CHAPTER 104: CHAPTER 98: THE BIRTH OF GLASS

Ji Yuan was his aide, so Zhao Hanzhang naturally didn’t keep it from him, and said straightforwardly, "I’m not here to make porcelain, this workshop is for making glass."

Ji Yuan reached out to dig his ear, "What did you say you’re making?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "Glass!"

Ji Yuan:...

He silently looked at Zhao Hanzhang without speaking.

Zhao Hanzhang shrugged and said, "I’m serious."

Ji Yuan sincerely said, "Third Lady, I’m serious too; such matters aren’t to be joked about."

Zhao Hanzhang silently looked at him.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time, Ji Yuan’s eyes gradually widened. He opened his mouth, and after a long while, finally managed to speak, "Does Third Lady know how to make it?"

It was impossible that the formula came from the lord, right? He had been by Zhao Changyu’s side for many years, but he had never heard him mention it.

Zhao Hanzhang: "I don’t know, but Mr. Fu does."

Ji Yuan was astonished. Although he doubted the authenticity of this, seeing Zhao Hanzhang so certain made him decide to wait and see.

Ji Yuan began to go to the workshop every day to stand by, even moving his office work there.

He wanted to see if Mr. Fu really knew what he was doing or was just saying things to please Third Lady.

Then he saw Fu Tinghan change into a narrow-sleeved linen outfit, more convenient, climbing up and down with the craftsmen to stoke the fire and monitor the temperature.

Though he couldn’t see much from it.

Fu Tinghan placed crushed quartz sand and limestone into the furnace to melt, and the craftsmen stared dumbfounded until all the materials had melted, then he realized, "No wonder the steward asked when selecting people if anyone knew how to forge or smelt iron, turns out, this is similar to iron smelting."

Fu Tinghan felt his face burning, handed over the subsequent work to him, and with a face flushed from reflection, stepped aside and asked, "So, are you experienced with ironwork?"

"Fairly," the craftsman said, "My cousin is a blacksmith, I learned a bit from my grandfather before, and you understand this kind of work well after watching it enough, it has similarities to porcelain firing."

Fu Tinghan immediately asked, "In Xiping County, there is a blacksmith named Lu..."

"Ah, that’s my cousin, has the gentleman met him?"

Fu Tinghan nodded, "I met him a few days ago in Xiping County."

The materials in the furnace turned to liquid. Fu Tinghan, not very deftly, rolled a ball of glass molten with prepared iron pipes, took it out, and placed it on a rotating stand to blow it while rotating, and the fiery glass slowly expanded and became transparent...

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but put down his work and come up to watch.

Fu Tinghan blew for quite a while, then after the glass had half-cooled, he returned with the iron pipe to the furnace, dipped the blown glass ball into more glass molten, and continued blowing...

The glass ball grew larger and finally stopped when it was about the size of a small vase.

Fu Tinghan felt quite tired, looked at the glass bottle at the end of the iron pipe, felt he couldn’t blow any longer, so he returned holding the iron pipe, placed it on another kiln, let the fire melt the bottom of the glass bottle, clumsily smoothed the glass, and then cut off the glass mouth connected to the iron pipe evenly...

When the glass cooled, the bottle took shape.

Everyone in the workshop was staring blankly at the glass bottle.

Fu Tinghan also stared at it blankly, the bottom was round and uneven, and a bit bent, as if a person standing with a stomachache, bending over clutching their stomach.

He blushed a little, not expecting the glass made without some equipment to be so subpar, quickly said to Ji Yuan, "I’ll smash it and re-blow it."

He was about to smash the glass bottle when Ji Yuan grabbed him, eyes fixed tightly on the transparent glass bottle, "No, don’t smash it, it’s an excellent bottle!"

Fu Tinghan:... Do Jin Dynasty people have such twisted aesthetics?

Ji Yuan stared at the glass bottle with shining bright eyes, repeatedly confirming, "It really is like glass, can hold liquids, and won’t leak?"

"Although it looks ugly, the performance should not be a problem," Fu Tinghan was confident about this part, "Wait until it completely cools, Mr. Ji can try filling it with water."

Glass cooled quickly, Ji Yuan cautiously approached, extended his finger into the bottle mouth, and clearly saw his finger inside the bottle from the outside, the crowd of craftsmen gasping in amazement.

Ji Yuan exclaimed as well, turned back with gleaming eyes and said to Fu Tinghan, "Mr. Fu is a great talent."

Fu Tinghan modestly said, "I don’t deserve it."

"You certainly do," Ji Yuan grasped his hands with excitement, "The lord and Third Lady indeed have keen eyes, Mr. Fu is truly excellent."

Such a treasure, made upon saying, and made in Third Lady’s workshop.

In a flash, Ji Yuan’s mind was filled with numerous ideas, eager to rush back holding this glass bottle to find Zhao Hanzhang.

But there was still glass molten in the furnace, and he wanted to see more of the glass-making process, so he barely held back.

Fu Tinghan also wanted to try again, and of course, not only him, the craftsmen had to try too, considering they would be the ones mainly doing it later.

Though Fu Tinghan’s handiwork wasn’t the best, he had rich theoretical knowledge, he might not do well himself, but he could guide others.

Under his guidance, three craftsmen blew several glasses, all of different and bizarre shapes, yet in a few tries, they were better than his.

Though still not very attractive, Fu Tinghan simply had them cut the glass once blown, melted it again and spread it flat, making flat glass mirrors.

Fu Tinghan held the flat glass mirror, looked at himself, and shook his head, "The ratio is off, the clarity is insufficient, the formula needs to be adjusted to make a proper glass mirror."

Ji Yuan humbly asked, "Is it difficult to change the formula?"

Fu Tinghan thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn’t be very hard, I’ll try later, but even blowing glass now is a hard task, difficult to form well, seems like molds are needed."

He furrowed his brows, "But to make glass molds, steel would be needed, we’d have to try adding copper, chromium, and tin when casting iron..."

Ji Yuan only understood copper, "Would it require a lot of copper?"

Fu Tinghan shook his head, "Not much, just for molds."

A craftsman on the side couldn’t help but say, "Why don’t you try porcelain?"

Fu Tinghan: "Glass molten and porcelain firing temperatures are close, porcelain might not withstand glass molten’s high temperature."

This was why he and Zhao Hanzhang sought ceramics craftsmen, both had similar firing temperatures, what they lacked was kiln mouth craftsmanship, and blacksmiths were hard to come by, they only had the capacity to hire ceramic craftsmen.

The craftsmen, however, were confident, especially Ding the Potter, "Give it a try, what if it works?"

Fu Tinghan thought it was a good idea too, so he had someone bring over porcelain cups and bowls.

Ji Yuan watched them carefully pour out a glass cup and a glass bowl together.

His eyes widened, but Fu Tinghan looked at the cups and bowls, unsatisfied, "Not very attractive, maybe try adding patterns or changing colors."

The craftsmen nodded in agreement, "Indeed, these molds still need work."

Ji Yuan:... He thought it was already great, and just with this skill, he could already see gold and silver coming his way.