The Rise of the European Emperor

After initially solving the problem of mercury poisoning, Marin began to prepare for the production of mercury tin foil glass mirrors. The imitation of the silver mirror frame is very simple, just make the carvings on the silver frame the same as the Venetian ones.

As for the problem of light-transmitting glass, it is also easy for Marin to solve. Even, the quality is better than Venetian optical glass.

In fact, Beihai has two levels of optical glass. One is lead glass, which is of a slightly lower quality; the other is high-quality glass chemically treated with quartz sand, which is generally used for military telescopes.

The principle of lead glass is very simple, that is, lead oxide is added. After adding lead oxide, the viscosity and melting temperature of the glass are reduced, which is very convenient for glass processing. After all, when processing glass products, the worst fear is that the glass melt is too viscous to form into the desired shape. But if the viscosity is reduced, it will be much easier to craft items.

In addition, the reduction of melting temperature is also beneficial. The advantage is that during the gradual cooling of the hot molten glass, the hardening speed is slower, which is more convenient for craftsmen to carry out complex processing.

Since Marin promoted the use of coal and lead oxide in the Beihai State Glass Manufacturing Factory, the manufacturing speed of Beihai State glassware has reached a higher level. As for the quality, it's great too. After all, lead glass transmits light well enough to be used as window glass.

However, lead glass also has a problem, that is, it is best not to use it as a container for food, especially a container for hot soup. Because the lead ions in the lead glass are easily dissociated after being affected by the high temperature of the hot soup and absorbed by the person who drinks the soup. If you make a wine glass, it is also easy to precipitate lead ions in the wine.

Therefore, Marin has always banned the use of lead glass to make eating tools, and it is only allowed to be used to make window glass and other craft products. As for glass tableware and wine glasses for eating and drinking, Marin is only allowed to use the most basic green glass. Although it is not good-looking, it is better than safety and health.

Of course, optical glass made by chemically treating quartz sand can also be used to make tableware and wine glasses. However, the cost is higher.

The so-called chemical treatment method is actually to grind the quartz sand into powder and put it into sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid solution for "cleaning". Quartz sand is silicon dioxide, which is insoluble in acid. However, impurities such as iron ions in it can be washed away by acid.

In this way, the quartz sand powder after pickling is washed with water and used to make glass, with very few impurities, and can be used to make optical glass.

But in this era, chemistry was underdeveloped, and the cost of making acid was very high. Moreover, the cost is very high just to grind the extremely hard quartz sand into powder. Therefore, high-quality optical glass produced by this method is generally only used to make military telescopes. Lead glass is the main force of light-transmitting glass.

In fact, the quality of lead glass is slightly worse than that of chemically treated optical glass. Moreover, the cost is much lower. It is not impossible to use lead glass to make telescopes. But that's for the future. Now, Marin first uses lead glass to make glass mirrors.

Moreover, the quality of lead glass seems to be better than the light-transmitting glass made of manganese dioxide (that is, pyrolusite) in Venice. Because Venetian manganese glass has good light transmission at first. But after a long time, it is easy to turn into lavender glass. It seems that manganese ions are oxidized again to form a purple manganate substance similar to potassium permanganate.

Let the light transmittance of the glass decrease and become "old glass". The lead glass in Beihai country does not seem to have similar problems. Anyway, it is used as a mirror, not to hold hot soup, so the precipitation of lead ions should not be much.

That is to say, in general, the quality of the pirated mercury tinfoil-plated glass mirrors from Beihai was slightly better. Moreover, after cleaning with sulfur powder, the safety is better.

The only problem is probably that if the surface of the tin foil layer is not coated with varnish, when sulfur powder is embedded in it for heating, it is easy for the tin foil layer to react with sulfur to form tin sulfide, which is commonly known as gold powder.

But if the tin foil layer is well protected with varnish and the heating temperature is not too high, the tin foil layer will not be affected too much.

After completing the mapping and imitation of the Venetian mercury tin foil glass mirror, Marin immediately started production, using tin amalgam reaction to make mercury tin foil glass mirror. The original mirror, bought at a high price, was sent to the ship, shipped to Panama, and took the Pacific route to the Ming Dynasty, where it was presented to Emperor Zhengde.

Moreover, Marin specifically emphasized that this is a glazed mirror worth more than 20,000 taels of silver, and it is the world's first glazed mirror. Well, the envoy would tell the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty that this was taken by Ma Lin, the lord of the Beihai Kingdom, who spent more than 20,000 taels of silver and dedicated it to the Emperor Ming from a country called Venice, which is rich in colored glaze...

In this way, the high price, coupled with the extraordinary effect, will definitely make Zhengde "Longyan Joyful", and there will definitely be a lot of rewards. Then, Marin was trying to do something bad, and bought the eunuch to speak ill of the Portuguese. With preconceived ideas, it will be more difficult for the Portuguese to have a relationship in the future...

