The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After the first month of the lunar year, Danyangzi came back to continue making colored glaze. He found that Min Xixin had recruited several craftsmen, all of whom wanted to learn how to make colored glaze from them.

Danyangzi was not surprised after hearing Min Xi's arrangement. He knew that making glass was just a not very important part of Min Xi's plan, and they would have more important things to do in the future.

Therefore, Danyangzi did not hide his skills. As a monk, if no one learned the skills he mastered, they would be destined to be lost.

Min Xi and Dan Yangzi led several craftsmen to make colored glaze and study how to remove bubbles from silica sand. Min Xi pondered for a long time before he figured out that bubbles were generated when silica sand was fired in the kiln because the air inside was not discharged when they sealed the kiln. The air might be mixed into the silica sand when it melted, causing bubbles to appear in the melt.

Min Xi tried to leave a very small exhaust hole in the kiln, so that the kiln could discharge air when heating, but would not discharge more heat and cause the temperature of the silica sand to be insufficient to melt.

After trying this several times, I finally found the accurate exhaust method, which basically solved the problem of bubbles appearing in the glass.

Min Xi tried many times to make the impurities in the glass settle and burn out transparent glass, but he failed. In the end, he had to use a glass measuring vessel instead of a glass measuring vessel.

After Min Xi got the glass measuring instrument, he wanted to make smooth glass. They tried many methods, but could only make small pieces of glass, and they were not smooth. The craftsmen needed to polish them repeatedly to achieve the smoothness requirement.

Min Xi thought of the glass greenhouse in the Baron's house. He wondered how glass was made in Europe. Was it also made by grinding small pieces like this? That would be really laborious. No wonder it was so expensive.

They tinkered with it at home for more than a month before they solved the problem of glass bubbles. Several craftsmen also learned a lot from them.

Just then, Zhuangzi sent someone to report that according to Min Xi's requirements, the glass kiln had been built and was ready for use.

Min Xi took Danyangzi and several craftsmen to the farm. The day they went there was a holiday. However, Yun Ji, who had just taken up his post at the Ministry of Revenue, was not available to accompany them as he was still busy with his work at the Ministry of Revenue.

Although Yun Ji is proficient in business, he is still a layman in the Ministry of Revenue because he has never been involved in the work of the Ministry of Revenue before.

In order to adapt to the new working environment and his own job as soon as possible, he plunged into the files of the Ministry of Household Affairs, seizing the time to familiarize himself with everything he needed to know.

In modern terms, Yun Ji Chunchun was an airborne soldier, who was parachuted from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Revenue, and directly bypassed a group of sixth and seventh rank officials in the Ministry of Revenue who were just accumulating experience. Therefore, as soon as he took office, he inevitably aroused hostility from his colleagues. Even if they didn't dare to say anything to his face, they would not give Yun Ji the respect he deserved.

Yun Ji was not a rookie. He had been dealing with all kinds of businessmen since he was a child. After passing the imperial examination, he worked in the Hanlin Academy. He had a thorough understanding of human nature, so he must have known what these people were thinking. But he did not go against them. He gave them some small favors, invited his colleagues to Yunxiang Restaurant, and so on, inadvertently revealing that he had a close relationship with the emperor in private, letting these people know that he had a backer, and it was none other than their immediate superior, the emperor.

First, intimidate these people, let them know that they cannot be provoked, and then convince them with their own abilities. Of course, the latter requires time to prove, and because of this, he is under great pressure and has basically no time to care about what Min Xi is busy with.

The two of them would only have dinner together in the morning and evening, and talk for a few words before going to bed at night to discuss what happened that day. The rest of the time, Yun Ji was either in the yamen or in the study.

Min Xi knew that he was busy, so he didn't bother him. As for tax reform, he could only talk about it on paper and proposed a suggestion to distribute the tax rate based on the amount of land. The specific practices and details of each clause needed to be implemented one by one by the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, so it fell on Yun Ji and others.

Therefore, even on a day off, Yun Ji still needed to continue working. Min Xi took Yun Lin to the countryside, and Yun Lin also had a day off today.

It was March, the time of spring and the best time to go to the countryside for an outing. Yunlin was very happy to go to the countryside and chattered non-stop along the way. At the end, he said to Min Xi with emotion: "It would be great if my brother could come with us. The scenery is so beautiful. We should come out to see it."

Min Xi patted his head and said, "I can't help it. Your elder brother is busy."

Yun Lin looked up and said, "I'll go dig some shepherd's purse and bring it back. I'll make shepherd's purse dumplings for you tonight."

"Sure. We also have our own things to do. You go and have fun by yourself and have someone follow you. Just be careful when you go to the water." Min Xi said.

"Okay!" Yun Lin agreed readily.

When they arrived at the village, Min Xixian and everyone went to see the completed glass kiln.

This glass kiln was designed by Min Xi. It is made of kaolin. There are also several annealing kilns next to it, which are made of ordinary clay. Different fuels will be burned according to the required temperature.

The quartzite that Min Xi had people looking for was also in place. It was found in the mountains outside Beijing. Min Xi personally led people to find it, and it took several days. Quartzite is too hard, and the mountain is steep, so it is very difficult to mine. But compared to transporting materials from Shandong, getting materials from the suburbs of Beijing is much more time-saving and labor-saving.

Min Xi looked at the glass kiln and all the prepared supplies and said, "It looks like we can start firing the kiln today. Let's get started and fire a kiln first to see the effect."

The manager of the manor quickly arranged for people to move firewood to prepare for the kiln. Min Xizhe, Danyangzi and others prepared the quartz stones and put them into the kiln, and the people in the manor were naturally responsible for sealing it.

After working for most of the day, he finally sealed the kiln mouth and lit the first fire. Min Xi's task for the day was almost complete. Next, he had to wait for the result of firing the kiln. This was the first time he fired a large kiln, and Min Xi didn't know what would happen, so he was still looking forward to it.