Lin Xuan was not able to go, but was sent to the palace by Li Shimin.
"My lord, see your majesty!"
Lin Xuan was a little surprised that Li Shimin suddenly came to him.
"You said you made that punctuation mark, couldn't you tell me first? You have to tell Kong Yingda." Li Shimin said angrily.
"Your Majesty, punctuation is not a big deal, why can't you tell Mr. Kong?"
Lin Xuan was a little confused, he didn't know what he did wrong.
Li Shimin glared at Lin Xuan and said, "Do you know that just because of your few punctuation marks, all the engravings of the entire bookstore have to be made from scratch?"
Lin Xuan felt a little aggrieved and added punctuation marks. The previous engraving could not be used and would definitely have to be redone.
Li Shimin sighed and said: "When the engraving is being done, if you make a mistake in a word, you have to engrave it again. Do you know how many engravings need to be made for a book? How much does it cost?"
"I'm not saying that punctuation is bad, the problem is that the court doesn't have that much money now."
"Your Majesty, with the commercial tax and the money from selling salt, how come the court is still short of money?" Lin Xuan asked.
Li Shimin said: "Commercial tax is only collected in Chang'an, and it has not started in other places. Salt is sold very cheaply, and we haven't made much money yet!"
"The imperial examination costs money, your military training costs money, and other places also cost money. Where can I get so much money?"
"Your Majesty, if you don't have money, you can just stop engraving the engravings first. We'll wait until the treasury is full after the autumn harvest." Lin Xuan said.
He didn't believe that the imperial court was really so poor.
It’s been so long since I’ve been here? Just put off some things that are not urgent.
Li Shimin came to him just because he wanted him to find a way to help him make money. Lin Xuan would not be fooled by him!
"You still have the nerve to say that it would have been possible if you didn't tell Kong Yingda. You told him. With his stubborn temper, he also said that this matter concerns the world's scholars. How can I not agree?" Li Shimin became angry when he talked about this.
If you had told me in advance, would I be so passive?
The old man Kong Yingda was stubborn and refused to admit death. If he didn't agree, he would probably come every day.
"Then your Majesty called me here?" Lin Xuan asked.
Li Shimin said: "You are the one who caused this, you have to find a way to solve it!"
Lin Xuan was speechless, didn't he just want him to find a way to make money?
"Your Majesty, I have a way to solve the money issue!" Lin Xuan said.
Isn't it just money? When the glass happened to be burned, Li Shimin took 60% of it. If he sold the glass, he would have money.
Li Shimin was overjoyed, but asked calmly: "Oh? Tell me, what can you do?"
"Your Majesty, now that the colored glaze has been fired, we can make some and sell them in the next few days, so that we can have money to carve the engravings." Lin Xuan said.
"What? You said the glaze was fired?" Li Shimin said in surprise.
He had heard from Lin Xuan before that it would take some time. He thought it would take a few months, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.
"Yes, I just got the news and was about to go take a look when my Majesty called me to the palace!" Lin Xuan said.
"You have no other option?" Li Shimin asked.
In his opinion, the money Liuli earned was originally his.
It's like taking his money to solve this problem.
This was inconsistent with his purpose of coming to Lin Xuan. His original intention was to let Lin Xuan find a way to solve the problem without spending his money.
Lin Xuan thought about it for a moment and understood what Li Shimin was thinking. He secretly cursed: Old Li, can you please have some face?
"Your Majesty, I have no choice for the time being!" Lin Xuan shook his head and said.
It’s not that he really has no options, he has many ways to make money.
If that doesn't work, developing movable type printing can also solve this problem.
But he doesn't plan to use movable type printing now.
Now that the movable type printing technology has been invented, Qiwang of the Five Surnames will definitely fight him to the death.
Although the Cui family had sent people to assassinate him before, it was just the Cui family. If he had invented the movable type printing technology, the person who assassinated him would not be a Cui family.
He planned to wait until the family's power and influence decreased before taking it out.
