The Ming Dynasty: My sister, Empress Ma

Hu Weiyong closed his eyes. Ever since the emperor's brother-in-law entered Yingtian Prefecture, he had begun to make arrangements for this matter.

That niece... her name is Hu Ruolan or something, it doesn't matter.

He deliberately kept her hidden away from home since she was a child.

She not only taught poetry and women's education, but also palace etiquette, clothing and ceremonies, diet and medicine, and even how to walk, speak, and read people's expressions.

These are things that ordinary women would never need in their entire lives. They were originally intended to be sent to the palace, but after the emperor's brother-in-law entered Yingtian Prefecture, he changed his mind.

He didn't expect his niece to be of any help to him through the emperor's brother-in-law.

A wedge driven into the core doesn't need to work immediately; as long as it's there, it will come in handy someday.

In Hu Weiyong's view, the game of chess in the imperial court is never something that can be decided in just a few moves.

Elder Li Shan is getting old, and his health is declining year by year.

Wang Guangyang was a mediocre man; even though he held the position of Right Chancellor, he was only capable of maintaining the status quo.

The remaining people each had their own plans and their own factions.

Everyone knows that His Majesty might not listen to what his civil and military officials say, but he will definitely listen to the Empress as long as she speaks.

However, that prince never participates in court affairs, so it's impossible for Hu Weiyong to get in touch with him.

Therefore, he had no choice but to settle for second best and turn to the emperor's brother-in-law.

It's likely that Her Majesty the Empress wouldn't refuse if the Emperor's brother-in-law had any requests.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

On the other hand, Ma Wenyuan had visited all the noble residences these past few days, and only finished his home visits yesterday.

I didn't take a break today either.

Having promised Xu Miaoyun that he would help her improve the telescope, he naturally had to put his mind to it.

In addition to that, there's also the comic book project that needs promotion...

Fortunately, Ma Wenyuan already has an idea, and we can proceed with the plan as scheduled.

The key lies in the glass.

……

Ma Wenyuan stared at the molten glass churning in the crucible, his brows furrowed.

There were six people with him at that moment.

Zeng Qing, Zeng Xiu, and little Xu Miaoyun, Zhu Di, and Zhu Su.

Of course, Xu Miaoyun herself never acknowledged this nickname, and she felt that she was superior to Zhu Di.

Girls generally develop faster than boys when they are young.

But Xu Miaoyun didn't care about any of that. Whenever Ma Wenyuan said she was short, she would say Zhu Di.

In Xu Miaoyun's view, Zhu Di was older than her, and logically speaking, Zhu Di was the little one.

Zhu Di naturally disagreed, believing that Zhu Su was the one.

As for Zhu Su?

He had no choice but to admit it, whether he wanted to or not.

The last one is Fang Xiaoru, who arrived yesterday.

Ma Wenyuan glanced at the boy sitting upright in the corner. Fang Xiaoru was fourteen years old this year, the son of the renowned scholar Fang Keqin.

Since their last encounter at the teahouse, Fang Xiaoru has agreed to go to school and has been visiting Ma Wenyuan from time to time.

Sometimes they come to ask for knowledge, and sometimes they come to help Ma Wenyuan with his work.

Seeing Fang Xiaoru's stern face, it was clear that he felt burning glass was an insult to civility, but he was still trying his best to appear less disgusted.

Ma Wenyuan felt that Fang Xiaoru probably didn't want to come, guessing that it was his family who strongly urged him to.

However, he was too lazy to care about such things. If Fang Xiaoru was willing to learn, he would teach him.

There's nothing we can do if they don't want to learn.

"Zeng Xiu, bring us the finished products from the last kiln."

Ma Wenyuan gave the instructions.

Zeng Xiu responded and carefully took out a piece of glass from the annealing furnace.

It was clearer than what you buy on the market, but it still had a noticeable green tint, and there were more bubbles than Ma Wenyuan had expected.

"These are the results of our first experiment." Ma Wenyuan placed the items on the table, and the others gathered around.

"It's a bit better than the common ones, but not enough. As the name suggests, a telescope needs to be able to see clearly in the distance, and this kind of lens is obviously not enough."

"So what we need is transparent glass, as transparent as water."

"How is that possible?"

Fang Xiaoru finally couldn't help but speak up.

"I have read 'Dream Pool Essays,' where Shen Kuo said that glass is 'beads flowing from burned stone,' a natural substance whose color is determined by heaven; how can one force it?"

Ma Wenyuan glanced at him, but instead of being angry, he smiled.

"I ask you, what does 'investigating things to acquire knowledge' mean?"

Fang Xiaoru was taken aback, then said seriously,

"Those who investigate things thoroughly explore the principles of things; those who extend knowledge extend the limits of knowledge to the utmost. Only when things are investigated can knowledge be extended."

