When Wu Meiniang woke up, she felt refreshed. She suddenly jumped up from the bed and exclaimed, "How long have I slept?"
"Not more or less than 12 hours!" Zi Yi's voice came from the side.
"12 hours? Damn it! I'm afraid it's too late! "Wu Meiniang was anxious and was about to run out.
Zi Yi held Wu Meiniang down and said, "Don't worry. The glass used to make mirrors in the village today is escorted by Uncle Zhang, who is the best craftsman in the village. With him here, I'm sure it won't affect your work!"
"Grandpa Zhang?" Wu Meiniang was stunned. Although she just joined the village not long ago, she had heard of Old Zhang's reputation for a long time. Of course, she knew that Old Zhang was the best craftsman in the village.
Under the supervision of Zi Yi, Wu Meiniang washed up and ate something before she was allowed to go.
"Grandpa Zhang!" Wu Meiniang came to the backyard and saw that Old Zhang had been waiting there for a long time. She hurriedly called him with a sweet voice.
"Mei Niang, you're flattering me." Old Zhang hurriedly returned the salute. Wu Meiniang was Meton's pro-disciple, so her status in the village was naturally respected.
"Uncle Zhang, Mei Niang is my disciple, so she should call you grandpa." Meton's voice came.
"Master!"
"Young master!"
…
Everyone saluted.
Meton waved his hand and said, "Don't be so polite. Let's get down to business."
Old Zhang picked up a small piece of glass and handed it to Moton, saying, "Please have a look, young master. This is the flattest piece of glass made by Village Mo. I'm sure you'll be satisfied."
Meton picked up the glass and felt it carefully. It was indeed much better than the flat glass before. It had reached the level of making mirrors.
Meton nodded and said, "Then let's try to make a mirror with Mei Niang's method."
"Yes, Master!" Wu Meiniang said excitedly. She told Old Zhang about her discovery.
Old Zhang said, "Don't worry, Mei Niang. Silver is very soft and easy to polish. I, Old Zhang, will definitely be able to make it very quickly."
"Thank you, Grandpa Zhang!" Wu Meiniang thanked him. At the same time, she handed over the silver in her hand. Wu Meiniang naturally wanted to use her own things to make the first mirror.
Old Zhang took it, picked up the tools in his hand, and began to forge slowly.
Ding, ding, dang, dang, under Old Zhang's superb forging skills, the piece of silver was slowly beaten into a thin layer of silver. What made everyone even more amazed was that although it was forged, the surface of the silver was as smooth as a mirror.
"Uncle Zhang's craftsmanship is indeed superb!" Meton couldn't help but praise. In terms of craftsmanship, Old Man Zhang was indeed one of the best craftsmen in the world.
"I'm old. I'm already a little useless!" Old Zhang wiped his sweat. Although he said modestly, his face revealed an extremely proud expression.
Old Zhang's hands moved quickly. Without using any tools, he cut the silver into a circular piece in two or three moves. Then he picked up a glass lens of similar size and stuck it on. It was exactly the same.
"Mei Niang, please take a look. Are you satisfied?" Old Zhang handed the glass with the silver piece to Wu Meiniang. Wu Meiniang took it and looked at it. She was immediately stunned. The silver piece and the lens that were stuck together actually had an unbelievable reaction, reflecting her clear image.
"It's simply a miracle!" Old Zhang couldn't help but exclaim. He had made a bronze mirror before, but the image in the bronze mirror was probably not even one-tenth as clear as the one in front of him.
"This is a real mirror!" Wu Meiniang couldn't help but exclaim as she looked at herself in the mirror.
The people of the Mo clan all looked around. Seeing their own faces in the mirror, they couldn't help but be curious. It was probably the first time they had seen their own faces so clearly.
"Master, please comment!"
Wu Meiniang held up the silver mirror she had made and handed it to Merton respectfully.
"It's indeed not bad! You pass. "Meton looked at the clear image in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction.
Wu Meiniang heard Meton's approval and couldn't help but be excited. However, before she could be happy for too long, she heard Meton continue, "Although it's better than the bronze mirror, it has quite a few flaws."
"Master, please give me some pointers!" Wu Meiniang said respectfully.