Li Shimin said with some disappointment: "In that case, get some more colored glaze and sell it as soon as possible."
"Your Majesty, I wonder if the assassin who assassinated me last time has been investigated?" Lin Xuan asked.
He wanted to make sure whether it was an assassin sent by the Cui family last time.
Li Shimin shook his head and said: "It should be someone Cui Xu of the Cui family sent privately, but those assassins are all undercover, and everyone else who knew about it is dead, and no evidence can be found!"
If there is evidence, he can directly trouble the Cui family. In order not to quarrel with the royal family, the Cui family will definitely hand over Cui Xu to settle the matter.
But there is no evidence now. If he goes to the Cui family, the Cui family will not admit it.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I understand. I will leave now!" Lin Xuan bowed and said.
Although Li Shimin didn't say it explicitly, he was already sure that the assassin last time was sent by Cui Xu.
Some things that I couldn't figure out before can be easily explained.
Cui Xu probably acted privately, and the rest of the Cui family didn't know about it. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to send just that few people.
But I don’t know whether I knew it after the fact or not.
…
After leaving the palace, Lin Xuan took Xu Guangfu to the fire kiln outside Chang'an City.
I looked at the glass that was fired before and found that although it was not as good as the glass from later generations, it was still of better quality than the colored glaze shipped by merchants from the Western Regions.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that those sold to Datang in the Western Regions are of poor quality.
Lin Xuan nodded and said: "Yes, that's it. How long does it take to produce a kiln now?"
"Going back to the Marquis, including the preliminary preparations and firing and cooling, one kiln can be produced in about two days. However, there are many failed firings and some with more impurities. The ones that are as good as the Marquis saw are probably only
Less than 20%." Xu Guangfu said.
"How many can be fired in one kiln?" Lin Xuan asked.
"The current kiln has fired more than 200 pieces in total." Although Xu Guangfu doesn't understand firing, he has learned about these in advance.
There are more than 200 pieces, even if they are 10%, there are still more than 20 exquisite pieces.
"You are buying a few more kilns and burning them together." Lin Xuan said.
"Master Hou, there is no problem in buying a kiln. The problem is that the technique of firing colored glaze is too easy to learn. Nowadays, these people are small and carefully selected. There are many kilns and there are no reliable people to live in. The method is very easy.
It was leaked." Xu Guangfu said worriedly.
Lin Xuan thought for a moment and said, "It's okay. You buy the kiln first, and I'll find the manpower to figure it out."
After all, his family is not as good as those big families and has many loyal servants available.
He can only ask Li Shimin for help. You account for so many people, so you can't do nothing.
Xu Guangfu said: "Okay, I will buy it soon."
"When the glaze is fired from this kiln, all the fine products will be sent to my home, and all the defective ones will be smashed. Be sure to keep a close eye on them and don't let anyone keep them secretly!" Lin Xuan explained.
Xu Guangfu said with some distress: "Master Hou, although those defective products are not as good as those high-quality products, they are still worth a lot of money. Wouldn't it be a pity to smash them?"
Although he knew that colored glaze was made from sand, he still couldn't change his mind. The defective product was also made of colored glaze, so how could he smash it?
"Just do as I say." Lin Xuan said.
He planned to use this glass to deceive the rich, and when he took out the defective products, the rich looked down upon them, and eventually they were bought by some common people.
He doesn't need that little money, so there is no need to cheat some people.
Moreover, if there are too many inferior colored glazes, it will affect the selling price of high-quality products.
"Yes!" Seeing Lin Xuan's insistence, Xu Guangfu said nothing more.
"To all the people involved in the firing of colored glaze, no one will be given a reward, so you receive five rewards! You personally hand out the money, and it must be distributed to all the workers." Lin Xuan said.
Fortunately, they worked hard to make glass for him, and Lin Xuan certainly wouldn't be stingy.
"Thank you very much, Lord Marquis, on their behalf!" Xu Guangfu thanked them.