Not only the Portuguese, but even the Spaniards, Marin will buy eunuchs to slander, and cut off his idea of ​​learning from Marin as a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.

Spain wants to learn from Marin as a vassal of the Ming Dynasty? Yes, Marin will let Kong Tai buy those eunuchs and let them say that if you want to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to offering a treasure like the sweet potatoes offered by the Beihai Kingdom, the monarch of the country should also come to the Ming Dynasty once. Only by kneeling down to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty can one express sincerity...

This is a bit tricky, because the kings of Spain and Portugal have always been very proud, thinking that their status is equal to that of the Ming emperor. In history, the letter of credentials that Spain asked Columbus to bring to the Chinese emperor was also written in the tone of equal exchanges.

I want the king of Spain or Portugal to take the risk and travel thousands of miles to the Ming Dynasty to kneel down to worship the emperor of the Ming Dynasty... These two countries are definitely not happy...

You know how dangerous sailing is these days. The monarchs of ordinary countries will not have their parents and children to participate in the great voyage. What if they die at sea?

Even when Marin committed the crime and had to go to Daming, he was mentally prepared to die at sea, and even wrote his suicide note.

Therefore, just letting the Spanish monarch personally go to the capital to kowtow to the Ming emperor can cut off the possibility of Spain's success. After all, the arrogance of the Spaniards is obvious. Otherwise, they would not have had the ridiculous idea of ​​sending more than 10,000 troops to conquer the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the Spaniards were probably inspired by the Japanese pirates, and they also saw the corruption of the southeast coastal guards of the Ming Dynasty, so they came up with such an idea.

However, the Spaniards did not know that there were a large number of elites on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. Japan's Toyotomi Hideyoshi dispatched an army of 200,000 to invade North Korea, and was also defeated by the Ming army.

What's more, the Qi family army left by Qi Jiguang, the last war god of the Ming Dynasty, was still there. If there was a real fight, Spain would at best be able to harm the southeast coast. Once it went deep into the inland and forced the Ming Dynasty to mobilize frontier troops, it would be hard to say. After all, the Ming army did not lag behind in weapons and equipment at the time. It had both Flang machine guns and matchlock guns, and it was not under the pressure of Houjin, so it could still handle it.

In addition, ancient Chinese people like to use tricks, maybe put poison in food, attack and burn a camp at night, and keep the Spaniards very sour.

And there were many civil officials like Wang Hung who had more ideas in the Ming Dynasty. What's more, the time when Spain planned to invade was not the time when the Peasant Army in the Chongzhen period and the Houjin internal and external forces joined forces to make trouble together. As long as the Ming Dynasty can concentrate its strength, it will still be very strong. Didn't you see that the Ming Dynasty suppressed a Yao people's uprising, so why did you dispatch an army of 160,000?

In addition, in this era, even if the Spaniards learned the Spanish phalanx, they would not be able to transport tens of thousands of troops to the Far East.

Of course, Marin would pretend to be a good guy while stabbing Spain in the back. For example, distribute some silk and porcelain benefits to Spain to win their favor. After all, Spain is stronger at this time, and Marin does not want to face other powers while facing France...

It is foreseeable that Spain may send a fake monarch to pretend to pay tribute and kowtow in exchange for the qualification of paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Even, Marin's spies in Spain have inquired that the Spaniards are discussing whether to use such a strategy to defraud the tribute trade qualifications. At that time, who will expose the lies will become a problem...

Kong Tai's side, of course, can expose it. However, he couldn't stand up. After all, the North Sea country and Spain are "allies." Therefore, to stab the Spaniards in the future and expose their possible tricks, a third-party force is needed to come forward.

After much deliberation, Marin set his mind on the Holy See...

This operation is also very simple, that is, let the Holy See send missionary priests to Guangzhou. Then, Marin will pay a lot of money to buy a French priest to join him.

When the Spaniards come up with fake tributes to fool the Ming Dynasty, let this French missionary stand up and expose the truth... The French and Spain are mortal enemies, and the debunking is not discussed, and it is very reasonable... At that time, the French and Spain will continue to tear each other Force it, it has nothing to do with Marin...

But first, Marin needs to buy such a French missionary. Moreover, it must be ensured that this person will not pass useful news to France after he arrives in Guangzhou, so as not to cause France to covet China's products, especially technology (French missionaries are well-known commercial spies)...

For this reason, Kohler was ordered to find a French priest who did not like the motherland and was easy to buy. Then, send him to Guangzhou to preach, and wait to stab Spain...

Marin estimated that in order to obtain huge profits from the silk and porcelain trade, Spain might send a false monarch to pay tribute and kowtow in the name of the Spice Islands. And the task of this French priest bought by Marin is to stand up and expose the truth and tell the Ming Dynasty that the Spaniards are deceiving Ming Dynasty... Well, the Spaniards will be included in the Ming Dynasty blacklist like Portugal in the future... …