Cement, steel, and glass are the magic weapons of the travelers. But Zhou Qingfeng's team can only rely on burning shells to make cement. Steel can barely be considered industrial production, but the output is only a few thousand tons a year. Even when the converter that Shi Dong has been longing for officially starts operation, it can only produce twenty to thirty thousand tons a year, because ore mining will become a new bottleneck.
As for glass, it is the least important magic weapon of the travelers. The travelers make basic optical equipment with crystals. Anyway, the quantity is not large, so it can be used to deal with some problems. The manufacturing requirements of glass are actually very high. If it weren't for high-powered blowers and high-temperature firebricks, Zhou Qingfeng and the others wouldn't even consider this thing.
In ancient times, there was glass, but there was no glass. Chinese and foreign craftsmen can make glass products of all kinds of colors, but there is no way to make it pure and transparent. The reason is that this thing is really not something that can be made with traditional methods.
The raw material of glass is quartz sand, and the purity must be more than 99%. This alone is a big challenge. The melting point of quartz sand is 1,750 degrees, much higher than the melting point of steel. Without a high-temperature furnace, it is impossible to make glass.
But Zhou Qingfeng and the others have clear information in their hands, so they know that the quartz sand must be filtered first. It must be pure. Secondly, soda ash must be used as a cosolvent to lower the melting temperature. But too much soda ash can't be given. The 18% ratio alone is a big secret. But soda ash will reduce the stability of glass at high temperatures, so limestone must be added as a stabilizer.
These few simple lines of words were enough for countless chemists to rack their brains and do countless research. This is only the basic principle. The production process is more complicated and detailed. So Zhou Qingfeng and the others have never thought of making glass at all. It is not until the arrival of the fire phoenix that they think that since ceramics can be made, why not try glass?
When the colorless and transparent glass is produced, the casting method and the silver mirror reaction can be used to produce glass mirrors. But the current production of this thing is too low. After it is produced, it can only be sold for money. When Zhou Qingfeng came to Goa, there was a glass mirror in the box containing the samples. It was taken out as the final item.
When Mahomet saw the silk, the porcelain, and the velvet, they were not enough to amaze him, but when he saw the wide glass mirror, he could not help but cry out. When he recognized himself in the mirror and saw the wrinkled skin and the details of his clothes, his first reaction was, "I didn't know I was so ugly." His second reaction was that the mirror was a priceless treasure.
The ancients had a long history of using mirrors, but for a long time, the East and the West could only use bronze mirrors. Because mirrors could reflect people's shadows, they were even endowed with various myths and magical concepts. Nowadays, the Venetian mirror smiths had already mastered the art of making glass mirrors, and they closely guarded their craft. As a result, they had great wealth.
Countless businessmen wanted to obtain the secret of making glass mirrors from Venice, but they all returned empty-handed. The Arabs were born in the barren lands of the Arabian Peninsula. They had always been merchants and had an extremely accurate assessment of the value of goods. They also wanted to obtain beautiful glass mirrors to sell.
Although silk and porcelain from the East were expensive, there was still a steady stream of them. However, the large glass mirrors could only depend on the expressions of the Venetian craftsmen. Just the mirror that Zhou Qingfeng took out was more valuable than the silk and porcelain combined, all because it was rare.
Metal mirrors were often dark and had a halo, while glass mirrors had a clear image and a high degree of smoothness. When the two were compared, the difference in value was like heaven and earth. Mahomet grabbed the mirror in his hand and refused to pass it to the other Arab businessmen. When the other businessmen saw the mirror, they all rushed over and gasped in surprise. Then … they began to quarrel.
There was a cacophony of Arabic, and the sound of quarrelling was irritating to listen to. Zhou Qingfeng, on the other hand, slowly closed the wooden box that contained the samples. He picked up the wine glass in front of him and slowly took a sip. At the same time, he transmitted his voice to Guo Jiao and said, "The dozen or so mirrors we've brought are too many. We'll only sell three of them later. As for the rest, we'll either hide them and buy them slowly, or smash them and throw them away."
"Why?" Guo Jiao was puzzled by the quarrel of the Arab businessmen. Just a moment ago, these people were singing and dancing happily, but in the blink of an eye, they were quarreling with each other. The child, Santos, was translating in a low voice, saying that these Arabs were bidding in private and wanted to compete for the precious glass mirror.
This mirror was really big, occupying the entire bottom of the sample wooden box. Its smoothness and smoothness surpassed those expensive Venetian mirrors, so its value should be higher.
Zhou Qingfeng did not stop the quarrel of the businessmen. He only said to Guo Jiao with his voice, "The rarer something is, the more valuable it is. I really didn't expect this mirror to be so popular. The dozen or so we brought brought down the value of the mirror. If we sell it all at once, it will cause the price to collapse. "
Guo Jiao understood, "Since the business here is so good, we should come often in the future. We can even set up a stronghold here to do business. "
Zhou Qingfeng was stunned when he heard this, and he pondered for a moment. His original plan was to come a few times at most. After transporting the female slaves and horses, it was better to focus on his own territory. But Guo Jiao's inadvertent words opened his mind. Since they came out, why should they go back?
The dozen or so Arab businessmen quarreled for half a quarter of an hour. In the end, it was Master Mohammed who used his prestige to suppress the internal conflict. He asked Santos to ask, "Honorable guest from the East, how many of these mirrors do you have?"