Meton pointed at the faint traces of the silver piece behind the glass and said, "Although Uncle Zhang's craftsmanship is superb, there are still gaps between the silver piece and the glass. This directly affects the clarity. In the future, foreign matter will inevitably enter. The longer you use it, the worse the effect will be."
In the history of making mirrors, metal mirrors, mainly silver mirrors, had been popular for many years. However, the biggest flaw was that if they were used for too long, water vapor would enter and greatly affect the clarity.
Wu Meiniang nodded and said, "Maybe you can set the bronze mirror to be dismantled to clean the foreign matter."
Old Zhang nodded. This was indeed a way, and it was not difficult to operate.
"In addition, there is a more serious flaw, that is, it's expensive! Do you know how much a bronze mirror costs? The silver piece you made just now cost a lot of silver. "Meton pointed at the few silver pieces left.
"Ah!" Wu Meiniang couldn't help covering her mouth and felt heartache.
The bronze mirror was made of pure bronze, and the cost was only a hundred copper coins. However, the silver piece made by Old Zhang just now cost almost one tael of silver. In addition to the value of the glass, it was probably much more expensive than the bronze mirror.
It was expensive and flawed! Wu Meiniang had to admit that the silver mirror she designed did have a big flaw.
"Maybe the Mo Family Village can solve the problem of too much money." Old Zhang suddenly gritted his teeth and said.
"What?" Everyone couldn't help looking at Old Zhang.
"In recent days, Old Zhang has been studying machinery. Using machinery can indeed do things that can't be done by human beings, and it saves time, effort, and money." Old Zhang was not a stubborn person. He naturally saw the convenience of machinery.
"Silver is soft and easy to forge. We can ask Tieping to build a machine to press the silver piece. In this way, we can press the silver piece as thin as possible, and thus save the cost." Old Zhang said solemnly. Making a mirror only required a silver plate as the bottom. An inch-thick silver plate had the same effect as a cicada's wing, but the cost was vastly different. However, it was impossible to make a cicada's wing thin silver plate by hand. Only a stamping machine could do it.
Meton couldn't help but look at Old Zhang with gratification. Old Zhang could think of using machinery, this was an extremely rare change for the Mo Family Village.
Meton nodded and said, "In that case, the matter of making the silver mirror will be handed over to Tieping. It will be a new industry of the Mo Family Village."
"Young master, you are so wise!" Everyone in the Mo Family was pleasantly surprised. With such a clear mirror appearing on the market, it would definitely crush the bronze mirror directly. The Mo Family Village would have another source of wealth.
"And as the inventor of the silver mirror, Mei Niang will have half of the profit." Meton said surprisingly.
"Half of the profit!" Everyone suddenly exclaimed and couldn't help looking at Wu Meiniang with astonishment.
It should be known that such a mirror had already appeared, and it would definitely be popular in the Tang dynasty. Half of the profit would be a huge amount of wealth. Now, all the wealth belonged to a ten-year-old girl.
"Master, it's too much! I can't afford it. "Although Wu Meiniang didn't understand, she knew it must be a huge amount of wealth.
"This is what you deserve. In the future, it will be the same for the disciples of the House of Mohism. Whoever invented the Mohism technique will receive half of the profits from the technique," Moton said seriously.
"Young master, you are so wise!"
Everyone in the Mo Family said. They believed that once the policy of the Mo Family Village came out, there would definitely be countless Brother Mo Jiazi scrambling to develop the Mo skill. For a long time, the innovation of the Mo Family Village was supported by Meton alone. With this incentive, they believed that in the future, there would definitely be a second Mo Jiazi, a third Mo Jiazi …
"It's my honor to be able to help you, master. I really don't dare to ask for too much." Wu Meiniang was at a loss. From everyone's words, she gradually understood how much the half of the profit was.
Meton laughed and said, "You underestimate me too much. How can I use your mirror as a betrothal gift?"
Wu Meiniang looked at Merton in surprise, "Master, have you already made the magic mirror?"
"Of course!" Morton nodded proudly. Of course, what he was making wasn't the silver mirror commonly seen in the future. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to do it with the current technology. The process he was using was the transitional tin amalgam process.
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