I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

—I must have been so stupid! Why didn't I think of such a simple truth before?

A self-deprecating smile appeared on Qing Deng's lips.

This is probably what they call "the darkest place is under the lamp".

Clothes, cosmetics, and jewelry—they are to women what fertilizer is to crops—crops can still grow normally without fertilizer, but they won't grow strong enough.

However, besides these three, there is one more thing that is essential for women.

That's a mirror!

How can you try on clothes without a mirror?

How do you do your makeup without a mirror?

How can you wear jewelry without a mirror?

Upon realizing this, Qingdeng's self-deprecating expression deepened, and he inwardly mocked himself: Why didn't I think of that?

He had been struggling with clothes, cosmetics and jewelry, his thoughts wandering in a dead end, until he saw Ziyang's silver mirror and suddenly noticed this inconspicuous "gold mountain"!

Bronze mirrors are still widely used in RB today.

As the name suggests, a bronze mirror is a mirror made by carefully polishing copper with a high tin content.

With this kind of material and manufacturing method, you can't expect any clarity.

Although it can illuminate objects, it can only barely distinguish between humans and gorillas, and cannot see the specific details at all.

Therefore, a silver mirror is a completely different world from a bronze mirror!

In terms of both clarity and aesthetics, silver mirrors far surpass bronze mirrors.

After Liebig discovered the "silver mirror reaction," silver mirrors began to become popular in Western countries.

Although silver mirrors are quite common in the West today, they are still a rare and precious commodity in Japan, where the technology of "mirror making" has not yet been fully developed.

After Japan opened its borders, Western merchants seized this business opportunity and shipped ship after ship of silver mirrors to Japan.

However, because silver mirrors are fragile and difficult to preserve, coupled with the high cost of shipping them across the ocean, their price skyrocketed when they arrived in Japan!

Furthermore, the escalating exodus further drove up its price.

Leaving aside other places, in the Gyeonggi region, which had become the front line of the pro-imperial movement, pro-imperial patriots hunted down "traitors" everywhere.

Merchants who sold Western goods were labeled "traitors" and faced consequences ranging from having their shops smashed to losing their heads.

For this reason, throughout the Gyeonggi region, it is difficult for any product with a Western label to be openly displayed on store shelves.

To be fair, from this perspective, the movement to respect and resist imperialism had a certain positive significance in terms of anti-imperialism.

The strong resistance to Western goods by patriots increased the selling cost of silver mirrors.

Therefore, just as Ziyang said today, her small Western silver mirror, which is less than the size of a palm, could definitely fetch a high price of 3 or 40 taels of gold if it were sold on the market.

Undoubtedly, silver mirrors hold immense commercial potential! Furthermore, it's a "blue ocean" industry that no one has ventured into yet!

No woman can resist a beautiful and clear mirror.

A mirror is not an essential item for living without.

Its nature dictates that only the upper-middle class who have escaped the pressures of survival have the need to use mirrors... and that's exactly what Qingdeng wants!

Making money off the poor is not what Qingdeng desires.

Under the layers of exploitation by government officials and local gentry, the common people of Japan are now extremely poor, as evidenced by the frequent peasant uprisings in recent years.

Making money off them is like scraping oil off a rock; no matter how hard you try, you can't scrape off much oil.

We'll make money off whoever has the money!

Looking across the entire capital region, the one thing that's never lacking is wealthy people.

Especially Osaka!

Osaka, known as the "Kitchen of the World" and the "Commercial Capital," is home to many extremely wealthy people.

If you're going to make money, make it from them!

A mirror is indeed the most ideal product, the one that best suits Qing Deng's desire.

If he can mass-produce silver mirrors, then without a doubt he will dominate the entire Japanese mirror industry!

From then on, was the Shinsengumi's military expenses still a problem?

By then, he might even have enough money to build warships!

The method of making a silver mirror... or rather, the difficulty of the "silver mirror reaction," is about the same as that of a "high school chemistry experiment."

In modern times, you can easily find all the materials needed for this experiment and complete it in the chemistry lab of any key high school.

However, the chemistry knowledge from high school... for Qingdeng, it was an ancient memory buried deep in his brain...

Fortunately, in his previous life, Qingdeng had always been a high-achieving student with excellent grades.

