch?"

Since glass windows are a trendy thing right now, Huang Laifu was negligent again, so there is no standard for the installation of glass windows for everyone in the capital.Huang Laifu heard that the popular way to install window glass in the capital is to first install a net made of tin on the window. There are round holes designed on the net, and there are metal wires in the middle of the hole, so that the handle on the window glass can be fixed. hitch.

Huang Laifu also heard that Yang Junmin, Minister of the Household Department, also bought some glass to install on the windows, which were also tied with tin nets. Since the capital is often windy, in order to prevent the window glass from being blown off and broken by the wind, , He gave an order to the servants at home, whenever he left the house, all mobilized immediately, every piece of window pane was removed from the window, and put in the warehouse for safekeeping. Only when he came back, could the Take it out and install it.

After the news came out, Huang Laifu couldn't help laughing, but one day, when he returned to his parents' residence in the capital and saw his mother ordering his servants in the same way, he couldn't laugh immediately.

Therefore, it is imperative to set a unified installation standard like later generations and install movable glass windows on the windows.

After hearing Huang Laifu's words, the eunuch of the Banking Bureau's Handprint Office felt a little disapproving, thinking that the current situation is not very good, and he only needs to make money with peace of mind, why bother how others install the glass after buying it, Huang Laifu is really looking for trouble.But since Huang Laifu said so, Eunuch Chen didn't want to shame his old man openly, so he nodded with a smile and said, "Huang Junmen is really thoughtful, so he will do it like this....But what is the installation standard?"

……

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On the third day of October in the 24th year of Wanli, after detailed discussions with Huang Laifu, Emperor Wanli followed the example of the Daming Mining Administration and established the Daming Tax Administration.At the same time, on the fifth day of the lunar new year, he sent Zhang Li, a tax envoy, to Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou to collect tax and provide customs protection.Soon, the eunuch dynasty was ordered to supervise the conquest of Tianjin.

Immediately there was a commotion in the capital, and the officials were in an uproar again, and they went up to dissuade them one after another. Emperor Wanli was unmoved, and planned to continue sending tax envoys to various places to collect taxes.And on this day, Huang Laifu also packed up and prepared to go back to Ningwu Pass.After all, he is the general soldier of Shanxi, and the garrison of the border towns is a huge task. Every autumn and winter, the general soldiers of each town are busy with the defense of autumn and winter, and Huang Laifu is no exception. He has been away for so long, and it is time to go back.

Seeing Huang Laifu leave, Emperor Wanli felt a little bit reluctant. From May to now, since Huang Laifu came to Beijing, he has managed Huangzhuang for him, opened various cement factories, wool spinning factories, glass factories, large supermarkets, etc. Both were huge successes and brought him a lot of money.In Emperor Wanli's mind, Huang Laifu was considered an all-rounder, not only capable of marching and fighting, but also running and governing the country. He was indeed a capable official of the country.

In Emperor Wanli's heart, Huang Laifu's reuse in the future is naturally inevitable.Before leaving, Emperor Wanli invited Huang Laifu to have a secret talk. Huang Laifu also knew that he would return to the capital after the second Korean War in the near future. Perhaps at that time, he would plan to open a "Wuzhaibao News" in the capital. branch library.

(End of this chapter)