Chapter One: Perplexity

  Memories can only be memories, Gao Huai still had to consider the present situation, shaking his head afterwards, he then withdrew his thoughts back to the present.

  His father's former industry included a glass factory, so the first thing he thought of was to produce glass. This stuff was a rare toy in southern Song Dynasty China, and as long as it was made, it would be a way to get rich. Moreover, manufacturing it wasn't troublesome either.

  He was originally quite happy and decided to start from this place, but after thinking about it for a while, he immediately felt a bit discouraged! The craftsmanship is easy to say, since he was young, he had been wandering around his father's glass factory, and various crafts were not unfamiliar to him. At least he was not an outsider, but he was stuck on the raw materials! Silica sand, feldspar, and limestone are readily available in glass raw materials, but to produce high-quality glass, soda ash must be added. In the past, his father's glass factory produced glass, and soda ash was directly purchased from the market. But in this era, where can you get soda ash? Depressing!

  Make pure alkali? Cut! He has that idea, but he doesn't have the skills, chemistry isn't his strong point, and even if he wants to do it, he can't, what's to be done?!

  If glass can't be made, then make soap! This thing is the simplest, but still can't do without using caustic soda! Even more frustrating! As for perfume and toothpaste, it's said to be simple, but I don't know how to make them, so I'm frustrated again! It seems that history is just history, and the development of technology is also a matter of interconnected rings. Taking out a single segment is very difficult! Many things seem simple, but they are all related to various disciplines, and only simultaneous progress can work. Hua'er's mood began to sink, is it really so hard for me to do something?

  After a few days of wandering around, the ambitious Gao Huaiyuan was defeated and battered. Could it be that this guy with so much modern knowledge from later generations couldn't even make a fortune in the Southern Song Dynasty? The thought alone made Gao Huaiyuan want to find a place to knock his head against the wall.

  After wandering around for a few days, he suddenly remembered the small porcelain kiln at his own home. He took Xue Yan to the small porcelain kiln, and when they saw it from afar, something suddenly moved in his mind, and his mood suddenly cleared up. He slapped his head hard and burst out laughing, leaving Xue Yan following behind him bewildered, wondering what was wrong with the young master again.

  "Haha! I've been a bit too pedantic these days!" Gaocaiyuan chuckled as he turned and walked towards the small ceramic kiln.

  Gao Weiyan's sudden change was because he discovered that he had limited his own thinking, focusing on making high-quality colorless glass, without considering that glass was originally a decorative item with some color. What's wrong with that? Historically, the first Italian-made glass was colored and used for decoration! The quality wasn't high, but what's wrong with that? Even so, it would still amaze people at that time. As for whether or not it had color, what did it matter? Without pure alkali, using natural alkali to make glass would still be sought after by the wealthy, and he wouldn't have to worry about getting rich!

  There's also soap, which ancient people could make with plant ash to produce alkaline water. Although the cost of raw materials was higher, the price didn't need to be mentioned. Once produced, it would absolutely be a luxurious product beyond its time, far better than the suet or soapberry used by ordinary people in the Southern Song Dynasty or the soapnut used in the north! Although it couldn't bring benefits to ordinary people quickly, what's difficult about taking money out of the pockets of the wealthy?

  He was a magnificent traverser, with a wealth of knowledge from later generations. If he still couldn't get rich, then he might as well find a place to hang himself! After thinking through these things, Gao Huairen's heart suddenly felt much clearer, all his feelings of depression were swept away in an instant, and his confidence returned once again to his body.

  The small porcelain kiln was very small, with only three kiln workers, all of whom were slaves in the Gao family. They usually burned some rough porcelain and sold it to some tenants around them at a low price. After deducting costs, there was basically no profit, so they had never been valued by the Gao family. It was a dispensable business that could only earn some living expenses for the old house of the Gao family. Gao Lao Gen didn't even bother to make an effort to make money here, so the three kiln workers were lazy every day, doing a little if they wanted to and sunbathing if they didn't want to work. They were basically three idle people.

  But their leisure days finally came to an end when Gao Huaiyuan set his sights on them. Although the small porcelain kiln was not large in scale, it was very suitable for him to start with. After experimental transformation, it could be put into production. As for modern glass factories, he didn't need to think about it yet, and would start from a small manual workshop first!

  Gao Huaiyuan is a man of action, he immediately called the three kiln workers together, first scolding them and then rewarding them with some money, using a combination of carrot and stick to motivate them. After this, he put forward suggestions for improving the kiln in a relatively primitive way, but didn't explain why they needed to do it that way. Instead, he just told them to follow his requirements and renovate the porcelain kiln. If there weren't enough people, they could find some from among the tenant farmers, who had finished their autumn harvest and were idle anyway, so giving them something to do would be a good thing.