"This is the best large glass mirror I have. It is also very rare in our East. I've only brought this one with me this time. It's extremely valuable. "
After saying that, Zhou Qingfeng paused for a moment. He took the time to drink the milk wine to moisten his throat and thought for a moment. Then, he continued, "This kind of mirror is very difficult to make, and the production is very low. I won't be able to bring many of them in the future.
Raise the price, hurry up and raise the price.
You treat me as a fat sheep, now who is the fat sheep?!
Zhou Qingfeng's expression was calm, and Master Mohammed also tried to calm down. The latter deliberated for a while and quoted the price for the silk and porcelain brought by Zhou Qingfeng. According to Zhou Qingfeng's understanding in Macau and the summary of the conversation with Marcelo and Santos, the price was still very reasonable.
As for this rare large glass mirror, Master Mohammed hesitated for a while. He didn't want Zhou Qingfeng to carry this mirror away, but he was also unwilling to pay a high price. After thinking for a long time, he still didn't know how much was appropriate.
"I need good horses, a lot of them." Zhou Qingfeng said in a timely manner.
Master Mohammed was suddenly excited and immediately expressed his desire to exchange horses and female slaves for this glass mirror. He directly doubled the number of horses selected by Zhou Qingfeng before, and said that if the "guest from the East" still needed, they would continue to provide the best horses.
Zhou Qingfeng laughed in his heart and nodded slightly in agreement.
The development of industry would produce a huge scissors difference in agriculture and animal husbandry. Excluding the research and development costs, the raw material of a mirror was just sand. Even if the processing costs were included, it was at most five or six silver dollars.
A good Arabian horse was extremely expensive, both in ancient and modern times. Under normal circumstances, a good Arabian horse would not be less than five hundred silver dollars in Goa. Including the cost of shipping from Shanghai to East Asia … In Macau, if one could buy an Arabian horse for two or three thousand silver dollars, it would be a big profit.
And now, according to the discussion between Zhou Qingfeng and Master Mohammed, a glass mirror could be exchanged for three of the best Arabian horses.
With the business done, Zhou Qingfeng handed over all the samples he brought to Master Mohammed and invited him to attend a party at Marcelo's monastery at night. He said that he had more goods to sell and hoped to buy more Arabian goods.
Master Mohammed patted his chest and said that he would come at night. He ordered people to send the female slaves and horses selected by Zhou Qingfeng to Marcelo's monastery. He even sent a few horse grooms to Zhou Qingfeng to help him take care of the horses.
Zhou Qingfeng went out early in the morning and walked into the Arab guild hall empty-handed. But when he left, he was accompanied by a large group of people, ostentatiously parading through the streets. Even the child Santos, who followed him, straightened his chest and held his head high. Guo Jiao was also very excited about the harvest. She took Zhou Qingfeng's hand and asked, "The samples in the wooden box were exchanged for so many people?"
"Not enough, we owe those Arabs some. Now we have to go back and get the goods out of the biplane. " Zhou Qingfeng smiled bitterly and said, "Although silk and porcelain are very valuable, their female slaves and horses are also very valuable. More than half of our goods have to be used to pay that Master Mohammed. "
"Then why don't you just sell the rest of the goods to the Arabs? What's the point of holding an auction? "Guo Jiao asked.
Zhou Qingfeng smiled and shook his head. "The situation in Goa has broken my plan of 'making a profit and leaving'. I have to reconsider."
Back at Marcelo's monastery, Zhou Qingfeng promoted Santos to be a small butler. He occupied the magpie's nest and placed the female slaves and horses he bought in the monastery. He pulled Guo Jiao into the room and spread out the world map. He said, "We need to establish our power in Goa. The trade here will be a huge boost to our future development.
The idea of holding an auction is too shallow. I can either work hard to make friends with the various forces in the city, or I can conquer a piece of land and go it alone. You take Flat Hair and fly the biplane back to Tianjin immediately. Ask Zhao Ze to get me a steam fleet to Goa no matter what. "
"Steam fleet?" Guo Jiao looked at the map and then at Zhou Qingfeng. "You want to stay alone?"
"I made a mistake in my calculations. The biplane's load capacity is still too small. An adult Arabian horse can fill it up. It looks fast, but a round trip will take ten days. Just transporting the horses and female slaves I bought will take a long time.
Instead of making me fly back and forth, it's better to let Zhao Ze drive the steam ship. With eight knots, he can arrive in one and a half months. A ship can transport a few hundred tons at a time. It's much better than my crappy plane.
The only problem is that we didn't go through this route. There are no ports along the way to replenish water and coal. The entire route will be quite painful. " Zhou Qingfeng circled Macau, the Strait of Malacca, and Goa on the map. "Let Zhao Ze think of a solution himself. Remind him to be careful of the risks on the sea route. In short, tell him to come quickly. "
It was time for Zhou Qingfeng to exercise his leadership. After seeing the huge commercial and economic benefits of Goa, he was ready to invest heavily without hesitation.
However, Master Zhou tried too hard to show his boldness. After listening to him, Guo Jiao said weakly, "Little Zhou, I think you're stupid?"
"What?"
"If you knew it would be like this, you wouldn't have stripped the Blessed Enclave to Sister Xu. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to go through so much trouble. Wouldn't it be better to just use the Blessed Enclave to transport the goods? It's fine as long as you don't accelerate the time inside. "
Ah … That's right!
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