Don't underestimate the value of being a top student!

Although the specific details have become blurred, he still remembers the general content and important parts clearly.

Another fortunate aspect is that the four chemicals needed to make the silver mirror—glucose, sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide solution, and silver nitrate—can all be obtained from readily available household items.

After bidding farewell to Ziyang, Qingdeng led Kinoshita Mai to search through most of the markets in Kyoto and Fushimi, finally managing to buy all the necessary materials and equipment.

Glucose is produced from the starch contained in corn and potatoes. The starch in corn and potatoes is hydrolyzed at 100 degrees Celsius using a 0.25%-0.5% dilute hydrochloric acid solution to produce an aqueous solution of glucose. This solution is then concentrated to obtain glucose crystals.

After the country opened its doors, corn and potatoes appeared in the vegetable markets of major cities and towns in Japan, so these two vegetables were not hard to find.

Sodium hydroxide [NaOH] is commonly known as "caustic soda". There are ancient methods for making caustic soda. The quicklime used in building houses is composed of calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)]. By mixing it with a solution of soda ash [Na2CO3], filtering out the solid, and then evaporating and purifying, caustic soda can be obtained.

Ammonium hydroxide [NH3·H2O] solution is ammonia water. Adding an alkali to urine and heating it produces ammonia gas, which is then dissolved in water to produce ammonia water.

Silver nitrate, on the other hand, requires the dry distillation of saltpeter. First, nitric acid is obtained by dry distilling saltpeter. Once the nitric acid is produced, it is immediately placed into a silver vessel to produce silver nitrate.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the procedure is correct and one is quick and efficient, a silver mirror can be made in just half an hour!

Of course, what I have said above is still just theory.

No matter how beautifully a theory is presented, it's still just empty talk.

If we want to turn these theories into real wealth, we still have to rely on our own hands to gradually explore and discover them!

"call……"

Qingdeng let out a long breath, then resolutely pulled out the sleeve tie from his pocket and tightened the sleeves.

"let's go!"

He lit the candle and buried himself in his work at the desk.

The clinking and banging of bottles and jars continued incessantly.

……

……

About 2 hours later—

"Damn it! There's not enough urine!"

Qingdeng lay on the ground in an "orz" gesture.

His first experimental target was to produce ammonia.

Unexpectedly, they encountered a setback right at the beginning.

Urine is needed to produce ammonia.

This material should be the most readily available; Qingdeng simply took it for his own use.

However, perhaps due to the lack of sophisticated equipment—because it was difficult to buy professional experimental equipment such as test tubes and droppers, they could only make do with pots and pans—after working hard for a while, it still ended in failure.

Not only did they fail to produce ammonia, they also used up all the urine they had painstakingly saved.

Unfortunately, the experiment must continue.

As Qingdeng stood up, he muttered to himself:

"We need to find new urine..."

After muttering to himself, familiar faces flashed through his mind.

Kondo Isami, Hijikata Toshizo, Nagakura Shinpachi, Saito Hajime, Inoue Genzaburo...

He had only recalled five faces when, as if he were having a nightmare, his face turned deathly pale and his body trembled violently.

It's not that he dislikes his brothers... but... but... he really doesn't want to come into contact with these people's urine!

"Since they're unwilling to ask for help, then we have no choice but to..."

Qing Deng fell silent halfway through his murmur, a strange and indescribable emotion swirling between his brows.

The candlelight cast a long, eerie, and profound shadow on him...

……

……

The next day—

On January 25, 1863 (the third year of the Bungu era), in the early morning—

Kyoto, Mibu-go, Shinsengumi headquarters—

"Hahaha~~~!"

The commander let out a big yawn.

She had her sleepy eyes half-closed, her body swaying unsteadily as she walked in a "Z" pattern, looking exactly like a drunkard.

This is her old problem—she has a severe case of "morning daze".

Suddenly, there was a loud thud... because the path she was walking on was swaying violently, her head accidentally hit the wall of the corridor.

Judging from the volume, it sounds quite powerful.

However, after rubbing the area she had bumped a few times, she acted as if nothing had happened, and then, like a wandering ghost, continued to drift towards the toilet.

At that moment, Qingdeng's voice suddenly rang out from behind him.