  The kiln workers also knew about Gao Huaiyuan's temperament and didn't dare to slack off, immediately starting to work busily. Meanwhile, Gao Huaiyuan sent Li Tong out to search for river sand, long stones, limestone, etc., and after bringing them back, he found someone to crush them into powder, grind and sift them. In order to keep it a secret, he also got a lot of other unrelated things mixed in, and finally had Xue Yan and Li Tong secretly dispose of these unrelated things before mixing the raw materials according to the ratio.

  It made a group of people all confused, not knowing what he was doing, where the logic of using these things in burning kilns was. However, the three kiln workers did not dare to ask more questions and could only work with their heads down. For this reason, Gao Huairen also asked some very honest and loyal tenant farmers to come to the kiln factory to work and earn some pocket money, but required them not to spread any news outside.

  These people have all received favors from Gao Huaiyuan, so they naturally guarantee with their chests that they will not go out and talk nonsense. Moreover, these people are also grateful to Gao Huaiyuan for giving them the opportunity to earn some extra money to support their families, so they work very hard. Lao Ru is no longer young, but he still brought his two sons to work day and night in the porcelain kiln, and couldn't be driven away, which made Gao Huaiyuan feel deeply moved once again.

  After being busy for a while, the porcelain kiln was finally changed to a simple vertical glass kiln. Gao Huaiyuan specially drew some drawings and sent Li Tong to find an ironworker near the county town to make a batch of tools. Everything was ready, only waiting for the east wind, and then according to the requirements of the kiln workers, they chose a auspicious day to light the kiln.

  Three kiln workers, although experienced in firing kilns, were completely unclear about what they were going to fire this time. All they saw was Gao Huaiyuan instructing them to mix a pot of unidentifiable powder and push it into the kiln, then light the kiln on fire. They had no choice but to follow Gao's instructions, working hard to add fuel and fan the flames, taking turns to increase the temperature inside the kiln. Gao was also anxious, after all, this earth-built glass kiln was very primitive and lacked a necessary thermometer. Whether it could reach the requirements for glassmaking was unknown, and everything had to be explored by trial and error. Who knew what the first batch of glass fired in this way would look like?

  Haiyue has been staying in the glass kiln for days, without leaving even once. The first two times he opened the kiln, it was unsuccessful, and although there were signs of glassification, they didn't meet the requirements and had to be scrapped and re-fired. This has left all three kiln workers exhausted and confused about what's going on!

  Gao Huaiyuan didn't care about them, and repeatedly adjusted the furnace temperature, making detailed records. Finally, after several experiments, a pot of bright red glass liquid was successfully produced. Withstanding the high temperature, Gao Huaiyuan took a look at this batch of products and couldn't help but laugh with joy.

  "It succeeded! Haha! Our glass has succeeded! Hahaha... Now we're rich!" After seeing the glass furnace, Gao Huaiyuan couldn't hold back his excitement and started dancing with joy.

  But others really couldn't understand what this pot of sticky, high-temperature stuff was for. The heat was so intense that it made people uncomfortable. However, Gao Huaiyuan didn't think much of it and brought over a specially-made iron pipe. One end had a glob of glass liquid on it, which he placed at his mouth and blew hard. Gradually, a ball appeared at the other end of the pipe.

  Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the scene before them.

  "Don't just stand there, add fire! If it cools down, you can't blow it anymore! Hurry up!" Gao Huaiyuan shouted to the kiln workers, pointing to a nearby furnace.

  These people quickly gave the furnace a blast of air, and Gao Huaiyuan continued to heat the glass ball that was hardening on the furnace, blowing it forcefully while constantly using various tools to shape it. Gradually, until it took the shape of a vase, then used iron scissors to cut off the still-soft vase from the other end of the pipe, and placed it in a tray, shouting: "Hurry up and send it to the annealing room, or else it will burst when it cools down!"

  Xue Yan hastily took over the tray and carefully pushed it into a small, high-temperature room with a long handle.

  "Don't just stand there, try blowing it, don't care what shape, just give it a try!" Gao Huaiyuan took the iron pipe and dipped it in a glob of glass liquid, beckoning to Xue Yan and the others.

  Then these people quickly picked up an iron pipe and carefully began to imitate Gao Huaiyuan's appearance, blowing hard at the pipe.

  Don't look at Gao Huaiyuan doing this, these people who are in contact with glass for the first time can't do it. Several people used all their strength to blow, but the result was either that they couldn't blow it up or they blew out a strange-looking thing, and the appearance was really ugly!