"it is good."

Ma Wenyuan picked up a piece of quartz.

"Now I ask you, why does this stone turn into glass after being fired? What's the reason behind this? Have you ever questioned it?"

Fang Xiaoru shut up; he didn't know.

He knows what he knows and admits what he doesn't know; he never pretends to know what he doesn't.

This is a good habit; Ma Wenyuan has always liked this kind of student.

"Investigating things is not something that can be accomplished simply by sitting in a room reading the classics."

Ma Wenyuan slapped the table.

"Come on, everyone, sit down. Today I'm going to tell you why glass isn't transparent enough, and how to make it transparent."

The six of them sat down in unison.

Xu Miaoyun was the most efficient; she had already laid out paper and pens, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Ma Wenyuan.

Zeng Xiu also prepared to take notes.

Fang Xiaoru hesitated for a moment, but finally took out the paper. His curiosity had been piqued by Ma Wenyuan's words.

As for Zeng Qing, he couldn't write the characters clearly, so he could only refer back to Zeng Xiu's notes.

Zhu Di and Zhu Su were just there for fun; they had no intention of writing anything outside the palace.

"The main raw material for glass is silica sand, which is silicon dioxide. To melt this, you need to go up to 1,700 degrees Celsius. Our kilns can't reach that high a temperature, so we need to add flux."

Ma Wenyuan wrote a series of recipes on the blackboard.

"The Han Dynasty people used lead, and the resulting glass was called lead-barium glass, which was brittle and cloudy. Westerners used sodium and calcium, and the resulting glass was called soda-lime glass, which was better than ours."

But neither of them is transparent enough. Why?

He paused, then glanced at the six people.

Xu Miaoyun raised her hand. "Sir, is it because of impurities?"

"You're half right."

Ma Wenyuan nodded.

"Impurities are divided into two types. One type is visible, such as air bubbles, sand particles, and unmelted particles, which can be eliminated through the process."

"That is, increasing the temperature, extending the melting time, and stirring to remove bubbles. Another type is invisible and is called coloring impurities."

"Quartz sand contains varying amounts of iron, and iron oxides can turn glass green or yellowish-brown. Look at our last batch of products; didn't they turn green?"

Zeng Xiu picked up the cup and looked at it against the light, then suddenly realized, "It really is green! I always thought it was the color of the material itself."

"Even a fraction of one part per million of iron can cause glass to change color."

Ma Wenyuan drew a diagram of iron ions on the blackboard.

"Therefore, there are two ways to make truly transparent glass: one is to find quartz sand with extremely low iron content, which is hard to find in our Ming Dynasty; the other is to add a decolorizing agent to neutralize the color of the iron."

"Neutralization?" Fang Xiaoru frowned. "What is neutralization?"

Ma Wenyuan thought for a moment and then used an analogy: "It's like dyeing cloth. What color will blue cloth become if you dye it yellow?"

Fang Xiaoru pondered for a moment and said, "The combination of green and yellow is probably green."

"Yes. Glass turns green because iron ions give it a green tint. If I add something that produces a complementary color to green, the complementary colors will combine and become colorless."

Ma Wenyuan took a small cloth bag from the cabinet and poured out several pieces of dark brown ore.

"This is called pyrolusite, and its main component is manganese dioxide. When you add it, the manganese ions turn a purplish-red color, which complements and cancels out the green color, making the glass colorless and transparent."

Xu Miaoyun clapped her hands and said, "I see! It's like when you're painting, adding a little red to green makes it turn gray!"

Although she couldn't understand many things, she didn't care.

Xu Miaoyun believes that as long as she keeps learning, she will one day become as knowledgeable as Ma Wenyuan.

Ma Wenyuan gave her an approving look.

"Miaoyun is absolutely right. If this girl were a boy, she would have no problem passing the imperial examination."

Xu Miaoyun smiled, revealing two dimples.

She was only nine years old and had already heard plenty of praise, but being praised by her own teacher made her especially happy.

Fang Xiaoru stared at the few pieces of soft manganese ore, his gaze gradually changing.

He suddenly stood up and bowed deeply to Ma Wenyuan.

"Sir, I was rude earlier. It turns out that the study of things is indeed a world unto itself."

"Sit down, sit down." Ma Wenyuan waved his hand.

"You've only been learning for a few days? There's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Let's use the new recipe today."

"Ten catties of quartz sand, three catties of wood ash, half a catty of limestone, and one mace of pyrolusite. Start the second kiln. Zeng Qing is in charge of adding materials, Zeng Xiu is in charge of temperature, Miao Yun is in charge of recording, Fang Xiaoru... you are in charge of watching the fire."

"Yes!" the four students answered in unison.

Zhu Di and Zhu Su were also somewhat eager to make a move.